What Changed the Game for You?

[stash59]

I'm still developing my mature buck tactics. Even at 57. My hiatus spending more time hunting elk slowed it down considerably. Purposefully hunting for a big buck. Not that I was good at it. But reading what the Wensels, Rothare and others were doing got me started. They introduced me to spring scouting among other things.

Yeah Dave I thought I was really with it when I bought my Baker climber. That and the imitation skunk cover scent stuff!!!! I put carpet on the platform of the Baker to quiet it down a little. Then would put the drops from each bottle to get the smell on the carpet. Pops wouldn't allow the stand anywhere near the house after that. It didn't bother me. I guess I got nose blind to it!!!!

And I thought I was the only one to slide down a pine in one!!!!!

[Lockdown]

I didn't read everyone's posts. There have been a couple things that have made a big difference for me. (All of which are credited to the Beast) In order of importance:

- BEING BEDDING ORIENTED
If I don't know where they're bedding I'm not in the game. It's as simple as that.

- SPRING SCOUTING
Aside from in season scouting, pre-greenup is where it's at. No ticks, no bugs, no sloshing through water or sinking in mud, no heat, no worry about messing things up. There are no repercussions for being invasive this time of year. You can see the sign as it was last fall, unlike summer scouting.

- SCOUT WAY MORE THAN I HUNT
Knowledge is power. The harder I work the better things get. I'm seeing more and bigger deer than ever, and I passed more does and little bucks last year than have.

TAKING NOTES
I don't care how good your memory is, there's no way all of the important details are retained accurately.

[ Post made via iPhone ]

[headgear]

I also quit paying attention to the moon stuff. This will irritate some, but if you pay attention to the things you have no control over you will eventually lose concentration on the things you do have control over.

Sorry Stan not taking the bait this time.

[Dewey]

I didn't read everyone's posts. There have been a couple things that have made a big difference for me. (All of which are credited to the Beast) In order of importance:

- BEING BEDDING ORIENTED
If I don't know where they're bedding I'm not in the game. It's as simple as that.

- SPRING SCOUTING
Aside from in season scouting, pre-greenup is where it's at. No ticks, no bugs, no sloshing through water or sinking in mud, no heat, no worry about messing things up. There are no repercussions for being invasive this time of year. You can see the sign as it was last fall, unlike summer scouting.

- SCOUT WAY MORE THAN I HUNT
Knowledge is power. The harder I work the better things get. I'm seeing more and bigger deer than ever, and I passed more does and little bucks last year than have.

TAKING NOTES
I don't care how good your memory is, there's no way all of the important details are retained accurately.

[ Post made via iPhone ]

You made my reply easy. This is exactly spot on with what I was going to say but you saved me a lot of typing.

[ Post made via iPhone ]

[Dewey]

[ Post made via iPhone ]

[Crazinamatese]

Playing the wind. Goodbye scent killer gimmicks, hello common sense.

[magicman54494]

Since we are on an elevator and time is limited.....the moment I decided that I was only going to shoot big bucks. The biggest change was when I stopped being so serious and started enjoying hunting instead of applying pressure to succeed.

[ Post made via Android ]

you must be using a short elevator when you going to continue your where's the buck posts? Those were really great posts.

I'm buried in work right now. I hardly have time to sleep as usual for summers. I'm still trying to find time to do my pod cast.

[ Post made via Android ]

[VilasCo]

Because I was naive, I always sat in areas with sign, but didn't see bucks on a regular basis. After a couple of slow seasons I was determined to be more consistent. I decided to start from scratch. My research brought me here and have been hunting differently the past three years.

[mainebowhunter]

Lots of stages that I have gone through...lots more to go through.

This is going to sound like a broken record...
Biggest game changer for me...hands down, getting through buck fever.

I don't have to hunt nearly as hard if I hit and kill what I am aiming at the first time.

[Stanley]

I also quit paying attention to the moon stuff. This will irritate some, but if you pay attention to the things you have no control over you will eventually lose concentration on the things you do have control over.

Sorry Stan not taking the bait this time.

No bait intended. I would suggest this to any novice hunter. Some things you have control over and some things you don't. I always suggest concentrating on the things you can control, learned this through years of concentrating on the wrong things. If a novice hunter concentrates on moon stuff he is in for a long hard learning process. I also stated you should develop a system that works for you. I can tell you unequivocally concentrating on the things I have control over made me a much more successful hunter. These were things that changed the game for me.

[headgear]

Lets not derail this into another moon thread and keep it as the original posted intended, that is what I meant by bait.

[Stanley]

Lots of stages that I have gone through...lots more to go through.

This is going to sound like a broken record...
Biggest game changer for me...hands down, getting through buck fever.

I don't have to hunt nearly as hard if I hit and kill what I am aiming at the first time.

Great post I have said this many times the shot is the last part of the equation. You gotta have a shot.

[Country]

Hanging a stand with purpose and believing I chose a great spot to hunt.

[ Post made via Android ]

[IkemanTx]

For the game changer...
Realizing that aggressive positioning in as near perfect conditions to do so is a much better gamble than sitting way back hoping you don't effect the buck' pattern.
Also, go where no one else is willing to go.

For the elevator question...
I really think I am still so early on in my Beast style hunting, that I couldn't boil it down to a single question or topic. Especially with as many resources and threads discuss so many topics.
I guess I could always just use the ride to ask Dan to do a north Texas workshop... For the whole 2 of us down here.
Dave has a lot of the regional differences covered in his pictures and videos, but I would love to be able to see a true beast's scouting method in person.

[ Post made via iPhone ]

[9pt]

What changed the game for me?

I have only been deer hunting since 2007. I killed my first buck in 2009 and want to experience that every year. I didn't kill a buck again until 2012. Those two years in between stoked a fire in me to figure out how to have success. I knew I need more than one rifle hunting weekend a year so I got into archery season. This lead me to hunting in my own, instead of only with buddies at the annual deer camp. I started reading anything I could about deer hunting. I started devouring deer hunting podcasts. I heard Makr Kenyon interview Dan Infalt and realized much of what I had been learning was BS compared to the beast hunting way.
I started scouting offseason and finding beds. I started seeing bucks way more than I had previously. I started logging my spots and checking in on them year round. I saw big deer on public land. I killed my first and best archery buck by hunting mobile on private land I got permission on. I got my dad setup so he could kill his first ever deer.
That is where I am at. I have a great desire and excitement to see how my learnings play out his year. I am confident I am on the right track. I love this sport! It all changed when I took it on myself to make sure I knew how to get myself on deer. It all changed again when I heard and followed the advice from Dan and the rest of those posting here on the Beast.

Thanks to all of you!

[ Post made via iPhone ]