PredatorTC your up!

[Dpierce72]

Really enjoyed the post - great insights and I took some good notes.

I heard John Maxwell say "I'd rather have 1 person with passion than 99 with a casual interest". You passion shines my friend. You're a great example of what it takes ...No shortcuts to the top!

[Jeff G]

Nice Work Joe!!!!

[Kraftd]

[Babshaft]

Wow that was awesome. Time to start creeping a lot more of your earlier posts. I've found a ton of them helpful so far, but feel like I'm missing a lot after reading that.

That write up has me pretty excited to see the farm bedding dvd.

[PredatorTC]

Alot of great information! It's great how everyone has slightly different mindset & techniques, yet still get the job done year after year!

Great write-up!

I think targeting specific bucks has it's own set of issues. I have trouble patterning them once the season starts. It seems like sometimes they just disappear. For me it's most likely other hunter pressure, that's relocating them to more remote areas.

I defiantly agree. Every deer, area, and situation is different in regards to this. From what I have noticed over the past few years, they usually don't go far and the main reason that they seem to disappear is just because they start coming out really late on the edge of darkness. They are just less noticeable because they are no longer out eating an hour before dark like they were in mid summer

[Kokes]

awesome post Joe, really learned from the info and like the great attitude you have.

[MOBIGBUCKS]

Really good stuff Joe! You are a big buck slayer no doubt man!!

Great write up. I'm gonna have to re-read it a time or two myself!! Keep it up man

[PredatorTC]

Alot of great information! It's great how everyone has slightly different mindset & techniques, yet still get the job done year after year!

RIght on! One big piece of advice that I would give everyone Is to not do everything the way I do it, or Dan does it or billy bob does it. Take little bit from everyone and form your own ways. Back in the blood brothers video days I did a ton of bed hunting like Dan and just couldn't figure it out. I was doing everything that Dan said but wasn't getting results. I started to pick up on what I was seeing and shape my ways accordingly. I realized my situation was similar but different from Dans. Every true killer I've ever met actually hunts very different and I think it just has a lot to do with just who they are and what works for them. I've taken a lot of advice form others and fell flat on my face. The best teacher is the woods and whitetail itself.

[Dhurtubise]

Good write up Joe. I’ve enjoyed seeing your kill threads over the years.

[PredatorTC]

Joe, great stuff man! It’s very clear when a true killer speaks and it’s easy to see in the post. That is you my friend!

Speaking on the BS’ing, man is that ever true. There is so much of that anymore and sure I’ve been guilty of it in the past too. So counterproductive tho and eventually it will lead one into a dark place that they can’t find their way out of! Takes time and lots of it before you can accomplish big things in the woods. We all do it cause we love it and all here to learn, so let’s let the true teachers teach. Speak on what you know or have experienced, not what you have read. When you speak I’m all ears buddy! Keep up he great work and thanks for sharing.

Great way to put it! I've watched guys in business do it. Lie after lie after lie. They lie to themselves and it becomes a lonely place for sure!

[Dhurtubise]

Solid bowhunter for sure!

Nice to see you back on here Dor. You were missed. Solid bowhunter here too.

[Net Guy]

Fantastic write-up Joe! Thank you for taking the time to do that. Couple quick questions if you don't mind. What time of the evening do you like to be set up for glassing and what's the best method you found for "camoflauging" your trail cameras? Do you put them up high and cover them with branches, bark, etc?

Thanks!

[PredatorTC]

Good write up. You definitely get a sense of your style of hunting and how you've adapted it to your situations. I do have a few questions and probably more in the future.

1. You mentioned good glass. What is your preference in terms of size and brand
2. How much observation do you do on a buck before moving in? I worry about observing too long and patterns changing.
3. How far are you typically observing from? I have a few areas that are tucked back in the woods that open up but I worry by entering them I may tip the deer off and not get a shot at them so I was wondering if I would be better hanging around open fields with better access or just diving in to hopefully find some reclusive monarch.

Thanks for taking the time to do the write up.

1. You mentioned good glass. What is your preference in terms of size and brand
To be honest, I did a ridiculous amount of glassing last year and have come to a lot of conclusions from those experiences so I'm just searching for better glass now. I've always glassed a lot but never felt that I had it figured out like I did last year. I'm going to make a purchase on something vortex, I'm just not sure which one yet. Robert let me use his last year. I think it was some sort of vortex, but it beat the socks off of my fleet farm special spotting scope and my Leopold Acadia binoculars. I remember scanning a filed with my binos and not seeing anything in the back of the field. Then I switched to his spotter and sure enough, there was a good buck in the back of the field feeding tight up to a fence-line that I couldn't see in my binos. I'm not a huge product expert on anything, but the more light I can pull in as it gets dark the better IMO.

2. How much observation do you do on a buck before moving in? I worry about observing too long and patterns changing.
The real ticket in my opinion is to be able to get glass on them two or three nights before the season opens. That's when you really know your in the game come opening night. I honestly go as much as I can if I know i can do so without tipping off a buck. Just remember to play the wind and consider entry and exit. I try to walk where all the hunters walk and the deer are used to scent anyways.

3. How far are you typically observing from? I have a few areas that are tucked back in the woods that open up but I worry by entering them I may tip the deer off and not get a shot at them so I was wondering if I would be better hanging around open fields with better access or just diving in to hopefully find some reclusive monarch.
It really depends upon the situation. I glassed the 169 and his buddy probably from over a mile away for most of the summer because of the position that I could get in. I would glass them every night that I could because I knew I was having zero impact. Wind direction didn't matter a bit. When they relocated I then glassed them from probably only 200 yards away. I glassed this spot probably every three days when the wind was okay just to checkup and make sure that they were still there. I was defiantly concerned about getting picked off and tipping them off. I moved in the second day of the season because the wind was wrong the first day. On public, I want to make my move asap before someone messes it up.

When you talk about your spots in the woods, are they public or private? If they are private and you know them as well as where the bedding normally is and you have control, I would just stay out and wait for the season opener to make your move. If they are public land and other people are going to be scouting in there and poking around late august, early September and ruining it anyways, then I would defiantly want to be the first guy in there in July to get an eye on whats in there. Just do a few nights to learn whats in there and stay out. The deer may bust you, but at least you know whats there. Better than not knowing and not hunting the spot at all.

My buddy has a spot that he recently showed me that I think your kind of describing. It's a average size hardwoods island surrounded by bedding with cats for miles. The island is hard to get to but not hard enough. you can count on people being on the island come the opener. By the time the season rolls around, any mature buck wont make it to that island before dark with all the yahoos poking around in there and leaving scent. I doubt there will be human scent down in the cats though making there deer feel safe there. What I would do Is get in there in July and see whats coming onto the island. Maybe you learn something, maybe you don't. My buddy will probably bust the deer out when he leaves, but at least he will know if there's a shooter in there. The other variable that can mess with things in this case is acorns. In mid summer, there wont be acorns in the hardwoods and the deer may be bedding elsewhere. Come the opener there may be acorns which may result in the bedding around the island being prime where as it wasn't mid summer. Another thing that a guy could do in my buddies case or perhaps your case; is if he is happy with any pope and young deer, is to just leave it alone entirely. Come up with another game plan for opening day. Then, on opening day mid day or morning, run out to that island/hardwoods and do a perimeter check where the cattails and hardwoods meet up. Look for big tracks coming out of the cats onto the island. The sign will be obvious if there has been a good one in there coming onto that island for the past few nights in a row. If the sign is hot, I would slip down into the cats before all of the other public land guys get into the hardwoods and start clanking with their climbers. This is where Marshbusters ground hunting tactics would come in handy. If there is no sign in the woods opening day, at least you have your backup plan.

[PredatorTC]

Here is a photo of the 169 and his buddy that scored 172 this past summer about mid July Before they relocated. Took this photo through the spotter at probably just under a mile. As September came they defiantly didn't give me light like this to film them. Its a whole different animal in summer but they definitely expose themselves which is great.


Here was the 172 when I relocated them. He actually busted me this night, but I backed off and he stayed in the exact same spot. They tolerate these screw ups in mid summer just because they are so calm IMO


One other thing that I should mention before people think I live in IOWA or something. In all of my years of hunting, I have never EVER had two deer of this this caliber to hunt let a lone in the same area. I've just been very fortunate to be able to locate these deer and hunt them. A 150 is the giant around here. It was an odd year.

[PredatorTC]

:clap:

When you glass and decide to move in, do you wait for a specific wind or do you pick ur pick the tree that night based on the wind forcasted? I have to keep reminding myself to take chances with the wind and push the boundary sometimes. I am wondering how you predict what the wind will do where u set up, or are you just taking a chance? Has previous scouting given you a good idea of the wind in that area?

Yes on everything you have said. I can probably do a better job with watching patterns around wind. The cool part about filming is that I can always look back at what the wind was when I was glassing by looking at the date stamp on my footage and make a plan accordingly. In the early season, I'm going to take the first wind were I can make it work before everything changes. Sometimes I cant pick my tree until I get up close the night of the kill because I cant see things super well from my glassing spot. There are a lot of things that can change a pattern really quick around here so you need to strike asap while its still hot.

Apple trees getting ripe,
good apple trees freezing and going bad,
acorns dropping,
acorns being all cleaned up
maybe an alfalfa field was just cut and now its becoming ripe again,
pressure

These are all things that can change a deers pattern really quick