I need a divorce

[naternate]

For some reason I get married to some hunting spots that have produced in the past. I have done tons of scouting this spring/summer on new spots that I could spend time getting figured out. But I hunted a spot this AM that when I look at objectively I never should have sat. I told myself I just needed a morning spot that I knew, would be low impact. I saw no deer this AM which gave me plenty of time to think. I had a good encounter with a morning buck several years ago but I have sat it 5 times since then with no encounters and if I an honest with myself, there really is no sign telling me it should be good. I have spots that “look good” but have not produced and I still look at them as a possibility.

My hunting time gets more limited every year so I can’t afford to have a hunt like this AM. I should have sat an observation stand this AM in one of my newer areas with better historic/pre-season sign to start to put the puzzle together. With that mindset I scouted another “historical” spot that was dead, no sign....but 100 yrds away was fresh rubs in a travel corridor. The goal for the rest of my season is to concentrate on learning the most promising areas from scouting this spring and only hunting what is good RIGHT NOW. How do you all keep from falling back on known spots and keep pushing for the best RIGHT NOW?

[Boogieman1]

I set an oak grove this morning that was hammered with sign. In fact had a camera there for 3 days and it revealed every morning there was atleast a dozen deer peppering it. I didn’t see squat!

I set a observation stand once and watched the biggest buck of my life walk right by the tree I would have hunted. He was never seen again

I don’t put much stock into sign that was left before I got there or sightings b4 i get there. Just ain’t ever worked out for me. Seems I’m always a day late or a buck short

[gsquared23]

Fresh sign is a relative term, as it could have been made days ago and whatever was keeping the deer there (food, hot doe, pressure) may have run its course, and now they’re gone. Correlating sign with a reason why its there is as important as hunting areas that have a good track record of deer sightings. A mix of doing both is what most of us have to rely on. No hunt should be a waste, we gain intel during every sit. If we sit fairly hot sign and nothing shows, well maybe somebody else found it too or wandered through the area! There are more and more beasts out there these days.

[Lockdown]

I know the feeling. I think the best way to be optimistic about new spots (and divorce the old ones) is to hunt them and have success. It doesn’t take long to learn that there are opportunities all over, we just need to scout and hunt smart.

[Motivated]

The woods changes from year to year, especially in the early successional areas. I tell myself that last year was last year. Today is now. I like to think of it as evidence based hunting.

One thing that I do is make sure I have three good reasons to spend time in a spot. My time is valuable, and I will not waste it without three good reasons to sit in a spot. Wind is not a reason. There has to be: sign, edge, diversity, bedding areas, terrain, pinch points, escape routes, lack of hunter pressure. All those can be reasons. I did adopt this from the Southern Outdoorsman podcast.

Force yourself to identify three good reasons why you are going to sit somewhere and invest your valuable hunting time. If that doesn't work, then go to a different property that you've never hunted and force yourself to hunt there.

Your old stands won't help you if the world has changed.

[brancher147]

Anymore if I start coming up empty I start in season scouting immediately. Or I will sit a spot in the morning and scout around afterwards.

[<DK>]

I agree that you need something fresh to be excited about.

Past spots can still be important tho. You said youve had 1 mature buck encounter there in the morning right? Think back to the date, time of season, wind, travel. Now try to find that days weather info, then check the map to see what he was doing and why. Take a guess and go look. The best spot could be 200 yards away.

[<DK>]

The same spots can be good but the same tree can be bad.

[<DK>]

Also how often are you hunting mornings and how often are you planning to see a mature buck when doing so? Bc it doesnt happen often this early in the season.

Hunting low impact doesnt put me in the game

[MrT]

Put a camera in there and leave it alone. Collect data from this season that might give you confidence and intel for next season.

[naternate]

The woods changes from year to year, especially in the early successional areas. I tell myself that last year was last year. Today is now. I like to think of it as evidence based hunting.

One thing that I do is make sure I have three good reasons to spend time in a spot. My time is valuable, and I will not waste it without three good reasons to sit in a spot. Wind is not a reason. There has to be: sign, edge, diversity, bedding areas, terrain, pinch points, escape routes, lack of hunter pressure. All those can be reasons. I did adopt this from the Southern Outdoorsman podcast.

Force yourself to identify three good reasons why you are going to sit somewhere and invest your valuable hunting time. If that doesn't work, then go to a different property that you've never hunted and force yourself to hunt there.

Your old stands won't help you if the world has changed.

Thanks for the reminder! Listened to this as well. I think that could help me when trying to pick an area to hunt and then, once I am in there, finding that specific spot.

[naternate]

I agree that you need something fresh to be excited about.

Past spots can still be important tho. You said youve had 1 mature buck encounter there in the morning right? Think back to the date, time of season, wind, travel. Now try to find that days weather info, then check the map to see what he was doing and why. Take a guess and go look. The best spot could be 200 yards away.

When I look back at the spot the things it had going for it back then was an ag field about 400 yrds away, transition zone back to bedding with a large bedding area on the other side of the transition, second day of the season and no treestands/other hunters close to this area, Rubline starting at edge of bedding and heading further in. The same spot this year has nothing planted in the field, a treestand 50 and 100 yrds from where I sat, and no rubs or other sign of a buck using the area. If I had done a recent scout instead of relying on going in blind on past info I probably wouldnt have set up there. Maybe this spot still would have been good without the hunting pressure