When do you cut those areas loose.

[Dewey]

Jeff sturgis had a chapter in his first book called stand stories. Basically what story are your stand locations telling you. Good or bad? Every area has a story. I would think after year two it would be time to change something

In two years I hunt my average spot once... If its perceived a good spot, probably twice.... I would not fully give up on a spot based on one or two sits.
If the bedding area shows good sign, there is a time period when its active. You need to be there at that time, and then know that the deer do not know your there.
One thing that I have recently learned though thru bed cams is that night beds can be pretty heavy worn and look a lot like day beds... Which means in some spots you "could" be hunting where bucks don't bed in daylight.

Great point. I think that is one big mistake a lot of us make and then just assume a buck didn’t bed there on that day. In reality he never did in daylight.

[JoeRE]

Instead of a black and white hunt or don't hunt decision, I try to just rank spots. The hottest are at the top, the less confident am about a spot the lower it ranks. You can just do this in your head or write it down on a scrap of paper or put them in a spreadsheet or whatever. I think that helps me avoid the old "paralysis by analysis" because I am not making a black or white decision I just look at the list and concentrate on the top 1/3 or whatever. List gets reshuffled on a roughly weekly basis based on any scouting and also according to seasonal spots.

As soon as I loose confidence in a spot it gets pushed down the list. It doesn't take much. If one hunt doesn't show what I think it should I won't come back to the area. Do I miss stuff doing that...you bet...but to me its more important to keep hitting the highest odds spots than waste even one hunt in a "maybe" spot. If I had more time....I probably wouldn't be as focused on that. Ironically with more time I would probably would have a lower success ratio. But I also wouldn't drive myself nuts half the time either.

Other triggers for abandoning a spot are seeing sign of other hunters in areas that would affect the movement I am targeting, lack of decent deer on trail camera inventories, coon hunters, small game hunters, coyote infestation, wolves up north, that sort of thing.

Solid points Joe... I never completely forget bedding areas, cause when the right buck shows in that area I will hunt down every bedding area around till we cross paths.

Correct me if I am wrong...but both you guys have solid plans on how your hunting those beds and when...and if. Meaning, you guys are not finding beds off season and then coming back next year and hunting them without some kind of intel (tracks, observations, spotting, cams...etc).

Just speaking for me, yea I just about always want some kind of recent confirmation a good buck is in the area a sighting/tracks/tall rubs on a rubline getting opened up.

I do have a couple spots that have a good buck in them virtually every year at a certain time. After watching them for 5-10 years be that way, I may be willing to go in for a hunt without any scouting or observation. But those type of spots are few and far between.

I would add....no spot stays good forever. And a spot can go from good to poor to good again this year or next year. Dan's point is good about not "forgetting" bedding areas. I sure don't forget about spots either - not for next year anyway. A bed can get burnt out but if left alone for a season or two it can be great again.

Typical trajectory of a good bedding location used by multiple bucks on public land is as follows: A bedding area gets a bunch of use and those bucks lay down a bunch of sign, other hunters find the sign and start to put pressure around the perimeter. Maybe it takes a couple seasons for the hunters to get frustrated enough or aggressive enough to push the older bucks out of there. Then the spot is garbage for a season or two. The hunters loose interest and go elsewhere complaining that there are not enough deer or whatever. And then the bucks come back and the cycle repeats itself. I have lots of areas that I watch as they go from good to bad to good again every few seasons.

I want to target that spot when the bucks are there but the hunters are not its a pretty small window sometimes. Particularly now that I have noticed a lot more hunters doing spring scouting the last few years.

[dan]

Instead of a black and white hunt or don't hunt decision, I try to just rank spots. The hottest are at the top, the less confident am about a spot the lower it ranks. You can just do this in your head or write it down on a scrap of paper or put them in a spreadsheet or whatever. I think that helps me avoid the old "paralysis by analysis" because I am not making a black or white decision I just look at the list and concentrate on the top 1/3 or whatever. List gets reshuffled on a roughly weekly basis based on any scouting and also according to seasonal spots.

As soon as I loose confidence in a spot it gets pushed down the list. It doesn't take much. If one hunt doesn't show what I think it should I won't come back to the area. Do I miss stuff doing that...you bet...but to me its more important to keep hitting the highest odds spots than waste even one hunt in a "maybe" spot. If I had more time....I probably wouldn't be as focused on that. Ironically with more time I would probably would have a lower success ratio. But I also wouldn't drive myself nuts half the time either.

Other triggers for abandoning a spot are seeing sign of other hunters in areas that would affect the movement I am targeting, lack of decent deer on trail camera inventories, coon hunters, small game hunters, coyote infestation, wolves up north, that sort of thing.

Solid points Joe... I never completely forget bedding areas, cause when the right buck shows in that area I will hunt down every bedding area around till we cross paths.

Correct me if I am wrong...but both you guys have solid plans on how your hunting those beds and when...and if. Meaning, you guys are not finding beds off season and then coming back next year and hunting them without some kind of intel (tracks, observations, spotting, cams...etc).

I can't speak for Joe, but most of my hunting is based on sign or knowing about a certain buck... But, there are also a lot of bedding areas that I will hunt regardless because they often hold something good.

[tgreeno]

Instead of a black and white hunt or don't hunt decision, I try to just rank spots. The hottest are at the top, the less confident am about a spot the lower it ranks. You can just do this in your head or write it down on a scrap of paper or put them in a spreadsheet or whatever. I think that helps me avoid the old "paralysis by analysis" because I am not making a black or white decision I just look at the list and concentrate on the top 1/3 or whatever. List gets reshuffled on a roughly weekly basis based on any scouting and also according to seasonal spots.

As soon as I loose confidence in a spot it gets pushed down the list. It doesn't take much. If one hunt doesn't show what I think it should I won't come back to the area. Do I miss stuff doing that...you bet...but to me its more important to keep hitting the highest odds spots than waste even one hunt in a "maybe" spot. If I had more time....I probably wouldn't be as focused on that. Ironically with more time I would probably would have a lower success ratio. But I also wouldn't drive myself nuts half the time either.

Other triggers for abandoning a spot are seeing sign of other hunters in areas that would affect the movement I am targeting, lack of decent deer on trail camera inventories, coon hunters, small game hunters, coyote infestation, wolves up north, that sort of thing.

Solid points Joe... I never completely forget bedding areas, cause when the right buck shows in that area I will hunt down every bedding area around till we cross paths.

Correct me if I am wrong...but both you guys have solid plans on how your hunting those beds and when...and if. Meaning, you guys are not finding beds off season and then coming back next year and hunting them without some kind of intel (tracks, observations, spotting, cams...etc).

I can't speak for Joe, but most of my hunting is based on sign or knowing about a certain buck... But, there are also a lot of bedding areas that I will hunt regardless because they often hold something good.

"Move them lower on the list" is kind of how I'm thinking about it too Joe. Also, possibly hunting them differently too. As I get more experience with these areas, I feel I'm getting a better picture what the bucks in these areas are doing. Last season was one big, "feeling out" process for me. I feel this spring, I am a more effective scouter. I feel the bedding areas I'm finding, are higher quality and showing better sign. And I have a better handle on how to hunt them. Only time will tell if I'm correct.