How Many Hours Do You Spend in a Calendar Year in the Field?

[tbunao]

I had just broken 200 hours last year around June. Season here ends mid December and scouting begins right after for me. Every Sunday I would be at a public’s piece by sun up and would put in around 8 hours, sometimes twice a week. I did put in a week straight of scouting in Ohio as well. I would get breakfast at a diner, scout, lunch was made with my jet boil on a log or a rock and dinner again at some random hole in the wall. I had lost track shortly after June.

I was able to see one target buck twice but no shots and fumbled a golden opportunity on a good 10 on a blind-ish hunt. I had several opportunities at bucks that most wouldn’t hesitate to take here in Ny. As I enjoy this bowl of tag soup I somewhat wish I would have taken the shots on those deer but I held true to a goal.

Putting in that many hours and miles I spread myself way to thin but I learned a lot about areas and related some to others. I did make it a point mid season to get cams up in areas I knew I wasn’t going to make it to and let them soak threw the rut. Highly suggest that move!!

[Grizzlyadam]

I've been keeping a detailed journal for the past nine seasons. All my numbers are just time spent on stand hunting. I never kept track of scouting efforts. I do all my scouting after deer season January through March.
I spent about one third the amount out there this past season as I usually do because my wife and I had a kid in the spring. Still I got in 60 sits in 38 days. 177 hours on stand, saw 49 deer, and killed three.

[Rob loper]

It sickens me in the last ten years the time i spent in the past doing deer hunting things on scouting, setup stands and baiting them up every two three days with minimul or littlte results 100’s of hours a season.i did this cause i had no clue how to really look or where to look for deer yet alone bedding areas and was always told never ever hunt bedding areas put a bait pile down in the woods and just sit there just horrible advice and teachings from ones who were taught and probably diddnt know any better either
I bought dans dvds awhile ago but diddnt get around to watching them thinking yea ill check them out later its just another guy killing monster bucks on video Man was i wrong i watched dvds then started listening to podcasts watching you tube and absorbing everything like a sponge and being actually taught to expect failure at first but eventually it pays off. And believing in it is important. I busted my hind end every year doing the things listed above and was always year after year disappointed so i took the knowledge and tactics i learned this fall And am still in the woods at least 2 -3 hours every day and if im not im either on this forum reading or on google earth
So in my opinion i will be in the woods or doing something related to deer even more now because i know what im looking for and have a purpose or goal set for my future and i am confident it will pay off in the long run even after failure
Just in the last month ive learned where to look and where to setup in certain situations and why. And i have not killed a big boy yet but my sightings have skyrocketed
Ive seen a buck almost every time i have sat since begining of November when i rebooted and totaly changed my hunting tactics. Im not totaly beast mode yet but plan on being beast 100% time next season The doe i shot the other night went by me with a 2-1/2 year old scrub buck
My previous years hunting i would be sitting over bait waiting and hoping couple does show up
But i really do think that i will be in the woods for thousands of hours throughout the year now cause ive made it a year round thing for me. So an hour count for me will skyrocket compared to before

[brancher147]

more time than i do anything else. Hard to calculate since my work keeps me in the woods also, so almost all the time I am in the woods.

[Ack]

I don't keep track, but I do know that my scouting hours are way, way higher than my hunting hours.

[wmahunter]

cypber scouting locations to check in the field 80 - 100 hours
Boots on the ground about 60 hours in the field

Hunting season - another 80 - 100 hrs hunting

Having good topo's , google earth and caltopo plus all the knowledge I have learned on this site has definitely improved my deer sightings and tree setup locations.

[JoeRE]

Cool to see others are tracking this.

In 2015 I tracked it as part of my journal:

Pre season (Mid January – September 2015)
102.5 miles and 138 hours scouting, checking cams, looking at data, and equipment prep (mostly bow practice).

Bow Season (October – November 2015)
54.5 miles and 97 hours Hunting and scouting, etc.

Late Season (December – 1st Week of Jan 2016)
33 miles and 46 hours hunting and scouting etc.

GRAND TOTAL: 190 Miles and 281 Hours.

I also calculated I went up and down 21.8 vertical miles in the hills over the year.

That was a pretty typical year for me nowadays. Years ago I spent less time scouting and way more time hunting...and had less success. Limited hunting time has forced me to stack the deck with scouting year round, a little bit every week. I do think it really pays off.