Unread postby Deerkins » Sun Jun 20, 2021 10:38 pm
Most painful experience happened when I was caught flatfooted moving to my stand in early morning. I got off work late that morning and was trying to make up some time, so I cut across this old abandoned park to cut distance to my hunting area.
I made it halfway through the clearing, then either noticed something out of the corner of my eye, or the sixth sense told me to look to the right. There, watching me in the tall grass, near the rusted out swing set was the giant nine point I was after. As soon as I made eye contact he bounded up over the hill towards the road. I sat there for couple minutes thinking about what my next move should be, then heard the shot just accross the road where he ran..
Probably the two biggest tactical mistakes for hunting bigger deer, that I’ve learned is that I used to hunt general areas, because in my mind I considered them to be good. Now, I spend however long it takes to find a deer I want to hunt wherever he shows up. Then, take it from there.
The other was getting tunnel vision on great sign, without considering the bigger picture. I used to find good sign and automatically think this is a great spot to sit, now I consider it, then look past it to see where the deer are coming from or heading to. To me, most of the good areas to access and sit, turn out to be a couple hundred yards from an area like that.
