Ever regret waiting to hunt good areas?

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Bonecrusher101
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Ever regret waiting to hunt good areas?

Unread postby Bonecrusher101 » Sun Jul 23, 2017 3:13 am

I think this topic has been touched on but has always gone into a different direction. Of course if an area is hot with deer sightings and sign you should continue to hunt it. Especially during rut. What I'm asking is it a good plan to Save good spots till certain times of the year?

A fellow mentor told me to never wait to hunt a good spot on public land. He told me this a few years ago, but when I found an awesome doe bedding area last spring I stayed away and did not hunt it.

The spot was fairly small and confined. I thought if I hunted it and killed a doe the game might be over for that area. I went in and hung an observation stand 2 weeks before bow season opened. I saw a few fawns and several mature does in the area. It looked great and I made a few cool videos.

I struggled through most of Octobers bow season and I still refused to go into that spot. I would have been happy killing a doe throughout bow season. I felt like I had a very good chance if I would have hunted that doe bedding area. I knew if I saved it till pre rut or chase phase I would have an excellent chance at cruising bucks.

When I returned to the area I had my observation stand on holloween night, I saw little sign and no deer. I arrowed a coyote that night. I found blood and my arrow but didn't recover the yote. I went deeper into the bedding area the first week of November, I saw no deer. I found freshly cut limbs on a tree where another hunter had placed a climber. Did he make a kill? Was the coyote there hunting fawns or eating a gut pile? I don't know but the gig was up.

Either way, I tried to save a spot on public and I failed to capitalize. I still managed to kill enough does for the freezer from different spots. I wanted more out of that doe bedding area than it was offering at the time. I consider it a passed opportunity, but still feel regret knowing about it and not making sure I was the first man on the scene. I had time in cyber scouting, effort with boots on the ground and gas money in scouting a great area. I let it go to another hunter.

Part of the game. Lessons learned. Did I do the right thing? Should I have gone in there and killed a doe earlier? Any other beast have similar instances?


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Horizontal Hunter
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Re: Ever regret waiting to hunt good areas?

Unread postby Horizontal Hunter » Sun Jul 23, 2017 4:07 am

Bonecrusher101 wrote:A fellow mentor told me to never wait to hunt a good spot on public land. He told me this a few years ago, but when I found an awesome doe bedding area last spring I stayed away and did not hunt it.


Damn good advice there.

In hunting, as in life, we usually regret the things we don't do.

Bob
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Re: Ever regret waiting to hunt good areas?

Unread postby Horizontal Hunter » Sun Jul 23, 2017 4:07 am

Duplicate post
Vegetarian: vejiˈte(ə)rēən/noun: old Indian word for lousy hunter. :o

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Re: Ever regret waiting to hunt good areas?

Unread postby mheichelbech » Sun Jul 23, 2017 4:11 am

Good question, I know I have regretted hunting to soon.

I think another one is what factors besides wind and weather conditions specific to a spot, what other factors tell you to wait...especially with respect to a new spot.
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Re: Ever regret waiting to hunt good areas?

Unread postby Scratchman » Sun Jul 23, 2017 4:34 am

You pays your money, you takes your chances......either way. Go in, and you may be missing an opportunity, stay out and it's the same. I think public land doe bedding areas are hunter magnets.......your opportunity to hat a Virgin hunt in the rut is limited. If you want meat I say go there, because it's usually obvious enough that other hunters can find them easy. The place to stay out of is the buck bedding area 400 yards away in the thicket that other hunters walk by. At any rate hindsight is 20/20. You made your decision at the time with the best info you had, but if I was down on venison I probably would have gone in early.
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Re: Ever regret waiting to hunt good areas?

Unread postby MikePerry » Sun Jul 23, 2017 4:57 am

Depends on what your goal was weather you made the right decision or not. If you would of just been happy taking a doe then you probably should have went in there and taken one once you had made the observation that they were regularly using the area, you have to hunt them when they are there if it's the animal you want, anything other than that would just be a gamble. Like you found out many things can change, predators can push them out, hunters can push them out, food sources change ect.

Saving a doe group like you did and hoping it would bring a mature buck into your sights is a gamble and it is what I often do myself, sometimes it works, sometimes it does not. That's hunting, we fail more often than we succeed. Your chances for success using this method greatly goes up with the more doe groups bedding areas that you have pinned down. There are lots of factors that can make the odds go in your favor to hunt doe bedding like you tried, was the area remote? Did the area look like it was being hunted in the past when you scouted it? Did you have a solid approach in and out of the area, are there any pinchpoints that force the deers travel through a certain area near the bedding, is there a food source near the bedding such as brouse, apples, acorns something to keep the doe milling around there did you have any intell or data from previous years trail cameras or observations from the stand that it's a area bucks like to cruise looking for doe in that bedding area? Are there mature bucks bedding in the area monitoring the doe bedding. If you can answer a lot of these question yes then I think you did the right thing gambling on those doe luring a mature buck by your setup, if not you probably should have just taken a doe.

Mike
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Re: Ever regret waiting to hunt good areas?

Unread postby WV Bowhunter » Sun Jul 23, 2017 5:06 am

I've held back prime spots waiting on "the day" to go hunt them only to have the wrong wind on all the days I could hunt. I worked hard over the winter, scouting to have lots of prime spots picked out to hunt a good spot, and not waiting on "the day".
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Re: Ever regret waiting to hunt good areas?

Unread postby Waymore » Sun Jul 23, 2017 9:36 am

Sounds like your decision to wait was based on trying to kill a buck which in your case was the right decision. Most times when people regret hunting A spot is when they know the timing is right but for some reason whether they get busy at work or just maybe they are plain tired they do not hunt that spot. Some guys will drop anything to make sure they are where they are supposed to be when the timing is right. Dan has a great story where he is at work and there's a cold front coming in and he leaves work early goes home get some friction from his wife but goes hunting anyway and kills a giant. It's actually a hilarious story how he wrote it. I'll have to find the link
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Re: Ever regret waiting to hunt good areas?

Unread postby Bonecrusher101 » Sun Jul 23, 2017 10:26 am

Mike, the doe bedding was basically an island of of barely huntable pines in a very open area of crp fields. There were really only a few areas to set up in. Most guys in my area use climbers. Mobile lock ons aren't used much. I've yet to see anyone else with one. So for someone to get a climber in there would take a lot of cutting on a pine tree. Which is exactly what the other hunter did.

I found some older buck beds in the area but wasn't sure how often they were being used. The area had old rubs and I sat in one of the buck beds and he was facing the access trail. It's a tough area to hunt, but who knows it could be holding deer again this upcoming season.
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Re: Ever regret waiting to hunt good areas?

Unread postby Wlog » Sun Jul 23, 2017 11:04 pm

MikePerry wrote:Depends on what your goal was weather you made the right decision or not. If you would of just been happy taking a doe then you probably should have went in there and taken one once you had made the observation that they were regularly using the area, you have to hunt them when they are there if it's the animal you want, anything other than that would just be a gamble. Like you found out many things can change, predators can push them out, hunters can push them out, food sources change ect.

Saving a doe group like you did and hoping it would bring a mature buck into your sights is a gamble and it is what I often do myself, sometimes it works, sometimes it does not. That's hunting, we fail more often than we succeed. Your chances for success using this method greatly goes up with the more doe groups bedding areas that you have pinned down. There are lots of factors that can make the odds go in your favor to hunt doe bedding like you tried, was the area remote? Did the area look like it was being hunted in the past when you scouted it? Did you have a solid approach in and out of the area, are there any pinchpoints that force the deers travel through a certain area near the bedding, is there a food source near the bedding such as brouse, apples, acorns something to keep the doe milling around there did you have any intell or data from previous years trail cameras or observations from the stand that it's a area bucks like to cruise looking for doe in that bedding area? Are there mature bucks bedding in the area monitoring the doe bedding. If you can answer a lot of these question yes then I think you did the right thing gambling on those doe luring a mature buck by your setup, if not you probably should have just taken a doe.

Mike



Spot on! In the end you learned something about that spot so in my book that is success. Now you have a good idea what to expect this year. Rome wasn't built in a day, most of the time it takes more than one year to figure a spot out.
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Re: Ever regret waiting to hunt good areas?

Unread postby Wlog » Sun Jul 23, 2017 11:10 pm

Bonecrusher101 wrote:Mike, the doe bedding was basically an island of of barely huntable pines in a very open area of crp fields. There were really only a few areas to set up in. Most guys in my area use climbers. Mobile lock ons aren't used much. I've yet to see anyone else with one. So for someone to get a climber in there would take a lot of cutting on a pine tree. Which is exactly what the other hunter did.

I found some older buck beds in the area but wasn't sure how often they were being used. The area had old rubs and I sat in one of the buck beds and he was facing the access trail. It's a tough area to hunt, but who knows it could be holding deer again this upcoming season.



Sorry I posted before I read this. If it was a small area and someone went in there and started trimming in season then that probably blew that spot. The deer may or may not be back but I wouldn't be surprised if they completely abandon that spot. The guy that did the trimming will probably come back too.
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Re: Ever regret waiting to hunt good areas?

Unread postby Rich M » Mon Jul 24, 2017 2:49 pm

It is your call. If you wanted a doe, then you should have gotten one ASAP. If you were using them as bait for a buck, then you did fine. Where I hunt, it is just a matter of time before someone shows up and causes trouble on public land. Pretty much the same on private too.

Last year I passed three diff 6 pts waiting for a larger buck. I had a lot of satisfaction in setting up on the ground about 30-40 yards from where one came out. I knew I was gonna see a buck and I did. Regret not shooting that one. It is a great feeling - knowing you are gonna see one - on purpose - cause you did stuff right.


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