"Beast style" negativity

Discuss deer hunting tactics, Deer behavior. Post your Hunting Stories, Pictures, and Questions/Answers.
  • Advertisement

HB Store


User avatar
bigwoodsmn
Posts: 1751
Joined: Mon Dec 03, 2012 1:15 pm
Status: Offline

Re: "Beast style" negativity

Unread postby bigwoodsmn » Thu Dec 05, 2013 5:39 am

Some people will pick up the goodies and run with them.

Yesterday, a retired WI DNR friend of mine applied some ground hunting/tracking info I've been all jacked up about for the last 4-5 years. He tracked and killed a big buck yesterday - 10pt with 20" spread. I also killed the biggest buck I've ever seen, a few years ago, at 10 yards face to face while still-hunting. The stuff works.

He tracked it 5 hours yesterday and killed that buck. I sent him my best books and videos a while back. Right away he killed a couple does in their beds. We talked on the phone about picking bigger bucks to pick on... width of stance (8-12"), length of stride (2ft+), shape of foot (square track), width of foot, length of toes. Is the track old but looks new? Is the track new but looks old? What will the buck walk around when not pressured? What will the buck walk through when not pressured (getting a "look" at the antlers without having seen them yet). Is the buck catchable... i.e. was the track made in the night and the buck is heading to a bedding area? (more catchable). Was the buck leaving a bed and heading out on a long night of doe chasing (less catchable unless he gets caught up with a doe or feeds and beds). All the stuff other great hunters have made available... big picture ideas, little picture tips...

Some people will do something with the goodies! I wish I could have helped him drag that buck out today - he had to dress it and leave it. This is a friend I haven't seen in person in probably 10 years and he's 30 years older than me... but in this buck hunting "hobby" we have a lot in common.


dan
Site Owner
Posts: 41554
Joined: Sat Feb 13, 2010 6:11 am
Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/HuntingBeast/?ref=bookmarks
Location: S.E. Wisconsin
Contact:
Status: Offline

Re: "Beast style" negativity

Unread postby dan » Thu Dec 05, 2013 5:49 am

bigwoodsmn wrote:Some people will pick up the goodies and run with them.

Yesterday, a retired WI DNR friend of mine applied some ground hunting/tracking info I've been all jacked up about for the last 4-5 years. He tracked and killed a big buck yesterday - 10pt with 20" spread. I also killed the biggest buck I've ever seen, a few years ago, at 10 yards face to face while still-hunting. The stuff works.

He tracked it 5 hours yesterday and killed that buck. I sent him my best books and videos a while back. Right away he killed a couple does in their beds. We talked on the phone about picking bigger bucks to pick on... width of stance (8-12"), length of stride (2ft+), shape of foot (square track), width of foot, length of toes. Is the track old but looks new? Is the track new but looks old? What will the buck walk around when not pressured? What will the buck walk through when not pressured (getting a "look" at the antlers without having seen them yet). Is the buck catchable... i.e. was the track made in the night and the buck is heading to a bedding area? (more catchable). Was the buck leaving a bed and heading out on a long night of doe chasing (less catchable unless he gets caught up with a doe or feeds and beds). All the stuff other great hunters have made available... big picture ideas, little picture tips...

Some people will do something with the goodies! I wish I could have helped him drag that buck out today - he had to dress it and leave it. This is a friend I haven't seen in person in probably 10 years and he's 30 years older than me... but in this buck hunting "hobby" we have a lot in common.

It always feels good to know you helped a little in a friends success, especially if you look up to that person. 8-)
User avatar
hunter_mike
Moderator
Posts: 8289
Joined: Wed Aug 15, 2012 3:24 pm
Location: south central WI
Status: Offline

Re: "Beast style" negativity

Unread postby hunter_mike » Thu Dec 05, 2013 5:56 am

bigwoodsmn wrote:Some people will pick up the goodies and run with them.

Yesterday, a retired WI DNR friend of mine applied some ground hunting/tracking info I've been all jacked up about for the last 4-5 years. He tracked and killed a big buck yesterday - 10pt with 20" spread. I also killed the biggest buck I've ever seen, a few years ago, at 10 yards face to face while still-hunting. The stuff works.

He tracked it 5 hours yesterday and killed that buck. I sent him my best books and videos a while back. Right away he killed a couple does in their beds. We talked on the phone about picking bigger bucks to pick on... width of stance (8-12"), length of stride (2ft+), shape of foot (square track), width of foot, length of toes. Is the track old but looks new? Is the track new but looks old? What will the buck walk around when not pressured? What will the buck walk through when not pressured (getting a "look" at the antlers without having seen them yet). Is the buck catchable... i.e. was the track made in the night and the buck is heading to a bedding area? (more catchable). Was the buck leaving a bed and heading out on a long night of doe chasing (less catchable unless he gets caught up with a doe or feeds and beds). All the stuff other great hunters have made available... big picture ideas, little picture tips...

Some people will do something with the goodies! I wish I could have helped him drag that buck out today - he had to dress it and leave it. This is a friend I haven't seen in person in probably 10 years and he's 30 years older than me... but in this buck hunting "hobby" we have a lot in common.



Thats good stuff right there. I've started keying in on tracks more and more this year and I love when not only there are big tracks but there are enough tracks to see the size of the stride, you can almost picture the animal standing there and how big of a deer it would take to make that pattern. Gets me jacked up just thinking back about some of those tracks you can just see that a big buck made them.
“The master has failed more times than the beginner has even tried.”
62kodiak
500 Club
Posts: 779
Joined: Tue Nov 26, 2013 3:15 pm
Location: North Metro, MN
Status: Offline

Re: "Beast style" negativity

Unread postby 62kodiak » Thu Dec 05, 2013 6:09 pm

I am glad it is not just me. Since I watched the marsh hunting DVD the first time I have been very excited to try these tactics. I have discussed it with my buddies and they think I am nuts. I lost a few of them with the idea of hunting so close to a bedding area and the rest stopped listening when I mentioned that Dan doesn't pimp scent control like all the rest of the "experts" out there. It makes it hard to want to give these tactics a fair shake when everybody keeps telling you that you will be wasting your time. Luckily I found this site and you great guys. You have lit a fire under my but and I am hoping that I can start killing some deer next year using these tactics.

You guys rock.
It's not the knowing that's difficult, but the doing.
User avatar
tgreeno
500 Club
Posts: 4770
Joined: Fri Feb 19, 2016 5:06 am
Location: WI
Status: Offline

Re: "Beast style" negativity

Unread postby tgreeno » Thu Oct 12, 2017 3:57 pm

Spysar wrote:Beast style hunting is basically Dan style hunting. Dan has proven his techniques many times. They work. I'm gonna say not all deer areas are created equal, and "Beast" style is gonna work better in some areas than others. There are things you have to take from beast style hunting, and mesh them with your own style hunting. Nothing beats your own observations.


This quote by Spysar really hits home with me! I feel like I haven't found my stride yet with this style hunting.

Dan can only show us the door...We have to walk thru it! (great matrix quote)
--------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
It's better to keep your mouth shut and appear stupid, than to open it an remove all doubt
User avatar
MN_DeerHunter
500 Club
Posts: 1344
Joined: Sat Sep 21, 2013 2:00 pm
Location: MN
Status: Offline

Re: "Beast style" negativity

Unread postby MN_DeerHunter » Fri Oct 13, 2017 12:48 am

I showed a coworker the DVD a while back and I think he thought it was way to much work. When I hear someone say that it's too much work I think of Dan when he has said if you're doing what 99% of other hunters do, you're going to have the same results they do, and not many of those guys are getting opportunities at nice bucks on a regular basis. (Or something like that).

Which brings me to my favorite quote:
"If you always did what you always done, you always get what you always got". -Randy Newberg
JoeFranchise
Posts: 100
Joined: Fri Aug 19, 2016 7:54 am
Location: Wisconsin
Status: Offline

Re: "Beast style" negativity

Unread postby JoeFranchise » Fri Oct 13, 2017 1:11 am

headgear wrote:This seems pretty common to me. There are hunters who see the light and "get it" and there are those that just don't want to learn or try to be a better hunter. I have watched marsh bucks with a few friends and family, most of them fall asleep. The ones who do understand are blown away by the tactics and hit the woods hard. You can't help those who choose not to be helped.


Well said.

It's funny, over the last 4-5 years a few of my buddies who used to laugh at "beast tactics" see the continued success and are finally starting to get on board; funny enough they have seen some success over the last few years on mature deer :lol:... Still plenty of others that just watch too much "mainstream" hunting tv, sit over food plots, won't hunt just off winds, won't hunt mobile, refuse to be the least bit intrusive towards bedding, etc. -- they, again, more than likely cannot be helped...

Joe
User avatar
magicman54494
500 Club
Posts: 4188
Joined: Fri Feb 26, 2010 6:05 pm
Location: central and northern WI
Status: Offline

Re: "Beast style" negativity

Unread postby magicman54494 » Fri Oct 13, 2017 1:36 am

you can lead a man to info but you cant make him think.
JoeFranchise
Posts: 100
Joined: Fri Aug 19, 2016 7:54 am
Location: Wisconsin
Status: Offline

Re: "Beast style" negativity

Unread postby JoeFranchise » Fri Oct 13, 2017 1:39 am

As an example;

I hunt a piece of public land in WI that has an adjoining 120 acres of private leased by two very nice guys. They are brothers who have leased the land for at least the last 10 years. In those 10 years I know for a fact - in talking with them and other neighbors, between the two of them, they have shot one mature buck (3yr old 9 pt) with a bow.

These guys love to talk hunting (just not my type of hunting), love to show me trail camera pictures of great deer from 11:00PM to 3:00AM, and constantly complain about the lack of mature deer they are seeing on their feet during the day (too warm, locked down already, no does in heat yet, wrong moon phase, etc., etc..)

I have tried talking beast tactics with them, they want nothing to do with it, which is fine, to each their own. Most conversations now steer towards their preferred subject matter; food plots, box blind placement, ozonics :lol:, the brand new bows they are shooting/camo/gear they are wearing every year, cover scents, mock scrapes, you get the drift... :D

Some things they do that only make the adjoining public land better...
- Hunt box blinds over food plots with no consideration as to the wind direction
- Drive 4-wheelers ~100 yards from their blinds and walk the remainder of the way in
- Have ~6 blind/stand locations they switch between, every day, for 2 weeks during the rut
- Rattle and blind call... a lot
- Use decoys constantly
- Bait next to their stand locations in the food plots (usually whatever gimmicky product is guaranteed to make giant bucks appear during daylight hours out of thin air ;))

In the mean time, over the last 5 years I have killed 3 mature bucks off the adjoining public, my cousin has killed one, and a close friend killed another. I occasionally feel somewhat bad, as they don't know my Cousin, my buddy or I have killed any of these deer (they just magically disappear off their trail cameras). Must have changed their home range the following year I guess ;)

Joe
User avatar
Greg4579
Posts: 201
Joined: Sun Dec 18, 2016 3:19 pm
Location: SW PA
Status: Offline

Re: "Beast style" negativity

Unread postby Greg4579 » Fri Oct 13, 2017 1:41 am

Being a new bow hunter in general I gravitated to the Beast because it was the first site I found where someone wasn't trying to sell me something or push merchandise. The level of knowledge and expertise told me this is where I needed to be. The knowledge shared here in unparalleled, but it needs to be combined with time in the woods and experience. The core knowledge is here, but you need to apply it and expand upon it through your own observations where you hunt.

Living in SW PA there is no shortage of hunting pressure. Most of the bow hunters I talk to (include some who put down very nice deer each year) think I am insane to keep my stand on my back and to be mobile. I get preached to weekly, if not daily that I need to have a half-dozen ladder stands that I can rotate to. I also get lectured on spending so many trips in the early season. They all seem to be primarily rut hunters. They are also primarily spot hunters. Through the years they found or got access to some great spot and they stick with it. I am not judging, but rather I do not want to hunt this way. One of my main motivations was that I did not come from a hunting family, and I wanted to be able to teach my son when he gets older the right way to hunt. I feel confident I will be able to do so through the help I get on this site and the hard work I am putting in.
User avatar
tgreeno
500 Club
Posts: 4770
Joined: Fri Feb 19, 2016 5:06 am
Location: WI
Status: Offline

Re: "Beast style" negativity

Unread postby tgreeno » Fri Oct 13, 2017 1:48 am

I would consider myself a closet beast. I don't talk to anyone about what is discuss on here. My wife knows the forum "I'm obsessed with". But other than that, I keep my tactics to myself. No sense "informing" others who may infringe into some of my spots. I just let everyone else sit in their same spots year after year.

Truth is...I really have yet to be successful hunting this way. I'm sure if I started stacking up big bucks, people would start asking more questions.
--------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
It's better to keep your mouth shut and appear stupid, than to open it an remove all doubt
d_rek
Posts: 402
Joined: Tue Dec 17, 2013 7:43 am
Location: Michigan
Status: Offline

Re: "Beast style" negativity

Unread postby d_rek » Fri Oct 13, 2017 2:29 am

I like a lot of the beast tactics in principle, but am struggling to apply that to my hunting situations here in Michigan. How are you supposed to hunt beds when another hunter takes a leisurely stroll right through the middle of them? And it's not like those deer come back to those beds. Once they're gone they're really gone. Best case scenario is they're completely nocturnal.

I can get aggressive with in-season tactics, but there's a huge risk in pushing deer off small tracts of public and private land onto neighboring properties. And there aren't too many pieces of public land near me where you can 'get away from the crowd' or go 'where someone else wont'. And private is just as pressured as public (if not more so).

A few of my close hunting friends know what beast style is, but it is still fairly new to them as well. I think they are still trying to figure out how to apply beast tactics to their hunting situations too.

I don't bother bringing it up to casual hunters or old timers, just like I don't bother talking scent control with them either. They are generally very dismissive of anything other than what they've done for years or decades. You can lead a horse to water and all that...

Still, i'm optimistic. I'm eager to learn and want to increase my success as a deer hunter. I'm happy to put in the work and make mistakes.
"I don't know what the f*** this is but it's weird as f*** so i'm leaving."
-The Deep
Tennhunter3
500 Club
Posts: 7864
Joined: Tue Dec 09, 2014 12:54 pm
Location: Medon Tn
Status: Offline

Re: "Beast style" negativity

Unread postby Tennhunter3 » Fri Oct 13, 2017 2:36 am

Most hunters are not willing to put in miles of legwork and effort.

Beast hunting the first 2 seasons for me were really hard. I still feel like I'm learning all the time. Most hunters give up so easily and are lazy. I've been told multiple times the areas I hunt don't have mature bucks or they are ghost.

I know I'm seeing more bucks then I ever did before hunting beast style.

I stopped even telling people how I hunt now they just get this weird look on their face and ask you walk how far to a stand?

I reply Yes I walk a mile...Yes my back hurts ...yes I'm kinda crazy... and yes I see more bucks doing this.

They say we'll I only hunt private in my box stand over a cornfield.
Never give up Freedom for imagined safety.
User avatar
rfickes87
500 Club
Posts: 1076
Joined: Wed Jul 06, 2016 4:27 am
Location: PENNSYLVANIA
Status: Offline

Re: "Beast style" negativity

Unread postby rfickes87 » Fri Oct 13, 2017 4:13 am

I've tried turning my buddies onto this site. I don't think they're ever too interested. I just shut up about it now. I used to talk wind/bedding and pass along everything I've learned but its like they either don't believe me or just think I'm nuts.

In my second season as a beast hunter now I don't have any big buck kills yet to show for it but I know in my heart I'm right there. I've put in a ton of work that I wouldn't have done before. Dan's knowledge that he's passed on gives me the confidence to put in the extra effort that I wouldn't have before. I can walk onto any public property now and go straight to bedding. Everything has a pattern now and I know that pattern. Just a matter of time before I kill my first beast buck. CAn't wait to look back on this 10 years from now... I mean just in 2 years my knowledge has gone thru the roof. Nice bucks will start to die. I KNOW IT!!!
"Pressure and Time. That's all it takes, really. Pressure, and time..."
dan
Site Owner
Posts: 41554
Joined: Sat Feb 13, 2010 6:11 am
Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/HuntingBeast/?ref=bookmarks
Location: S.E. Wisconsin
Contact:
Status: Offline

Re: "Beast style" negativity

Unread postby dan » Fri Oct 13, 2017 4:27 am

d_rek wrote:I like a lot of the beast tactics in principle, but am struggling to apply that to my hunting situations here in Michigan. How are you supposed to hunt beds when another hunter takes a leisurely stroll right through the middle of them? And it's not like those deer come back to those beds. Once they're gone they're really gone. Best case scenario is they're completely nocturnal.

I can get aggressive with in-season tactics, but there's a huge risk in pushing deer off small tracts of public and private land onto neighboring properties. And there aren't too many pieces of public land near me where you can 'get away from the crowd' or go 'where someone else wont'. And private is just as pressured as public (if not more so).

A few of my close hunting friends know what beast style is, but it is still fairly new to them as well. I think they are still trying to figure out how to apply beast tactics to their hunting situations too.

I don't bother bringing it up to casual hunters or old timers, just like I don't bother talking scent control with them either. They are generally very dismissive of anything other than what they've done for years or decades. You can lead a horse to water and all that...

Still, i'm optimistic. I'm eager to learn and want to increase my success as a deer hunter. I'm happy to put in the work and make mistakes.
Believe it or not, S.E. Wisc is a lot like that. You really need to find the over looked pockets. If there is mature bucks, there are spots they are living and hiding right under everyones nose.


  • Advertisement

Return to “Deer Hunting”

Who is online

Users browsing this forum: Google [Bot], Jackson Marsh, tn-bear and 126 guests