The 'lightbulb moment'

[DaveT1963]

My "lightbulb" moment came long before the internet or the Beast. It was the day I finally admitted that deer are in the woods 365 days a year/24 hours a day. If I was not seeing them then I was doing something wrong. That acknowledgement forced me to become a student, learn to seek the "why," and to keep pushing. There is a place for knowledge - but if you do not learn to interpret and apply that knowledge in the field, it is of little value and your results probably won't change a bunch.

[Double Draw]

That still gives him 240 degrees he could escape.

5 people might be able to surround him.
The southern slope he would probably die.
The northern is steep but manageable.

I bet if you did some observing of his favorite exit routes you might be able to take away some of those 'degrees of escape'. At least, I think, you could narrow it down to give yourself a reasonable chance to be in the game.

[tundra]

starting in 1976 started to get some bucks, but nothing really big, but I was happy. all the information I read was how to hunt trails and rub lines etc. by the mid 80's, I said to a friend of mine, "that's where we should be hunting", he said. no that is where they rest, you will spook them.......and of course things are slow, because of the " October lull"

so I said, that's , deer got to be somewhere, they do not dig a hole and hide. so in 86 started to off others, as I went right in the water, into the crap, hung stands and hunted.... Yep I blew a lot of deer out of spots, but man when I got a shot, it was a dandy.

After that I went my own way, hunted areas and I did not care if it had trees or not, grabbed a step ladder dug a hole, hunted out of a canoe or jon boat, whatever it took,,,, hunted where the deer were, and for the most part, I was seeing a lot more deer......

I believe you can kill a buck, any time of the season, you just have to go at it.............
'

[Lu Rome]

When I could read the nighttime buck sign and knew where the buck was spending daylight on public land. Killed two bucks last season with this.

I think this is "Beast" hunting at it's simplest. Where is he during daylight? Then hunt him there.

[Rich M]

A - I could understand hunting the wind - I now realize that thermals will carry your scent when the wind lays down at dusk, possibly into the wind.

B - I understood that deer bed in thick cover and hide from hunters - I now realize that deer bed where they can see oncoming danger and smell the danger behind them. If the wind swirls, they can caver a large area.

C - I could understand scouting and looking for hot sign - I now understand that without an understanding of A & B, you won't know where to look for sign made during daylight hours.

A big aha moment for me was watching the Public Land Challenge video last year. Great cast and good display of different hunting approaches. It helped me understand that I needed to look harder and that a bedding area is deceptively small and often on a transition line. The very next scouting trip I found the best area I've found to date - lots of hot sign. Hunted it 2 mornings, saw 4 bucks, 1 doe. Had deer on a trail camera every morning for the 2 or 3 week period it was out.

Someday I'll be able to do that off an aerial. Waiting to see if I get a permit this year - then will check out areas with similar aerial signatures and see if they are used the same way.

[The Silence]

After hunting season 2 years ago, I went back over the last 5 years of hunting journals to put together a list of all older buck sightings and data pertaining to them such as location, dates, winds etc. I also went through and put together a list of all the busted hunts I had had and what reasons were behind them. Some were my mistakes, others were just part of the game such as wind shifts etc. This gave me a base line of data of what had really been going on since I wasn't really happy with the results I had been getting.

Then I started drilling down into the details of what I had been reading in the Beast forums and have been trying to implement some of these basics:

(1) Get a bead on exactly where he's bedding or a relatively close idea. If you don't you won't be able to get close enough to his "safe zone" during daylight hours and your hunt may have ended before you even get to where you're going because he spotted you as you were accessing your stand area.

(2) Everything the big boys do has a specific purpose to it. They are very deliberate in what they do and rarely take chances. Security is a must whether traveling or scenting a field before entering it at last light or after dark. You may see lots of younger bucks out in the open but not the big boys.

(3) Try not to give a mature animal any education of what you're up to. Try to kill him the first time in and only when the conditions are optimal.

(4) Make sure you have the ability to change your hunt based on the present circumstances/sign you encounter as you head in to hunt such as hang and hunt or hunting off the ground. Jump on opportunities that may arise out of the blue.

(5) Leave trail cams out to soak to gain intel for the following season based on which days held the best activities of the mature bucks.

[Chuck B]

My lightbulb moment probably happened when I started reading through this forum website. I was able to connect the dots from my previous hunts (both successful and unsuccessful) and kills. One buck in particular was my lesson as I learned that bucks really are patternable and that you can see them in daylight as long as you are getting close enough to it.

[Double Draw]

After hunting season 2 years ago, I went back over the last 5 years of hunting journals to put together a list of all older buck sightings and data pertaining to them such as location, dates, winds etc. I also went through and put together a list of all the busted hunts I had had and what reasons were behind them. Some were my mistakes, others were just part of the game such as wind shifts etc. This gave me a base line of data of what had really been going on since I wasn't really happy with the results I had been getting.

Then I started drilling down into the details of what I had been reading in the Beast forums and have been trying to implement some of these basics:

(1) Get a bead on exactly where he's bedding or a relatively close idea. If you don't you won't be able to get close enough to his "safe zone" during daylight hours and your hunt may have ended before you even get to where you're going because he spotted you as you were accessing your stand area.

(2) Everything the big boys do has a specific purpose to it. They are very deliberate in what they do and rarely take chances. Security is a must whether traveling or scenting a field before entering it at last light or after dark. You may see lots of younger bucks out in the open but not the big boys.

(3) Try not to give a mature animal any education of what you're up to. Try to kill him the first time in and only when the conditions are optimal.

(4) Make sure you have the ability to change your hunt based on the present circumstances/sign you encounter as you head in to hunt such as hang and hunt or hunting off the ground. Jump on opportunities that may arise out of the blue.

(5) Leave trail cams out to soak to gain intel for the following season based on which days held the best activities of the mature bucks.

Thanks for sharing! Those 5 points are a great synopsis of Beast style hunting. I am curious what you saw as patterns from your journals several years ago, if you are willing to share? What was the "base line of data" if you will of your journal findings?

[The Silence]

Hey Double Draw. Here's several of the conclusions I came to after trying to get a realistic picture of what had been happening over the last 5-6 hunting seasons I had gone through:

(1) I knew there were mature bucks present (5+ years old) on the properties I had been hunting but I rarely saw them out in the open during daylight hours (even during the rut) and I never got pictures of them at all except in cover off the field edges or if they were out in the open it was always at night. I also realized that the vast majority of concrete evidence I had of them came from places that were the farthest places from the country gravel roads where they could be seen and possible shot at. (There has been evidence on one property in particular that poaching is taking place.) This made it clear to me that these old boys were not about to take chances by being out in the open. LESSON: THESE BRUISERS ARE LIKE HUNTING A COMPLETELY DIFFERENT ANIMAL THAN A YOUNGER 1.5-3.5 YEAR OLD. THEY NORMALLY DON'T TAKE CHANCES--EVER.

(2) Because of this, you've got to key in on their beds in order to have any chance of seeing them during daylight hours. Or during the rut, when they MAY be traveling more, every travel route needs to have cover associated with it. ALMOST NO EXCEPTIONS. Even then you've got to really stack the odds in your favor. You've got to have intel to come up with a reasonable plan. Scout, scout, scout hunt. As I looked at my stand locations, (I had a number of them that were in known buck locations) but I hadn't really known much about the bedding dynamics of mature bucks so I really hadn't taken the time to dial in those spots like I had needed to. As a result, I wasn't able to close the deal at all on those older animals, let alone rarely seeing any. LESSON: I NEEDED TO DRILL DOWN INTO SPECIFIC DETAILS OF THE INFORMATION I ALREADY HAD AND START PUTTING 2 AND 2 TOGETHER. OF THE CONCRETE SIGHTINGS AND PICTURES OF THE BIG BOYS I HAD WERE THERE REASONS THEY WERE AT THOSE PLACES IN RELATIONSHIP TO THEIR BEDS OR SEASONAL TRAVEL PATTERNS.

(3) As I looked at the hard intel I did have from only mature animals I started making adjustments to try to get myself into the game. Here are some of the specific adjustments I made: (1) I figured out that one of the traditional beds was at the base of a thermal hub for thermals. I'd seen several shooters that bedded in that specific finger of standing corn for that reason. Time to close in so I can shoot him as he comes out of the corn. (2) I had one stand that needed to be shifted about 100 yards in order to intercept a big boy as he exited his bedding area. I hadn't been seeing the details clear enough and relating it to his bed. Time to change that. (3) I found a nice shooter via a trail cam in a small, out of the way little patch of cover where no one ever enters. Found a great entry path via a small river, up over the bank into a bunch of tall grass to pick him off as he enters this little out of the way corn field. We'll see if he shows up again this year. (4) Ran into a big boy 2 days before bow opener last year by accident. Backed out and discovered the back door exit route he will probably take to leave that bedding area. Very secluded and out of the way. Perfect. I've got a blow down that I will be sitting in the middle of that I can access via a drainage with steep sides that they can't see me in from that bedding area. I just never realized how these honkers set up so often that they can see out a long way visually and you're goose is cooked if you don't know where they're bedded down at. (5) I soaked a couple trail cams for three months last year to see if/how deer were using a couple secure fence lines traveling between doe bedding areas. Emphasis on SECURE. Now I have a great set-up based on that intel because it really narrowed down a couple time frames when the mature bucks were going through there during daylight hours. I will definitely plan on being there at that same time frame this fall. (6) I went out early this year while snow was still on the ground to find a couple dandy mature buck beds and these were both associated with great rub lines in really secluded, secure areas. I was able to find ambush spots along those travel corridors that I believe they are using as regular bedding areas due to the secure, out of the way place they're located. It was cool that I found a really dandy shed this spring which had fallen 3 feet in front of one of those big rubs so I'm assuming it's off the head of the tree wrecker. I'll be waiting for him this fall since it looks like a secluded travel corridor he used all the time. LESSON: SCOUT, SCOUT, SCOUT, HUNT. KEEP GAINING INTEL AND CHANGE YOUR PLANS ACCORDINGLY.

(4) I tried to soak trail cams last fall, for months at a time, trying to discover active, secure travel corridors and then to see if, when and how the big boys are using them during daylight hours. That area is wide open farm country with rolling hills and very limited cover so I had been having a hard time in the past finding specific daytime travel corridors especially during the rut. I'm planning on doing this every year from now on because of the valuable intel I got for this year's hunting season based on what I learned last year. I also tried to go out when we still had snow on the ground to try to pinpoint some buck beds and also see how they used the terrain. I did find a number of situations based on what I found in the snow that are helping me set up properly on the correct wind and to be able to get in undetected. I also started looking at the overhead/underfoot moon location to see if I notice if it really does affect the older deer. I shot my first mature buck last year at 4:50pm after he had traveled several hundred yards to work a scrape. It was the first evening of the temps going below freezing in October but it was also a "Red Moon" time that evening as well. Not sure how much the moon had to do with it since it was the first October cold front but those deer were moving extremely early that night. I'm definitely going to be watching what's going on this year during those times. LESSON: KEEP GAINING INTEL TO TIGHTEN THE NOOSE.

(5) The last thing I wanted to bring up had to do with being mobile. Over the last several years I have been using my ghillie suit as I stalked my way into my permanent stand locations especially in the area where I suspected deer might be bedded down. I the last several years I had walked up within 2 shooters that I had been within 5-15 yards from. Both animal got up and ran out to about 25 yards or so and turned around to see what I was since they were both bedding in very high grass and just knew something was getting too close. I blew both opportunities because I hadn't practiced what I would do I that happened again. Now I'm ready with a new tactic. The point being, if you're careful you can really hone into their location if they can't see or smell you. I also set up on the ground if new opportunities present themselves or when I arrive into my intended stand, conditions, recent sign or wind direction have changed what I should do. If things change, I can change my location really quickly. I just like the simplicity of taking in less equipment. I'm heading into my 60's and maybe this has something to do with it as well. Another thing I started to realize through the evaluation process was that I needed to scrap my original plan if something new started to develop even when I was already on stand or something showed up as a fun opportunity before I ever started the hike in. Example: 2 years ago the farmer who's land my friend and I hunt on commented that he had seen a fresh rub show up very recently when he was taking corn out of one of his fields. We thought we would go check it out since it was right next to a mud lane. I stayed back at a distance as my fiend slowly drove his truck up the mud lane to the top of the hill. He couldn't see them but as he went passed a section on the lower end of the hill I could see 2 bucks and a doe watch him as he slowly drove by. One was a 2.5 year old and the other one was a 3.5-4.5 y.o. They were right next to that new rub, behind what was left of the standing corn and I'm assuming that the older buck was holed up with that hot doe. I know that that older buck wasn't a monster for that area it presented a great opportunity for me to put on my ghillie suit and stalk along the edge of that standing corn since I would have had the perfect wind and they really weren't alarmed at all. Instead, I stuck to my guns, instead of jumping on an opportunity to have a great chance of stalking down those deer. No matter the outcome, I'm sure I would have remembered that hunt a long time into the future. LESSON: AS I LOOKED BACK AT THE OPPORTUNITIES I HAD HAD I REALIZED THAT I NEEDED TO TAKE CHANCES AT SPECIAL OPPORTUNITIES IF THEY PRESENTED THEMSELVES. I ALSO REALIZED THAT I NEEDED TO DEFINE WHAT A SUCCESSFUL, FUN AND SATISFYING HUNT WAS FOR ME AT THIS TIME IN MY HUNTING JOURNEY.

Double Draw. Sorry for taking so long to reply to your question and I hope some of these thoughts help clarify things.

[Double Draw]

Hey Double Draw. Here's several of the conclusions I came to after trying to get a realistic picture of what had been happening over the last 5-6 hunting seasons I had gone through:

(1) I knew there were mature bucks present (5+ years old) on the properties I had been hunting but I rarely saw them out in the open during daylight hours (even during the rut) and I never got pictures of them at all except in cover off the field edges or if they were out in the open it was always at night. I also realized that the vast majority of concrete evidence I had of them came from places that were the farthest places from the country gravel roads where they could be seen and possible shot at. (There has been evidence on one property in particular that poaching is taking place.) This made it clear to me that these old boys were not about to take chances by being out in the open. LESSON: THESE BRUISERS ARE LIKE HUNTING A COMPLETELY DIFFERENT ANIMAL THAN A YOUNGER 1.5-3.5 YEAR OLD. THEY NORMALLY DON'T TAKE CHANCES--EVER.

(2) Because of this, you've got to key in on their beds in order to have any chance of seeing them during daylight hours. Or during the rut, when they MAY be traveling more, every travel route needs to have cover associated with it. ALMOST NO EXCEPTIONS. Even then you've got to really stack the odds in your favor. You've got to have intel to come up with a reasonable plan. Scout, scout, scout hunt. As I looked at my stand locations, (I had a number of them that were in known buck locations) but I hadn't really known much about the bedding dynamics of mature bucks so I really hadn't taken the time to dial in those spots like I had needed to. As a result, I wasn't able to close the deal at all on those older animals, let alone rarely seeing any. LESSON: I NEEDED TO DRILL DOWN INTO SPECIFIC DETAILS OF THE INFORMATION I ALREADY HAD AND START PUTTING 2 AND 2 TOGETHER. OF THE CONCRETE SIGHTINGS AND PICTURES OF THE BIG BOYS I HAD WERE THERE REASONS THEY WERE AT THOSE PLACES IN RELATIONSHIP TO THEIR BEDS OR SEASONAL TRAVEL PATTERNS.

(3) As I looked at the hard intel I did have from only mature animals I started making adjustments to try to get myself into the game. Here are some of the specific adjustments I made: (1) I figured out that one of the traditional beds was at the base of a thermal hub for thermals. I'd seen several shooters that bedded in that specific finger of standing corn for that reason. Time to close in so I can shoot him as he comes out of the corn. (2) I had one stand that needed to be shifted about 100 yards in order to intercept a big boy as he exited his bedding area. I hadn't been seeing the details clear enough and relating it to his bed. Time to change that. (3) I found a nice shooter via a trail cam in a small, out of the way little patch of cover where no one ever enters. Found a great entry path via a small river, up over the bank into a bunch of tall grass to pick him off as he enters this little out of the way corn field. We'll see if he shows up again this year. (4) Ran into a big boy 2 days before bow opener last year by accident. Backed out and discovered the back door exit route he will probably take to leave that bedding area. Very secluded and out of the way. Perfect. I've got a blow down that I will be sitting in the middle of that I can access via a drainage with steep sides that they can't see me in from that bedding area. I just never realized how these honkers set up so often that they can see out a long way visually and you're goose is cooked if you don't know where they're bedded down at. (5) I soaked a couple trail cams for three months last year to see if/how deer were using a couple secure fence lines traveling between doe bedding areas. Emphasis on SECURE. Now I have a great set-up based on that intel because it really narrowed down a couple time frames when the mature bucks were going through there during daylight hours. I will definitely plan on being there at that same time frame this fall. (6) I went out early this year while snow was still on the ground to find a couple dandy mature buck beds and these were both associated with great rub lines in really secluded, secure areas. I was able to find ambush spots along those travel corridors that I believe they are using as regular bedding areas due to the secure, out of the way place they're located. It was cool that I found a really dandy shed this spring which had fallen 3 feet in front of one of those big rubs so I'm assuming it's off the head of the tree wrecker. I'll be waiting for him this fall since it looks like a secluded travel corridor he used all the time. LESSON: SCOUT, SCOUT, SCOUT, HUNT. KEEP GAINING INTEL AND CHANGE YOUR PLANS ACCORDINGLY.

(4) I tried to soak trail cams last fall, for months at a time, trying to discover active, secure travel corridors and then to see if, when and how the big boys are using them during daylight hours. That area is wide open farm country with rolling hills and very limited cover so I had been having a hard time in the past finding specific daytime travel corridors especially during the rut. I'm planning on doing this every year from now on because of the valuable intel I got for this year's hunting season based on what I learned last year. I also tried to go out when we still had snow on the ground to try to pinpoint some buck beds and also see how they used the terrain. I did find a number of situations based on what I found in the snow that are helping me set up properly on the correct wind and to be able to get in undetected. I also started looking at the overhead/underfoot moon location to see if I notice if it really does affect the older deer. I shot my first mature buck last year at 4:50pm after he had traveled several hundred yards to work a scrape. It was the first evening of the temps going below freezing in October but it was also a "Red Moon" time that evening as well. Not sure how much the moon had to do with it since it was the first October cold front but those deer were moving extremely early that night. I'm definitely going to be watching what's going on this year during those times. LESSON: KEEP GAINING INTEL TO TIGHTEN THE NOOSE.

(5) The last thing I wanted to bring up had to do with being mobile. Over the last several years I have been using my ghillie suit as I stalked my way into my permanent stand locations especially in the area where I suspected deer might be bedded down. I the last several years I had walked up within 2 shooters that I had been within 5-15 yards from. Both animal got up and ran out to about 25 yards or so and turned around to see what I was since they were both bedding in very high grass and just knew something was getting too close. I blew both opportunities because I hadn't practiced what I would do I that happened again. Now I'm ready with a new tactic. The point being, if you're careful you can really hone into their location if they can't see or smell you. I also set up on the ground if new opportunities present themselves or when I arrive into my intended stand, conditions, recent sign or wind direction have changed what I should do. If things change, I can change my location really quickly. I just like the simplicity of taking in less equipment. I'm heading into my 60's and maybe this has something to do with it as well. Another thing I started to realize through the evaluation process was that I needed to scrap my original plan if something new started to develop even when I was already on stand or something showed up as a fun opportunity before I ever started the hike in. Example: 2 years ago the farmer who's land my friend and I hunt on commented that he had seen a fresh rub show up very recently when he was taking corn out of one of his fields. We thought we would go check it out since it was right next to a mud lane. I stayed back at a distance as my fiend slowly drove his truck up the mud lane to the top of the hill. He couldn't see them but as he went passed a section on the lower end of the hill I could see 2 bucks and a doe watch him as he slowly drove by. One was a 2.5 year old and the other one was a 3.5-4.5 y.o. They were right next to that new rub, behind what was left of the standing corn and I'm assuming that the older buck was holed up with that hot doe. I know that that older buck wasn't a monster for that area it presented a great opportunity for me to put on my ghillie suit and stalk along the edge of that standing corn since I would have had the perfect wind and they really weren't alarmed at all. Instead, I stuck to my guns, instead of jumping on an opportunity to have a great chance of stalking down those deer. No matter the outcome, I'm sure I would have remembered that hunt a long time into the future. LESSON: AS I LOOKED BACK AT THE OPPORTUNITIES I HAD HAD I REALIZED THAT I NEEDED TO TAKE CHANCES AT SPECIAL OPPORTUNITIES IF THEY PRESENTED THEMSELVES. I ALSO REALIZED THAT I NEEDED TO DEFINE WHAT A SUCCESSFUL, FUN AND SATISFYING HUNT WAS FOR ME AT THIS TIME IN MY HUNTING JOURNEY.

Double Draw. Sorry for taking so long to reply to your question and I hope some of these thoughts help clarify things.

This is great stuff, Silence. I really appreciate you sharing your learning curve. Wishing you well this fall!

[G-Patt]

Three recent "lightbulbs" for me was 1) I can be just as effective hunting from the ground than from a tree; 2) how I access an area takes as much planning and effort as finding good sign; 3) scout, scout, scout, hunt!

[sdonx]

whoops

[sdonx]

Second year using Beast tactics. Everyone says it takes a solid three years to grasp this style. I figured it was going to take me 10. I could not find a bed to save my life last year.... it was very depressing for me as I was so excited for this style. I love the hardwork.
This year I have done better finding the easy beds, mostly doe.
Then came Sunday, I bought a small light canoe and rowed my but off to an isolated island, I found a nice big bed there, it was an easy one.
On the way back I hit a couple fingers into the swamp and another island....that's where I had my mini lightbulb moment.
I was shocked at where I found beds and how they just started popping out to me.
Even the hair I was struggling to see, Sunday I could find it quick. I felt like I was in the zone.

So excited for this years hunt. More than even last years season.

[The Silence]

Enjoy the journey brother. We're all in this together. I started realizing myself recently that the process throughout the year is what I really enjoy not just the outcome. The chess game that goes into trying to outwit these wily creatures is really a blessing to be a part of.

[greenhorndave]

Enjoy the journey brother. We're all in this together. I started realizing myself recently that the process throughout the year is what I really enjoy not just the outcome. The chess game that goes into trying to outwit these wily creatures is really a blessing to be a part of.