What’s so hard to understand?!

[funderburk]

Veteran Beasts: What’s one simple thing us newbie beasts can’t seem to understand?

[Edcyclopedia]

Pressure!


Particularly the pressure you put on yourself - strive - but keep it fun...

[Edcyclopedia]

Gave myself a 5 year plan...
Passed a lot of little ones, Doe"s, spikes, 4 & 6 pointers.
Some seasons over 50 deer w/legit opportunities for kills.

I realized a few things - not all woods and/or regions are created equal.
Scouting rules.
Understanding your terrain = experience/ time on the property's you hunt.

Patience! Effort! Determination!

[backstraps]

Ed had some excellent points...

I think the biggest thing I see is, changing to, or learning the BEAST style of hunting..... IT IS NOT INSTANT SUCCESS and does take a lot of dedication, hard work, more than usual scouting, and time to come into your own.

[cspot]

I am not a veteran.

However in hunting I think people read about new tactics and they tend to think that A+B+C= Guaranteed Success. Hunting especially for deer has a way of humbling a person and there is no easy way to achieve success consistently without alot of hard work. Even with hard work it still doesn't always work out.

[JAK]

I wouldnt consider myself a veteran beast but. Hunting hot sign hands down changed allot for me

[Evanszach7]

Finding beds but not taking the time while you’re there to understand how to hunt it. Wind, access, time of year, and a kill tree.

Even better if you can relate terrain to it and scout your way in to confirm hot sign before hunting it.

[Steelhead125]

Hunting the same spot over and over again. One and done or at least wait a few weeks before hunting it again. Most common thing I see hunters do and biggest reason why I feel they end up being unsuccessful. It took me a while to come to this realization but after the first time you hunt a stand your odds decrease drastically. When I kill a buck it’s almost always on my first sit .

[PK_]

Veteran Beasts: What’s one simple thing us newbie beasts can’t seem to understand?

That there is no one thing. It is lots of little things. The deer are in the details.

[Boogieman1]

Think when it comes to big bucks a lot of new hunters feel they have some kind of super powers. That they are indeed some kind of wizard of the woods. Fact is its a grazing animal typically less than 7 years old. The reason u don't see many is due to they fact there aren't many. Hunt an area with an abundance of them and u will see a lot of them. For me that translates to hunt a spot with a lot of the caliber of deer u want to shoot. If that isn't possible or u don't wanna make the necessary sacrifices then lower your expectations.

[Josh_S]

Not a veteran but I am certainly improving.

You'll find yourself scouting and hunting differently than you once did. But trust what your scouting tells you and have confidence in your set ups. You'll begin to see things differently and they will start to make sense. Realize it won't happen over night, it takes a lot of effort.

[Lockdown]

That not all buck beds are created equal. It takes more than a good looking bed and a few rubs to make it hunt worthy. Most guys find a bed with a rub in it and get all antsy in their pantsy (I did when I first started) but realistically a bed can look pretty worn with fairly minimal use. If a buck lays in it once or twice a month, and one decides to leave a rub, it’s going to make you lick your chops.

The best bedding areas have rubs from multiple years and lots of beds. The bedding areas that get used very consistently... those are the beds you want to concentrate on. And even then when you hunt the best it’s fairly common to not see anything. It’s all part of the game.

I would say I’m to the point where 10-20% of the buck beds I find get hunted. It takes a few years to really understand what you’re looking at. I’m certainly not “there” yet, but definitely better than when I started.

The best bedding areas I’ve found are hard to hunt. And that’s why they’re the best. Figuring out how to hunt them effectively might take some trial and error.

Learning Beast techniques is definitely a marathon and not a sprint. Pay attention to all the little details and KEEP AN OPEN MIND. The information you read here and watch in videos are guidelines, not gospel.

In 3-5 years you’ll be in pretty good shape as long as you’re putting forth the effort.

[JAK]

That not all buck beds are created equal. It takes more than a good looking bed and a few rubs to make it hunt worthy. Most guys find a bed with a rub in it and get all antsy in their pantsy (I did when I first started) but realistically a bed can look pretty worn with fairly minimal use. If a buck lays in it once or twice a month, and one decides to leave a rub, it’s going to make you lick your chops.

The best bedding areas have rubs from multiple years and lots of beds. The bedding areas that get used very consistently... those are the beds you want to concentrate on. And even then when you hunt the best it’s fairly common to not see anything. It’s all part of the game.

I would say I’m to the point where 10-20% of the buck beds I find get hunted. It takes a few years to really understand what you’re looking at. I’m certainly not “there” yet, but definitely better than when I started.

The best bedding areas I’ve found are hard to hunt. And that’s why they’re the best. Figuring out how to hunt them effectively might take some trial and error.

Learning Beast techniques is definitely a marathon and not a sprint. Pay attention to all the little details and KEEP AN OPEN MIND. The information you read here and watch in videos are guidelines, not gospel.

In 3-5 years you’ll be in pretty good shape as long as you’re putting forth the effort.

I would agree there. Probly 15 % of the spots ive scouted a truley worth hunting and i can see how a new beast cant let those type of spots string them along. I know when i first started i found a few beds and salavated at the mouth. But then thought to myself got to be better spots then this. And when u find one you know. Only way to find them is scout scout scout.

[Lockdown]

That not all buck beds are created equal. It takes more than a good looking bed and a few rubs to make it hunt worthy. Most guys find a bed with a rub in it and get all antsy in their pantsy (I did when I first started) but realistically a bed can look pretty worn with fairly minimal use. If a buck lays in it once or twice a month, and one decides to leave a rub, it’s going to make you lick your chops.

The best bedding areas have rubs from multiple years and lots of beds. The bedding areas that get used very consistently... those are the beds you want to concentrate on. And even then when you hunt the best it’s fairly common to not see anything. It’s all part of the game.

I would say I’m to the point where 10-20% of the buck beds I find get hunted. It takes a few years to really understand what you’re looking at. I’m certainly not “there” yet, but definitely better than when I started.

The best bedding areas I’ve found are hard to hunt. And that’s why they’re the best. Figuring out how to hunt them effectively might take some trial and error.

Learning Beast techniques is definitely a marathon and not a sprint. Pay attention to all the little details and KEEP AN OPEN MIND. The information you read here and watch in videos are guidelines, not gospel.

In 3-5 years you’ll be in pretty good shape as long as you’re putting forth the effort.

I would agree there. Probly 15 % of the spots ive scouted a truley worth hunting and i can see how a new beast cant let those type of spots string them along. I know when i first started i found a few beds and salavated at the mouth. But then thought to myself got to be better spots then this. And when u find one you know. Only way to find them is scout scout scout.

I agree.

A guy definitely doesn’t want to run out, find a bunch of spots you think are “good enough” then stop scouting if it’s still pre-green up. At the same time, if there’s a bed(ding area) that you aren’t sure is hunt worthy, I’d lean towards hunting it. Is the hunter stringing himself along on mediocre bedding? Maybe, maybe not.

It comes back to the instant gratification stuff that others have mentioned previously in this thread. A guy has to put his time in.

There’s nothing wrong with hunting a few questionable spots! That’s how you learn. Before long you’ll recognize that similar spots are mediocre and you can pass them by and not feel bad about it. I’ve said it a hundred times on the forum... any time you can answer a question, that’s a positive. I can’t stand questioning things. I want the answer and I want it now.

That said, Jak your 2nd to last sentence is spot on. “When you find one, you know.”. The good stuff should really get you excited. It will make perfect sense on an aerial, AND in the field.

[xpauliber]

Bedding.

It ALL revolves around bedding.

If a mature buck spends around 90% of its daylight hours bedded down, you HAVE to be close to his bedding to have a shot at him.

The sooner your scouting, thought process, and decision on where to hunt revolves around where a big buck is bedding, the sooner you'll start to put the pieces together and have success hunting this style. With that being said, I still haven't become proficient at finding the actual buck beds. My success hunting this way has come from hunting bedding AREAS where I didn't know the exact piece of dirt the buck was laying in but I had narrowed it down to a small section and then used that knowledge to help me select what wind to hunt it on, how to access it, how close to move in, etc. Before the Beast, I would hunt field edges, food sources, the same stand over & over again, etc. but now my main focus when I'm scouting or hunting is figuring out where that buck is bedding. Once I know that, I can fill in the blanks and devise a strategy to move in on him and kill him.


Once you understand that your success hunting this way revolves around bedding, the next things you need to understand are:
-You can't kill what isn't there. You HAVE to hunt properties that have a big buck living there and you have to confirm that he's there (trail cam pics, shining, shed antler, etc.)
-First time sits are your absolute best chance to kill a mature buck. So keep bouncing around and make every hunt a first time sit.
-You can't beat their nose so learn how to play the wind to avoid their nose.
-When the season starts, hunting fresh sign near buck bedding is what keeps you in the game in the early season, during the "lull" and into the rut. If the sign isn't fresh, the deer have moved on and so should you.