• Sikas leave lots of visible evidence that they are using the area. Stags mark areas with wallows; the equivalent of a whitetail’s scrape. They are normally found on islands, tumps, fingers of land that are slightly elevated above the marshy part of their habitat. These muddy holes average one to two feet in diameter and stink as the stags often urinate in them then wallow or roll around in them just like bull elk do. During the heavy rut you can often smell the stags before you see them. They also thrash and rub bushes and pine saplings and break off phrag stalks. Trails are fairly easy to find and follow in a marsh. As with other species check for trails and droppings. Of course, you can’t beat physical sightings. Trail cameras can tell you a lot about the sikas using your area.
• IDing areas where bugling is occurring gives you great advantage in knowing where the stags like to hang out if trophy racks are your thing. The best times to listen are sunrise and sunset especially on cold days of course you can hear them at any time not just during the rut. High temperatures sometimes tend to shut them up.
• Make vocalizations as sikas are very vocal animals and you can call in males and females alike. In calling stags you appeal to 1) dominance and 2) sex drive. Challenge a bugling stag with a bugle and/or growl and you’ll find out quickly if he thinks he’s the baddest stag in the area. With hunting sikas through the years, I’ve found that you usually can’t call a stag 300 or 400 yards across a marsh. So, you need to move to the stag’s core area which, often times, is a thick phrag or briar bed. It’s important to be quiet and not blow the stag out of the area. Once you get set up close to his bedroom, a challenging bugle can get him to close the distance quickly looking to make contact with the intruding stag. Use some whines, soft whistles or chirps (hind/cow talk) and you may sweet-talk him in. Hinds and calves also respond to all of the sounds. You can team up with a friend; one calling with the other out front. Always be cognizant of wind direction when setting up. Distances can vary depending on the weapon used. The Sika Seducer is the premier call marketed and sold widely. Elk calls can be modified as well.
• Sikas like to move early in the morning and at last light- that’s not to say that they don’t move at other times. Make sure you arrive early and stay until the end of legal shooting time. During the rut, however, stags are active and moving all day. The best stags I’ve taken have been cruising at mid day.
• When hunting the sika marshes it’s good to use a GPS or compass as the marshes all look similar at night and even sometimes during the day. I sometimes will tie a cylume or glow stick up in a tree (home base so to speak) if I have to head out into the marsh to find a sika that’s been hit.
• Use Google Earth or a similar program to help in your quest for taking a sika. The satellite images available now are invaluable in helping you understand a lot about the vegetation features in the territory you are hunting in. Small islands of vegetation, phragmites beds, openings in heavy cover and mud flats will be very apparent.
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