Being too mobile...??

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

HB Store


briar
500 Club
Posts: 1700
Joined: Wed Oct 23, 2013 3:57 am
Status: Offline

Being too mobile...??

Unread postby briar » Wed Dec 03, 2014 1:17 am

I know one of the cornerstones of the beast hunting method is to be extremely mobile. I understand the reason and why it works, but a while ago somebody posted something about spreading yourself too thin..and it got me thinking. Most of the time I actually have success either by sightings or a shot is in a place I have hunted before either over the years, or made small moves during the year do to observations while doing another hunt in the same woods. If I moved different woods everytime I hunted I would miss out on these chances to make adjustments.

Anyone else have a similar experience and what are your thoughts?


User avatar
PK_
500 Club
Posts: 6894
Joined: Tue Nov 20, 2012 5:10 am
Location: Just Off
Status: Offline

Re: Being too mobile...??

Unread postby PK_ » Wed Dec 03, 2014 1:59 am

I can tell you I made this mistake last weekend and I realized my mistake pretty quick. I was hunting a piece of public I was in last year. Unfortunately they did a bunch of logging and clearing to get rid of some invasive plant, destroying all the killer bedding areas I had hunted/scouted.

I went in and hung in a new area, hunted it that evening and the next morning and was seeing plenty of deer on each sit, but I pulled out because I felt it was burned. Long story short I didn't end up in a spot half as good for the rest of the weekend. I should have made a minor adjustment for the wind and sat that spot harder. I am pretty sure it would have payed off. It was a perfect secluded funnel between several hot bedding areas. Only good part is the rut there is not until January and I will hopefully have a chance to hunt it then...
No Shortcuts. No Excuses. No Regrets.
Everybody's selling dreams. I'm too cheap to buy one.
Rich M wrote:Typically, hunting FL has been like getting a root canal
User avatar
Bigburner
Posts: 2097
Joined: Thu Jan 09, 2014 6:41 am
Location: Delaware?
Status: Offline

Re: Being too mobile...??

Unread postby Bigburner » Wed Dec 03, 2014 2:32 am

Just my opinion but I think the rut would be an exception. Sitting downwind of a specific doe bedding area or funnel between bedding areas for multiple days isn't out of the question. At that point your target buck goes out the window most of the time anyhow. With a clean entry/ exit and favorable winds, good cover, and something like a cold front in place staying put is one way of getting things done. Especially during times with high potential for randomness in the sense that you know that mature bucks are going to be on their feet during daylight hours pushing does. One hot doe and you see every buck in town. Adjustments within a specific area for sure but completely disregarding an area within a time frame like the rut. Thats a hard sell. I've had a couple tough goes this season but one of the members had re-assured me that your whole season can change in 15 seconds. I think with all the elements in place things could definatley change for the better at any time with a little commitment. Dan says in the marsh bucks video that people make the mistake of using rut tactics all year long. Well one thing that beast hunting does is distinguish the difference of when to employ what method to pursue during a given time period/ situation. If your not hunting rut tactics in November than bummer for you. But I know what you mean. I say if you put in the time and did your homework and you get a good feeling about an area and you saw what you came to see, give it the time you think it deserves. If I sit all day and see nothing I'm for sure out of that place.
Montani Semper Liberi
Instagram @formationoutdoors
User avatar
headgear
500 Club
Posts: 11625
Joined: Wed Sep 08, 2010 7:21 am
Location: Northern Minnesota
Status: Offline

Re: Being too mobile...??

Unread postby headgear » Wed Dec 03, 2014 2:34 am

If you are bouncing around the same woods and making adjustments I'd say you are being mobile. You have to make your own calls on when and how you setup, sometimes that is pounding a small area until its burnt out and sometimes hopping around until you finally find a buck. Really it's not about being "too" anything but chasing mature deer the best way you know how. Weather that means 7 sets in 7 locations until you score or hunting 7 strait days in the same rut spot because you know eventually it will produce.

With all that said we all know mature bucks don't like pressure and you can burn out a spot pretty quickly by overhunting it, we also know your first sit in a location might give you the best odds on a mature deer.
User avatar
muddy
Posts: 8770
Joined: Tue Feb 23, 2010 5:04 am
Location: Hawkeye State of Mind
Status: Offline

Re: Being too mobile...??

Unread postby muddy » Wed Dec 03, 2014 3:32 am

Being mobile is great but even if you hunt a spot perfectly several times your access route is what's going to burn you.

[ Post made via Android ] Image
http://www.iowawhitetail.com
Leading the way for habitat and management information

"It's a good thing you don't need commas and colons to kill deer" -seaz
User avatar
crankn101
500 Club
Posts: 601
Joined: Sat Jan 15, 2011 3:29 pm
Status: Offline

Re: Being too mobile...??

Unread postby crankn101 » Wed Dec 03, 2014 3:35 am

The places I hunt range from fairly open to very open terrain and I like to set up observation stands AND sit them for 2 days max and move in on a big buck I see or if I dont see one I make a plan for my next observation stand and repeat this process until I get a kill.
User avatar
Wlog
500 Club
Posts: 3642
Joined: Mon Dec 31, 2012 1:28 am
Location: Eastern Shore MD
Status: Offline

Re: Being too mobile...??

Unread postby Wlog » Wed Dec 03, 2014 3:48 am

There are so many different scenarios to consider that I don't think there is a perfect cookie cutter answer to this. In general being mobile and bouncing around is a core belief of basically everyone who frequents this site. But each situation is different. Say I set up on a buck, he comes out of his bed, I see him but it's too dark to shoot. If I get the same conditions the next day I'll probably go back, adjust a little and try again. Now say the next few days afterwords it's the wrong wind. He's had time to pick up my ground scent. Then I think the bridge is burnt.

I think you bounce around property to property in search of a good buck. When you know for a fact that the buck you want is on a certain property then you start the process of elimination on that property by bouncing around all the known beds there.

[ Post made via iPhone ] Image
Trust in the Lord with all your heart and lean not on your own understanding.
User avatar
whitetailassasin
Posts: 3404
Joined: Tue Sep 25, 2012 12:34 pm
Location: Michigan
Status: Offline

Re: Being too mobile...??

Unread postby whitetailassasin » Wed Dec 03, 2014 5:34 am

I think one of the eye opening things was when Dan revealed success rates of sits this year on his journal. I use him as an example due to his success on being mobile. I think if you are bed hunting, and subscribe to only hunting them 1-2 times a year. Outside the rut, and strictly bed hunting the amount of moving can greatly depend on how many beds or potential beds you have inventoried. There is also a few other keys I would use to determine how mobile I become in an area. Entrance/exit. For example some areas I hunt are water almost the entire way so scent is very limited and can allow for less detection and more hunts. Wind also dictates a lot for me. It seems a lot of my best spots carry the same wind directions for best hunting. If I take a chance and hunt an just-off wind, it may alert other potential bedded deer in that area and educate them rather quickly. Pressure for me also determines a lot, I hunt state public exclusively. What other hunters are doing can limit how mobile I can become in my area. I would take a look at your available time to hunt and make sure you have an adequate supply of beds to hunt that will allow you to be mobile during those times. As far as the rut goes all bets are off and you are hunting known doe bedding and funnels, as well as hot sign. I'm just a novice hunter. I don't have the inventory some have on beds. But I do have a good amount stored and I have some good places for the rut that when the timing is right produce quality hunts. Id also like to add timing to being mobile, sometimes timing is everything.

[ Post made via iPhone ] Image
User avatar
Stanley
Honorary Moderator
Posts: 18734
Joined: Tue Aug 09, 2011 4:18 am
Facebook: None
Location: Iowa
Status: Offline

Re: Being too mobile...??

Unread postby Stanley » Wed Dec 03, 2014 5:55 am

As a hunter you need to adapt to the situation at hand. I do know hunters that are too mobile. They walk the small property they hunt after every hunt. If you know hunters like this and hunt adjoining property. The best thing is to sit in a spot where they will bump deer to you. So not being mobile is sometimes the way to go. :think: I killed a nice 10 point buck in 2003 doing just this.
You can fool some of the bucks, all of the time, and fool all of the bucks, some of the time, however you certainly can't fool all of the bucks, all of the time.
User avatar
phade
500 Club
Posts: 1409
Joined: Fri Jan 27, 2012 1:10 am
Status: Offline

Re: Being too mobile...??

Unread postby phade » Wed Dec 03, 2014 7:59 am

This year, me and Moog5050 victimized ourselves by bouncing parcel to parcel. We live in one of the best parts of NY for deer hunting (not saying alot), but with little public ground. As a result, we have chunks of private we hunt, all small acreage. We try to rotate pressure, make the best entry/exit, etc.

Since we hunt these parcels exclusively, we have alot of preset stands (40 or so). We still use climbers and Alphas a few times a year when we need to make a move in-season quickly.

We both agree we bounced around properties too much during the first part of November. We have photos of bucks showing up in daylight within shooting distances of stands that we simply should have hunted more (rarely did we go back to the same stand for a second day in a row), even though we had relatively clean entry/exit paths. Heck, we run Code Blacks, and more than once this season we got pics of target bucks on their feet while we were in a stand on another property. Looking back, we should have limited ourselves to the stands we knew produced and just got the seat time in accordingly (with the right conditions), but we kept trying to bounce around to rotate pressure.
http://www.pursuitoutdoors.com
Trail Camera Sales, Industry Updates, and Cam Troubleshooting - PM for HB pricing
JoeRE
500 Club
Posts: 4576
Joined: Thu Oct 18, 2012 5:26 am
Location: IA
Status: Offline

Re: Being too mobile...??

Unread postby JoeRE » Wed Dec 03, 2014 9:34 am

Yea you can bounce around too much if you are just moving for the sake of moving. Every adjustment and relocation should have reasons, not just to see new country.

That being said I still think throwing darts at the board to decide where to hunt is not as bad as pounding the same couple stands all season long.
User avatar
MOBIGBUCKS
Posts: 3027
Joined: Tue Mar 09, 2010 4:21 pm
Status: Offline

Re: Being too mobile...??

Unread postby MOBIGBUCKS » Thu Dec 04, 2014 4:58 am

Yeah, I think you can bounce around too much, but it isn't bad if you are hunting quality spots. I think early season bed hunting you have to move around a lot to find the bucks. When the rut hits, I think guys can spread themselves too thin. This is the time of year to hunt places you know the big bucks will eventually utilize. It comes down to time on stand in the right areas, not moving around aimlessly to hunt some random funnel. Utilize your post season scouting knowledge and hunt hard!


  • Advertisement

Return to “Deer Hunting”

Who is online

Users browsing this forum: mauser06 and 83 guests