Hunting Too Mobile?

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jwangle13
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Re: Hunting Too Mobile?

Unread postby jwangle13 » Wed Jun 19, 2019 5:27 am

fishlips wrote:I have been burned by this before. One gun season I had a hot doe that was bedding in an area that drew in 4 different good bucks that I just couldn't get a shot at (well other than the one I missed). I figured the spot was shot being I had hunted it once, but I think had I gone back the next day, I would guess I would have gotten an opportunity at something.

I think the Marsh Bucks DVD has the interview with Andrae and he talks about this exact topic. Sounds like there are times when you can lay it on the deer and hunt a little more aggressively. I obviously have found it difficult to figure out when to lay it on and when to back off, but there is probably a lot of merit to this topic.


This year I will likely be hunting public land exclusively do to losing my least. I have hunted several spots that are great bedding areas. I know these areas will be even better once pressure picks up as there are water crossings and other stuff most wont cross. My belief is that it is more difficult to push out deer because there arent unlimited great bedding areas that will hold mature deer. I plan to hunt these good areas a handful of times throughout the season. In my opinion the worst case is that you push the deer to the other side of the swamp but he will still be in the area. I could be wrong. Only time will tell.


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Re: Hunting Too Mobile?

Unread postby jwangle13 » Wed Jun 19, 2019 5:30 am

fishlips wrote:I have been burned by this before. One gun season I had a hot doe that was bedding in an area that drew in 4 different good bucks that I just couldn't get a shot at (well other than the one I missed). I figured the spot was shot being I had hunted it once, but I think had I gone back the next day, I would guess I would have gotten an opportunity at something.

I think the Marsh Bucks DVD has the interview with Andrae and he talks about this exact topic. Sounds like there are times when you can lay it on the deer and hunt a little more aggressively. I obviously have found it difficult to figure out when to lay it on and when to back off, but there is probably a lot of merit to this topic.


This year I will likely be hunting public land exclusively do to losing my least. I have hunted several spots that are great bedding areas. I know these areas will be even better once pressure picks up as there are water crossings and other stuff most wont cross. My belief is that it is more difficult to push out deer because there arent unlimited great bedding areas that will hold mature deer. I plan to hunt these good areas a handful of times throughout the season. In my opinion the worst case is that you push the deer to the other side of the swamp but he will still be in the area. I could be wrong. Only time will tell.
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Re: Hunting Too Mobile?

Unread postby bowhunter93 » Wed Jun 19, 2019 11:21 am

This is a very good topic that I think a lot of people get confused on. When you talk mobile hunting that doesn't me that you have to sit a different spot every time you go out. You can go out and sit in the same area but maybe pick a different tree to go up in to make a better move on where they are coming threw at. If you get busted it doesn't always mean that the deer wont come back. As long as the deer don't figure out what you are you'll be fine and they will more then likely not change there daily routines just because they felt something wasn't right that one time. With all that being said if you have good hot sign in a spot don't be afraid to hunt it a couple times and every time you go in just make fine adjustments to where your sitting. Just be sure that you have a safe route in without putting your scent where the deer will come from before you can get a shot.
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Re: Hunting Too Mobile?

Unread postby TravisIN » Mon Jul 01, 2019 12:42 am

A few years ago I spent the day on a big 9 who was around 160. He was with a doe in a weed field and I was in the timber about 40 yards. They got in the weeds early morning but since it was supposed to be warm I figured when the sun came up they get out of the open field and tuck into timber for shade. Well around 1 they worked in and he bedded around 50 yards and would lay there for 15-20 min and then get up and mill around. He kept repeating this and I felt pretty good about my chances of getting a shot. Around 245 a truck starts coming down the oilfield road and then backs in as far as they can to the woods. The buck and doe were both alerted and both stayed very low to the ground until a couple younger guys got out and started making a lot of noise unloading their ladder stand to set up for the gun season that started a few days later. Both deer bailed out the back side but weren’t blowing and making a ruckus. I was frustrated obviously but thought there was a chance they’d be in the same area. The next morning i came in the opposite side and set up. I was less than 50 yards away from where my stand was the day before and about 75 yards from where they had set up their ladder stand all evening. About an hour after daylight the same two seed rolled in. I ended up missing him (puke). But kinda what I’m getting at is that you can be mobile and hunt the same area at the same time. I think if I’d have tried the same tree or closer to the same spot it may not have worked. They were Leary when they came in and were eyeballing where I was before but once they determined it was clear they calmed down. Sometimes moving just a little bit has proved to work for me when it comes to re-hunting an area
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Rob loper
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Re: Hunting Too Mobile?

Unread postby Rob loper » Wed Dec 18, 2019 2:56 am

I have actually just realized this is a big problem Ive been doing the last season snd 1/2 of this year, my second year bed hunting.
The problem is im having is im bouncing around way too much. Im jot focusing on a few spots and learning them.
I know where a few good bucks are hanging out and have for last season and 1/2 of this season.
The areas i know a good public buck is in (a good public buck by my standards) i need too focus on more rather than just giving one or even two sits
Got to start stacking hunts in just a few areas that have known good bucks in.
So i have learned the very hard way that Having too many spots too hunt can actually hurt you in your learning process. Being too mobile can slow you down big time.
Live and learn i guess.
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Re: Hunting Too Mobile?

Unread postby jakekl » Wed Dec 18, 2019 3:26 am

I think a second or third sit is always a good idea but depends on varying approach and even time of approach. I use this scenario and it has worked good. O f course wind direction should be the same as gthe night of first observation of buck(s). Temperature is also factored in. Warmer days always yielded a dud sit. The deer frequent that staging area so its a matter of time, stealth, and not spooking ANY deer. If its late season, visibility and proximity to food source factors in too.


James wrote:Alright, a little click bait on the subject I'll admit, so make sure you read my entire thought process here before attacking the mobile portion of this. As I posted my scouting recap in the scouting section I contemplated something that I have often thought about over the years. Can a mobile hunter be too mobile? Here is what I mean by this:

This season in Minnesota I kept moving locations as I usually do until I locate a big buck or sign and then strategically attack from there. I finally hit some very hot sign in early October, and I am talking about a very hot cluster. There was obviously a bachelor group that had lived in close proximity as I had several different profile rubs. One set caught my attention as they were tall and on quite larger diameter trees going into the area. I setup on the sign immediately and had an eventful night. Two young bucks came from opposing directions right into the staging area. Neither had the antler facilities to make the larger rubs I had seen. The hunt was oddly interrupted/ended by a sow black bear chasing her cub through.

A week later I was back with my son as I figured it would be a good spot for him to put his tag on one of the bucks I had seen. It was a very windy night but my instincts were correct, and shortly before quitting my son hit his first buck at 20 yards, a yearling 6 point. The shot was in the shoulder with almost no penetration and unfortunately not lethal. After tracking for several hours and scenting up the area, I never gave it much more consideration for the remainder of the season. During post season scouting the extent of the larger rubs became apparent to me and the collection had grown to several newer ones.

So my point of the story is about moving on too quickly. Taking away my son's hit and saying that 6 point is all we saw that evening it puts me at 2 sits without a mature buck sighting even though the big buck sign was there. To put this in perspective I was on to a very nice buck in 2012 that I fortunately saw my first sit of that season. The next two sits in that spot did not yield a sighting of him and on the 4th he appeared again and I shot him. It begs the question as to probability and moving on too quickly. Obviously we take pressure seriously and subsequent hunts are always of diminishing returns, however I think there is room for consideration before moving on from an area. Especially when the sign is hot.
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DaveT1963
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Re: Hunting Too Mobile?

Unread postby DaveT1963 » Wed Dec 18, 2019 3:48 am

During the rut especially, older bucks IME travel a circuit (for lack of a better term) and if often pays off to sit the same stand for multiple days until he comes back through. A buck can not be educated if he is not in the area. Having said that, a large % of my kills have been first time sits.
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Re: Hunting Too Mobile?

Unread postby Wall hanger » Thu Dec 19, 2019 1:42 pm

I’ve noticed the last few seasons it takes a lot to push a buck out of an area.
In 2017 I shot a mature buck on the 4th sit in a piece of timber. I never hunted the same tree but I would make small moves in same area.
In 2018 I had a camera monitoring a particular bedding area. There were 2 shooters in this particular spot.
The 1st sit no mature bucks came out. I checked the camera 2 days later and had both bucks in daylight still in the area. My 2nd sit in same tree I killed one of the bucks.2 days later I went back to pull the camera and the other shooter was there in daylight the day after I shot the buck. A week later the permit bow season started and I had another tag so I went back in there and had the buck come in but no shot. A week later that buck was shot on private parcel down the road.

Also in 2018 During the gun season i shot a buck and never recovered him. 2 weeks later I had him back on camera in daylight in the same area.During that winterbow season I sent my brother in there and he shot a different buck but I went back in there 4 days later and almost killed the buck I wounded during gun season.
All the woods I hunt are public land with heavy pressure.If a buck would leave the area everytime they encountered human scent or an intrusion they wouldn’t have any woods left to go. Bucks are masters of weaving around pressure so moving 40 yards on a second sit rather then 10 or more miles to another piece of woods might be a better option.
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Re: Hunting Too Mobile?

Unread postby Tennhunter3 » Thu Dec 19, 2019 4:19 pm

Mobility this year has gotten me onto bucks.
Sometimes I move 2-3 times a day and it is working.
I know the bedding and I just keep burning spot to spot until that days wind fits. Weather , wind alert is great but once in the woods it changes as I grow as a hunter I'm always adjusting my setups . I make many mistakes but I'm trying to learn from them.

I do agree that it's easy to spread out so much you never learn the fine details of a area. Beast year 2 and 3 I had this issue.

This year was a focus for me I had several areas this year I did 3- 5 sits in that 500-1k acre chunks. Bedding area hopping to learn more about areas. I've burned alot but like Dan says if your not kicking bucks your not in the game.

Having options is a good thing out of the 20 or so areas I had on my radar beginning the season I've spent my entire season in 9 of them others either had pressure or cams didn't show what I was interested in. 2 were completely new areas my buck kill was kinda new I had hunted the area but never that 200 acre chunk of it.

It can take 3-5 years to really began to learn areas well and I think some areas definitely take longer then others. It's a great topic but mobility definitely has its place. I still find bedding or kick bucks in areas I've hunted for years.
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Re: Hunting Too Mobile?

Unread postby tgreeno » Fri Dec 20, 2019 12:13 pm

The idea of being mobile has a couple of different definition to me.

The 1st is: Hopping from one property to the other looking for fresh sign, and maybe not finding the small pockets within a property that holds the good bucks.

The 2nd is: Slight shifts within a property to put you in the "right" position for the kill. These moves may be only 40 yards or a couple hundred yards.

In the past I felt like I hopped properties too much. Never really intimately learning all the secrets of that certain property. Hunting for fresh sign, and struggling to find it. Sit there once or twice, then writing it off. And maybe missing a hidden gem. This season I focused on learning a couple of areas more intimately, and have just shifting to areas with better sign. Rather then moving to an entirely different property, and maybe starting all over. The key is, knowing you have a good buck in the area! Otherwise is won't really matter anyway.
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Re: Hunting Too Mobile?

Unread postby Rob loper » Fri Dec 20, 2019 1:06 pm

tgreeno wrote:The idea of being mobile has a couple of different definition to me.

The 1st is: Hopping from one property to the other looking for fresh sign, and maybe not finding the small pockets within a property that holds the good bucks.

The 2nd is: Slight shifts within a property to put you in the "right" position for the kill. These moves may be only 40 yards or a couple hundred yards.

In the past I felt like I hopped properties too much. Never really intimately learning all the secrets of that certain property. Hunting for fresh sign, and struggling to find it. Sit there once or twice, then writing it off. And maybe missing a hidden gem. This season I focused on learning a couple of areas more intimately, and have just shifting to areas with better sign. Rather then moving to an entirely different property, and maybe starting all over. The key is, knowing you have a good buck in the area! Otherwise is won't really matter anyway.


This couldn't be more correct of what I've been doing and what i got to start doing i being in my 2nd year of these tactics im glad im realizing i was doing this last season and like i said in earlier post, Doing it this first 1/2 of season. Not learning anything about an area or the deer in that area.
I will be definately be taking several public properties breaking them down and figuring out things.
Meaning just like you say small moves on them and see what happens. Should be a big stride in the learning process
Im just glad im realizing now whst im doing wrong instead of few years from now
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DaveT1963
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Re: Hunting Too Mobile?

Unread postby DaveT1963 » Sat Dec 21, 2019 12:21 am

As in most things in life there is a balance. As much as some try, this cannot be easily conveyed through written word, video or conversation. it is something learned out in the woods and the more data points we acquire (i.e. longer we hunt) the better we are supposed to get at making those calls. There is a time to move and then there is a time to persist where one is at. Like many have said before, there are no shortcuts - enjoy the journey,
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Re: Hunting Too Mobile?

Unread postby E72 » Sat Dec 21, 2019 12:52 am

Dave mentioned how bucks travel a “circuit “ during the rut . I believe they do as well . They know where the doe likely bed , they also know where the easiest and safest travel routes are to get there . If the bucks bedding area is relatively the same , bucks will use these routes (funnels) every year. So IMO sitting the same stand several times in a short time frame but focus sitting there when wind and weather is best can put you in THE spot .
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Re: Hunting Too Mobile?

Unread postby Jimmy wallhanger » Tue Nov 02, 2021 5:12 am

great thread
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