Got to thinking about this as I have been scouting this summer, revisiting some of the spots with trailcams I scouted last spring. Patience was the word I have been thinking about a lot lately. The deer woods changes at such as speed right now with apples dropping, followed by acorns dropping. Trail cams that should be popping are dead. Patience. The acorns are still holding. The sign is there from previous years. So I am leaving cameras trying to stay ahead of the deer, not behind them. I am trying to anticipate their next move and where i need to be.
Patience is when you leave the cams because you know things will get better. Last cam pull, a brandnew property to me. 3 cams, 1 doe and 1 lamb on all cams that were there for a month. Instead of ripping all my cameras off the tree throwing in the towel, just left my cams. The sign is there. It should be good. Today, checked cams again after 2 weeks. BAM there he was. Buck I had gotten pics of .75 miles away in another section of timber...he grew big time. Patience came to mind again. 1 good buck and 1 great buck showed up today.
Lots of times, its not time to hunt an area yet. It can be hard to wait for the right time to hunt a certain area. Maybe its the right wind. Maybe its the acorn drop or maybe its the prerut. Maybe its a cold front. When I am patient, I am more relaxed. Don't get me wrong, my heart drops when big horns don't show on my cams BUT my head tells me to wait. Sign and sightings really only matter during the season. Knowing what the deer is doing the day I am hunting is all that really matters.
In the end, you scout as hard as you but really it comes down to waiting it out. It might take 2 days or it might take 50 days. The longer I hunt I think the more relaxed I become. Maybe it comes with chasing mature deer? Odds are low. Because many times, you hunt all season for one chance at a mature buck or one chance at the buck you are chasing.
Anyways...just something that has been rolling around in my head.
Patience
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Re: Patience
Everything in this post was my top priority going into this year. I know I pushed or rushed things last year. I'm sure that lead to a few missed opportunities. Confidence in your scouting and what you believe is going on or will go on is so important. If it turns out you were wrong then you know it and you learn from it no questions or reflections on what what wrong. Great post
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Re: Patience
Great post here. This is so very true. It has been the worst year ever for me running cameras. No target animals on camera yet and normally I have one maybe two located at this time. For me time is gonna be my weakness this season with so much more going on but it will not be my excuse. I have several friends and even some family getting amazing deer on camera. They are all telling me that I need to move all my cameras but these spots normally always produce a sighting of the better deer in the area. I'm beings patient and not stinking up the woods going in bouncing them all around. I put little stock into what the cameras show this time of the year anyways cause I do see a shift in buck movement around the first or second week of September. Typically this is when they rub off their velvet and break off from their bachelor groups. It could also be a food change as well but reguadless I see a change in them around this time.
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- rbuckleyjr1
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Re: Patience
mainebowhunter wrote:Patience is when you leave the cams because you know things will get better. Last cam pull, a brandnew property to me. 3 cams, 1 doe and 1 lamb on all cams that were there for a month. Instead of ripping all my cameras off the tree throwing in the towel, just left my cams. The sign is there. It should be good. Today, checked cams again after 2 weeks. BAM there he was. Buck I had gotten pics of .75 miles away in another section of timber...he grew big time. Patience came to mind again. 1 good buck and 1 great buck showed up today.
Same thing happened to me to day with cams. I spent a lot of time in an area last winter and was really excited for to see what might show up on cams. First card pulled yield nothing. Today was 2nd pull and I seen what I was hoping. Game on now!
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- Hawthorne
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Re: Patience
Patience by guns n roses I've listened to many times during hunting season. I think patience is key with this sport. Alot of talk about finding the big buck right away , getting aggresive , and killing it. Can it happen that way? Yes but usually it's more work than it appears.
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- Bayshorebuck8
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Re: Patience
Hawthorne wrote:Patience by guns n roses I've listened to many times during hunting season. I think patience is key with this sport. Alot of talk about finding the big buck right away , getting aggresive , and killing it. Can it happen that way? Yes but usually it's more work than it appears.
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Re: Patience
Edcyclopedia wrote:Patience plus reasoning...
Agreed. There is a difference in being patient and knowing when to move.
Patiently waiting on a buck that shows up in dark or patiently waiting for a buck that does not exist...makes no sense.
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Re: Patience
Just a question. Not trying to be sarcastic or intrusive, but if you have had a lot of success in that spot in years past, you must know the area pretty well (I am assuming). Why don't you go in and sit one day and see what happens and observe the area. If you know the area well enough you probably know what is intrusive to the area and whats not. Just go in and don't be too aggressive just learn from the sit and who knows maybe the monster will walk right past you. Idk I have a feeling I am going to be doing this a lot this year. lol But like everyone is saying, early season is so crazy especially if it is mid or early september because the deer are literately in the middle of changing patterns and habits. Acorns are starting to fall and the temperature is usally starting to change. Lol I learned that quick this past year when I was getting 10 or 12 deer on my trail camera every other day for months. I let the spot sit dormant for 3 weeks and went in and didn't see a single thing in that spot all year. Even when the wind and thermals were in my favor. (now that I kind of know what those are. I was hunting with my back to a swamp. The wind was in my face on my first 3 sits and the afternoon thermals were pulling my scent towards the water.) So who knows maybe it'll all change on your opening day.
- DeerDylan
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Re: Patience
Great post, Maine. Once all the scouting and work is done (it's never actually done) finding the balance between patience and being agressive. Calculated aggressiveness.
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Re: Patience
I think this is one of the biggest things a journal helps with. By having documented history with your properties it makes it easier to be patient and knowing when the right times to go in are. Whether it's a property that doesn't heat up until acorns drop or some other food source or that is a sanctuary for deer away from hunters on other adjacent properties, the rut or whatever. Being able to look back on your prior season notes can help you be confident in waiting and to not dive in at the wrong time.
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"One of the chief attractions of the life of the wilderness is its rugged and stalwart democracy; there every man stands for what he actually is and can show himself to be." — Theodore Roosevelt, 1893
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