The biggest thing you learned this season

[MOtgrinMI]

Agree with Backstraps lesson learned! My time was extremely limited due to covid as well for a very different reason. With daycares locking down and me having a flexible job someone needed to stay home and take care of my little ones while my wife (who works in healthcare) went and saved lives. Unfortunately that someone was me! Couldn’t get my folks to watch the kiddos either as they are all in the high risk category and no deer is worth risking their health. Can’t say it didn’t drive me crazy though as I only got out 8 times and a lot of great days passed with me indoors but I will say that I am lucky to spend so much time with my kids!

The good thing is that I had really productive sits and got on my target buck 5 out of 8 sits but never got an ethical shot. That buck is still alive so with some luck next year I hope to get a better opportunity and more time in the woods!

[Uncle Lou]

I learned if you don't hunt enough and scout enough, you can only kill big bucks by luck. After 30 years I can't believe not one moment of luck, well maybe next year.

[Grizzlyadam]

I made a lot of changes this past season and learned a lot. I can't say what the biggest thing I learned was but at the moment I will say that one of the top things I learned was to focus on what the deer are doing right now rather than last week or trying to predict next week.

[Noreast10pt]

I need to do more observation sits.
The few times that I wasn't seeing anything and decided to head towards the truck in the last 15 minutes of light I was able to see where deer were coming out from and adjusted accordingly.
So maybe next season I'll start off by setting up in more open areas and then making moves from there.

[4 the chase]

If the winds are in your favor and you move carefully you can walk up on all kinds of critters

[Wolfie417]

Honestly for me its just taking a chance this year. Hunted a lot of new spots that turned out to be my best hunts of the year.

[Quest1001]

My biggest take away was not being afraid to move around when the deer weren’t in the area and be aggressive with in season scouting.

Last year I was too timid and was never in the game. This year I wasn’t going to sit on the sidelines and it paid off. I was in the game with a couple mature bucks and was set up in much more aggressive sits.

I got busted a couple times due to being aggressive but damn I learned a lot more this year.

[Evanszach7]

Public pressure was through the roof this year. If it looks good on a map to you, it does for somebody else too. Guys have the tools, resources, and motivation to "get deep" to good map spots.

[Hookslinger]

Post season scouting is vital for a hunter that is new to hunting public land. Going in blind on heavily pressured public can be a nightmare for a guy just getting into this style of hunting.

[Drenalin]

Two of the principles that are pounded home on this forum - scouting and being mobile - were my biggest takeaways. I've read on here about both of those things probably hundreds of times by now, but by making a concerted effort to apply them to my hunting I was able to actually experience the difference they make.

My other big takeaway is I still don't know squat about finding no-doubt buck bedding.

[Ryan549]

Scout scout scout
There is no substitute for this.
I do a lot of scouting, but it is never enough. It’s not like going into a grocery store and knowing where every item is, the woods change weekly, more often, daily.
Hot sign today, won’t always be there the next time you go out.

[Lockdown]

To never assume I know what’s going on in a bedding area.

Ever.



That and tracks are the most important piece of the puzzle regarding hot sign.

[KLEMZ]

I learned there is a window of opportunity to hunting very low, but not on the ground. Putting my stand 2'--5' off the ground on a large trunk tree has been an eye opener for me.

- It greatly improves my ability to see them coming vs sitting on the ground. That's huge!

- It seems to confuse the deer. They are used to danger on the ground and they know all about hunters in trees, so they are always looking for that. But to have a strange blob attached to a tree a few feet off the ground doesn't seem to register as instant danger.

- In the thick, buckthorn tangled areas I often hunt, there are more natural shooting lanes down low vs being up in the tree canopy. Also, there are more potential set ups down low vs a typical tree stand set up in this type of cover.

- Set up is quiet and easy. Less chance of deer hearing or seeing you up in the tree attaching your stand, moving etc.

I have been using a tree saddle as a safety harness in my tree stand for at least ten years, and occasionally sit backwords in my stand and face the tree in "saddle mode". I only do this on weird leaning trees. This was always at standard tree stand heights. Recently, I heard Andy May on a podcast say he has been sitting low (2--10 feet) in large trees and used the tree trunk to hide behind (using a saddle and platform I think). He killed a couple bucks recently doing this. So I tried it using my regular stand. Just face the tree and lean, or, flip your seat cushion as a knee rest and sit in the saddle. Set a climbing stick top step at platform level (9 o'clock position...right handed) and step around the tree as needed. It works amazingly well in my experience.

[G-Patt]

An observation sit might save you 2 or 3 unproductive hunting sits.

For me intentional observations sits have been a slippery slope. Now unintentional observation sits have produced for me. By that I mean actual hunting and witness something special out of range and bust a move.

I believe observation sits are best reserved for those with a load of free time. I mean for a guy who only gets to hunt saturdays and maybe string together a few days of vacation later on. I don’t see it helping at all. By the time the hunter has a chance to get back out there the pattern has completely changed.
Now if early season one gets off work with a couple hours of daylight left and watches to form a plan I think it’s a different story. But any other situation that involves a hunter with limited time I would advise to put yourself in the absolute best situation u can.

Good valid points. I do the observation sit for 2 reasons: 1.) because it's fun plotting the demise of my prey; and 2) it works. Can't forget to have fun out there.

[Stretch]

i learned ( or should i say was reminded) that the older i get the harder it gets!