Wipe the slate clean & start at the beginning?

[tmarbut]

For about 30 years I have loved hunting whitetail deer. I have had decent success-as much or more than most I know in my fish-bowl. I read, I study, I listen to anyone who sounds like they know something I don't. I gobbled up Outdoor Life, F & S, and many others, believing this was as good as it got without going to some swanky place & paying way too much $$. Now, I am feeling like that has all been a colossal wast of time since becoming a part of this group in the last several weeks! Blessings or curses? I don't know! Both really, although this would have been nice about twenty years ago! Hahaha!

Ok, I really dont have issues, but this site has become an obsession for me due to the fact that I am trying to absorb any & everything I can to make up for lost time! This all makes so much sense that I am thinking I should wipe the slate clean, start at the beginning, BEAST style. I dont want to do things halfway...aint wasting time no more, as Gregg Allman once sang. Thoughts?

WHERE DO I START? The Hill Country video? Books? Suggestions from any are greatly appreciated!

T Marbut

[ Post made via iPad ]

[wibowhntr]

Getting the hill country video and the marsh video will be money well spent!

[live2hunt]

Combine what you know with what you learn. There is no right or wrong for every situation. So just add to your knowledge you never know when you have to pull out an old trick to get on an old buck. I am contantly taking in everything I can so I assume that is why I am on here all the time reading. I was opened up to beast style before last season. I wouldn't say that it completely changed the way I hunt just helped open up my eyes to fine tune, and made me think out of the box a little.

[Stanley]

Getting the hill country video and the marsh video will be money well spent!

I agree get these DVDs. Hunt with the knowledge you have and build up from there.

[fishlips]

Watch both the videos. I think the marsh one is excellent and the hill one is pretty good. Don't get as much out of the hill country one mainly because I don't hunt that type of terrain as often anymore.

They will change the way you hunt. Like others have said, tie in what works for you now with what you get from the videos and you should see your success go up.

I'll admit, I still read all the stuff in the magazines and they definitely don't come close to providing anywhere near the info that I got from the two DVDs. They are definitely worth the money.

[headgear]

Welcome tmarbut!!! Sounds like you have seen the light, get both hill county and marsh bucks vids and watch and rewatch them. You can often relate past encounters with knew knowledge and even look at land you have hunted for years in a whole new light.

[PK_]

The Hillcountry and Marsh Bucks DVD blow any other literature out of the water. But I would also suggest John Eberharts DVD set., he has a different style but awesome success as well.

I would suggest a few books:

Mapping trophy Whitetails - Brad Herndon
Real World Whitetail Behavior - Jim Roy
Whitetails, a research based hunting model - Robert Sheppard
How To bag the biggest buck of your life - Larry Benoit
Bowhunting Trophy Whitetails - Bobby Worthington

All of those books are written by hunters with very different hunting styles but all are very successful. Find the common denominators and build your own strategy(ies).

Best of luck.

[KLEMZ]

For about 30 years I have loved hunting whitetail deer.

tmarbut, as you develop your new beast style hunting you will happily discover you are having more fun than ever hunting for deer. More and more, your hunts will be based on sign based strategy as opposed to needle in a haystack luck. Do not be in too big of a hurry to be "successful" or compare yourself to anyone else on this site. We all have unique situations we are dealing with that present there own unique challenges.

You will not have to "wipe the slate clean". Rather, you will look at your previous knowledge thru a new filter and keep the parts that work.

Here is a typical "timeline" for learning bed based mature buck hunting...(my personal development)

-finding beds, any beds, while spring scouting...and being really excited about it!
-differentiating buck beds from doe beds ( this did not happen for me on the first year I scouted beast style)
-figure out a way to keep track of all the new public land spots you are finding.. field notes, drawing on maps etc.... it gets overwhelming
-figuring out that just finding beds isn't good enough, you must have an approach and a set up that works for that bed...this is still a work in progress for me after four years!
-identifying primary, mature buck beds vs lesser used big buck beds or smaller buck beds...again, this has taken me four years to feel confident about knowing what I have found...studying tracks was the key for me to make this leap.
-knowing which beds are not really worthy from all the hundreds you may have accumulated over the last four years...some of this will be obvious to you once you have a few primary mature beds set up. Some of this will only come after lots of time and observation..
-knowing WHEN to hunt that big buck bed! Again, TIME and observation

tmarbut, you will have the time of your life hunting this way, but it takes time to put the pieces together.

[headgear]

You will not have to "wipe the slate clean". Rather, you will look at your previous knowledge thru a new filter and keep the parts that work.

Totally agree, you have a world of knowledge already, use the knew info with the old and you will be much more effective.

[dan]

Don't "wipe the slate clean" but rather mix what works for us with what works for you... The thing about hunting the way the TV shows and magazines dictate is that if your hunting based on food, rubs, scrapes, trails, etc. you have to keep in mind that bucks do these activities at night 95% of the time. By taking there bedding into account you can get closer to the daytime movement...
As others have said, get marsh bucks and Hill country from the Beast store and watch Marsh bucks 1st cause it lays out the fundamentals and will help you understand hill country even better...

[tmarbut]

I really appreciate the feedback! Great advice about reframing my perspective as opposed to starting over.
Klemz, you nailed it for me: this hunting season is already more fun! I am hunting with a real purpose now, and it sure is fun!
I will be getting those videos real soon & resharpening my brain tool!
Happy hunting to you all!
TM

[ Post made via iPad ]

[3dpinwheeler]

The Hillcountry and Marsh Bucks DVD blow any other literature out of the water. But I would also suggest John Eberharts DVD set., he has a different style but awesome success as well.

I would suggest a few books:

Mapping trophy Whitetails - Brad Herndon
Real World Whitetail Behavior - Jim Roy
Whitetails, a research based hunting model - Robert Sheppard
How To bag the biggest buck of your life - Larry Benoit
Bowhunting Trophy Whitetails - Bobby Worthington

All of those books are written by hunters with very different hunting styles but all are very successful. Find the common denominators and build your own strategy(ies).

Best of luck.

Google John Eberhart, he has a few books that are excellent, much better than the DVD's as far as info. Bowhunting Trophy Whitetails by Bobby Worthington is a must have also. Both of these books have really helped put the pieces together for rut activity and setups. The Beast style is excellent as well and wish Dan would put pen to paper and go in depth on these methods even more. This website is a great resource for really figuring out how to kill a slob right in his wheel house. Lots of info just keep reading and absorbing all the great threads of info on here. Dan's DVD's are very informative on how to do it... a must see.