Drawn for Yuchi Refuge Archery Oct 13-14

[da83moon]

I was wondering if anyone has hunted there and care's to share any pointers. I've never been there and have been looking at the maps. Has anyone on that has been there had any luck?

 

[churly]

I’ve only drive through the place once so I gotta learn the “upland zone” as I was drawn for MZL hunt in December

 

[bigfish21]

I hunted the rifle hunt last year and one of my boys had the last youth hunt the weekend before. Last year sucked over there as they never got the corn cut so the deer never had to really leave the fields. We saw one good buck on the youth hunt but he could not get in position to shoot before he saw us. I managed killing a doe the last evening last possible minute of shooting light of my rifle hunt. I think out of all the hunts there last year only about 20 or so deer were killed with only 1 or 2 good bucks. We will be there for the first youth hunt and the upland muzzleloader hunt in Dec also. Seeing deer is not really an issue there but in the last 4 years of hunting there I have only saw that 1 good buck last year but then again until my rifle hunt all my times in there has been with kids.

 

[SpurHunter]

The further away and higher up you go the better your chances are. There are a lot of studs in there that get educated by the road riders. Good luck

 

[WackemandStackem11]

I have been hunting up there the past 4 years on the juvenile hunts and also the gun hunt. I found a lot of dead deer up there last year that died from EHD. We saw 3 deer between the juvenile hunt and gun hunt last year. Hunt as far off the road and high up the ridge as possible. But that place is trouble...

 

[da83moon]

Thanks for the responses. WackemNdstackem what did you mean that place is trouble? Using a bow would you all take a stand in or keep movng and use natural cover

 

[WackemandStackem11]

Deer numbers are as low as I have ever seen up there. It’s really hard to recover from EHD without reducing hunting pressure is all. I hope that’s in there plan in the near future.

 

[da83moon]

I understand. I was thinking like falling off a ravine or something. This is only my 7 th year hunting and second quota, with hiwasse being the first, and it left a bad taste after I thought I'd went as far as possible out of the way, but it seemed like people just walked around like at a store. I've been mapping it, and it looks like the ravines are numerous. I'm hoping to get to go up there and look around a few times to get an idea of the land. I'm not real familiar with if they just let you walk around prior to hunts starting.

 

[bigfish21]

There is some steep ridges in there for sure. I have walked all over that place. That's the good thing about up there is you can go scout pretty much anytime as long as there isn't a quota hunt going on. Right before you get to the old church house which is where they check in the deer at there is a gate on the left. If you follow that road down you can get to the back side of the ridges. Its a long walk but during the hunts they open that gate so you can drive back to a parking area in there.

 

[da83moon]

BigFish21 Thank you for that information. I plan to hike as far as possible to be able to get a good setup. Do you all normally ground hunt or carry your stand for archery?

 

[bigfish21]

I've only archery hunted one time and that was about 7 years ago and I carried a stand just because I cant hunt with a bow on the ground. Every other time has been on the ground or in a blind. If it was me I would set my stand up on Friday and just lock it down to save from having to deal with it on the morning of. To knock on wood I have set up blinds before on the day before and never had anyone mess with them. Also it would be a good idea to download the Onyx hunting app on your phone to mark your spot. If you try to use those bright eyes tacks to mark your trail you might be follow the wrong trail because when you turn on your flashlight in most places it looks like disco balls thru the woods. Lol

 

[wjhfish]

I drew the ML hunt last year and it has to be in the top 3 worst hunts I have been on. I took a couple sandwiches and water and stayed in my stand from before daylight until after dark. Never came down. My plan was to stay in just in case hunters that got down moving around may jump something my way. NOTHING ALL DAY.... Not a doe, buck, bird, squirrel, nothing. I talked to the game warden on the way out and I was the last to leave and he said that only 2 doe were shot on the first day. The problem may have been standing corn and the heat, but it was bad. I would not recommend stalking like you asked. There will be other hunters that will not like you walking into their stand location. Just my opinion on the stalk suggestion. Good Luck