Unread postby Jonny » Fri Oct 13, 2017 6:42 am
I have talked about this hunting style with my dad, showed him the buck line up, and got him to watch the public land stuff on midwest whitetail. All I got out of him was that everybody was lying about being on public, and was hunting over bait or food plots. End of talking about this stuff.
I don't believe he was negative about this style of hunting. I think too many people have stuff engraved in their brains on HOW to do something, and have tunnel vision, failing to see everything around them. For me, its to the point where I do what I can with what I am given right now. I don't have the luxury of hunting where I want. I don't have the luxury of having a lot of time to hunt during the season, or anytime during the spring to scout properly. Most people don't see that deer hunting is really a year round thing, or at least 3/4 of the year (not the biggest believer in summer scouting at the moment). Which is fine by me. Everybody can do what they please, but its no coincidence that the guys who see the most success here are the guys who have the most hours and miles logged into their hunting season and preparation.
Knowing my limits, especially for this season, I am simply trying to prepare myself for the future. Forcing myself to use my hang on and sticks every hunt even though most spots I have hunted I don't really need it. Instead of staying around the cabin drinking beer until 4pm for an evening hunt, I try to get dropped off at 11 or 12 to scout my way back to a spot I want to hunt. I am not optimistic I will see success bowhunting this year because I don't have the preparation for it, or the hours to just pound it out and hunt hard. But I know at the end of the year, I will be closer to success because I am learning things that will prove vital in the future. Reading aerials and topos and then walking through the woods to understand how things work in real life, for example.
Everybody I hunt with only goes out and hunts. They do very little scouting, because in their mind they feel their best odds to shoot a deer are by sitting on their stand and waiting it out. In all honesty, I feel I have better chances carrying my bow, stand and sticks with me all day, every day of the season and maybe hunting one evening on the best sign I find. A lot of hunters just don't see that, and see hunting as scout first, hunt second.
Magicman had a couple really good posts that really got me thinking for a couple days regarding bigwoods bowhunting. He talked about some of his friends scouting until they had fresh sign, then going in and killing the buck. Kind of made me look at how I have been hunting, and it showed me that my best encounters were the ones when I hunted fresh sign. My worst hunts were in areas that once were good and had lots of old sign. I scout with my dad and he sees all the rubs and wants to hunt it. I see the same rubs and see they are all weeks old. We hunt it anyways, and see nothing. I was fairly certain of that going in, but just had to see it with my own eyes first.
So really, I don't think that the beast style of hunting has any negativity behind it. The negativity is people not seeing the bigger picture and connecting the dots. This stuff isn't rocket science to me. It makes sense, but it didn't until I opened my eyes and saw what I had been missing and ignoring.
I'd love for my dad to agree on this style of hunting. But reality is, he won't. Which is too bad, but then again, maybe I will be better off really hunting the way I want, and once I graduate, moving to an area where I will have the land I want to roam. Until then, its just preparing myself now for the work I will have to do later, and doing what I can now. Researching properties, cyber scouting, and getting the fundamentals down. Getting in shape, being comfortable with the stand and sticks, improving my mental toughness regarding hunting. Keeping eyes on the prize.
You have a monkey Mr. Munson?