Graduating to better land or progressing on current land?

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ozzz
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Re: Graduating to better land or progressing on current land

Unread postby ozzz » Wed Feb 10, 2016 3:13 pm

Keep a cam there. Maybe in a more agressive spot you normally would. Explore new spots but keep your finger on the pulse of the old place too.

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Re: Graduating to better land or progressing on current land

Unread postby fishlips » Wed Feb 10, 2016 3:32 pm

ozzz wrote:Keep a cam there. Maybe in a more agressive spot you normally would. Explore new spots but keep your finger on the pulse of the old place too.

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Sounds like a good plan to me. I have asked the same question about public properties that I spent a fair amount of time scouting and hunting. I have moved on from some of those spots, but in hindsight my only regret with those properties is that I didn't get aggressive enough to figure out if they had a spot or two that made them worth keeping an eye on. I think for someone like me who gets worried about screwing up a hunt, I only shot myself in the foot not pushing it more and screwing up and getting that confirmation that I was close.
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Re: Graduating to better land or progressing on current land

Unread postby kurt » Wed Feb 10, 2016 5:03 pm

I'm always looking and scouting new land. 50 acres would bore me. Especially if I didn't own it. I wouldn't give up a piece of private though. I would monitor it and if it didn't hold a buck I was looking for I wouldn't hunt it much , unless for a doe.

when you get complacent you don't learn nearly as much. You need to get out there. Every property is different so the more you see the better hunter you become. Keeping your eggs in more than one basket is important. I might concentrate on a single buck but if something happens to that buck I won't get caught sitting on my hands. So having that 2nd or 3rd place ready to go is important

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Re: Graduating to better land or progressing on current land

Unread postby oldrank » Wed Feb 10, 2016 11:00 pm

I felt at one point I needed to find alot of new land however since joining here I feel I really need to learn every inch of the area I hunt first. I was very blind to alot of things but feel my eyes are open now.

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Re: Graduating to better land or progressing on current land

Unread postby JoeRE » Thu Feb 11, 2016 12:41 am

hunter10 wrote:Thx for the replies. I don't mean to ruffle any feathers as most of you have tough times gaining private permission but in my areas a lot of access is gained because of being small communities and my family being well known. I am starting to think I have been holding onto a couple pieces of land becuase of having sole permission when they haven't produced or haven't helped progress in my hunting goals. Maybe it's time to look else where... On the other hand, it's very hard to let small private parcels go when I remember hunting small acres with other guys.... Tough decisions

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I see more of were you are coming from now. When I was younger I hunted a large quantity of mediocre private land for similar reasons. When you know people its easy. However pressure in the surrounding area and during gun season was high and there were rarely decent bucks in many parts. Looking back now 10-15 years to that, slowly loosing access to most of it was the best thing that could have happened to me as a hunter even though frustrating at the time. I found better land, even some hard to get to parts of public which are way better, and learned a lot doing that too.

If you are confident the land is only mediocre, walk away. Whether other hunters are there or not IMO is irrelevant. Using a variety of Beast tactics you will hunt circles around 90% of hunters but you will never kill what is not there. If you aren't sure do some surveillance but also keep looking.
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Re: Graduating to better land or progressing on current land

Unread postby mainebowhunter » Thu Feb 11, 2016 1:05 am

JoeRE wrote:
hunter10 wrote:Thx for the replies. I don't mean to ruffle any feathers as most of you have tough times gaining private permission but in my areas a lot of access is gained because of being small communities and my family being well known. I am starting to think I have been holding onto a couple pieces of land becuase of having sole permission when they haven't produced or haven't helped progress in my hunting goals. Maybe it's time to look else where... On the other hand, it's very hard to let small private parcels go when I remember hunting small acres with other guys.... Tough decisions

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I see more of were you are coming from now. When I was younger I hunted a large quantity of mediocre private land for similar reasons. When you know people its easy. However pressure in the surrounding area and during gun season was high and there were rarely decent bucks in many parts. Looking back now 10-15 years to that, slowly loosing access to most of it was the best thing that could have happened to me as a hunter even though frustrating at the time. I found better land, even some hard to get to parts of public which are way better, and learned a lot doing that too.

If you are confident the land is only mediocre, walk away. Whether other hunters are there or not IMO is irrelevant. Using a variety of Beast tactics you will hunt circles around 90% of hunters but you will never kill what is not there. If you aren't sure do some surveillance but also keep looking.


And I might add...you are killing yourself thinking that "if 'X' guy was hunting here, he would kill big deer" Not necessarily true. X guy might walk away because he has the experience to know, its not good. If you have spent 5yrs on 50 acres and are not seeing mature deer...bumping mature deer...finding mature deer sign....try other properties.

Why do you have to let the small parcels go? If you don't hunt it all season, do you lose it?
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Re: Graduating to better land or progressing on current land

Unread postby hunter10 » Thu Feb 11, 2016 3:30 am

Mainebowhunter, I likely would not lose them but what it really comes down to is cost. I'm a young guy, just bought my first house and learning the ropes of all that and the more places I am given permission the more it will cost to say thank you at the end of the year. I am known around my neck of the woods to treat farmers right and give back at Xmas time. But at the same time, I can't afford to say thank you to 15 farmers and if I can't do that then I don't believe I should be on their land. Sure I can and have done chorEs and other alternatives but at the end of the day I see a bigger smile when they get a Xmas pie, bottle, turkey, gift card etc

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Re: Graduating to better land or progressing on current land

Unread postby mike_mc » Thu Feb 11, 2016 6:17 am

I grew up on a 500 acre farm here in Columbia County, WI. I would guess 50 acres of that is wooded, the rest buildings or fields. I used to think I had that I didn't think I needed to look to other land to hunt, but when I saw marsh bucks, it gave me the confidence that there were big bucks on public. Now I live 20 minutes from the farm, but I would rather drive 45 minutes to hunt public because I think my chances at a shooter buck are better on the public.

I think the biggest problem with the farm is that my family is unwilling to cut down any trees unless they are already dead, so the woods lack cover and browse. Now I monitor the farm with cameras in low impact areas, and if I'm not getting pictures of a buck I think is on the farm during daylight by October, I like to put the cameras in areas I would hunt.

I wish I would have started hunting earlier, because with more experience hunting the land, I would better understand how to hunt it.
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Re: Graduating to better land or progressing on current land

Unread postby mainebowhunter » Thu Feb 11, 2016 6:42 am

hunter10 wrote:Mainebowhunter, I likely would not lose them but what it really comes down to is cost. I'm a young guy, just bought my first house and learning the ropes of all that and the more places I am given permission the more it will cost to say thank you at the end of the year. I am known around my neck of the woods to treat farmers right and give back at Xmas time. But at the same time, I can't afford to say thank you to 15 farmers and if I can't do that then I don't believe I should be on their land. Sure I can and have done chorEs and other alternatives but at the end of the day I see a bigger smile when they get a Xmas pie, bottle, turkey, gift card etc

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Public land is free :D You all ready "thank" them ever year with your sizeable donation---taxes.
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Re: Graduating to better land or progressing on current land

Unread postby tim » Thu Feb 11, 2016 12:05 pm

mike mc makes a good point. I hear a lot of guys throw out big acreage numbers, yet in reality the huntable woods portion is sizeably smaller. my uncle had a 330 acre farm we hunted yet we mostly hunted the 39 acre portion of woods. my land is 50 acres with 39 acres of woods and in the bluffs that equals more. anyways I have a ton of farms to hunt and I believe you can also spread yourself to thin going that way also never learning them well enough to be a sufficient killer on a certain piece of land because always jumping farms. i continue to hunt other lands . last year i limited myself to my place and only 1 other farm that is 160 acres, that piece is set up to be able to hunt pretty much every wind direction if i want to. ---during the rut. early season and late season were different farms /different countys. options are great to have but not always the answer. the grass isn't always greener.
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Re: Graduating to better land or progressing on current land

Unread postby gjs4 » Thu Feb 11, 2016 1:18 pm

Hunt where your best opportunity lies based on FACTS you gathered from scouting

For ground you can do whatever on- stay out until you have a plan you'd be willing to bet the rest of your season on

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Re: Graduating to better land or progressing on current land

Unread postby mainebowhunter » Sun Feb 14, 2016 8:08 am

hunter10 wrote:What is your take on this. As you progress in your hunting skill and goals do you look for better land or take the land you have and hunt it better? It's been a struggle since joining the beast if I'm wasting time in certain places and need to look for better potential. How do you determine the success.. Is it kills, learning movement better, getting sole permission or giving up the land and moving on. An example is a place I have sole permission to and have for about 5 years now. 50 acres of great land with pressure around it. Unfortunately it is not producing and it's been a pain trying to choose to move on or sit tight and risk prolonging my progression on mature bucks if they just don't use this 50 like I wish. Thoughts?

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Give this a listen...Dan goes over some great points.
http://www.thehuntingbeast.com/hbtv.php?vn=hb&ep=8
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Re: Graduating to better land or progressing on current land

Unread postby Divergent » Sun Feb 14, 2016 11:57 pm

If I'm gonna put in the same amount of leg work then I at least want the most for my return...whether that's quality or quantity. Some pieces of land can only progress so much.

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Re: Graduating to better land or progressing on current land

Unread postby outdooravidity » Mon Feb 15, 2016 3:15 am

kurt wrote:when you get complacent you don't learn nearly as much. You need to get out there. Every property is different so the more you see the better hunter you become. Keeping your eggs in more than one basket is important

Great advice Kurt...this is exactly where I have been. I've been hunting the same old spots and to say that I have gotten complacent is an understatement. Do I intend to still monitor these old spots? Yes. And if it's warranted I will hunt them. But the idea of scouting, learning and hunting new properties has me excited and I am looking forward to no longer being complacent.
Yes, I am addicted to bowhunting.
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