I read a lot about the rut and buck patterns and pre- rut, post rut, etc and I realize that I do none of these things these articles talk about. I simply hunt food sources all season. Pre-rut, rut, and post -rut. I have always seen/killed bucks this way, I never really paid much attention to travel routes, ditches, pinch points etc.. I just find food, see where deer are entering and where they are eating, and hunt the stand. Wind is either in my favor or it ain't, I don't have the luxury of not hunting that day or going to another farm like some of these guys talk about. I just drinch myself with earth scent and put some Deer Dander on and hope for the best. Most of the time it seems to work in my favor. Most guys get off on rubs and scrapes, I don't, I like to see droppings , fresh ones, wet ones, more than anything, if rubs and scrapes are there, great, if not, so what. Am I stupid or just plain crazy??!!
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The ability to get close to game remains the essence of all bowhunting today.
I'm with ya man!
I just can not devote a serious amount of time to "understand" every deer option as far as a perfect this and that.
#1 way to get deer, is being in the woods, period.
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IF we all ARCHERY hunted with our QUIVERS loaded with Slim Jim's, WOULD the WORLD be a SAFER PLACE???
I hunt travel routes and food during archery (private land) but i hunt near a water source during firearm(public) i know what you mean about Rubs/scrapes, Vabowman. They're nice but not necesary
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I don't think there is anything wrong with this way of hunting, although I think according to your description of the way you hunt, you are fairly new at hunting deer. Is this correct? If so, then IMO, as you mature as a deer hunter, after you have several deer under your belt, you may decide to only hunt a mature buck for instance which would make you try to understand more of the habits of a mature buck and concentrate on more of the lifestyle of a mature buck instead of just a food source.
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Same here VA! I have a few different spots that I alternate between and try to hunt the best one for the wind. But as far as anything else its travel routes or food sources, and funnels.
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A small buck that's dead will never be a big buck that's dead.
Learning from a mistake, the first thing is always the wind. Once I know the wind direction, I look at all the stand locations and travel patterns to determine which stand I'll use. Some are on food sources, most on travel routes.
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The property I hunt, is hard to hunt as a typical pattern like most articles talk about, my piece is long and narrow, with a field at the one end, though this field borders a road and is pretty wide open, just through a strip of woods, is a much larger/safer field, so i feel like my field is kinda not used as much, also im convinced deer only feed on corn when its in its sweet phase in the summer sometime, and in the winter when food is scarce, otherwise i never see them feed on corn here in IL, and many others have said the same thing to me, the typical bedding areas, food scources, travel routes, just aren't stereotypical on my piece, I do hunt bottlenecks, which are travel corridors. I mainly have stands all over, and depending on the wind I choose a stand, as far as food sources, does, bedding areas, isn't really able to patter like that. Some stands I have come to find as more of a morning stand than night, and when the rut is on i'm more apt to hunt a bottle neck than a field or just a stand kinda in the middle of the woods. I think you just have to do the best with where you hunt, which is frustrating at times. you may want to look at an aerial photo and look around your property at others and see if maybe you spot a funnel or some area to consider hunting.
Hunter59, I have actually been hunting deer for 20 years, and I have taken several big bucks and taken over 70 whitetails, bow, gun, and Muzzle loader. I just have never tried to hunt one deer or have I tried to break things down the way these articles have. As I said above, I have taken 10 mountable bucks 4 of which were actually mounted, and most of them were from a food source of some sort, didn't pay much attention to the wind or scrapes or rubs, sometimes it was all there and others it wasn't, key wasthat all were killed near food. Maybe just dumb luck for all these years!!
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The ability to get close to game remains the essence of all bowhunting today.
I don't think there is anything wrong with this way of hunting, although I think according to your description of the way you hunt, you are fairly new at hunting deer. Is this correct? If so, then IMO, as you mature as a deer hunter, after you have several deer under your belt, you may decide to only hunt a mature buck for instance which would make you try to understand more of the habits of a mature buck and concentrate on more of the lifestyle of a mature buck instead of just a food source.
I see your from Illinois, I can only imagine that Virginia hunting is a little different than Illinois hunting, seeing and reading all the articles and shows. Of course I can't speak for him, but in NH, the deer are not abundant which reduces the amount of sightings or opportunity to harvest a buck with any size. If you want a challenge try NH, Maine or Vermont. There is big deer up here, but the herds aren't as big and a lot of forest land. Needle in a haystack. I challenge you to try these tactics up here, you'll find that you have accumulated a lot of unfilled tags.
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IF we all ARCHERY hunted with our QUIVERS loaded with Slim Jim's, WOULD the WORLD be a SAFER PLACE???
Am I the only one?? Or am I stupid??
