Can't kill what isn't there - drive to good hunting!

[Lockdown]

A couple weeks ago the wife and I spent a couple days fishing on Lake Mille Lacs. I consider myself a pretty average fisherman. We did really well and caught a bunch of nice walleyes. Four from 23 3/4" to 25 1/4". Chances are if I fished around home ALL WINTER I'd catch one, MAYBE two that size. Same guy, same techniques, same skill level... very different result.

It got me thinking about a sentence we've heard many times."You can't kill what isn't there".

I drive about 60 miles to my furthest hunting spots. After thinking about it, look at how much more territory I would gain if I increased that number by 15. After all, is an hour drive really that much different than an hour and 15 minutes?? Leave 15 minutes earlier, get home 15 minutes later. That's the only difference. Without crunching the numbers, driving 25% farther would garner close to 50% more ground. (If anyone is good at math, I'd be interested in seeing the actual number of the amount of ground you'd gain.)

Just some food for thought if you're not happy with the quality/number of bucks in your area...

Too bad Mille Lacs isn't an hour from my house

[Boogieman1]

Guess everyone is diff and has there own goals and views of success. For me I just decided along time ago to make the most of what I do have readily available. Those xtra few minutes drive add up into family time which I don't get much of during hunting season anyway. I certainly don't wanna rock the boat with the wife either. Can hear it now , " I give u an inch and you take a mile". The way my mind works is if I would drive a extra 15 min then why not 20, if I would drive 20 why not an extra 30 and eventually I would end up in Canada lol. Then I figure in how all those extra 20 min drives would cost me in hours on stand. I'm well aware I will never shoot a 200" buck but a 150" makes me just as happy as a guy in a better area with a 180". Just what works for me but can certainly see the benefit in expanding ground.

[Hawthorne]

All my spots are within 2.5 hours. Driving an hour further than that wouldn’t help me that much. I find I want to stay within an hour of home more and more. The extra 1.5 drive the bucks aren’t much bigger and I have less land to hunt

[Crazinamatese]

This is true. Im fortunate to live in one of the better areas in Wisconsin for deer hunting. When it comes to quality fishing, gotta head far north for that.

[Drenalin]

Without crunching the numbers, driving 25% farther would garner close to 50% more ground. (If anyone is good at math, I'd be interested in seeing the actual number of the amount of ground you'd gain.)

I came up with an additional 4,077,238 acres. If we say 28% of that is government owned (national average), then that gives us an additional 1,141,626 acres to work with. The real number is likely less and highly variable by area, but it's still significant. From my house, it also means I would get to buy 3 out of state licenses in addition to the one I need in my home state.

[elk yinzer]

I estimate I can reach about 10,000 acres within a 15 minute drive. I've killed a couple does at the local gamelands but it is pretty garbage for decent bucks.

100,000+ acres if I expand that to 30 minutes. I can find some good ones.

Well over a million if I drive an hour. I can find some bucks that are hardly ever hunted.

90 minutes I could hunt every day the rest of my life at a new spot.

I vary it up. I have after work spots closer to home. Some spots a little farther I save for days off. If you're committed, you gotta put the windshield time in. What I see is the people that struggle the most here in PA are the ones that want to walk out of their camp and hunt the same stump they hunted the past 20 years. That doesn't work too well.

[Evanszach7]

I’m using the same strategy next season. Looking at it like I’m basically trading unproductive time on stand for driving time.

I’d rather have 2 good hours on stand than 4 in a set I’m throwing a 2nd or 3rd sit at that season.

[ghoasthunter]

same hear by house is backed up too big public land and i still drive miles and miles for the right deer. sure i can shoot good bucks in my back yard but they just are not what i want any more. if i wanted too kill 3.5 year olds i would have tagged out close too 20 times this season but i want big ones at this point. i still hunt close too home but its more of a fill the freezer goal when i do.

[bass28]

Like elk yinzer, I am fortunate to have lots pf public land around me. The mountain I see out my window is public and spans just over 20,000 acres. If I drive 10 minutes over that mountain I have another mountian :). I have become content to chase the largest bucks in the area and have more time for stuff at home...not to mention more sleep during the season.

[A5BLASTER]

I guess I'm lucky and diffrent at the same time. I have 200,000 acres of public land in two starts too hunt with in 30 mint drive of my front door.

And I spend 95 percent of my time on a 7500 acre wma that's 15 mints from my door. And that place gets the worse hunting pressure I have seen anywhere's. And everyone says there is no good bucks on it.

Yet I have killed 3 140 class bucks off it in 4 years and missed the biggest buck I have ever seen in my life on it this year with my bow.

I'm about learning my close spots and chasing old bucks over driving distance too kill rack size. I want to drop the bucks that in my area are very old warriors. I'm talking 5 to 7 year olds.

I would gladly take a scared up, super wise and slick 6 year old 140 class over a dumb 160 class 4 year old.

[wolverinebuckman]

I've got 3 public land areas within a 15-minute Drive of my house. To get to the very next state land is a 1 hour drive. Once I reach one hour I can reach a couple of other places within or about that much time, an hour-and-a-half puts me into some of the what I've heard to be the better hunting in Michigan. I spent all of last season bouncing around the three closest public land areas, I scouted the one that is at the edge of an hour away, and may try to hunt it this year. I just enjoy hunting more than driving, even if the results aren't as good. Hunting close to home gives me that option, and I'm still learning. Perhaps after I put down a few of the bucks around my area over the years, I'll start expanding to some of these further out places for larger deer.

[ODH]

I drive, largely based on where I live. It's an hour just to get in the game. I routinely drive 4 hours for quality AND challenge. And I have done that as a day trip. I think it's a function of your goals balanced with family. At the margin it probably means I go less but I'll go farther to meet my goals.

[Dewey]

I’m gonna drive to Iowa next year.

[Edcyclopedia]

I’m gonna drive to Iowa next year.

Where shall we meet?

[Dewey]

I’m gonna drive to Iowa next year.

Where shall we meet?

Thought you were driving. You could pick me up on your way west.