RE: OK... How about a little strategy talk....
 

You do.... You choose to only hunt that plot of land. Expand your hunting opportunities, then you will have many choices ;)

RE: OK... How about a little strategy talk....
 

Ok here's a horse of a different color and then some random thoughts.

Through out late summer (trailcam time) I've had my camera up in a little honey hole. I have pictures or 12 different bucks..Problem is no actual targets...they are small 6,7's & 8's 1.5 and 2.5 y.o. BUT i have 0 (ZERO) does or fawns on pictures..What does one deduce from that???
A) competition for does might be really good. Rattling, decoys, calls may be really fun!
B) once the chase is on they may be the ones venturing out.
C) ??? Your thoughts

Random thoughts:

Deer do distinquish between hunters and others..all animals do. The squirrels on the golf course I could whack with a 9 iron will take off through the tree tops, if I step on a twig, when hunting them..Why?? Same survival skills are inplanted on the DNA. Take Geese, so dumb I could shoot them with a bow in my backyard..but the waterfowlers down at the lake 1/2 mile away have them flaring off multiple decoy set-ups and active calling.
I don't know why..I can't explain it, why are humans more apt to walk around a guy ona Harley with full leathers and tatoos vs theBusiness man,in the Suit and Tie?? We percieve one is a bigger threat, how do we make this judgement?

When I place a cam..on this working farm..I drive right on in on my ATV, midday..leave it running and hang the cam. I don't sneak, creep or *****foot around..in and out! I have pics of bucks in the spot the same night I hang it! Granted to capture any bigger boys I think I'd have to leave the camera out longer, to allow them a comfort level. But with my camera that isn't possible 4 days is about max.(battery life).



Jeff, in your "area," suppose you were going to hunt "bucks" one night. How would your placement change?It seemsyou don't have much difference from one area, to another except for distance. Thisvision is basedon the mental picture I've formed of your area.How many huntable acres are in your spot?

RE: OK... How about a little strategy talk....
 

I'm glad you could get my point out of all of my incoherent babble.

RE: OK... How about a little strategy talk....
 

Scott:

Much like Atlas's response to those who give him hell for hunting and shooting the bucks he hunts.....I'll answer it this way.

I"M NOT COMPLAINING. I hunt JUST the woods I want to hunt.....and I employ the tactics I feel will give me the best chance at the deer I'm hunting....ECXACTLY where I want to hunt them. NO complaints, here!

I don't want to hunt anywhere else....and I'm not complaing about the woods I hunt. I'm giving an honest picture of them.

RE: OK... How about a little strategy talk....
 

Fair question, GR8. If you'll go back a few posts.....you'll see where I told you that EVERY buck I sighted last year....was in the vicinity of a doe. EVERY one.

So....what would you do differently? I wouldn't do anything different. I do know where I've seen the most bucks.....but guess what????;)(it's the same place I've seen the most does)

I hunt a stretch about 400yds wide.....x 1/2 mile long (for those reaching for the calculator....OK....it's about 70 acres. Of that....there's a road that runs the entire length of that stretch on one side....and a man-made break line (parks system) on the other. I have no crops on "my" side, though there are bean and corn field to the East, West and South. What I DO have....is great acorn flats and ridges......PLUS....the woods to the North of the road I mention are littered with awesome acorn producing trees. They'll deplete the acorns they have in the pars system.....then they'll start venturing out on "my" side....further and further.....until they will only be using my hunting lands as a staging area/funnels on the ay out....and on the way home. THIS time of year is when my hunting land beocmes MOST productive.

No one else has my unique situation....and no "cookie cutter" approach is right for everyone. That's all I'm saying, guys.;)

RE: OK... How about a little strategy talk....
 

Ok. Let me see if I can explain. In the case of the draw hunt I referred to earlier, it is public ground and hiking is a common activity on that piece of land. So, there are people hiking that ground nearly everyday. The deer have learned that those folks are of no danger. They simply stand there, alert mind you, but watch you walk by. You walk past, they go about business as usual.

Now, enter the hunter. He's dressed all in camo, he's sneaking around, walking slowly and quietly, you know, like a predator would, and he's climbing trees.....He smells the same, but his behavior is MUCH different.....They don't know I'm there to cause them bodily harm, they just know something is different and they aren't sticking around to find out why.

RE: OK... How about a little strategy talk....
 

So I'll ask again, mobo....why sneak to your stand? Why vary routes?

(If you hunt in these or ANY area where a deer might see you going in)

RE: OK... How about a little strategy talk....
 

I kind of breezed through the last page so can't guarantee all will be relevant. As far as deer being conditioned, and I think that is a better choice of wording than learning, it is an absolute proven fact. There are too many anecdotal cases to deny. Dr. Kroll talks about watching a mature buck crawl past a stand that hunters used year after year so that it couldn't be seen. His tracking of bucks shows that they will start to circle wide of a stand within just a few uses. I've hiked the AT and had deer repeatedly get within 40 yards of them before moving a 100 yards down the trail. I've read too many posts of suburban hunters using the two-in-one out method of fooling deer. Or the buck who has learned to hold tight RIGHT NEXT to where all the hunters park because they never enter the patch of weeds next to the parking spot. Primos current bowhunting 4 video has footage of a buck bedded with a doe ina field next to a road. Everytime a truck gets near the buck lowers his head to avoid being seen. I don't know how he figured that trick out enough to be conditioned to do it but it works. Just about every buck who has some age on him has had some sort of encounter with a predator and survived. He will continue to follow the same routine until it proves to be unsafe or he's killed (redundant?). I've seen bucks bedded within feet of a barking dog on a chain. What's the difference between that bark and any other? Maybe that buck bedded there before he knew better and since he never had any harm come to him from that dog he kept at it. My neighbor built a shooting house behind my property overlooking a saddle which is the corner of our two properties. He sits in that stand every day once blackpowder season opens. I don't see the deer use that saddle anymore. They swing wide and drop below it now. Lots of ways bucks/deer can become conditioned.
It could be a number of factors they have learned to associate with a hiker/farmer; Walking gait, talking, vehicle noise, smell. Most likely walking gait and noise level are the two biggest.

As Greg pointed out: different tree and two weeks later, but also that deer didn't necessarily associate you hitting the tree with danger. Sometimes deer take the "better safe then sorry" approach and run from an unknown noise. For all the buck knows that was just a falling limb. Unless he sees you or smells you he may not sense danger even though he runs.

Here's another question of strategy. I plan on taking out several does first day of the season (with the help of my hunting friends). In areas with a high doe concentration would the impact of a large doe harvest early in the season increase the buck activity come time of rut? I'm not sure we could make a big enough impact but my objective is to make does scarce (or more so) in the immediate area which may cause bucks to roam more in search of receptive does. Is this a viable plan? (I'm doing it anyway because I have damage stamps and they are tearing up my yard and garden)

RE: OK... How about a little strategy talk....
 

If you read the rest of the story, you saw that when we finally did kill one, we DIDN'T. We did just like the deer were used to. Dressed in casual clothing and went for a hike. In about an hour we had a deer on the ground.

My only point was you asked and my answer, simply, is that your behavior is different from the folks walking the park. If the land you hunt borders that park, maybe it would be worthwhile NOT sneaking around....I dunno......

RE: OK... How about a little strategy talk....
 

Love that. Should bea sign on the wall at deer camp. It would make a good sticker too.