Sitka Deer

[mrobertson]

Do any of you still hunt for sitka deer? Where my parents live there are a few of them. I've hunted them for years but the damn things move around so early i can never get a shot. I always see nice sitka bucks around the house at like 8 oclock at night way after dark.

Is there any certain time of the year that they move around after it gets light? I've been in the stand and had them under me bugling but it's pitch black dark. Any ideas? I am talking about Wicomico county so i hunt with a rifle.

[bcw1]

big piles of corn if your on private property. Mornings seem to be the best for them. I hunt in Dorchester, mostly public lands and it seems they stay in the deep deep marsh until late in the evenings. they are tough but thats what makes it so great when you score. Honestly i had gotten kinda bored with whitetail so they make a nice diversion. oh yeah, If your not in knee deep water your not in the right place.

[choptank]

Being new to this as well and up for a different challenge I have been Tr4ying my hand at finding those sikas. I think I am hunting them too much like a whitetail however. Keep in mind I am playing it safe being new around here. the last I need to do is lost in a marsh at night.

[bcw1]

i got lost in area U of blackwater a couple weeks ago. the fireroad I came in on just disapeared after dark I swear. it took me an extra half hour to get out. no big deal but that feeling when i realized I did not know my way out was something I have not really felt since I was a little kid. there are so many bright eye trails in blackwater you don't know which to follow.

[choptank]

That is easier to do ( get lost in the dark) than most realize. I was trailing a deer behind my house a week or so ago and I saw an opening ( field) and I was 1/2 mile away from where I thought I was on private property OOPS. so the marshes I will go with someone experienced the first few times.

Back to the Sikas ... Are they smart as whitetail, Smell as good?See as well? pick up movement as well? After their rut are they still huntable? Can you call at them anyhow? When they get pressured on pulbic land do they go deep into the marsh?How often do they come into open woods to feed? Do they stay in thick stuff while in the woods likw whitetail? ok 20 questions is over>>>

Jason

[bcw1]

I'm far from an authority on them. I've only hunted them for about three years and only this year with any regularity. Best as i can tell just forget everything you know about whitetail hunting because sika do not seem to play by the same rules. they rut in mid october which is cool. brings a little excitement to the october lull.

[MarkTakacs]

I dont know why everyone likes to sensationalize the Sika deers activities......sure they like it wet and dark but we still kill alot of them in Dorchester and Wicomico Co.
I dont think that they are all that different from the whitetail that live in these same areas. The sika will come into the fields and dry ground during daylight, probably not as much as the whitetail or the big mature stags. The sika really like the roadside grass just after dark so they have to move to get there.
The sika do not "disappear" during the day.....the problem is that if they are pushed they probably dont move much....kind of like a rabbit, just enough to hide again.

Mike and Choptank, I just sent you a Bmail

Mark

[choptank]

I usualy get fully engulfed in learning an animal, thats when I realy took off as a whitetail hunter and Bass fishing. So I feel helpless hunting Sika but the challenge is what seems to be there. I hunted on the public lands of Dorchester as well around the Elliots Island rd area.

[HI TIDES DRIFTER]

Sounds like a hand held GPS might be the ticket in those marshes.

Does anyone know if there are any sikas on the Eastern Shore of Va.? I thought I heard there were some in Saxis Refuge? I would love the challenge as well!

GOOD LUCK

BILL

[choptank]

Mark..never got the b-mail

I have seen sikas around the Chincoteague Va area often ( on road sides eating grasses).

[mrobertson]

Do they tend to move during daylight more while they are in rut? My whole problem is they move around before light and i never see them again. I do hunt the marsh edge and i see them often. Maybe a corn pile on highground is just what i need.

[MarkTakacs]

Choptank you are too fast for me check again.

Plenty of tame Sika deer on Assateague Island, had a six pointer at the ranger station, twelve noon, 90 degrees.....did not care about me at ten yards.

The wild Sika are very curious, if not dumb (maybe they just dont know what people are?). They like to walk toward you, wont leave when you shot their friend, and you have push them off the road at night with your bumper.
The mature stags may be a little different but they are not affraid of my Camtracker flash. It took five photos of a very nice stag that preceded to lay down in front on the camera?

You just have to been there!!
When we try for Sika.....we kill whitetail......but it happens.


Mark

[mrobertson]

Hey Mark i replied to your bmail and sent you an email. I look forward to hearing from you

[wino]

I have been bowhunting sika deer for 25 years in Dorchester county on my property and in Blackwater. They are extremely nocturnal except during the rut which occurs in October. During the rut they let their guard down but are still wary of sudden movement in a stand. During January they gather in groups and become a herd. I hunt them hard during the rut but after the rut concentrate on Whitetails because the Sika are so wary and nocturnal. We killed 4 on my property this year, 2 cows and 2 6 point staggs which were fully mature. The meat is as good as it gets and i rank it up there with Moose, nothing better on the grill.If you want to kill one after the rut set up a feeder and stay in the blind late.