Knowing an area well
Massachusetts
If you guys hunt a specific area year after year and know it well, do you still go in multiple times before the season starts? Last year after hunting this area for years I only went in once two weeks before the season started to set up a camera and make sure shooting lanes were clear. I saw more bucks then all the previous years combined. Previous years I went in multiple times to check my camera and saw a buck here and there but never with in shooting distance. Even though I didn't harvest one last year I had chances but just couldn't make it happen. Maybe I was just careless with my scent the previous years but has anyone else done this and had better success?
Yep, it takes discipline to stay out. The less you go in the more surprised they will be . Cameras are fun but what you see on them will be there or not when you hunt it. There is little you can do to control that . But you sure can bugger it up . I don't know if it is smell or noise or ESP . If it is a good spot, stay out till you hunt it . Then check the camera .
Easier said than done . But try.
I stay out unless necessary. If I have a stand or adjust I do it in late August. I do all my trimming in the spring. Don't like trimming in fall much.
Three friends and I have had exclusive access to the same 160 acre piece for over 25 years. In the early years, we'd be in there "scouting" the day before the opener. Now, we stay out for at least three full weeks before the season opens. In fact, we'll go in this weekend, and then leave it alone until opening day.
Awesome. Thanks guys! Its so hard to not go in and look around even though like what you all said, the smart thing is to stay out. Looks like I'll take up knitting for the next few weeks.
Yup what they said. It does take discipline to stay out. The old saying that the first time you sit a tree is usually the best, you want that all the time. You know the lay of the land and usual haunts if the property holds deer. I set a couple of stands, trimming lanes and have a look around in August. A lot of times a one blow down tree can change trails and routes big time. Adjust strategy then. I have one property this will be my 5th year hunting. Last year I adopted an "Outside-In" strategy (the Squeeze) and it paid off big time. The first couple of weeks I hunted the perimeter of the property with spots based on the wind of course. Harvested a deer and witnessed new trails they were using that I had never visually noticed. Sometimes there is just so much sign in an area its hard to know what they are using during daylight, or just nocturnal. Now you have a pattern you have visually seen and if you played the wind right had not disturbed it. Then when the rut kicked in I had the inner spots tighter to bedding all fresh. It's only 70 yds in from perimiter, but I had not smelled it up or been busted there (yet). Then I will go even deeper late season if needed. The first couple of years I hunted here I would go right inside and see deer the first few sits (and not usually be setup in the right location), get winded at some point and then wonder where they went when the rut was in. If you are lucky enough to have a property where you are the pressure they get (not really hunted by others) dont screw up their early season natural patterns by being in there. When the chasing starts it has all changed and with the bucks a little less weary I have a better advantage then. That is my plan again this year. We'll see lol. If you are like me all amped up for the season and cannot sit still use this time between August and season opener to search new properties on Google Maps and knock on doors. Picked up a new one last week adjacent to a property I already had permission for but after a year of scouting there is no way I can enter without blowing bedding deer out fo the fields in morning, now i have a new entry / exit access.
Yes, I stay out, mostly.
I may do one "speed scout" and basically high tail my way through checking food supply and general sign to compare to other years... but that's it. For example, a favorite spot of mine is almost totally dependent on acorns. It's best about every 4 years when one giant old white oak drops a lot. It's the only white oak in the area so it's a good draw. But about every 2 years the reds in the area drop heavy, and in those years things tend to be pretty darn good.
If I zip through, and neither of those things are occurring, I know a few deer will still go through, but that it's not worth my time, so Ill literally bail on it for that season and focus on hotter areas.
Other spots are the same way. Every 2 years a ridge in Z6 gets a heavy acorn crop and I see deer out the wazoo, years without nuts, it's a ghost town. Last year it was loaded, but some guy put in a blind 100yds from where I hunt, so I literally only hunted it opening day (when I discovered someone had come in and laid out 1000 bright eyes on a HIKING PATH then into the woods to get to the spot. There were so many I followed them when I got down opening day during daylight right up to the guys set up...
The spot lost it's charm knowing someone else was on it, so I moved on. Key point though, I scouted it 1 day. I know where the deer like to travel from years of hunting it (Im 43 and literally have hunted that spot since I was like 15 years old) so as long as the food is there, I feel comfortable hunting it with next to no scouting.
It took me years to figure that out. Now i stay away from the spots i know well. Im not going to risk jumping deer until i have my bow in my hand. I know that every time i make deer aware of my presence in the woods i decrease the odds of seeing them doring the season
