Most recent thing you've learned that suprised you

[Motivated]

There are so many great hunters on here, and I have always lived by the motto that "there is always something else to learn".

I am not a great hunter yet. Yesterday, I was suprised to learn that controlled burn about 10 to 12 years ago must have gotten a little out of hand and burned some extra area. It must not have been burned in the last 10 years and is now fairly thick. This area now is the newest buck bedding area that I'm hunting. I found the area from following the biggest print and widest stance I could find in the early spring.

It's a pretty basic idea that 10 year old clearcuts make good bedding (early successional transition). But I experienced it backwards, from tracking the buck, not by cyberscouting. It became an "Ah Ha moment" for me. It became real, not something I memorized from others. In response to this, I am now going back in time (Google Earth) throughout my entire hunting area and examining differences.

I'm just wondering what surprises you guys have recently learned and what you're doing in response to gain from it?

Part of me is also wondering when the suprises run out, or how the suprises will change over time.

[ Post made via Android ]

[blizzardhunter]

I don't mean to hijack your post but would love to hear any experience you have with controlled burns. I have some public land here where they do some burns every year and can't quite figure out how deer utilize them.

[ Post made via Android ]

[Hawthorne]

My biggest was in winter of 2015when I started finding buck beds and looking around at the terrain they are in. It's everything they talk about on here. Just about all of the nice bucks I've shot in the past I was close to their bed and it wasnt because I knew it was there.Now I just dont hunt on the edge of a thicket I have a pre plan of what part of the thicket they prefer to bed in during certain conditions. Look at the way they bed in your locations. I've seen it repeat from property to properly public to private. It's all good

[ Post made via iPhone ]

[Motivated]

No problem blizzardhunter. My experience is that a large controlled burn area, or grassland or prairie or whatever you want to call it, is a great bedding area and very hard to hunt from a tree with a bow. There just aren't any trees. Areas without huntable trees are definitely big buck areas in my experience. Areas with no trees, huge nasty thorns, or areas where every tree has pioson ivy. These are typically areas with less hunting pressure and where a buck would want to live.

Where I hunt, the same areas are burned every few years. Except it looks like about 10 years ago, this area shrunk just a little bit. Maybe an accident, maybe on purpose. I cannot say more because it is public and because others may cyberstalk.

If you can't figure out these burned areas, pick an evening and observe. You should be able to pick up some intel you can use. Hard to plant a traill cam in a grasslsnd, but easy to do an observation sit from the edge.

Back to the question: what are you learning and how do you need to change based on it? What suprised you last (or this) season, and what are you doing about i? Are you growing, or is it all old news? How does a beast get better?

We are all in different places. Many of you are beyond me. I'm just wondering what surprises you are experiencing lately and how you are elevating your game. Thanks for your responses.

[ Post made via Android ]

[Divergent]

All 1/3 elevation ridge points(for bedding) are not created equal. It seems that if you have the choice between a gradual topo slope vs a steep topo slope that meets a gradual slope at the 1/3 elevation, they seem to prefer the latter. Example:
Gradual slope

Steep meets gradual


[ Post made via iPhone ]

[DaveT1963]

Most recent thing.... how much I take my eyesight for granted and how it can impact my shooting.

[ Post made via Android ]

[hunter10]

Most recent thing for me isn't a huge surprise but I have noticed lately that all my hunting thoughts and game plans whether I see a good buck while scouting or just looking at maps is.. Where is he bedding and how can I find him. Before I started beast methods, it was always 1. Saw a big buck 2. Found the best funnel 3. Setup a stand in late August or sept, hang cams and check them every 2 weeks messing up the area... Never realized how deer bed and how they would never make it to my location before dark

[ Post made via iPhone ]

[oldrank]

I would say the coolest thing I learned abouy recently was the versa button. It is the coolest little hang on treestand gadget. It makes things so easy. I machined up a bunch at work n have been putting on my stands. Sure does beat a clanky buckle or snap.

[ Post made via Android ]

[KLEMZ]

This spring I was SHOCKED to find two classic mature buck bedding areas that (as it turns out) I had ALSO found in 2013.....AND had labeled as "probably doe bedding" at that time!!!!

I know this to be true because I record video scouting notes and my 2013 assessments were pretty basic, vague, and embarrassingly wrong! However, my 2016 video notes were much more observant, concise, logical, and correct!! A pig lives here!

So... the most recent thing I have learned that surprised me is that I continue to grow (with constant effort), even though I don't realize it most of the the time.

Just to put things in perspective, I have been drinking the "Beast Koolaid" for 6 years now. That means, in my case anyways, that three years of studying the posts on the forum and then taking that info into the field, is NOT enough!!! However, 6 years of drinking the Koolaid seems to be the tipping point (for me). It allows ample time to verify information learned here... in the field. Once I experience it in real life...I have learned it.

So for all the newcomers on the Beast....don't be discouraged if you don't get immediate results while following the advice of more experienced hunters. You HAVE to pay your dues.

[JoeRE]

All 1/3 elevation ridge points(for bedding) are not created equal. It seems that if you have the choice between a gradual topo slope vs a steep topo slope that meets a gradual slope at the 1/3 elevation, they seem to prefer the latter.

That's pretty interesting Divergent. Never quite thought of it like that, will have to think through some past observations and see how that lines up...somethings telling me you are on to something.

I might have just learned something in the last 60 seconds

That is a good one too Klemz.

[IkemanTx]

The newest thing I learned is that beast tactics translate well to mountain muleys. I just got back from 8 days in the mountains of southern Colorado. I spent a couple afternoons using beast scouting tactics to try to find beds and travel corridors. In just 2 hours, I Jumped 4 out of their beds (within 30 yards of me) and found 8 more beds with hair to confirm. It was very interesting to see how the muley does bed so similar to a whitetail buck as well. It makes sense though, they are quite more solitary than whitetail does.

[ Post made via iPhone ]

[blizzardhunter]

For me, the biggest thing I've learned is there are no constants. As soon as I think I've figured out something that seems to be the rule for how whitetails move or bed, I find a million exceptions. The best thing I've found to do while scouting is slow down and think outside the box.

[ Post made via Android ]

[dan]

This spring I was SHOCKED to find two classic mature buck bedding areas that (as it turns out) I had ALSO found in 2013.....AND had labeled as "probably doe bedding" at that time!!!!

I know this to be true because I record video scouting notes and my 2013 assessments were pretty basic, vague, and embarrassingly wrong! However, my 2016 video notes were much more observant, concise, logical, and correct!! A pig lives here!

So... the most recent thing I have learned that surprised me is that I continue to grow (with constant effort), even though I don't realize it most of the the time.

Just to put things in perspective, I have been drinking the "Beast Koolaid" for 6 years now. That means, in my case anyways, that three years of studying the posts on the forum and then taking that info into the field, is NOT enough!!! However, 6 years of drinking the Koolaid seems to be the tipping point (for me). It allows ample time to verify information learned here... in the field. Once I experience it in real life...I have learned it.

So for all the newcomers on the Beast....don't be discouraged if you don't get immediate results while following the advice of more experienced hunters. You HAVE to pay your dues.

This is a great post... I have noticed looking over old posts that some of the guys have changed a lot in there thinking since they 1st came to the BEAST.

[JoeRE]

I have noticed looking over old posts that some of the guys have changed a lot in there thinking since they 1st came to the BEAST.

I think that is true for most of us. Take any "good" hunter, let them apply the huge collective knowledge on here to their situation and you will get some equally huge improvements. Nothing beats the BEAST.

[headgear]

This spring I was SHOCKED to find two classic mature buck bedding areas that (as it turns out) I had ALSO found in 2013.....AND had labeled as "probably doe bedding" at that time!!!!

I know this to be true because I record video scouting notes and my 2013 assessments were pretty basic, vague, and embarrassingly wrong! However, my 2016 video notes were much more observant, concise, logical, and correct!! A pig lives here!

So... the most recent thing I have learned that surprised me is that I continue to grow (with constant effort), even though I don't realize it most of the the time.

Just to put things in perspective, I have been drinking the "Beast Koolaid" for 6 years now. That means, in my case anyways, that three years of studying the posts on the forum and then taking that info into the field, is NOT enough!!! However, 6 years of drinking the Koolaid seems to be the tipping point (for me). It allows ample time to verify information learned here... in the field. Once I experience it in real life...I have learned it.

So for all the newcomers on the Beast....don't be discouraged if you don't get immediate results while following the advice of more experienced hunters. You HAVE to pay your dues.

Re-scouting areas has taught be so much, many old spots I use to think I would hunt forever I have all but abandoned and other spots I looked over for years are not at the top of my hunting list. Things are always changing, sometimes spots will go cold and heat up again the the next year. Those bucks sure keep us on our toes, you really have to love to deer hunt because you need to stay on top of them and get fresh intel all of the time. So many spots I am still trying to peice together as well, I know the bucks are there but I am still putting the puzzle together.