GMMAT

Specifically.......NON-hunting time.

I've been giving this a lot of thought, lately. I've only been hunting deer for <3 seasons. I've tried a lot of bows/arrows/equipment.....all trying to find out what I like and what makes me tick in this endeavor.

I've tried game cams a lot.....litttle game cams....no game cams. Climbers/lock-ons/combination of both. Supplemental feeding....hunting over feeders......no feeder.....NOT hunting over feeders.

I've tried laying off touching my bow for a couple months.....all the way to going fullbore into target archery.....every weekend.

I've been trying to plant a food plot on the small parcels I hunt, here, since 2 years ago. The landowner put cattle in there last year....and I couldn't. Still can't.

With the new land I've acquired......I'm being drawn to wanting to build a better habitat. I'm already looking at tractors......and I think I'm going to get a couple more trail cams. I can see how this aspect of the overall experience could be as or more rewarding than the hunt, itself.

So....anyone interested in maybe buying a target bow?

Really.....any of you guys who have gone down this path....I'd like to know how much time you spend on your hunting land (I could see me doing something there about every weekend, next Winter/Spring).....at least part of one weekend day. When do you start scouting in the Summer? Our season comes in, here, around the 10th of Sept., each year.

Just rambling, I guess.......

quiksilver

So far, my logbook showsjust about40 hours so far (non-hunting) wandering around in my hunting areas for 2008... But then again, the new area I'm focusing on is the better part of 20,000 acres. Just got in the door from another all-dayer.

I'm pretty sure I'm gonna wear out a pair of shoes in there this year.


Here's a realmonster. LOL



To more fully answer your question, Jeff - right now, I'm just putting on raw mileage - logbooking every huntable stand of white oaks, every accessible pinchpoint/saddle/favorable formationand monitoring the varying deer densities all over the area. Just trying to get a firm grip on where the deer are, how many there are, what they're eating, when they're eating it, where they're traveling and with what regularity.

Once summer comes, I spend less time in the woods, and more time glassing fields. Since I don't run any trail cams, this is how I gauge the age structure and determing what is a "good" buck for the area.

In the fall, I'll revisit every oak grove and scout for the currentmast-producers.

Sure, I'm hunting public land, but I wanna guarantee myself that my precious hunting time is spent in the best possible stand sites. That's the biggest positive aspect of public hunting - HUGE ACREAGE. There is a ton of ground - and if you put the time in, you'll find more than enough dynamite stand sites to keep you busy for a whole season.

psebwhntr16

I spend about 10X's more hours not hunting than I do hunting. But thats all farming related.

TexasBowHunter

Good question Jeff, I spend a lot of time on our place in my opinion. I work a wierd schedule, so I have a month off at a time every other month and I will spend 6-10 days every month thatI am off at the ranch, scouting, cameras, feed (mineral, protein) and we have a few exotics and pigs so I will do a little hunting too. To break it down monthly I spend 4-5 days a month on the property on an average, quite often more than that but thats a good average. I run my cameras year round due to the exotics and the fact that I hunt them year round.

NChunterman

I've walked tow of my 40 acre tracts since the season ended. I took two sunday afternoons and bored Stephanie to death dragging her through the woods. I've hunted for the better part of 20 years but the past three I've really pursude(sp?) hunting as a passion. I figure I'll log many more afternoons between now and the season opener in September.

jackflap

On the home place, which is my primary hunting ground, I stay off of it as much as possible even during hunting season.

I have 35 acres that is cultivated farm ground that is farmed ,but it is right off the road so you do not have to disturb the pasture/woods while working it. I plant wheat on it each fall. My neighbor has 80 acres of alfala right beside me. These serve as my food plots. I will glass these a lot in the late summer, but from a safe distance with binoculars.

I occasionally run cattle on it which requires intrusion, but I haven't done that for the last 3 years.

Since it is only 300 acres and I know it like the back of my hand, I don't scout as I already know the bedding and feeding areas,etc..

I will hang a trail cam starting in July, but again I strategically place it in a funnel area between feeding/bedding that I can get to without to much intrusion.

Past that and Turkey season, I stay out. I don't even trim my hunting trees until I actually hunt them for the first time of the season.

GMMAT

Well.....I'm not talking about walking the property willy-nilly. I'm talking about clearing land......planting food plots......working mineral sites.....etc...

I could see me up there a day a weekend, next year....if only for an hour or two. Food plot prep and maintenance would take some more time. Parts of the area are already planted....so the deer are used to some intrusion.

quiksilver

Yeah, if your question is directed more at the farming/working aspect of creating favorable habitat/foodsources - I have no real experience with that at all. I'm a public land junkie. LOL No ATV's, no cultivating, no planting anything, no supplements, no feeding... To be totally honest, I think it's against the law to even use a treestand that "damages" the tree. Whatever the hell that means...

I don't even think I'm technically allowed to trim shooting lanes or even cut branches on my way up the tree... I'll plead the 5th on that one. [:-]

Rick James

Quite a bit of time. I wish I lived closer, but I still manage to put in some hours there.

Edcyclopedia

Coming from the guy who started the thread on "crossing water".
You guessed right!
Kidding GM.

I only hunt other peoples property or state land.
Can't afford land in this part of NH.
3 acre lot goes for $200k
Further north where my camp is, the price is about $3-10k / acre, still expensive, that's why I lease the land