How many years do you give a spot?

[Elite]

I scouted several public spots last year and located good buck bedding. One spot I hunted this year October 2, November 3 and December 12. All three times I saw zero deer even though the rut and buck sign was there from spring ‘21 scouting and this fall. Not sure if the summer drought had anything to do with the lack of bedding in this particular swamp.
I also hunted another spot Oct 1 and November 2/3 with zero sightings even though the spring scouting showed good rut sign. This is my first year hunting these two pieces so my question is, how many years do you give public spots before you abandon them? I have aerial scouted several different pieces that I’m looking forward to walking this coming spring. It’s hard to hunt them all especially during the rut and vacation time.

[oldrank]

Are you talking about an area or a specific stand location? Here areas get hot and cold. It could be a specific time of year they heat up, crop rotation or hunting pressure that makes a spot hot or cold. If I know in my heart it has good sign or lays out geographically the way I want I will always keep it in my mind.

Specific stand sites get tweaked all the time though. If I find something that is better action or gives me a better advantage I will make small moves and may never hunt the stands sites that were inferior ever again.

3 years ago I shot a buck out of the same spot I killed my first public land buck at. It was 20 years between kills. The spot still worked exactly the same as it did when I first hunted it. I just never went back because of the distance it was to get there. I was having a rough year finding a decent buck and decided to give it a try based on what I knew from 20 years ago. The buck chased a doe down the same exact trail and I shot him yards away from where I killed my first buck.

[Lockdown]

If it’s a spot that gets me pretty excited I will stick with it for quite a while. Took me 5 years to figure out the Sugar Patch.

Where legal I will use trail cams to help figure things out. Sometimes one little clue can change everything. My biggest piece of advice is to verify your suspicions and NEVER assume.

You mentioned spring scouting showed good rut sign. Are you 100% positive that’s what it is?? It seems I’m wrong more often than I’d like to be. When I figure out I’m wrong they are always significant “ah-ha” moments.

I also know that rut sign can differ from property to property or buck to buck.

[szwampdonkey]

I moved to my current home 4 years ago and im just now feeling like im really getting some of the public spots around here dialed in. Imo it takes several years of learning the terrain and the nuances of the deer living there to really get on the deer you want.

[dan]

This is actually a very good topic... There are lots of variables. 1ST OFF, is there sign of "mature" bucks bedding there? That will keep me there longer... I have found the majority of bedding areas do not hold mature bucks. 2 Year old and smaller bed more of the "good" spots and mature bucks tend to bed the best and only the best. Its important to understand that 2 year olds can leave a lot of sign and fool hunters... When you hunt a spot a time or two a year its hard to know whats really going on. Cameras can help a lot. I would recommend scouting the spot again after season and see if it still looks good... One of the main things I would like point out that I have learned over the years is that the overall majority of mature buck bedding areas get peak use time periods... For instance, some bedding areas are used when acorns drop, and may only have peak use the 1st week or two of the season, and not at all on years with no or few acorns...

Some dedding areas are only used to monitor does for about 1 week of pre-rut, but they leave a lot of sign at that time of year.... A lot of the bedding areas I am unsure of I will monitor from afar... I will watch the trails coming from that aREA AS i PASS THRU FOR FRESH SIGN. Most of the bedding areas have about a 2 week window of peak use. Yes, there are some primary bedding areas that get used year round, but even they have peak use periods... Another thing to consider, quite often when scouting for someone else, they will point out a doe bedding area as a buck bedding area cause of the huge rubs ledt by bucks seeking does on the perimeter. So when scouting, mask yourself, are the rubs in a bed? or on the trails around the beds? In some states hunting dont open till October, its quite possible your on an early season bedding area that is used before you can hunt? In Wisconsin if yopu find a bedding area with rubs in the beds, it was used in season... Then its just a matter of timing.

[brancher147]

If it’s a spot I am excited about I will check it with in season scouting or a hunt. If the sign isn’t there I will leave it alone and check it again maybe post season or the following year. Spots around me may only be good once every few years and usually depending on acorns or timing of crop harvest. As mentioned cameras can be invaluable as you must figure out the timing when the spot is good.

[Elite]

These are public spots that I only mobile hunt. All the sign indicated that one spot was pre-rut/rut, and the other was probably year round. I wasn’t 100% certain on the latter spot so I hunted it late September and early November. This spot had way more oaks than the former spot. The coloration of the rubs also told me rut. There was two fresh but not mature buck rubs when I still hunted to the bedding area in early December. The bedding in this spot is in a tag alder swamp butting up to a river. I passed two beds that I found last spring but they were unoccupied at the time, and appeared to have been vacant for a long time.

[DaveT1963]

Spots come and go all the time, for many reasons.just because a spot produces this year don't mean it will do anything next year, and likewise just because they spot this year was dead does not mean it won't be hot next year. The deer woods, at least every place I've hunted, can change from year to year.

[Deerkins]

Already been said, if there’s good historical sign keep checking up on the area. Most areas I’ve found are not used every year, as the the food consistently rotates.

[Brian1986]

If the sign continues to be there but I'm not seeing the deer, I will keep on trying hunts. But I will continue to tinker with how I hunt it til something starts working. Could be an adjustment to how close you are or your route to your stand site. Could be it's only used on a certain wind? Even if in my post season scouting I saw the bedding spot was abandoned for that year, I'd still keep tabs on to see if any sign indicated the spot could be being used again if I thought a big buck could be using it. Spots like those are ones I like to let a camera soak for the hunting season.

[headgear]

Give them time, lots of trial and error, run cams and even try different setups. Eventually you will figure it out or learn enough to walk away or keep getting after them. I have spots I have hunted 20 times and never saw jack but I keep going back and trying new things because I know the bucks are there, the tracks and sign don't lie. Sometimes you need a little luck on your side too, missing them by a day or two happens, probably more than we think. They just love to watch access points too, sometimes busting you before you even setup, had some bust out during setup and even an hour after setup, probably more who slipped away and I never knew it. It is just one of those things the more you hunt like this, the more bedding areas you setup on the more luck you will have, just keep playing those odds until they tip in your favor. The more intel about a spot or the buck using it and more likely you are to have a run in with him.

[Elite]

If the sign continues to be there but I'm not seeing the deer, I will keep on trying hunts. But I will continue to tinker with how I hunt it til something starts working. Could be an adjustment to how close you are or your route to your stand site. Could be it's only used on a certain wind? Even if in my post season scouting I saw the bedding spot was abandoned for that year, I'd still keep tabs on to see if any sign indicated the spot could be being used again if I thought a big buck could be using it. Spots like those are ones I like to let a camera soak for the hunting season.

I dropped a camera in one of the spots after my last hunt and will let it soak until the season is over. This will at least give me intel for next late season at least.

[greenhorndave]

I was ready to pull the plug on one area that I was determined would work. Well, I was too stubborn to let it go and I kept digging. Finally found sign that I wanted to see and now I have verified what has made that sign... And it ain't bad. I have a lot to still figure out, but in my case they were there but I just couldn't find them easily. You might have a case where they just aren't present, but don't give up until you've exhausted all options.

[Dpoole90]

I have a couple spots like this, 1 spot in particular I can't seem to let go... every year I scout it, it's blowed up with buck sign, I find what I think is a buck bed in the same spot every year, but every time I hunt it he's not there, I've hunted early Oct, late oct, Nov, Dec, Jan for 2 years. I'm kinda wondering if it's falling into what Dan said... he's bedding there before the season starts oct.1. I'm planning on dropping a trail cam in there this coming summer.

[brkissl82]

I have a couple spots like this, 1 spot in particular I can't seem to let go... every year I scout it, it's blowed up with buck sign, I find what I think is a buck bed in the same spot every year, but every time I hunt it he's not there, I've hunted early Oct, late oct, Nov, Dec, Jan for 2 years. I'm kinda wondering if it's falling into what Dan said... he's bedding there before the season starts oct.1. I'm planning on dropping a trail cam in there this coming summer.

This sounds an awful lot like a small property i have permission on. GIANT RUBS EVERYWHERE!! Havent seen a deer there in 3yrs