Midwest Whitetail Scouting

[JRM6868]

I think even private land hunters in these states deal with severe pressure.

I know the properties I hunt in Ohio that are private have pressure. The land owners all bordering my properties have the philosophy if it's brown it's down both bow and twice as much in gun.

[Indianahunter]

I like Bill Winke also, but don't typically hunt the way he does. I checked out their latest video in which he was removing a stand in a "sanctuary". He commented that he hung it there in desperation and that he should have never went in there.
I partially agree with the statement but not for the reason he does. Bill plays a different game then most of us do with completely different circumstances. To each his own I guess. He's a good guy and a good hunter in his own right, but privelidged as well.

X2. I love watching Bill's show and am really pumped that he got best new series or whatever the award is last yr but to say he is privileged is beyond true. I like their show because they have about 10prostaff guys in every state in the midwest that all work hard. I spent a few january days watching the whole WI season online. Its cool because they don't pay top dollar for outfitted hunts. They do all their own land management and deer management on their own farms. Its nice they are lucky enough to have top notch private land and its cool that they manage it on their own. (lee and tiffany have a sweet farm but pay someone else to do everything and take credit for it I knew she was too good to be true) But anyhow some of their guys hunt public land, a select few, and I know some of their WI staff has knocked on doors and gained permission on small pieces of private land in the SE part of the state. I definitely love watching bill's show but agree his "Midwest whitetail-offseason" shows don't really pertain to many of us. I like watching Dr. Grant Woods the best he has the most informative stuff from a science aspect of things and explains how and why things work to build bigger and better deer.

I am a big fan of Grant Woods also. Please don't misunderstand my comment concerning Bill Winke being priviledged. I know Bill works hard, and he really is a super guy and humble about the whole thing. I was referring to having properties and opportunities that your average guy doesn't have to do something he loves.
The tactics that Bill uses are best suited for private properties as far as staying out of sanctuaries vs. hunting the way Dan does right up on bedded bucks on public land. If you were new to the sport and watched Dan and then watched Bill you would think they were completely contradictory. They are to a degree, but the reality is they are just simply two different kinds of hunting. Dan's method will work for any property, where Bills methods of staying away from sanctuaries completely leaves you pretty much rut hunting or simply hoping.
Actually Lee and Tiffany do manage their farms and do a large part of the work. 10 farms, 6000 acres, 90+ food plots and they have about 43 acres average per property that is sanctuary off limits in order to keep big deer on the property. Most people here are public land hunters and don't really have these exclusive options. I guess a better word would have been blessed to describe Bill and others.

[BackWoodsHunter]

Ha well said indiana I agree.

Except on the lee and tiffany thing. They own a big farm in Iowa, one of the guys on QDMA owns either againt their place or just down the road and they have a property "manager" who does all of their stuff for them....must be nice. But yes these people are blessed/priveleged whatever we wanna call it, its just plain something we don't have. Big acreage in the heart of big deer country.

[dan]

I dissagree that my methods are just for public, and that Lee & Tiffany, and Bill, have the methods best suited for large private managed farms. I will probably get some crap for this, but its my belief that they kill big bucks despite there hunting methods because there are so many big bucks on those propertys.... Take Andrae for example, he hunts aggressivly much like I do on his large managed lands. The big differance between Andraes kills and "there" kills is Andrae is shooting and seeing his target animal every season instead of having a "hit list" and hoping to get lucky enough to kill one of those on the list. He is shooting larger animals on worse property because he hunts those animals where they move in daylight.

[BackWoodsHunter]

I dissagree that my methods are just for public, and that Lee & Tiffany, and Bill, have the methods best suited for large private managed farms. I will probably get some crap for this, but its my belief that they kill big bucks despite there hunting methods because there are so many big bucks on those propertys.... Take Andrae for example, he hunts aggressivly much like I do on his large managed lands. The big differance between Andraes kills and "there" kills is Andrae is shooting and seeing his target animal every season instead of having a "hit list" and hoping to get lucky enough to kill one of those on the list. He is shooting larger animals on worse property because he hunts those animals where they move in daylight.

I agree with ya Dan, do you think that maybe because they are trying to make more of a production out of it they are more cautious or is it simply the way they chose to hunt? Seems to me on a 600+ acre farm hunting aggressively still wouldn't scare all of the deer off onto the neighbors I am sure there are multiple bedding areas on it. I just always wondered with the camera equipment and the fact that they are making a big production out of it maybe they stick to hunting field edges and leaving sanctuaries alone? It makes for better tv and better footage when they can film a field full of deer and little bucks sparring and throw a show together where all they kill is a doe rather than sitting over a bedding area where they may not see a buck come out of. That's the only reason I can think they would use the tactics they do. I don't even watch hunting on TV anymore I watch midwest whitetail on my computer because I enjoy all the midwest pro-staff and the hunts that are NOT through outfitters as I said earlier I like watching grant woods talk on the science end of things on growing deer tv too that is my favorite show.

[Indianahunter]

I dissagree that my methods are just for public, and that Lee & Tiffany, and Bill, have the methods best suited for large private managed farms. I will probably get some crap for this, but its my belief that they kill big bucks despite there hunting methods because there are so many big bucks on those propertys.... Take Andrae for example, he hunts aggressivly much like I do on his large managed lands. The big differance between Andraes kills and "there" kills is Andrae is shooting and seeing his target animal every season instead of having a "hit list" and hoping to get lucky enough to kill one of those on the list. He is shooting larger animals on worse property because he hunts those animals where they move in daylight.

I agreed with that. That is why I said Dan's methods will work on any property. I was pointing out their methods are best suited if you are priviledged to hunt exclusive managed properties or are simply rut hunting in which any ol' funnel will do.
Not to discredit them, but their hunting advice is generic and broad and teaches very little in the way of understanding and hunting mature animals.
These are the types of guys and shows I used to watch and pratice their methods with little success. That does not mean that I haven't picked up anything, but their insight does very little to teach you the How's and Why's of deer and usually is product focused for success.
Where as with you, I have learned "why" deer do what they do, and "How" to locate them and hunt them. It has totally chaged the way I think and work at hunting.
For sure going after specific animals is much different then simply knowing what deer are on your property and hoping to get a crack at them. Like you said Andrae has exclusive properties, but his hunting methods (similar to yours) puts him in the position to target and hunt specific animals not any animal that comes by that they have a trail camera picture of.
I guess maybe I worded it wrong in an effort to not totally discredit them, Their methods are not going to be beneficial to regular Joes's like most of us here if we are talking about killing mature animals. Hunting funnels will put a lot of deer in front of you, and maybe even the occassional nice buck, but your methods are for hunting the best bucks on any property 10 acres to 10,000 acres public or private.
I guess I used the phrase "Best suited" for their methods because they have some merit, but Best is probably not the best word...LOL

[dan]

Wasn't knocking you Bob... Just pointing out my beliefs.
As far as why they hunt the way they do? You would probably have to ask them. The way they hunt is the way the whole industry teaches us that we arfe supposed to.
Back many years ago we never saw big bucks or even found many sheds because every body drove deer during gun season and killed almost all the 1st year bucks. When a couple groups started posting there land and not doing drives, they saw much bigger bucks in future years and seemed to drive home that if you gave them a protected area they would stay on your land and grow... The main problem with that way of thinking is when deer gtet to the age where we really dream of killing them, they rarly leave that "sanctuary" area. So for me, its better to slip in close and get a crack at the really big boys instead of sitting back picking off the 2 or 3 year olds. Yes, occasionally those monster old deer will make a mistake, but in my way of thinking, not enough to kill them on a consistant basis hunting field eges and funnels.
I think if you put a real hunter on Lee and Tiff's farm they would walk right in and kill the biggest buck pretty easily given the trail cam pic's, shed anlter locations, sighting locations, that they have.
Really, to a newby watching these shows getting into hunting the back forty, he has to think WTF I hunt the edge of the field like they do and I saw a spike and 3 does all season...

[Indianahunter]

Wasn't knocking you Bob... Just pointing out my beliefs.
As far as why they hunt the way they do? You would probably have to ask them. The way they hunt is the way the whole industry teaches us that we arfe supposed to.
Back many years ago we never saw big bucks or even found many sheds because every body drove deer during gun season and killed almost all the 1st year bucks. When a couple groups started posting there land and not doing drives, they saw much bigger bucks in future years and seemed to drive home that if you gave them a protected area they would stay on your land and grow... The main problem with that way of thinking is when deer gtet to the age where we really dream of killing them, they rarly leave that "sanctuary" area. So for me, its better to slip in close and get a crack at the really big boys instead of sitting back picking off the 2 or 3 year olds. Yes, occasionally those monster old deer will make a mistake, but in my way of thinking, not enough to kill them on a consistant basis hunting field eges and funnels.
I think if you put a real hunter on Lee and Tiff's farm they would walk right in and kill the biggest buck pretty easily given the trail cam pic's, shed anlter locations, sighting locations, that they have.
Really, to a newby watching these shows getting into hunting the back forty, he has to think WTF I hunt the edge of the field like they do and I saw a spike and 3 does all season...

Sorry Dan, was afraid I offended you by mis-stating

[dan]

Pretty hard to offend me Bob

[Gardner Swamp]

Really, to a newby watching these shows getting into hunting the back forty, he has to think WTF I hunt the edge of the field like they do and I saw a spike and 3 does all season...

LMAO

[Bucky]

Really, to a newby watching these shows getting into hunting the back forty, he has to think WTF I hunt the edge of the field like they do and I saw a spike and 3 does all season...

LMAO