Spent last week hunting a couple wilderness areas within the Ouchita Mountains of Arkansas. This place is amazing. While I know it is not as big of country as out west, being able to be 2 to 3 miles from the truck was a new and enjoyable experience. At least it was until the walk back to the truck was up hill the whole way.
Within the first two hours of scouting I bumped a really nice buck. After running off he TURNED AROUND and came back, but I couldn't get a clear shot on him. I thought then this hunt would be an easy one...I didn't see another deer four days. My main reason for hunting here was to kill a bear. It wasn't until day 5 of the hunt I found bear scat, and was so happy you would have thought I had actually seen a bear. Saw plenty of deer sign and noticed a few patterns, but the buck I saw on the first day was the closest I came to killing one. I became acquainted one of the forest service workers while up there, and from talking with him it had been a terrible year for acorns. In all of my scouting I only found a few post oak acorns here and there. Hopefully next year will be a better year for acorns, and I think that will make the deer and bears more patternable.
Bringing meat back from this hunt would've been great, but the experience of it all was everything I wanted. Learned a lot more about maps and having to navigate around terrain, learn a new area of woods that I can hit the ground running next year, and how to better prepare myself for it. Since being a part of the forum I have been dreaming about going out west. But after experiencing these areas for a week, I think I'll enjoy a couple more hunts here before making the jump west. I feel that there is a lot more left to learn and accomplish before I go elsewhere.
Within the first two hours of scouting I bumped a really nice buck. After running off he TURNED AROUND and came back, but I couldn't get a clear shot on him. I thought then this hunt would be an easy one...I didn't see another deer four days. My main reason for hunting here was to kill a bear. It wasn't until day 5 of the hunt I found bear scat, and was so happy you would have thought I had actually seen a bear. Saw plenty of deer sign and noticed a few patterns, but the buck I saw on the first day was the closest I came to killing one. I became acquainted one of the forest service workers while up there, and from talking with him it had been a terrible year for acorns. In all of my scouting I only found a few post oak acorns here and there. Hopefully next year will be a better year for acorns, and I think that will make the deer and bears more patternable.
Bringing meat back from this hunt would've been great, but the experience of it all was everything I wanted. Learned a lot more about maps and having to navigate around terrain, learn a new area of woods that I can hit the ground running next year, and how to better prepare myself for it. Since being a part of the forum I have been dreaming about going out west. But after experiencing these areas for a week, I think I'll enjoy a couple more hunts here before making the jump west. I feel that there is a lot more left to learn and accomplish before I go elsewhere.
