Blackwolf, tell me more about your big woods tactics.....

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fredhill
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Re: Blackwolf, tell me more about your big woods tactics....

Unread postby fredhill » Fri Jul 13, 2012 12:35 pm

Stanley wrote:Great read Jim. I consider big woods to be one of the toughest to hunt.

agreed


KLEMZ
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Re: Blackwolf, tell me more about your big woods tactics....

Unread postby KLEMZ » Sun Jul 15, 2012 4:09 am

blackwolf wrote:By spot checking, I mean heading in to stand as if I was going to hunt it, in mid-day and only with right wind, and not walking around much, just looking immediate stand vicinity at trail use, rub, scrape etc. and using this info to decide if stand needs to be set up if it hasn't been already. Some stands I have set up ahead and some I wait to see sign or for legal reasons are not up yet. If I get a rainy day, I especially like to get a lot of spots checked out. I start spot checking about Oct 20-25th for first prerut stand sets. Depends on what day I can actually start hunting. A couple of my spots are usually good every year but most are variable and I don't want to waste time placing a stand until I know I will probably hunt it. Depending on how my hunt is going I may spot check best spots again 3-4 days later as sign can change in a hurry. A doe in heat in a particular area can increase sign dramatically. I usually hunt half hour after daylight until 12-1pm. Then I will do some spot checking unless I am pulling an all dayer. If I feel good about the 2-4 stands I am hunting, I will spot check much less than if things are not looking so good at my prime locations. It is all aabout feeling confident with stand choices and not finding out after season that I should have been hunting one of my other locations. Hope this explains it better. Jim


I bowhunt similar terrain as you during the rut (north wisconsin big woods). I've always been torn between hunting virgin set ups based off my spring scouting vs spot checking my set ups and only hunting the active looking spots after a little "contamination". Like you, I have a couple spots that are always active, and MANY spots that are hit or miss from year to year. these hit or miss spots are awesome when the deer are there, but a huge waste of precious time when they are not there. I can see the value of spot checking these spots.

One observation I have made many times in the big woods is watching both bucks and does walk right over my walk in trail during the rut. My access close to stand is usually thru open hardwoods to eliminate touching vegetation. I guess my point is, as long as the spotchecking is done in a way to keep your scent stream away from deer and only leave that ground scent where you walked, then some careful spot checking probably is more helpful than harmful in the big woods rut hunting situation. there are just too many places for the deer to be living to leave it up to luck.

blackwolf, this season I will plan to spot check and see how things play out.
blackwolf
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Re: Blackwolf, tell me more about your big woods tactics....

Unread postby blackwolf » Sun Jul 15, 2012 8:13 am

KLemz, I know what you mean, I actually hate to even go near my stands, so afraid of spooking that one big one or leaving too much scent, but like you said, you hate to waste precious time in the rut hunting a poor stand. If I am not real confident in a stand, I find it impossible to sit until noon or 1pm much less all day.


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