Official Lake Whintney and Aquilla 2016-2017 hunting thread

[CARLOCK]

Hey Carlock thanks for the follow lol hope everyone Huntin Whitney is seein deer not sure I'll get back down there and if I do it'll be after a buck for the wall since I punched 2 tags last night out west


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Lol..I'm not real sure what the following is on tapacrap..lol..
So u went the easy route and used the smokepole..lol..good job either way..
Ill see ya on the river..fighten the wind and moon..u guys see a couple guys in a grey dodge that looks lost say hello...

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[Super Six-Four]

Rattling Question:

My last hunt on a Wednesday I rattled about every 30-40 min or so. When we saw that group of deer they came right under our stand about 5-8 minutes after a rattle (and they had that mature buck in the group). That was on Dec 7th.

I haven't rattled much historically. From my studies rattling during the rut (pre-rut included) is the time it's recommended. However, I can't help but wonder if that rattling might have affected that buck in the group and if he didn't direct that herd right under my stand because of the rattling. There's not a heavy trail where they came through so I can't help but wonder if they might have been 50-100 yards further from my tree had I not rattled. Biggest gist of my question is - has anyone PERSONALLY experienced rattling being successful in the late season.

Always learning - all input appreciated.

[CARLOCK]

Rattling Question:

My last hunt on a Wednesday I rattled about every 30-40 min or so. When we saw that group of deer they came right under our stand about 5-8 minutes after a rattle (and they had that mature buck in the group). That was on Dec 7th.

I haven't rattled much historically. From my studies rattling during the rut (pre-rut included) is the time it's recommended. However, I can't help but wonder if that rattling might have affected that buck in the group and if he didn't direct that herd right under my stand because of the rattling. There's not a heavy trail where they came through so I can't help but wonder if they might have been 50-100 yards further from my tree had I not rattled. Biggest gist of my question is - has anyone PERSONALLY experienced rattling being successful in the late season.

Always learning - all input appreciated.

I believe there was still rutting going on the first week of dec i seen several bucks with does but Rattling late season hasn't worked for me..
I just hunt a food source and that normally works for me..good luck rest of season...

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[CHParker]

Is anyone willing to give some input on where the best opportunity in Whitney would be to go scout out a good spot with a good deer population? Before rifle season, I had a spot that I was seeing at least 1 deer within bow range every time I hunted. Since then several other hunters have swarmed to the area and now the deer are obviously extremely pressured. This is only my second year to hunt corp land and I must say its frustrating to find a couple of "honey holes" in 1 area only to have careless hunters ruin a good thing.

[Johnny quest]

Anybody hunt B6?Any movement? I want to try it this weekend? Thanks for feedback. Im tagged out at Aquilla

[Super Six-Four]

Anybody hunt B6?Any movement? I want to try it this weekend? Thanks for feedback. Im tagged out at Aquilla

Tagged out huh. Do you guide?

[Texas Grown]

CHParker, I'm not trying to be rude or anything. But after 30 something years of hunting public lands one thing I've learned is, if I gave out advise on the best place to hunt to every one who has asked me, there would be at least 1,000 people in one single unit. That is, if I gave a single unit. But I have found several places over the years so I don't have to hunt just one spot anymore. And I'm no longer giving out info for the very reason you stated in your last 2 lines above, from giving out info. I have in the past, given out info. Only to find that if I couldn't go and hunt that spot, then the person I told would ask a buddy to go with them. And that buddy will ask another buddy to go a different time. And the cycle continues till there are 1,000 people in there. I have experienced that first hand. That is why getting info from other hunters on public land is so hard. There are those who have not been around long enough to find this out yet, all entrusting their info to others. But one day it will happen. I've seen it to many times to know. It's kinda like the Facebook thing on friends, a chain reaction starts to where everybody knows everybody through somebody some how . ( BTW, I dont' do facebook)

With that being said, my best recommendation is to get out and look around at mid day when most hunters head into lunch so you don't disturb anybody during prime hours. Or after the season ends while the trails are still fresh would be your best bet for the following year. Good luck to ya this year.

There is no better info to be found,
than when boots hit the ground.

[BPurvisJr]

Well said TG

[Kirby86]

Go further, hunt spots people wouldn't want to, use a boat, and do all sorts of weird things that other people wouldn't think to do.

If you look on google maps and a spot looks obvious that it would be a good spot to you, it will likely look good to the other 1,800 other hunters that hunt Aquilla/Whitney each year.

From there, figure out where deer will go when they get pressured. If you read some of Garguy's posts on here, you will see that it is quite easy to kill public land deer, and its even easier when they're pressured.

Long story short, you will pay for your public land buck. Maybe not monetarily, but what you would spend on a lease, you will instead spend in time and effort if you wish to pursue public land deer. It's a special kind of feeling though when you kill a deer that any other person had the opportunity to kill. Sometime's it's luck. Sometimes it's skill. But every time is a gift from God and I hope I never get over that feeling!

[Texas Grown]

All good points Kirby .

I sometimes tell others "if you see a good tree to get in, don't think it hasn't been looked at by someone else at some point". The lakes have been hunted for a very long long time. When I first started there, there were wood-n tree stands every where in every unit. Most of them have since fall-n down, rotted away, or washed away due to floods. Some of the trees still have spikes nailed into them. Some of the trees have died, fallen down, and got washed away too . My first tree stand was an aluminum extension ladder that I used to access some of those old wood-n stands . I've still got that super light weight NOISY ol ladder. But it seldom gets used for deer hunting any more.

Also, some of the most open places have deer in them, a place most hunters would never bother to look at or think about. It's really about the ambush. That's why I've accumulated so much gear for different situations. Adapt, and over come.

[Gunome]

I just walk in a ways, most folks stop at 15-30 min in. As for gear nature provides everything you need to make a blind or stand. Lots of good trees don't even need a ladder but I hope y'all can climb like kids.

[Deerwatcher]

The thicker the better

[CARLOCK]

sometimes u can kill deer with eye site of the truck...just the little things get over looked I've done this many times...just make it simple and think like a deer and u will be in the prefect areas ..just remember food, water, bed...that's all deer do...simple life of a deer .lol....oh and learn how to read maps they are your best friend..

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[Buckshot-73]

Carlock, you should really stop spreading false info. [emoji851][emoji1][emoji1][emoji1]





All the youngsters need to walk at least 45 mins. To get to the farthest point from the access point








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[CARLOCK]

Carlock, you should really stop spreading false info. [emoji851][emoji1][emoji1][emoji1]





All the youngsters need to walk at least 45 mins. To get to the farthest point from the access point








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I was really hoping next time out there would be a stand in every tree with in 100yrds of parking area..lol..keep them out of my area....

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