Efficient Killers?

[ETNyates15]

A question has really been permeating my mind lately and wanted to get some perspective. Let me start by saying I've searched a ton of old posts but can't seem to find a comprehensive thread about this, if there is one please refer me to it. I would like to hear what tactics people with very limited amount of actual hunting sits (like less than 10-20 sits the whole year) use to be successful year over year on mature animals.(Ex. Out of the last 10 years killed 6-8 mature animals on limited hunts) Though it may be very few people that actually do this I have read and listened to a couple people already. (Ex. Andy May) I have a ton of research already into this and feel like I have some traction on some interesting ideas. This is not in any way trying to start a discussion about what is right or wrong, I just want to hear from actual people that hunt very few times a year but consistently kill mature bucks.

[hunter_mike]

Read some of PK's stuff from over the years.

[Paca]

It can be very easy if u own/ rent land and don’t pressure it. Your neighborhood dictates how hood you property is unless u own at least 500 plus acres. Many things can be done to make the hunting better.

[BorealBushMN]

Some folks just have a horseshoe up their “you-know-what”. Success just comes easy. Not to say they don’t work hard during their time in the field, but a little good luck never hurts.

[Bowhunting Brian]

I would guess it revolves around scouting time. Knowing when to move into known bedding when you know the animal is there and not hunting that spot when you know the animal is not there.

[dan]

I know some people who are very successful at hunting only a few times a year and killing huge bucks... Everyone of them is hunting private land with no one else, or very limited others.

There are 2 main ways to kill mature bucks #1 Earn them, hunt hard, and hunt often, scout hard, and scout often, be driven to succeed.
#2 Buy them... Buy or lease great land, go with outfitters, hunt preserves, etc...
Neither one of these are wrong options, just different.

Bottom line is, don't worry about success. Its not a competition. Follow your passion and let the cards fall where they may. If you get a giant, you get a giant, if you don't you don't. But, if you want to limit yourself to public land, pressured private, etc. and you want to hunt 12 days a year, and never scout don't expect to come out of the woods with the same results and experiences as those who are out there all the time.

When I look back at the most successful time period of my hunting career I see an obsessed young man who hunted and scouted 365 days a year... I was always thinking and planning my next hunt, next scouting mission. Yes, always. I would scout on my lunch breaks, slide out of family gatherings and weddings to scout the park across the street and see if the bucks were bedding the way I suspected as I stared out the window... I took a job for 1/2 what I was worth so I could hunt and scout more. Hunting cash was more important than paying my rent... ETC.

Your just plain not going to mimic that success "part time"...

[ETNyates15]

I know some people who are very successful at hunting only a few times a year and killing huge bucks... Everyone of them is hunting private land with no one else, or very limited others.

There are 2 main ways to kill mature bucks #1 Earn them, hunt hard, and hunt often, scout hard, and scout often, be driven to succeed.
#2 Buy them... Buy or lease great land, go with outfitters, hunt preserves, etc...
Neither one of these are wrong options, just different.

Bottom line is, don't worry about success. Its not a competition. Follow your passion and let the cards fall where they may. If you get a giant, you get a giant, if you don't you don't. But, if you want to limit yourself to public land, pressured private, etc. and you want to hunt 12 days a year, and never scout don't expect to come out of the woods with the same results and experiences as those who are out there all the time.

When I look back at the most successful time period of my hunting career I see an obsessed young man who hunted and scouted 365 days a year... I was always thinking and planning my next hunt, next scouting mission. Yes, always. I would scout on my lunch breaks, slide out of family gatherings and weddings to scout the park across the street and see if the bucks were bedding the way I suspected as I stared out the window... I took a job for 1/2 what I was worth so I could hunt and scout more. Hunting cash was more important than paying my rent... ETC.

Your just plain not going to mimic that success "part time"...

Dan and others, agree with this in most part but I've got a few examples of people that I've heard recently that are getting it done on public. Take for instance Josh Profitt, hes done a few podcast lately, he hunts public land in KY exclusively and only gets to hunt 4 days a month total for all of season with a half week of vacation in Nov thrown in. He has killed a mature animal for the last 5 years on that public with a trad bow. He attributes his success to scout time and running trail cams year round. He is still "obsessed" as you say but getting it done year over year without many actual hunts. Those are the kinda examples I'm looking for, again not really looking for what most people are doing just looking for those few examples of people who are gettting it done with limited days. Its something that is very interesting to me. I have the time to scout a lot and always do that and I think that is one of the biggest keys to leading to success. Really just trying to look at the outliers here, People on pressured land that are getting it done consistently. Not even on "huge bucks" neccessarily, just mature animals.

[dan]

I know some people who are very successful at hunting only a few times a year and killing huge bucks... Everyone of them is hunting private land with no one else, or very limited others.

There are 2 main ways to kill mature bucks #1 Earn them, hunt hard, and hunt often, scout hard, and scout often, be driven to succeed.
#2 Buy them... Buy or lease great land, go with outfitters, hunt preserves, etc...
Neither one of these are wrong options, just different.

Bottom line is, don't worry about success. Its not a competition. Follow your passion and let the cards fall where they may. If you get a giant, you get a giant, if you don't you don't. But, if you want to limit yourself to public land, pressured private, etc. and you want to hunt 12 days a year, and never scout don't expect to come out of the woods with the same results and experiences as those who are out there all the time.

When I look back at the most successful time period of my hunting career I see an obsessed young man who hunted and scouted 365 days a year... I was always thinking and planning my next hunt, next scouting mission. Yes, always. I would scout on my lunch breaks, slide out of family gatherings and weddings to scout the park across the street and see if the bucks were bedding the way I suspected as I stared out the window... I took a job for 1/2 what I was worth so I could hunt and scout more. Hunting cash was more important than paying my rent... ETC.

Your just plain not going to mimic that success "part time"...

Dan and others, agree with this in most part but I've got a few examples of people that I've heard recently that are getting it done on public. Take for instance Josh Profitt, hes done a few podcast lately, he hunts public land in KY exclusively and only gets to hunt 4 days a month total for all of season with a half week of vacation in Nov thrown in. He has killed a mature animal for the last 5 years on that public with a trad bow. He attributes his success to scout time and running trail cams year round. He is still "obsessed" as you say but getting it done year over year without many actual hunts. Those are the kinda examples I'm looking for, again not really looking for what most people are doing just looking for those few examples of people who are gettting it done with limited days. Its something that is very interesting to me. I have the time to scout a lot and always do that and I think that is one of the biggest keys to leading to success. Really just trying to look at the outliers here, People on pressured land that are getting it done consistently. Not even on "huge bucks" necessarily, just mature animals.

Its probably more about "where" josh hunts... I went down and hunted public in Iowa in the 1990's and with no pre-scouting could of shot a P&y every day of a 10 day hunt... You also said Josh scouts a lot. Not sure how come he can scout, but can't hunt? But that Im sure has a lot to do with it too... Not sure what scouts a lot is? I put on about 15 miles over the past 3 days...

[ETNyates15]

I think another really good example is Andy May (Ridgerunner7). I know he doesn't take or get a ton of time to actually hunt every year but the man is lethal. I've read and listened to most of his stuff and scouting is key for him. He drops little nuggets through his writing and speaking though of successful things hes learned or tried throughout his journey. That's what I'm after, learning from others mistakes and successes has been a huge part of my success in business and life. I think studying outliers like Andy and Josh can teach us all something whether you get 5 days to hunt or 365.

[ETNyates15]

I know some people who are very successful at hunting only a few times a year and killing huge bucks... Everyone of them is hunting private land with no one else, or very limited others.

There are 2 main ways to kill mature bucks #1 Earn them, hunt hard, and hunt often, scout hard, and scout often, be driven to succeed.
#2 Buy them... Buy or lease great land, go with outfitters, hunt preserves, etc...
Neither one of these are wrong options, just different.

Bottom line is, don't worry about success. Its not a competition. Follow your passion and let the cards fall where they may. If you get a giant, you get a giant, if you don't you don't. But, if you want to limit yourself to public land, pressured private, etc. and you want to hunt 12 days a year, and never scout don't expect to come out of the woods with the same results and experiences as those who are out there all the time.

When I look back at the most successful time period of my hunting career I see an obsessed young man who hunted and scouted 365 days a year... I was always thinking and planning my next hunt, next scouting mission. Yes, always. I would scout on my lunch breaks, slide out of family gatherings and weddings to scout the park across the street and see if the bucks were bedding the way I suspected as I stared out the window... I took a job for 1/2 what I was worth so I could hunt and scout more. Hunting cash was more important than paying my rent... ETC.

Your just plain not going to mimic that success "part time"...

Dan and others, agree with this in most part but I've got a few examples of people that I've heard recently that are getting it done on public. Take for instance Josh Profitt, hes done a few podcast lately, he hunts public land in KY exclusively and only gets to hunt 4 days a month total for all of season with a half week of vacation in Nov thrown in. He has killed a mature animal for the last 5 years on that public with a trad bow. He attributes his success to scout time and running trail cams year round. He is still "obsessed" as you say but getting it done year over year without many actual hunts. Those are the kinda examples I'm looking for, again not really looking for what most people are doing just looking for those few examples of people who are gettting it done with limited days. Its something that is very interesting to me. I have the time to scout a lot and always do that and I think that is one of the biggest keys to leading to success. Really just trying to look at the outliers here, People on pressured land that are getting it done consistently. Not even on "huge bucks" necessarily, just mature animals.

Its probably more about "where" josh hunts... I went down and hunted public in Iowa in the 1990's and with no pre-scouting could of shot a P&y every day of a 10 day hunt... You also said Josh scouts a lot. Not sure how come he can scout, but can't hunt? But that Im sure has a lot to do with it too... Not sure what scouts a lot is? I put on about 15 miles over the past 3 days...

He hunts 2 5k acre national forests in KY, according to him they get pressured like crazy. Again, not saying that you or others couldn't go in there and kill in a couple days but he has his kids every other weekend due to divorce so he hunts 2 weekends a month. Does not go before or after work at all because the properties are 1 hour + away from his house. He scouts a lot during the offseason like all of us and runs a ton of trail cams and uses Deerlab to get year over year data he can use. He said it took him about 3 years to really start figuring out the areas but now is able to really be on them when he can. Again just an example of one person doing something crazy different on public in a high pressure state but I'm sure there are a few others out there like that.

[DaveT1963]

There are so many variables. private or public, what state, what weapon, etc. Size of rack is not the best indicator. I know guys that kill 3+ y/o bucks on public land every year that you will never hear of because the racks are small.... no doubt in my mind they would knock down monsters if they hunted the prime states. And I know several that do it every year with trad bows. then I also know of several guys that haven't shot a buck in a few years because they are after a specific buck and pass deer most on here would gladly shoot.

[ETNyates15]

There are so many variables. private or public, what state, what weapon, etc. Size of rack is not the best indicator. I know guys that kill 3+ y/o bucks on public land every year that you will never hear of because the racks are small.... no doubt in my mind they would knock down monsters if they hunted the prime states. And I know several that do it every year with trad bows. then I also know of several guys that haven't shot a buck in a few years because they are after a specific buck and pass deer most on here would gladly shoot.

Dave, agree with you and again not really looking at it from a rack perspective just a mature in your state or area perspective. I would bet there are a few guys lurking on here that kill pretty consistently on public or pressured private but do so without many actual sits every year. I know this topic can rub people the wrong way due to it seeming to mean that people don't want to work hard for it or something but that is in no case the point. I believe you can work hard in regards to everything deer hunting and maybe not be in a tree. Maybe I'm wrong but I would like to hear from some different people about what they use/do.

[Jackson Marsh]

JoeRE is a very efficient killer. A few years ago he killed 3 mature bucks in something like 12 hunts, and yeah he lives in a good state with good deer numbers etc. Read through some of his old journals or season reviews.

[oldrank]

Scout as much as you can. Learn your areas. Hunt when you can. We all have limitations. I can hunt just about every day after work. That gives me about 4:30 pm till dark. That gives me about 3 hours to get to my stand site and hunt when our season starts in October. By December that gives me 1 hour to get to my stand site set up and hunt.

How I compensate is by scouting out areas that are closest to work and short hikes in. Obviously I can't hike 2 miles in with an hour of time.

It takes me 17 minutes to get to the closest parking area. 10 minutes to hike to my tree and a few minutes to set the stand and climb.

This might not fit "limited time" in some folks mind but it's a constant handicap to my hunting. Opposite of alot of folks, my worse days to hunt are weekends. I usually have things planned with the wife and family. There are always family get-togethers n such I have to attend. So I work with what I have.

Everyone works with what they have.

[Swampbuck]

I think another really good example is Andy May (Ridgerunner7). I know he doesn't take or get a ton of time to actually hunt every year but the man is lethal. I've read and listened to most of his stuff and scouting is key for him. He drops little nuggets through his writing and speaking though of successful things hes learned or tried throughout his journey. That's what I'm after, learning from others mistakes and successes has been a huge part of my success in business and life. I think studying outliers like Andy and Josh can teach us all something whether you get 5 days to hunt or 365.

There is a reason Andy is so good and efficient at what he does. Its because in the past he did put in tons of time learning and studying just like Dan mentioned above. Put in tons of scouting and hunting time which has given him so much experience that now he is able to still get it done on limited time. What he does is absolutely amazing in my view. But In reality you really cant shortcut that process. I totally agree on learning from the best as I am with you that is how I typically progress faster as well but there is no substitute for that experience they have.