help me use up my vacation days? (schedule)

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help me use up my vacation days? (schedule)

Unread postby raisins » Wed Oct 09, 2019 9:55 am

So, I'm going to take around 11 days off this year to bow hunt. I have the luxury to be able to take 1 day off here or there and on short notice. I don't have to plan it out way in advance or take a whole week.

Part of me wants to use it all end of October to mid-November because of the rut. But another part of me wants to take some early season time (like tomorrow maybe) to get out there and before hunting pressure increases.

This will all be on public land.

How would others proceed?

Thanks - R


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Re: help me use up my vacation days? (schedule)

Unread postby RookieBeast2019 » Wed Oct 09, 2019 10:02 am

I’d play the weather and wind for whatever spot you pick.

Depending on when the rut is in your area that’s when I would take off.

Good luck!
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Re: help me use up my vacation days? (schedule)

Unread postby Dewey » Wed Oct 09, 2019 10:58 am

If you scouted and know exactly where the bucks are now would be the time to take off while they are still easy enough to pattern. If you want a chance at multiple bucks cruising then the rut may be for you. The rut can be feast or famine. If you get a hot doe near you it can be incredible. If not the rut can be very difficult if your not set up properly.

Honestly I would split it up. Take some now maybe for a few long weekends and then save a week for the rut.
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Re: help me use up my vacation days? (schedule)

Unread postby Boogieman1 » Wed Oct 09, 2019 11:00 am

Im a believer in blowing the whole wad all at once vs a day here an there no matter what time of the season u choose. I find it always takes me a few days to "get a feel" for what's going on. After 4 or 5 days of nothing but hunting my instincts are sharpened and I'm in tune with the woods. A day or 2 here an there doesn't get me to that place and I constantly find myself starting from scratch. Then about the time I start dialing in, it's back to the salt mines.
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Re: help me use up my vacation days? (schedule)

Unread postby Wide 9 » Wed Oct 09, 2019 11:53 am

Raisins I agree with what Dewey said. Breaking it up does a few things for you over spending the whole wad at once.

If a doe is not hot in one of your locations she very well could be in a week or in 2 weeks or even 3 weeks.

I have seen weather stay a steady 75 degrees here in Wisconsin in early November for 6-7 days straight. Breaking your time up will guarantee you an ideal "cold" weather conditions along your season.

If you have just a few spots/properties to hunt breaking your vacation up will give your properties more breaks and time to settle.

You can burn yourself out. When I'm doing all day sits during the rut on deep public land, going to my real job is a vacation for me. Breaking up your days creates those mini breaks and causes you to be refreshed and alert for your upcoming sits.

One of the most important aspects to me is that breaking up your sit's will give you a larger array of different directions of winds. I try to always have a plethora of spots based on many different wind directions. For instance, I have a very big buck I have intel on and I absolutely need a NW wind for this particular spot to get him. Spreading my time off out increases the chance that I will have a NW wind.

If you hunt pressured properties whether public or private I tend to find Wednesdays as ideal. It gives just enough time for these pressured properties to die down and Wednesdays usually have the least amount of pressure amongst all days of the week. Breaking your time up can give you multiple Wednesdays. Even 11 straight days starting on a Friday like most people do when they start their rut vacation gives them......that's right.....1 Wednesday. 11 days of vacation can give you 3 Wednesdays along with a Thursday and Friday (or Monday and Tuesday) and than another 2 days to be used how you see fit.

Hope this helps. Good Luck.

W9
Last edited by Wide 9 on Wed Oct 09, 2019 11:57 am, edited 2 times in total.
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Re: help me use up my vacation days? (schedule)

Unread postby backstraps » Wed Oct 09, 2019 11:56 am

Dewey wrote:If you scouted and know exactly where the bucks are now would be the time to take off while they are still easy enough to pattern. If you want a chance at multiple bucks cruising then the rut may be for you. The rut can be feast or famine. If you get a hot doe near you it can be incredible. If not the rut can be very difficult if your not set up properly.

Honestly I would split it up. Take some now maybe for a few long weekends and then save a week for the rut.



EXACTLY!!

I split mine up just as Dewey said.
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Re: help me use up my vacation days? (schedule)

Unread postby Boogieman1 » Wed Oct 09, 2019 12:20 pm

Wide 9 wrote:Raisins I agree with what Dewey said. Breaking it up does a few things for you over spending the whole wad at once.

If a doe is not hot in one of your locations she very well could be in a week or in 2 weeks or even 3 weeks.

I have seen weather stay a steady 75 degrees here in Wisconsin in early November for 6-7 days straight. Breaking your time up will guarantee you an ideal "cold" weather conditions along your season.

If you have just a few spots/properties to hunt breaking your vacation up will give your properties more breaks and time to settle.

You can burn yourself out. When I'm doing all day sits during the rut on deep public land, going to my real job is a vacation for me. Breaking up your days creates those mini breaks and causes you to be refreshed and alert for your upcoming sits.

One of the most important aspects to me is that breaking up your sit's will give you a larger array of different directions of winds. I try to always have a plethora of spots based on many different wind directions. For instance, I have a very big buck I have intel on and I absolutely need a NW wind for this particular spot to get him. Spreading my time off out increases the chance that I will have a NW wind.

If you hunt pressured properties whether public or private I tend to find Wednesdays as ideal. It gives just enough time for these pressured properties to die down and Wednesdays usually have the least amount of pressure amongst all days of the week. Breaking your time up can give you multiple Wednesdays. Even 11 straight days starting on a Friday like most people do when they start their rut vacation gives them......that's right.....1 Wednesday. 11 days of vacation can give you 3 Wednesdays along with a Thursday and Friday (or Monday and Tuesday) and than another 2 days to be used how you see fit.

Hope this helps. Good Luck.

W9

Wide, due to the recent cool spell I'm feeling a bit frisky so I'm down for a healthy debate. Nothing against anyone's thoughts we all have our preferred methods just abhealthy debate for grins!
Does any Boone & Crockett reports or p&y support your Wednesday claims? Personally I believe whatever day of the week u spend the most time out there will be your best day.

Reguardless of weather or anything else the rut starts at the same time every year. So if it's in the 70s the first 3 weeks of November are u gonna bypass all hunting?

Say u had a camera placed in a tight funnel and let it soak for a entire season that revealed a rash of various good buck movement between Nov 2-Nov 9 under various wind and weather conditions. Are u just gonna sit it one day and go back to work?

If a hot doe is not in your area how do feel your odds increase any after going back to work for 5 days?

Wind direction doesn't make a diff one bit IMO on what deer do. Give a guy who knows what he's doing a 5 acre woodlot and he can hunt it under any wind known to man kind. So why does what the direction the wind is out of effect when a guy should take vacation?
All I got for now but fire at will :lol:
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Re: help me use up my vacation days? (schedule)

Unread postby greenhorndave » Wed Oct 09, 2019 1:11 pm

Boogieman1 wrote:Im a believer in blowing the whole wad all at once vs a day here an there no matter what time of the season u choose. I find it always takes me a few days to "get a feel" for what's going on. After 4 or 5 days of nothing but hunting my instincts are sharpened and I'm in tune with the woods. A day or 2 here an there doesn't get me to that place and I constantly find myself starting from scratch. Then about the time I start dialing in, it's back to the salt mines.

This is what I felt so far this year. I only had three consecutive days (when I was planning on 7, but that's another story) and a couple others sprinkled around. The third consecutive day was the best for what you described. Don't get me wrong, I'll hunt any day, but grinding it out and making adjustments is what Dan and the THP boys do regularly to knock down bucks. I'm leaning toward taking conservative days.
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Re: help me use up my vacation days? (schedule)

Unread postby Wide 9 » Wed Oct 09, 2019 1:15 pm

Boogieman1 wrote:
Wide 9 wrote:Raisins I agree with what Dewey said. Breaking it up does a few things for you over spending the whole wad at once.

If a doe is not hot in one of your locations she very well could be in a week or in 2 weeks or even 3 weeks.

I have seen weather stay a steady 75 degrees here in Wisconsin in early November for 6-7 days straight. Breaking your time up will guarantee you an ideal "cold" weather conditions along your season.

If you have just a few spots/properties to hunt breaking your vacation up will give your properties more breaks and time to settle.

You can burn yourself out. When I'm doing all day sits during the rut on deep public land, going to my real job is a vacation for me. Breaking up your days creates those mini breaks and causes you to be refreshed and alert for your upcoming sits.

One of the most important aspects to me is that breaking up your sit's will give you a larger array of different directions of winds. I try to always have a plethora of spots based on many different wind directions. For instance, I have a very big buck I have intel on and I absolutely need a NW wind for this particular spot to get him. Spreading my time off out increases the chance that I will have a NW wind.

If you hunt pressured properties whether public or private I tend to find Wednesdays as ideal. It gives just enough time for these pressured properties to die down and Wednesdays usually have the least amount of pressure amongst all days of the week. Breaking your time up can give you multiple Wednesdays. Even 11 straight days starting on a Friday like most people do when they start their rut vacation gives them......that's right.....1 Wednesday. 11 days of vacation can give you 3 Wednesdays along with a Thursday and Friday (or Monday and Tuesday) and than another 2 days to be used how you see fit.

Hope this helps. Good Luck.

W9

Wide, due to the recent cool spell I'm feeling a bit frisky so I'm down for a healthy debate. Nothing against anyone's thoughts we all have our preferred methods just abhealthy debate for grins!
Does any Boone & Crockett reports or p&y support your Wednesday claims? Personally I believe whatever day of the week u spend the most time out there will be your best day.

Reguardless of weather or anything else the rut starts at the same time every year. So if it's in the 70s the first 3 weeks of November are u gonna bypass all hunting?

Say u had a camera placed in a tight funnel and let it soak for a entire season that revealed a rash of various good buck movement between Nov 2-Nov 9 under various wind and weather conditions. Are u just gonna sit it one day and go back to work?

If a hot doe is not in your area how do feel your odds increase any after going back to work for 5 days?

Wind direction doesn't make a diff one bit IMO on what deer do. Give a guy who knows what he's doing a 5 acre woodlot and he can hunt it under any wind known to man kind. So why does what the direction the wind is out of effect when a guy should take vacation?
All I got for now but fire at will :lol:


I love debates! I think it can bring out some great discussion and learning points.

1. Does any Boone & Crockett reports or p&y support your Wednesday claims? Personally I believe whatever day of the week u spend the most time out there will be your best day. - Raisins

Wednesday or mid week days for me has been ideal on pressured public lands. If the property is private this may not be a big deal. I like to hit mid week the "obvious" spots or spots that I feel will be pressured come the weekend. I totally believe in virgin sits no matter who the hunter is. So, I want to be the person applying the virgin sit, not the guy who is coming in on a Saturday.

2. "Reguardless of weather or anything else the rut starts at the same time every year. So if it's in the 70s the first 3 weeks of November are u gonna bypass all hunting?" - Raisins.

First, my experience is that weather does play a role during the rut. Sure the rut starts the same time every year. However 3 years ago we had a week of almost 75 degrees the first week of November here in Wisconsin. Our bowhunting group made up of 5 guys camping in public forest did not come observe a shooter within that warm spell. The day it turned cold 3 of the 5 of us shot shooters. Later, our trail cameras revealed a tremendous amount of movement in the middle of the night. Besides the 3 bucks we killed the cold weather day showed a tremendous amount of increased activity during that first cold snap and stayed extended throughout the cold snap. So even the rut can go cold (no pun intended). Jeff Sturgis over at Whitetail Habitat Solutions touches on this component alot and is a huge supporter of ideal weather over rut. Ideally its when the collaboration of cold weather and rut and to an extent moon overhead and underfoot come together at once.

3. If a hot doe is not in your area how do feel your odds increase any after going back to work for 5 days? - Raisin.

Well, if a doe isn't hot in my area than what am I missing out on going back to work???

4.Wind direction doesn't make a diff one bit IMO on what deer do. Give a guy who knows what he's doing a 5 acre woodlot and he can hunt it under any wind known to man kind. So why does what the direction the wind is out of effect when a guy should take vacation? - Raisin.

Wind direction does makes every bit of a difference on what deer do, especially bedding. Bucks will choose a bed based on their wind, wind will determine the side of a doe bedding area they will scent check, wind will determine the side of a hill they will travel, etc. Does a buck always travel into the wind??? No, otherwise they would never get back to their bedding if the wind blew an extended direction for multiple days. However, wind tells me where to start with a buck bed and if you follow Dan on here enough, the bed is the starting point of any game plan. I have observed bucks and used historical data with game camera pics and have seen mature bucks up in mid day in early season for no apparent reason. When looking back it was usually due to a mid day wind switch which determined that his current bed was no longer ideal for him. And switched and waked during daylight hours to a bed that was ideal.

Your example of a 5 acre woodlot. If it's an east wind he will be bedded on the west side of the wood lot and vice versa. The only possible spot of entry maybe a brushy fence line that enters the west side of the wood lot. An east wind will place him on the west side of your 5 acre woodlot. The exact same place you "need" to enter but will not be able to because you will get busted by sight. West wind puts him on the other side of the woodlot but now your busted by your wind. However a northwind places him on the southside of the woodlot, in which you can now travel the north side of the brushy fenceline to set up just inside the 5 acre woodlot. So no, you can't hunt it under any circumstance known to man for the reasons I just gave.

Hunt however you see fit, but I believe my points are valid and I believe other beast members would agree.
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Re: help me use up my vacation days? (schedule)

Unread postby cspot » Wed Oct 09, 2019 1:20 pm

I will help you use your days. Use your vacation to come take my place at work and then I can have off the 11 days. :lol:

Thinking long and hard about it, if I was in that situation I would take 11 days off during the rut. Of course during the early part of the season I can hunt after work during the week, so that influences my decision probably.
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Re: help me use up my vacation days? (schedule)

Unread postby Wide 9 » Wed Oct 09, 2019 1:22 pm

Wide 9 wrote:
Boogieman1 wrote:
Wide 9 wrote:Raisins I agree with what Dewey said. Breaking it up does a few things for you over spending the whole wad at once.

If a doe is not hot in one of your locations she very well could be in a week or in 2 weeks or even 3 weeks.

I have seen weather stay a steady 75 degrees here in Wisconsin in early November for 6-7 days straight. Breaking your time up will guarantee you an ideal "cold" weather conditions along your season.

If you have just a few spots/properties to hunt breaking your vacation up will give your properties more breaks and time to settle.

You can burn yourself out. When I'm doing all day sits during the rut on deep public land, going to my real job is a vacation for me. Breaking up your days creates those mini breaks and causes you to be refreshed and alert for your upcoming sits.

One of the most important aspects to me is that breaking up your sit's will give you a larger array of different directions of winds. I try to always have a plethora of spots based on many different wind directions. For instance, I have a very big buck I have intel on and I absolutely need a NW wind for this particular spot to get him. Spreading my time off out increases the chance that I will have a NW wind.

If you hunt pressured properties whether public or private I tend to find Wednesdays as ideal. It gives just enough time for these pressured properties to die down and Wednesdays usually have the least amount of pressure amongst all days of the week. Breaking your time up can give you multiple Wednesdays. Even 11 straight days starting on a Friday like most people do when they start their rut vacation gives them......that's right.....1 Wednesday. 11 days of vacation can give you 3 Wednesdays along with a Thursday and Friday (or Monday and Tuesday) and than another 2 days to be used how you see fit.

Hope this helps. Good Luck.

W9

Wide, due to the recent cool spell I'm feeling a bit frisky so I'm down for a healthy debate. Nothing against anyone's thoughts we all have our preferred methods just abhealthy debate for grins!
Does any Boone & Crockett reports or p&y support your Wednesday claims? Personally I believe whatever day of the week u spend the most time out there will be your best day.

Reguardless of weather or anything else the rut starts at the same time every year. So if it's in the 70s the first 3 weeks of November are u gonna bypass all hunting?

Say u had a camera placed in a tight funnel and let it soak for a entire season that revealed a rash of various good buck movement between Nov 2-Nov 9 under various wind and weather conditions. Are u just gonna sit it one day and go back to work?

If a hot doe is not in your area how do feel your odds increase any after going back to work for 5 days?

Wind direction doesn't make a diff one bit IMO on what deer do. Give a guy who knows what he's doing a 5 acre woodlot and he can hunt it under any wind known to man kind. So why does what the direction the wind is out of effect when a guy should take vacation?
All I got for now but fire at will :lol:


I love debates! I think it can bring out some great discussion and learning points.

1. Does any Boone & Crockett reports or p&y support your Wednesday claims? Personally I believe whatever day of the week u spend the most time out there will be your best day. - Raisins

Wednesday or mid week days for me has been ideal on pressured public lands. If the property is private this may not be a big deal. I like to hit mid week the "obvious" spots or spots that I feel will be pressured come the weekend. I totally believe in virgin sits no matter who the hunter is. So, I want to be the person applying the virgin sit, not the guy who is coming in on a Saturday.

2. "Reguardless of weather or anything else the rut starts at the same time every year. So if it's in the 70s the first 3 weeks of November are u gonna bypass all hunting?" - Raisins.

First, my experience is that weather does play a role during the rut. Sure the rut starts the same time every year. However 3 years ago we had a week of almost 75 degrees the first week of November here in Wisconsin. Our bowhunting group made up of 5 guys camping in public forest did not come observe a shooter within that warm spell. The day it turned cold, 3 of the 5 of us shot shooters. Later, our trail cameras revealed a tremendous amount of movement in the middle of the night during the warm spell. Besides the 3 bucks we killed during the cold weather day, our cameras also showed a tremendous amount of increased activity during that first cold snap. So even the rut can go cold (no pun intended). Jeff Sturgis over at Whitetail Habitat Solutions touches on this component alot and is a huge supporter of ideal weather over rut. Ideally its when the collaboration of cold weather and rut and to an extent moon overhead and underfoot come together at once. Long story short, breaking up your vacation will get you some cold weather days.

3. If a hot doe is not in your area how do feel your odds increase any after going back to work for 5 days? - Raisin.

Well, if a doe isn't hot in my area than what am I missing out on going back to work???

4.Wind direction doesn't make a diff one bit IMO on what deer do. Give a guy who knows what he's doing a 5 acre woodlot and he can hunt it under any wind known to man kind. So why does what the direction the wind is out of effect when a guy should take vacation? - Raisin.

Wind direction does makes every bit of a difference on what deer do, especially bedding. Bucks will choose a bed based on their wind, wind will determine the side of a doe bedding area they will scent check, wind will determine the side of a hill they will travel, etc. Does a buck always travel into the wind??? No, otherwise they would never get back to their bedding if the wind blew an extended direction for multiple days. However, wind tells me where to start with a buck bed and if you follow Dan on here enough, the bed is the starting point of any game plan. I have observed bucks and used historical data with game camera pics and have seen mature bucks up in mid day in early season for no apparent reason. When looking back it was usually due to a mid day wind switch which determined that his current bed was no longer ideal for him. And he switched and walked during daylight hours to a bed that was ideal for him.

Your example of a 5 acre woodlot. If it's an east wind he will be bedded on the west side of the wood lot and vice versa. The only possible spot of entry maybe a brushy fence line that enters the west side of the wood lot. An east wind will place him on the west side of your 5 acre woodlot. The exact same place you "need" to enter but will not be able to because you will get busted by sight. West wind puts him on the other side of the woodlot but now your busted by your wind. However a northwind places him on the southside of the woodlot, in which you can now travel the north side of the brushy fenceline to set up just inside the 5 acre woodlot. So no, you can't hunt it under any circumstance known to man for the reasons I just gave. And as you can see, the breaking your days up allows you to catch different wind patterns. And in the example given, the north wind is needed.

Hunt however you see fit, but I believe my points are valid and I believe other beast members would agree.
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Re: help me use up my vacation days? (schedule)

Unread postby raisins » Wed Oct 09, 2019 1:29 pm

Great stuff so far. Thanks everyone.

For more background, this is a 600 acre piece of public that has relatively little pressure because it is not close to a larger town and is surrounded by large tracts of private land where people hunt. This place was timbered not long ago and so has a reputation for being very thick and hard to hunt, which helps keep people out. It is all hills and thick woods with a few fields.

I have a many bucks on the 10 trail cams I have on the piece. I do not have any really patterned, but I know which areas held shooters in the summer and which did not. The buck activity has shifted in past month.

I spent a great deal of time scouting this in the early spring. I placed trail cams in likely spots that also had a lot of general deer sign but also a lot of fresh rubs (from the previous fall). I'm new to scouting and was not the best at identifying food (there isn't well defined food, just grass in the field, overgrown clearcuts that will hold various woody browse, and acorns....there is no agriculture in this part of the state) and actual beds, but did identify likely bedding areas.

I have 4 different separate areas that are separate enough and with different access so I can rotate among them. Within each of these 4 larger areas, I have several places to hunt depending upon wind.

Because I am going to the same piece all the time, I plan on rotating among my 4 areas but of course prioritizing the best spots. My fear is burning any place out, and my plan is to not hunt the same stand more than once in a 7 day period.
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Re: help me use up my vacation days? (schedule)

Unread postby raisins » Wed Oct 09, 2019 1:34 pm

Thanks for all this, but wanted to point out that you weren't responding to my post in the debate, but someone else's. You were putting my username after like it was a quote, so I just wanted to make all that clear. No biggie.

I'm just sitting back and reading.

I will point out that P&Y records wouldn't necessarily pick up Wednesdays even if Wednesdays are best. The reason is that if fewer people are in the woods on Wednesday, then fewer deer overall will be killed. So, the record book might show more bucks on weekends. However, we'd have to know how many people hunted each day to get at how productive each sit is on each day. There might be a handful of very successful Wednesday hunters that are dwarfed by the large number of weekend warriors.
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Re: help me use up my vacation days? (schedule)

Unread postby Boogieman1 » Wed Oct 09, 2019 1:52 pm

Wide 9 wrote:
Wide 9 wrote:
Boogieman1 wrote:
Wide 9 wrote:Raisins I agree with what Dewey said. Breaking it up does a few things for you over spending the whole wad at once.

If a doe is not hot in one of your locations she very well could be in a week or in 2 weeks or even 3 weeks.

I have seen weather stay a steady 75 degrees here in Wisconsin in early November for 6-7 days straight. Breaking your time up will guarantee you an ideal "cold" weather conditions along your season.

If you have just a few spots/properties to hunt breaking your vacation up will give your properties more breaks and time to settle.

You can burn yourself out. When I'm doing all day sits during the rut on deep public land, going to my real job is a vacation for me. Breaking up your days creates those mini breaks and causes you to be refreshed and alert for your upcoming sits.

One of the most important aspects to me is that breaking up your sit's will give you a larger array of different directions of winds. I try to always have a plethora of spots based on many different wind directions. For instance, I have a very big buck I have intel on and I absolutely need a NW wind for this particular spot to get him. Spreading my time off out increases the chance that I will have a NW wind.

If you hunt pressured properties whether public or private I tend to find Wednesdays as ideal. It gives just enough time for these pressured properties to die down and Wednesdays usually have the least amount of pressure amongst all days of the week. Breaking your time up can give you multiple Wednesdays. Even 11 straight days starting on a Friday like most people do when they start their rut vacation gives them......that's right.....1 Wednesday. 11 days of vacation can give you 3 Wednesdays along with a Thursday and Friday (or Monday and Tuesday) and than another 2 days to be used how you see fit.

Hope this helps. Good Luck.

W9

Wide, due to the recent cool spell I'm feeling a bit frisky so I'm down for a healthy debate. Nothing against anyone's thoughts we all have our preferred methods just abhealthy debate for grins!
Does any Boone & Crockett reports or p&y support your Wednesday claims? Personally I believe whatever day of the week u spend the most time out there will be your best day.

Reguardless of weather or anything else the rut starts at the same time every year. So if it's in the 70s the first 3 weeks of November are u gonna bypass all hunting?

Say u had a camera placed in a tight funnel and let it soak for a entire season that revealed a rash of various good buck movement between Nov 2-Nov 9 under various wind and weather conditions. Are u just gonna sit it one day and go back to work?

If a hot doe is not in your area how do feel your odds increase any after going back to work for 5 days?

Wind direction doesn't make a diff one bit IMO on what deer do. Give a guy who knows what he's doing a 5 acre woodlot and he can hunt it under any wind known to man kind. So why does what the direction the wind is out of effect when a guy should take vacation?
All I got for now but fire at will :lol:


I love debates! I think it can bring out some great discussion and learning points.

1. Does any Boone & Crockett reports or p&y support your Wednesday claims? Personally I believe whatever day of the week u spend the most time out there will be your best day. - Raisins

Wednesday or mid week days for me has been ideal on pressured public lands. If the property is private this may not be a big deal. I like to hit mid week the "obvious" spots or spots that I feel will be pressured come the weekend. I totally believe in virgin sits no matter who the hunter is. So, I want to be the person applying the virgin sit, not the guy who is coming in on a Saturday.

2. "Reguardless of weather or anything else the rut starts at the same time every year. So if it's in the 70s the first 3 weeks of November are u gonna bypass all hunting?" - Raisins.

First, my experience is that weather does play a role during the rut. Sure the rut starts the same time every year. However 3 years ago we had a week of almost 75 degrees the first week of November here in Wisconsin. Our bowhunting group made up of 5 guys camping in public forest did not come observe a shooter within that warm spell. The day it turned cold, 3 of the 5 of us shot shooters. Later, our trail cameras revealed a tremendous amount of movement in the middle of the night during the warm spell. Besides the 3 bucks we killed during the cold weather day, our cameras also showed a tremendous amount of increased activity during that first cold snap. So even the rut can go cold (no pun intended). Jeff Sturgis over at Whitetail Habitat Solutions touches on this component alot and is a huge supporter of ideal weather over rut. Ideally its when the collaboration of cold weather and rut and to an extent moon overhead and underfoot come together at once. Long story short, breaking up your vacation will get you some cold weather days.

3. If a hot doe is not in your area how do feel your odds increase any after going back to work for 5 days? - Raisin.

Well, if a doe isn't hot in my area than what am I missing out on going back to work???

4.Wind direction doesn't make a diff one bit IMO on what deer do. Give a guy who knows what he's doing a 5 acre woodlot and he can hunt it under any wind known to man kind. So why does what the direction the wind is out of effect when a guy should take vacation? - Raisin.

Wind direction does makes every bit of a difference on what deer do, especially bedding. Bucks will choose a bed based on their wind, wind will determine the side of a doe bedding area they will scent check, wind will determine the side of a hill they will travel, etc. Does a buck always travel into the wind??? No, otherwise they would never get back to their bedding if the wind blew an extended direction for multiple days. However, wind tells me where to start with a buck bed and if you follow Dan on here enough, the bed is the starting point of any game plan. I have observed bucks and used historical data with game camera pics and have seen mature bucks up in mid day in early season for no apparent reason. When looking back it was usually due to a mid day wind switch which determined that his current bed was no longer ideal for him. And he switched and walked during daylight hours to a bed that was ideal for him.

Your example of a 5 acre woodlot. If it's an east wind he will be bedded on the west side of the wood lot and vice versa. The only possible spot of entry maybe a brushy fence line that enters the west side of the wood lot. An east wind will place him on the west side of your 5 acre woodlot. The exact same place you "need" to enter but will not be able to because you will get busted by sight. West wind puts him on the other side of the woodlot but now your busted by your wind. However a northwind places him on the southside of the woodlot, in which you can now travel the north side of the brushy fenceline to set up just inside the 5 acre woodlot. So no, you can't hunt it under any circumstance known to man for the reasons I just gave. And as you can see, the breaking your days up allows you to catch different wind patterns. And in the example given, the north wind is needed.

Hunt however you see fit, but I believe my points are valid and I believe other beast members would agree.

Right on!
If u r are a believer in virgin sits explain this.... More folks take to the field opening day than any day of the year. (Atleast in my area) and also figure in this on deer that have not been hunted. Yet any records support very low odds. Why is that?

On weather during historical start of the rut. Your offering opinions based on what "your bowhunting group" did. Is it possible y'all were not in the right spot? What do the records show? When do taxidermist/meat lockers get the bulk of there big bucks in? U might be very right but in my case it's like clockwork every year no matter if it's 80 degrees of 0. Granted hot weather clips me out of midday cruising.

I see bucks moving every which way but loose come rut on both public and private. Sure I play odds on what they will do but if they wanna move there gonna move. To me I would rather spend 5 days straight ahead of them than one day a week for 5 weeks.

Spots are diff, so I don't claim to have the answers. But I have witnessed dozens and dozens of bucks bed within view of my stand while hunting funnels in areas not described. It's my opinion during the rut a mature buck turns into a predator as well hunting the doe deer. He doesn't expose himself like younger bucks but he certainly knows where high traffic areas are and realizes u catch more flies with honey.

Still say wind direction don't make a hoot. Typically yes u want downwind bedding to match parallel trails but if not put a cam on the upwind side and let me no what u see! To me the only thing wind matters about is what I can get away with.
Life is hard; It’s even harder if you are stupid.
-John Wayne-
Wide 9
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Joined: Sat Jun 08, 2019 8:44 am
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Re: help me use up my vacation days? (schedule)

Unread postby Wide 9 » Wed Oct 09, 2019 1:59 pm

You are right Raisins, I totally apologize for placing your name in there.


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