Hempie
Guest
What are the best food sources to scout for in the mountains?
Mtn whitetail strategies
- Thread starter Doc
- Start date
Doc
Twelve Pointer
Acorns are a big food source, but obviously can be non existent or everywhere. Both makes it harder to pattern deer in my experience...
Some of you big woods Mtn guys... what other types of food sources do ya'll look for?
Anyone doing any post season scouting? What type of sign do you hone in on? Certain terrain features that you typically set up on?
turkeyfoot
Old Mossy Horns
wild grapes can be found often, also for early season Beech is the ticket to me if you can find them, late season if nuts are gone find some grass even bordering private ground you don't have to hunt the grass just the trails same with any kind of briar thicket you can find basically any browse. Its a bad year if you find them eating laurel and Rhod. leaves they got to be real hungry for those
appmtnhntr
Twelve Pointer
This year in early season the doe I killed on opening day was eating stinging nettle leaves at 5000'. Shot her at 8 yards with the PSE...
I have one spot with a gum tree that drops the little blue dried gumberries around the first of December. The deer are ALWAYS coming by that tree during the last week of season. You can set your watch by it...year in, year out.
I have one spot with a gum tree that drops the little blue dried gumberries around the first of December. The deer are ALWAYS coming by that tree during the last week of season. You can set your watch by it...year in, year out.
Hempie
Guest
Good info, thanks! This is exactly what I was looking for, some alternative food sources.
cklem
Guest
Yep, grapes, black gum, and they will walk a mile to browse buffalo nut shrub. They will eat fiddle heads too, but that's not really a food source.
alt1001
Old Mossy Horns
This is what makes hunting the mountains very difficult. There are tons of micro food sources. Fall mast crops are the big one but when nothing else is available, I've seen deer browse on everything from Rhododendron to Black Gum in the winter. They'll eat Ginseng, grapes, poison ivy, branch lettuce, blackberries, you name it, it can all be found at some point during the hunting season. Because food sources are everywhere and not concentrated in the mountains, it will drive you crazy trying to pattern these deer in the big woods, around those small food sources. I've sat on one ridge and looked across a draw and seen deer browsing over on the side. I then have gone to that side and watched deer browsing on the side I was just at the day before. They walk every inch of a forest.
The most consistency they present, is where they bed.
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appmtnhntr
Twelve Pointer
^^^and even the bedding areas aren't consistent all the time. Most of the places I hunt seems like the deer just kinda stop where they get tired and spend the night.
But there are some spots where I know that deer will consistently be bedded...
snakeskinner
Twelve Pointer
^^^^This. There was a greenbriar thicket where I hunted and I could almost always find one in there eating greenbriar. As kids we used to hit the woods after a snow and you could always count on them eating in the greenbriar thicket.
alt1001
Old Mossy Horns
You're right, not all the time, but much more consistent than trying to hunt a food source in the big woods.
Hempie
Guest
Awesome info, thanks so much fellas.
cklem
Guest
Yep, good stuff!!!!
Doc
Twelve Pointer
I just looked up a pic of buffalo nut shrub online. i'm guessing it gets its name from the appearance of the fruit that it bears. Literally looks like a buffalo's ...
alt1001
Old Mossy Horns
A literal twig and berries.......
cklem
Guest
If you ask forum member bajoom he has a better explanation of why it's called buffalo nut, I noticed deer would come to areas where this grew when there were no acorns, they would literally browse every thing they could off of it, I even hunted over it a few years ago when we had a total mast failure and shot a great mtn buck, I seen does and bucks browsing on this shrub everytime I went in there, it was better than acorns when there were no acorns, so I texted bajoom with a description of the shrub and he told me what it was called, I looked it up and sure enough that was it, he told me why it was called buffalo nut but I can't remember, the green pear shaped fruit deer do not eat, it's just the buds. Obviously if there's not many shrubs in an area it wouldn't be worth hunting over, but there are areas where it grows that covers acres and acres, I even had a guy that same year from just across the state line in ga that shot an enormous mtn buck, when I asked what he was hunting over, he said some kind of shrub that the deer were tearing up, when he described it , you guessed it, buffalo nut.
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ncmountainman
Guest
Definition I found on google:
Pyrularia pubera is a parasitic shrub found in the understory of old disturbed forest sites in the Appalachians and foothills. It makes a living using other trees, shrubs and herbs to gather water and essential elements. Pyrularia pubera is a root parasite, connecting with other plant roots. The fruit is unique and the most noticed part of the plant, often being brought in from the woods for identification. This publication is the story of the buffalo nut parasite, the cobra of the Appalachians, within the forests of the Southeastern United States. Pyrularia pubera has several common names including buffalo-nut (buffalo nut, buffalonut), oil nut, elk nut, mother-in-law nut, rabbitwood, mountain coconut, crazy nut, and Cherokee salve. The buffalo nut and elk nut come from early colonists who witnessed the woodland bison and the woodland / Eastern elk eating the fruit in winter. The oil nut name is derived from the acrid oil in the fruit. The mother-in-law name was derived from veiled poisoning threats. The Cherokee salve name is derived from the plant's herbal medicine uses by native Americans.
Pyrularia pubera is a parasitic shrub found in the understory of old disturbed forest sites in the Appalachians and foothills. It makes a living using other trees, shrubs and herbs to gather water and essential elements. Pyrularia pubera is a root parasite, connecting with other plant roots. The fruit is unique and the most noticed part of the plant, often being brought in from the woods for identification. This publication is the story of the buffalo nut parasite, the cobra of the Appalachians, within the forests of the Southeastern United States. Pyrularia pubera has several common names including buffalo-nut (buffalo nut, buffalonut), oil nut, elk nut, mother-in-law nut, rabbitwood, mountain coconut, crazy nut, and Cherokee salve. The buffalo nut and elk nut come from early colonists who witnessed the woodland bison and the woodland / Eastern elk eating the fruit in winter. The oil nut name is derived from the acrid oil in the fruit. The mother-in-law name was derived from veiled poisoning threats. The Cherokee salve name is derived from the plant's herbal medicine uses by native Americans.
Doc
Twelve Pointer
I'll be danged. Good stuff!
cklem
Guest
Thanks ncmountainman!!!
Frostcat
Twelve Pointer
Buffalo nut- Never knew the name of it but have also seen deer browse it when there were nothing else to eat. That's why I love hunting mountain deer- no two years are the same. It's like a puzzle trying to put all the pieces together. I hope no one takes this the wrong way as I in no way knock the way other people hunt, but I think hunters that can take mature deer off public land here in the mountains are some of the best hunters anywhere.
appmtnhntr
Twelve Pointer
I've told many people before.
Give me Michael Waddell or Lee lakosky on top of linville mountain in December and tell them don't come out till you kill an 8pt.
Who wants to bet on the over/under on days?
Who wants to bet a good old carolina boy like some of the guys on NCH&F would come out with one first??
I'd put my dad up against any challenger on that bet. He's forgotten more about killing public deer than I can learn.
cklem
Guest
I've known some men like your dad, I soaked up everything I could from them since I was old enough to understand, but will never have the experience they had. Some of them could kill bucks on command it seemed. Same with mtn gobblers. I had an uncle that passed away about a month ago, he lived in the NGA mtns. I hunted with him all my life, the man probably killed at least 100 what we would call really good bucks in his life, most all of them in the high mtns, he didn't like hunting the low ridges in the valley, he always told me, it's not about how many deer you see or shoot, the experience is what gives me pleasure, at 39 years old, I'm just now understanding what he meant by that. I've hunted with and around lots of folks in my life, from Canada to south GA. Our mtn deer hunters are the best there is. They have a style and strategy unlike any others I've talked with. I have seen proof that you can drop one of them off any where in North America where the whitetailed deer lives and they will come out with a buck. These mtn hunting situations just make a different breed, no offense to others.I've told many people before.
Give me Michael Waddell or Lee lakosky on top of linville mountain in December and tell them don't come out till you kill an 8pt.
Who wants to bet on the over/under on days?
Who wants to bet a good old carolina boy like some of the guys on NCH&F would come out with one first??
I'd put my dad up against any challenger on that bet. He's forgotten more about killing public deer than I can learn.
Frostcat
Twelve Pointer
Most of my mountain bucks would not be considered a trophy by some. But when all the pieces come together, and the plan works out then it's a trophy to me.
cklem
Guest
Man I hear ya!!!!
Larry R
Old Mossy Horns
Been hunting deer in the mountains for a day or two now and I'm here to tell you the weather forecasting is useless as far as wind directions go. In the mountains the winds swirl so much it is impossible to "hunt the wind". It's so difficult they have added another 50 degrees to the compass to cover all the directions the wind will blow. LOL. Convection wind directions are also in the majority of the cases a guess or by golly. Rarely can you depend on up slope wind in the morning or down slope winds in the afternoon. Probably the most accurate way to hunt the winds is to hunt on a ridge top and as high as you can get in a tree stand then hope the winds will carry your scent above any approaching deer "from any direction".
DOEKILLER
Eight Pointer
I killed my first doe in southWest Virginia. Some of the fields there in the evening are just loaded in the summer and early fall. But as the season progresses I see fewer and fewer deer in the fields and they all go to the woods with acorns I guess. I love chasing mountain deer more than anything. I love the hardwood trees. I love the clean crisp air. I just love it wouldn't want to spend watching a sunrise anywhere else. A lot of work goes into killing a mountain buck it's very physically demanding but if you do your scouting right just like anywhere you will have luck. I like to hunt saddles and along creeks even along barbed wire fences where they will walk along into a pinch point. Boots on the ground is by far the best way to scout.
bugg
Eight Pointer
This was a great thread. I hate I missed it when it was active. Wish I could have contributed some.
IMO, this one should continue into 2106 season. I would love to hear some more stories.
Frostcat, that buck is ridiculous. What part of the county (generally) was that taken from?
IMO, this one should continue into 2106 season. I would love to hear some more stories.
Frostcat, that buck is ridiculous. What part of the county (generally) was that taken from?
snakeskinner
Twelve Pointer
Cut my teeth on deer hunting the VA mountains. I learned after a few years to strip down and hike in no matter how cold. Add your clothes back as you cool off. I don't remember many situations where thermals didn't flow up hill as the morning warmed up. Bedding areas were pine and laurel thickets.
appmtnhntr
Twelve Pointer
Had that same situation on Sat. 43 in the am warming to 70 with winds out of the south. Hunted the south side of the mtn expecting upwelling against the face. Wrong. Had to change my setup before daylight. Wind was rushing down the mtn and didn't switch uphill till 1030.
Bad thing was, I saw 5 does about 50 yards up the hill. They would've been 20 yards below the spot I originally wanted to set up if the wind had been coming uphill......
Bad thing was, I saw 5 does about 50 yards up the hill. They would've been 20 yards below the spot I originally wanted to set up if the wind had been coming uphill......
appmtnhntr
Twelve Pointer
^^^haha. I remember hiking up a mtn in Boone in thin carharts and a tshirt when it was 20 outside. I was running late and couldn't take my time on the hike up to avoid sweating.
Doc
Twelve Pointer
good bump on this thread... anyone been out so far?
I scouted on Saturday... found a couple buck beds... ridges are like walking on marbles... chestnut oaks, white oaks, and reds were all dropping.
I scouted on Saturday... found a couple buck beds... ridges are like walking on marbles... chestnut oaks, white oaks, and reds were all dropping.