Questions of a Failure

[Danny1977]

Hey all,

By all means this isn't a rant nor a tangent lol. Just trying to figure out what I am missing due to the fact that I have not been having any success with the "Beast Style Tactics" Or other tactics lol. I have been hunting nothing but known buck bedding areas since the beginning of the season, playing the wind/thermals, etc. I've been seeing deer but only one was a shooter yet I did not get the shot. I hunt primarily Appalachian mountain style terrain on public land(upper 1/3 of the mountain. I hike way in past where most hunters typically go while dropping milkweed on my way in. I do not believe that these areas are heavily pressured due to it taking me anywhere from two to four hours on foot to get to and I don't find any signs of human activity. I'm quiet as can be on my way in. I do not hunt the same spot more than four times a season and I give each spot at least a two to four weeks before going in again when conditions are right. I've scouted heavily in the off season and the sign looked great. I've found their antler sheds and have plenty of trail cam pics of giants. I just can not for the life of me get on the large deer. I'm seeing deer(young bucks and does). Just not the mature bucks I've been hoping for. At this point I am beat(mentally and physically(I know, no excuses) but it's beating me down as the season is near it's closing. I plan to keep at it and not give up. But I need to figure out why am I not successful? What do I need to do differently? Hoping you all could help.

With all of that being said....what am I missing? What am I not doing that other successful big buck killers are doing?

Thanks in advance,
Danny

[backstraps]

Danny I can tell you for sure I have had the same thoughts and results as you are having

Now by no means do I consider myself anything near a big buck killer...just still doing everything I can to continuously learn!!

As to your post and description of your hunts and hunting styles....
The portions of the app mnts is really not as cut and dry as applying Beast tactics

My advice is take what you have learned from your own knowledge, add what you have learned from the Beast, podcast, reading articles etc and find what works for you.

The hunt you seen he shooter...analyze that hunt and others! Beast tactics in the Apps can get you so far but my experience is bucks dont have to bed the same bed (nor do they) on a given wind. App bucks are more nomadic in my opinion. Ive even noticed some are more on a 3-4 day circular pattern

One thing that always comes to mind for hunters applying Beast tactics in hill country especially the App hills... a given wind direction can and will be changed from one ridge to the next all due to the topography changing thermals

If you aren’t already...find out how the wind reacts at your hunting spots both with foliage and without. The thermals in my opinion are the number one concern when hunting hills.

You can quickly be out of the game and not even know it if you aren't 100% sure what you wind is doing

Another couple of huge factors for me
DOES
FOOD

Knowing where each is and what time of the season is peak for each is the key

Keep your head up Danny and try and analyze each hunt. Keeping a journal for yourself may also help more than you realize

[DhD]

Hey all,

By all means this isn't a rant nor a tangent lol. Just trying to figure out what I am missing due to the fact that I have not been having any success with the "Beast Style Tactics" Or other tactics lol. I have been hunting nothing but known buck bedding areas since the beginning of the season, playing the wind/thermals, etc. I've been seeing deer but only one was a shooter yet I did not get the shot. I hunt primarily Appalachian mountain style terrain on public land(upper 1/3 of the mountain. I hike way in past where most hunters typically go while dropping milkweed on my way in. I do not believe that these areas are heavily pressured due to it taking me anywhere from two to four hours on foot to get to and I don't find any signs of human activity. I'm quiet as can be on my way in. I do not hunt the same spot more than four times a season and I give each spot at least a two to four weeks before going in again when conditions are right. I've scouted heavily in the off season and the sign looked great. I've found their antler sheds and have plenty of trail cam pics of giants. I just can not for the life of me get on the large deer. I'm seeing deer(young bucks and does). Just not the mature bucks I've been hoping for. At this point I am beat(mentally and physically(I know, no excuses) but it's beating me down as the season is near it's closing. I plan to keep at it and not give up. But I need to figure out why am I not successful? What do I need to do differently? Hoping you all could help.

With all of that being said....what am I missing? What am I not doing that other successful big buck killers are doing?

Thanks in advance,
Danny

I don't have any answers, but I can tell you you aren't the only one who feels this way right now. I stay pretty positive mostly but I've had a few moments this week. Only thing I can figure to do is keep after it.

[DhD]

Hey all,

By all means this isn't a rant nor a tangent lol. Just trying to figure out what I am missing due to the fact that I have not been having any success with the "Beast Style Tactics" Or other tactics lol. I have been hunting nothing but known buck bedding areas since the beginning of the season, playing the wind/thermals, etc. I've been seeing deer but only one was a shooter yet I did not get the shot. I hunt primarily Appalachian mountain style terrain on public land(upper 1/3 of the mountain. I hike way in past where most hunters typically go while dropping milkweed on my way in. I do not believe that these areas are heavily pressured due to it taking me anywhere from two to four hours on foot to get to and I don't find any signs of human activity. I'm quiet as can be on my way in. I do not hunt the same spot more than four times a season and I give each spot at least a two to four weeks before going in again when conditions are right. I've scouted heavily in the off season and the sign looked great. I've found their antler sheds and have plenty of trail cam pics of giants. I just can not for the life of me get on the large deer. I'm seeing deer(young bucks and does). Just not the mature bucks I've been hoping for. At this point I am beat(mentally and physically(I know, no excuses) but it's beating me down as the season is near it's closing. I plan to keep at it and not give up. But I need to figure out why am I not successful? What do I need to do differently? Hoping you all could help.

With all of that being said....what am I missing? What am I not doing that other successful big buck killers are doing?

Thanks in advance,
Danny

I don't have any answers, but I can tell you you aren't the only one who feels this way right now. I stay pretty positive mostly but I've had a few moments this week. Only thing I can figure to do is keep after it. If I run out of days in the season it's just time to start scouting for next year.

[Danny1977]

Hey all,

By all means this isn't a rant nor a tangent lol. Just trying to figure out what I am missing due to the fact that I have not been having any success with the "Beast Style Tactics" Or other tactics lol. I have been hunting nothing but known buck bedding areas since the beginning of the season, playing the wind/thermals, etc. I've been seeing deer but only one was a shooter yet I did not get the shot. I hunt primarily Appalachian mountain style terrain on public land(upper 1/3 of the mountain. I hike way in past where most hunters typically go while dropping milkweed on my way in. I do not believe that these areas are heavily pressured due to it taking me anywhere from two to four hours on foot to get to and I don't find any signs of human activity. I'm quiet as can be on my way in. I do not hunt the same spot more than four times a season and I give each spot at least a two to four weeks before going in again when conditions are right. I've scouted heavily in the off season and the sign looked great. I've found their antler sheds and have plenty of trail cam pics of giants. I just can not for the life of me get on the large deer. I'm seeing deer(young bucks and does). Just not the mature bucks I've been hoping for. At this point I am beat(mentally and physically(I know, no excuses) but it's beating me down as the season is near it's closing. I plan to keep at it and not give up. But I need to figure out why am I not successful? What do I need to do differently? Hoping you all could help.

With all of that being said....what am I missing? What am I not doing that other successful big buck killers are doing?

Thanks in advance,
Danny

I don't have any answers, but I can tell you you aren't the only one who feels this way right now. I stay pretty positive mostly but I've had a few moments this week. Only thing I can figure to do is keep after it.

Thanks DhD,

I believe that it's just part of hunting. I've also heard that in order to have success you have to have failures. And some will go a number of years before they get that special giant. It just sucks when you believe you are doing everything possible to make it happen and still come home empty handed, But if it were easy then it wouldn't be exciting when it does happen. hope this helps you as well.

[Carpkiller02]

I’m in the same type of situation as you. I started with beast tactics this year in the north woods of wisconsin. What I’m realizing is things are much different in big woods situations and I just need to spend time experimenting to find strategies that work for me. A tactic that made me successful this year was listening to what the trackers have noticed regarding tendencies a buck will make in traveling downwind of clear cuts to scent check for does. Outside of the rut is going to take a little more time to figure out patterns to capitalize on.

[elk yinzer]

You may be overthinking things a little much bombing in that far. I have a couple good bucks that come to mind that bed crazy close to people. I know of a bed in the mountains that holds a good buck every year on a little knob that is a peninsula of woods surrounded on all sides less than 100 yards away by a busy road. He's practically unapproachable, but still, an illustration. I kicked up a massive buck twice a couple years ago bedded 50 yards off one of the busiest hiking trails in my area. I have a couple spots that are 1-3 miles back in, but the vast majority of my areas that hold good bucks are no more than 1/2 mile from any given access point. Now...sometimes I'll walk a mile in from another access point because that is the right way to access it, I'll do that quite frequently.

[cspot]

Some great advice above. I will add a couple of things. Depending upon where you are at in the Apps, the deer population can be pretty low in areas. A low population will mean sightings will be few and far between. One mistake I made this year in the early part of the season is I hunted too deep. The pressure hadn't hit yet and the deer weren't there. Once the pressure hit around the beginning of November then these spots got good that I had previously scouted. The issue was the sign I saw in the Spring this past year was from the rut on and didn't translate in the early season.

[brancher147]

Are you doing a lot of in season scouting or hunting predetermined locations? If you are scouting after the season and basing your spots for next year on that intel then I would consider doing more in season scouting. I agree with elk and cspot above that going way back in is not usually necessary especially if you are hunting before the pressure hits. You may find a lot of sign or beds post season where the deer have been pushed back way deer after gun season but that will probably not be where the deer and beds will be early season or rut before gun season. Are the beds or bedding areas you are hunting have fresh sign? I used to hunt way back miles in and had some success, and still do at times, but most of my spots now are less than a mile. Also look for overlooked spots, and from what I have found in the mountains that means steep stuff and cliffs and boulders and laurel.

It sounds like you have had a lot of success really. Seeing deer and one big shooter buck is not something a lot of people do every year on mountain public land.

But the mountains are not the midwest and there just are not that many big bucks and we all have years just like you are talking about. Killing mature bucks in the mountains is tough!