Biggest realization going into 2018

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creepingdeth
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Biggest realization going into 2018

Unread postby creepingdeth » Mon Sep 03, 2018 8:08 am

I know that its probably just another one of "those" topics, but I'm not much to share much info here because I'm more in learning mode right now. My thing is to encourage others to never quit, scout, ask others questions to get better. That being said, I think my greatest "aha" moment is realizing how important being in a area for multiple(2-5 ) yrs. This isn't something I personally wanted to find out :lol: .
Heres why I think this:
Multiple years gets me comfy on the ground. I can learn by cam/observation whats around...how do the deer use the area to travel. Any bedding? Food? Do they just pass through? Time will tell me maybe to move on. Maybe only a very small area is worth a sit.
I really like to be able to go in at dark and be able to know somewhat where I'm going. Helps when trying to be stealthy. To me, it doesn't make much sense to have ribbons/or tacks everywhere to give away spots. Nothing wrong at all with going in blind, either.
Pressure. Who shows up in this public? Are they guys who only are there for 2 wks., then give up. Can I use their stands to help me out?
I could go on and on about this...it will take some time, but I cant learn this w/o spending the time.
Anyone have some other basic "aha's" ?? 14 days and counting :mrgreen:


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Re: Biggest realization going into 2018

Unread postby oldrank » Mon Sep 03, 2018 8:59 am

One of my biggest Ah-ha moments on public came back during our 2000 gun season. I think it was my third year after committing to public land. I had a stand site deep in the woods and hunted it every day all season. Bow season started out great, I seen some nice bucks early but couldn't close the deal. As time went on my stand got worse and worse. I was convinced that stateland sucked and that was it for the year.

We had snow that morning for about an hour. Just enough to put a 1/2" or so on the ground. My crew and I committed to meeting up for lunch at a fork in the trail at 11:30am. I hadn't seen anything all morning. As I was walking out to leave I noticed deer tracks coming down the human trail and cutting into this little hole in an over grown thicket. It all clicked. They were skating just inside the slight transition of the human trail. Holding tight to the most overlooked cover and using that to connect thicket to thicket.

I sat that trail that night and shot a buck. To this day I still hunt that spot. It is the main travel corridor to everything. Some how the way the woods lays out this area is the center of the center.

I have honestly lost count of how many deer I have killed around this little spot. These days I have it pegged pretty good. I only hunt it at the best time of the year. That little ah ha moment years ago still plays in my mind today. I'm always paying attention to any tracks that can show me day time movement in pressure situations.
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Re: Biggest realization going into 2018

Unread postby Crazinamatese » Mon Sep 03, 2018 10:23 am

In-season scouting! Hunt the sign when its fresh. I realized this two seasons ago when I found a steaming hot scrape with huge tracks in it on a narrow ridgeline. Hunted it the next morning and seen the big buck that made it. I did pretty much the same thing last season and had an encounter with another big buck, perhaps the same deer for the year previous?? It wasn't the scrape itself that got me excited. It was the size of the tracks in them. This was my "ahaa" moment and Im sticking to it.
I been hunting the same public sections or almost 10 years now and every year is a little different. Sometimes logging takes place and kinda throws things off a little. But I've tried so many different sits in different parts of these properties thinking they would be dynamite set-ups but end up being fruitless sits. Gotta be in the right place at the right time and fresh sign will tell you where you should be paying attention.
The cave you fear hides the treasure you seek!!!
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Re: Biggest realization going into 2018

Unread postby may21581 » Mon Sep 03, 2018 2:18 pm

I believe I had one of those moments earlier this spring while scouting a piece of public I've been hunting the last several years. One of the best spots is no more than 50 yds from a parking lot. After looking over a topo and other human factors in this area I was like a Haha! This year i have picked out several trees to hunt in on a given wind according to the terrain and the beds I found. I am curious and anxious as to see what is passing through it. There are major rubs about waist to abdomen high. I can guarantee you no one ever hunts here because it is just so simple it seems dumb.
I'm not sure but I could imagine some folks have touched on this subject before about or relating to human transition pressure, or like a transition between safe and danger that has no difference in terrain features. I have found it to be true on public that the biggest smartest oldest deer pattern the average hunter not the other way around. The hottest spots are usually the most overlooked simplest stands 99.9 percent of hunters walk right by.
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Re: Biggest realization going into 2018

Unread postby Hawthorne » Mon Sep 03, 2018 3:19 pm

I’ve realized I’ve come along ways since I joined here almost 4 years ago. And it’s not easy and a ton of work especially on public land
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Re: Biggest realization going into 2018

Unread postby Lastcast#1 » Mon Sep 03, 2018 4:25 pm

Hawthorne wrote:I’ve realized I’ve come along ways since I joined here almost 4 years ago. And it’s not easy and a ton of work especially on public land


You beat me to it Hawthorne. 4th year bow hunting and 4th year on the beast. To be fair everytime I walk in the the woods is an " ah hah" moment for me. For 2018 though, after a ton of work , I have accumulated enough of these moments that I realize Man, the picture is just a little less blurry, I feel a little bit more lethal , a little bit more like a predator. Progress. Largely impart from what I have taken from here. Thanks everyone.

So for me in 2018 I will hopefully take the step from encounters with big deer to draggin a big deer.

Chad
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Re: Biggest realization going into 2018

Unread postby Boogieman1 » Mon Sep 03, 2018 4:40 pm

My biggest realization came 4 years ago, I bet a guy I could get a good buck never wearing Camo and only hunting one stand repeatedly. It was actually 2 stands directly across from each other so I could hunt multiple winds. Long story short seen a lot of deer first couple sits then was a ghost town. Believe I hunted that stand over 50 times. 13 all day sits and on day 14 at 8 am stroked a good one right in the goodies wearing jeans and a carhart jacket.

Good spots are good for a reason, time allotted to hunt ups anyone's odds. Would I advise anyone to do that? Heck no, don't even think I have the will power to do it anymore. But it did teach me mature bucks are not a mystical unicorn with super powers. It's a dang grazing animal who makes mistakes on the regular. Most guys just give up b4 it happens.

By being mobile and putting yourself in good situations your odds go even higher up. The only secret is finding an area of multiple good bucks then it's just a matter of time IMO.
Life is hard; It’s even harder if you are stupid.
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Re: Biggest realization going into 2018

Unread postby Rob loper » Tue Sep 04, 2018 12:08 am

My biggest realization moment or many aha moments were of course my Days with Dan. Im a huge show me dont tell me type of guy. One on one was just that much more in depth. And im not a real big crowd guy either.
The man is just such a great teacher it makes you almost bleed confidence like he does. Its a good positive confidence not a cocky snotty confidence. His passion is just so awesome and powerful its almost contagious
Im am by far not an expert but i feel pretty confident about my future snd paying it forward from what ive learned from him.
There is no book, DVD, or podcast that will ever be equal too what i learned in 2 days live with Dan
My man Jeff G is a great source of info too.
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Re: Biggest realization going into 2018

Unread postby HunterBob » Tue Sep 04, 2018 12:32 am

I second the in season scouting, especially where I hunted in the woods with changing food sources from week to week. Hoping to keep myself mobile and do the hard work of constant scouting before the hunt, or if conditions aren't right, just being content with scouting.
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Re: Biggest realization going into 2018

Unread postby chase » Tue Sep 04, 2018 12:52 am

I have been at it for 40 years, and this is my advice, what I have learned the hard way,,,,,,,, now there is a difference with private vs public, big private vs big public, and good bluff country land, vs, far north with logging and wolves.........

This is a very smart animal, but again, its not impossible.... I do not believe in the "October Lull", another outdoor writer myth, the deer are there, they eat and sleep, they do not go into a cave, go hunt them.

I agree on fresh sign, and am always ready to hunt. If I find smoking hot sign, I am hunting right now. I am not going back to the truck, to grab stands and junk. no I am going to hunt right now, even if I have to just stand by a tree or sit in a blow down. I always though have a stand and 2 sticks on me

I know I will get flamed for this, but maybe I just have been lucky, but when I find smokin hot sign, I set up. I do not worry about the wind. Sure I have got busted many times, but many times I have scored. When its the rut, you find this sign, and your on public and new to the area, you have no idea, which way that buck is coming, no way. You might figure it out later, or fine tune the spot in the spring, but for right now, HUNT IT......

I have seen more guys walk away from good spots, because the say " The wind is wrong"..... how do they know, they just found this spot. I had a friend walk away from a spot like that, to continue on to "Look",,,,,,, me I hunted it,,,,,,, I shot a nice big 8 40 minutes later,,,,, November 3rd was the date

I know guys who hunt trees instead of deer. You have to adapt. that means from the ground, in the water, in a stand, adapt to the sign you see, and hunt it. when I hunt the cattails, I am on the ground, have a small shooting lane open, and can hear the deer in the water, long before they pass my opening,,,,,,,, do not pass on good sign
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Re: Biggest realization going into 2018

Unread postby Nelson87 » Tue Sep 04, 2018 2:28 am

chase wrote:I have been at it for 40 years, and this is my advice, what I have learned the hard way,,,,,,,, now there is a difference with private vs public, big private vs big public, and good bluff country land, vs, far north with logging and wolves.........

This is a very smart animal, but again, its not impossible.... I do not believe in the "October Lull", another outdoor writer myth, the deer are there, they eat and sleep, they do not go into a cave, go hunt them.

I agree on fresh sign, and am always ready to hunt. If I find smoking hot sign, I am hunting right now. I am not going back to the truck, to grab stands and junk. no I am going to hunt right now, even if I have to just stand by a tree or sit in a blow down. I always though have a stand and 2 sticks on me

I know I will get flamed for this, but maybe I just have been lucky, but when I find smokin hot sign, I set up. I do not worry about the wind.Sure I have got busted many times, but many times I have scored. When its the rut, you find this sign, and your on public and new to the area, you have no idea, which way that buck is coming, no way. You might figure it out later, or fine tune the spot in the spring, but for right now, HUNT IT......

I have seen more guys walk away from good spots, because the say " The wind is wrong"..... how do they know, they just found this spot. I had a friend walk away from a spot like that, to continue on to "Look",,,,,,, me I hunted it,,,,,,, I shot a nice big 8 40 minutes later,,,,, November 3rd was the date

I know guys who hunt trees instead of deer. You have to adapt. that means from the ground, in the water, in a stand, adapt to the sign you see, and hunt it. when I hunt the cattails, I am on the ground, have a small shooting lane open, and can hear the deer in the water, long before they pass my opening,,,,,,,, do not pass on good sign



Solid advice, and I like that example about your friend. Can't argue with success!

I do have a question on your statement about hunting without regard to wind. Not flaming, just wondering. When you say you don't worry about wind are you literally climbing the closest tree when you see hot sign? Can you ever look around and make a guess of where the deer is likely to come from based on terrain or the current wind direction? Or use the wind to determine if the sign is worth hunting? Such as, say you have an east/ west ridge and a front blows through switching the wind from N to SW which would put sign from the day before on the windward side of the ridge instead of leeward. Do you hunt the sign anyway?

Sounds like you're talking rut hunting on unfamilar ground. Exactly what kind of fresh sign does it take to get you to set up? And since it's rut, how do you know the buck that made the sign will come back, or are you looking for spots to intercept cruising bucks?

I know I just asked a ton of questions. :lol: I just moved and will be hunting some new properties this fall that I've never scouted, both public and private, along with some that I've hunted the last few years. The in season scouting thread, the interview with Cody, and your post have my wheels turning.
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Re: Biggest realization going into 2018

Unread postby chase » Tue Sep 04, 2018 4:34 am

good questions. Believe me, I am not a great hunter, just lucky some times, but I am aggressive, and have my own ideas. I will tell you that most of the time, I have blown the set up. I have been caught in the tree, on the ground or something so many times, its scary, but you know what, I still won, because I just saw him, so I know he is around somewhere. But the few other times, putting an arrow in a bruiser, makes my season...... Yep I was talking the rut, and for me that is everything after October 25th....... Two schools of thought here. My partner will see the sign, back out, study the maps, etc, and make his best wind estimates, and go back in there, with a game plan......

Me I will just hunt. I look around quickly, get the lay of the area, hopefully have a transition area, you know where the terrain comes together, maybe the confiers and popple come together, like to find the edge, if I can, and I set up...........

If I blow this area up, I do not care, I cover a lot of spots. I may be in Vernon County on Thursday but know how weather conditions will be in "known spots", and will drive 3 hrs to another county to hunt them set ups. I hunt with a mobile style and that includes the truck........

So I set up in a hot area, and I am on the wrong wind side, and get busted lets say 2 hours later. I watch that buck leave, I get down, and go over to another spot, with the wind, that killed me on the last buck, and set up again. Many times that same buck may be coming back, before dark, I have seen that happen before.

No many times, and most times, I have no idea if that buck will be coming by, with the sign I read, that's why I call it hunting, sometimes its a crap shoot, but you got to go with your gut, and your past experience. I have sat thru the entire prime days of November without seeing anything but a few small bucks...... oh well,,,,,,,, yet I know that sucker is around somewhere, so I go and try to find him...... the ace in the hole is late season., if you get the right weather

Of course you need the wind, and know how to read it, and their are masters of it, on this site, and of course Dan and his friends etc. I listen to them guys all the time, on the forum, and study what they say.......

But if its legal hours, I am in the woods hunting,,,,,,, I just love it that much....... I have hunting friends, who follow all the rules, have everything that the outdoor channel guys have or wear, and in the end, they never shoot or even better, ever "see" what is out there..........

stay well the majic time is almost here
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Re: Biggest realization going into 2018

Unread postby elk yinzer » Tue Sep 04, 2018 6:39 am

I realized I needed to spend a lot more effort on access to morning spots. Getting in quietly and wind proper and having exact trees picked out. Evening hunts allow a lot more flexibility not going in the dark and scouting on the fly comparatively. Also going to be more aggressive and not quite as paranoid about overhunting areas.
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Re: Biggest realization going into 2018

Unread postby Exophysical » Tue Sep 04, 2018 9:28 am

About 5-6 seasons ago I finally realized that when I spook a deer it doesn't vanish into the next time zone. Its probably less than a couple hundred yards away watching its back trail, give them a half hour or so to get back about their buisnes, follow them carefully and good things will often happen. Since then I have gone after, and killed plenty of deer after spooking them. Almost made me sick to my stomach how many nice bucks in the past I just gave up on when they spooked, or even just moved off into the bush without giving me a shot.

Second biggest realization came last season. I've gotten pretty good over the years at finding deer in big timber, but often it feels like its half voodoo, all these minute intangibles that may or may not pay off big. Last season I finally took a look at all my top producers and connected the dots, find a hill or other major topographical feature in close proximity to a hard edge and start there... at that point figuring out big timber deer got simple enough that I started to feel a little vulnerable... many of those areas I've spent years finding can be simply picked out while driving down the highway if a guy knows what he's looking for.
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Re: Biggest realization going into 2018

Unread postby Evanszach7 » Tue Sep 04, 2018 12:08 pm

Crazinamatese wrote:In-season scouting! Hunt the sign when its fresh. I realized this two seasons ago when I found a steaming hot scrape with huge tracks in it on a narrow ridgeline. Hunted it the next morning and seen the big buck that made it. I did pretty much the same thing last season and had an encounter with another big buck, perhaps the same deer for the year previous?? It wasn't the scrape itself that got me excited. It was the size of the tracks in them. This was my "ahaa" moment and Im sticking to it.
I been hunting the same public sections or almost 10 years now and every year is a little different. Sometimes logging takes place and kinda throws things off a little. But I've tried so many different sits in different parts of these properties thinking they would be dynamite set-ups but end up being fruitless sits. Gotta be in the right place at the right time and fresh sign will tell you where you should be paying attention.



X2: Had spring scouted a KY WMA this year and Sa was the first time hunting it. If I hadn’t been looking for fresh sign prior to setting up, day 1 action would have been way less and I probably wouldn’t have taken a doe yesterday. In 2 days I hung 6 sets, sitting none more than 3 hours. I scouted in to 10 areas but only sat 6... biggest tidbit for me came from 1 of Dan’s podcasts. If the sign isn’t there or what you’re looking for move on or move in more.

Another one along the same lines: don’t do what everyone else does. Do you want to be sitting over that fresh rub for the rest of your life hoping? :lol: Came across fresh rubs and a scrape yesterday before making my way to a different bedding area. Last year I would have sat the scrape. This year I saw the tracks, rub height, and eagerness of rubs outside of doe bedding. It screamed 2.5 year old. Moved on to the bedding area my buddy bumped a big 10 Saturday hoping he’d come back. Gonna try that area again in late October.


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