Using rut tactics year-round....I'm finally getting it

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xpauliber
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Using rut tactics year-round....I'm finally getting it

Unread postby xpauliber » Sun Nov 27, 2016 6:41 am

So I used to be the guy that would go out scouting in the spring before green up and try to locate all of the old rut sign from the prior year. I'd find the rubs, scrapes, and all the typical stuff you'd look for and even pick out trees and trim them before green up to be ready for the next fall. Then when hunting season came in, I'd hunt those spots early season and wonder why I wasn't seeing bucks.

When I joined the Beast, I recall Dan saying that a lot of guys get caught up using rut tactics year-round and I didn't quite get it at that time. Not only is that strategy ineffective, but you also end up burning out the spots that WOULD be good in the rut IF you hunted them when the time was right.

It took me a few years but I'm finally understanding what it means to change your hunting techniques for the time of year that you are in. Early season is all about food & bedding. 2 out of the last 3 years, I've tagged my best two bucks the first week of the season by hunting close to their bedding area AND keying in on the food source they were hitting by finding HOT sign and hunting it immediately. Also, when I killed both of those bucks, I had planned to hunt a tree deeper in the woods but the hot sign I found on my way in made me stop, take notice, and adjust my plan based on real-time information that you just can't get without boots on the ground in season; I'm starting to actually hunt bucks and not just go buck hunting.

When the rut hits, it's all about does and doe bedding. I've started to adjust my hunting to the classic terrain funnels in between doe bedding areas but also still using sound fundamentals such as letting the wind dictate which spot I hit. In the past, I can remember having my mind set on a funnel I wanted to hunt and even if the wind was wrong for the spot, I would tell myself "it's the rut, they're stupid, anything can happen."

It feels good to finally be getting on bucks all season long and not just for a week or two in November. The BEAST has certainly shortened my learning curve and hopefully, I can help some other guys that might still be stuck using one tactic all season long and not even realize they are doing it.


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Re: Using rut tactics year-round....I'm finally getting it

Unread postby bowkill00 » Sun Nov 27, 2016 6:50 am

Good read

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Re: Using rut tactics year-round....I'm finally getting it

Unread postby dan » Sun Nov 27, 2016 11:08 am

Yep... Even reading the latest posts, you see a lot of guys asking about hunting rut sign. TV and magazines have made everyone think they need to sit over the top of sign. When in reality you need to hunt where deer move while your hunting, not at night.
mauser06
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Re: Using rut tactics year-round....I'm finally getting it

Unread postby mauser06 » Sun Nov 27, 2016 11:39 am

Once it clicks you will kick yourself lol.



But, that's part of learning.



Staying mobile and not over hunting stands is huge. Hunting the right spots at the right times is huge. And like you said, hunt spots before the time is right and it can make for poor hunting when it could be fantastic.



I'm in the same boat...and still learning...still scouting..



What I've been doing when I find a new spot is hang a camera and leave it go all sept-dec and let it show me when and now the deer use the spot.

I had a spot this season...every year it's covered in traffic...muddy well worn trails, scrapes, rubs. The entire creek bottom is covered in sign.


I hung a camera and it seems like the week of Halloween is the time to be there. Also, it's good early and late. I knew deer lived there and used the spot...but I didn't realize the traffic a couple apple trees would create. Seemed like more buck traffic than anything.


Learned a lot from letting the camera sit there...

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Re: Using rut tactics year-round....I'm finally getting it

Unread postby cbay » Sun Nov 27, 2016 1:13 pm

:clap: :clap:
Scout.  Learn.  Hunt
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xpauliber
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Re: Using rut tactics year-round....I'm finally getting it

Unread postby xpauliber » Sun Nov 27, 2016 1:45 pm

mauser06 wrote:Once it clicks you will kick yourself lol.



But, that's part of learning.



Staying mobile and not over hunting stands is huge. Hunting the right spots at the right times is huge. And like you said, hunt spots before the time is right and it can make for poor hunting when it could be fantastic.



I'm in the same boat...and still learning...still scouting..



What I've been doing when I find a new spot is hang a camera and leave it go all sept-dec and let it show me when and now the deer use the spot.

I had a spot this season...every year it's covered in traffic...muddy well worn trails, scrapes, rubs. The entire creek bottom is covered in sign.


I hung a camera and it seems like the week of Halloween is the time to be there. Also, it's good early and late. I knew deer lived there and used the spot...but I didn't realize the traffic a couple apple trees would create. Seemed like more buck traffic than anything.


Learned a lot from letting the camera sit there...

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I too do this A LOT with the trail cameras that I do run. I don't use them in the spots that I already know how to hunt because I'm just too paranoid about tipping off a buck to me being there before I can hunt him. I know many guys locally that will ALWAYS have pictures of a giant or two on their cams but they never seem to ever put one on the ground.

Almost all of my spring scouting and trailcams are used to gather intel for the next season. It might seem like a waste of time to some people, but once you get into a habit year over year, you start to form a system that continuously adds to the places you have to hunt, it gives you Intel on how the deer use that area, and I start to check off properties that I may have hunted in the past but they never produced a mature buck sighting even after several years of hunting it. A lot of guys get too tied down to a single property or complacent with places that "we've always hunted here" and they're either too lazy or not motivated enough to continuously expand their horizons. I guess that's another attribute that applies to most of the Beast hunters on here; we do things that other guys can't/won't do and that makes all the difference.

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Re: Using rut tactics year-round....I'm finally getting it

Unread postby tgreeno » Sun Nov 27, 2016 1:54 pm

It becomes a snowball effect. You accumulate more and more spots, on top of the areas you already know. I have been collecting intel for next season for the last month or so. It will definitely payoff in the seasons to come.
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Re: Using rut tactics year-round....I'm finally getting it

Unread postby mauser06 » Sun Nov 27, 2016 3:02 pm

That's what it's all about. Gaining Intel.


Every year I try to add a few spots to the list. I'm to the point I can't hunt them all. But, they are there. Spots come and go too...logging, gas drilling, development, land access etc. I'm loosing nearly all of my spots I've hunted for years. Maybe not completely loosing them but a 150ft wide gas line through a few acre patch of farm woodlot...I'm loosing a lot. All in the blink of an eye.

It will honestly probably make my hunting better because i won't hunt there and it's places I hunt because it's really close but not the deer i wanna hunt.



I'm debating on gambling on Monday on the deer opener and hunting public ground I've never deer hunted or scouted for deer....why? It's a very large tract of public land. I'm certain it holds good bucks.

Gambling on the opener will tell me a lot..how much pressure it gets and where that pressure is.

And I have limited other options. Hunting behind camp is getting way too crowded and for the most part the buck quality isn't what I'm looking for...


All about Intel and the future. Especially public land...it might change over time...but it'll almost always be public land...

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