"Too many locations"?
 

When do you have more land than you can hunt?

I've begun to wonder at what point I DIMINISH my chances.

Rob and I have discussed this several times. How do you know that the time you choose NOT to go into a certain stand site......is gonna be the day the big boy decides he IS gonna take that route?

At some point.....having too many "locations" (spots to hunt) has to be a hinderance. I admit it's a nice "hinderance" to have.....but it makes me start to second-guess.....and it's only April.

RE: "Too many locations"?
 

That is where the "luck" aspect of hunting comes into play.

RE: "Too many locations"?
 

I wish i had your problem, and so do many other hunters i know. Alot of us our stuck on our own lands or competing against others. How many is too manyfor you?

RE: "Too many locations"?
 

Cay.....don't misunderstand....I'm in no way complaining. I quadrupled the amount of land I have vailable to deer hunt from '07 to '08.

My point is.....the land I've been hunting has been good to me. It's something I wanna do (hunt other areas)....but I've done "OK" on the land I've had.

So...the "unknown" factor is there....and I wonder how much of a risk I take in being unsuccessful (in terms strictly described by taking game).....by spreading myself a little thinner. I also understand there's a big "reward" opportunity that accompanies the "risk".

RE: "Too many locations"?
 

Depends on your hunting time available, but trust me, the more the better barring extremes. You will learn to concentrate on certain properties at certain times if you are scouting as you should. In the past I have had access to up to about 3,000 acres for bowhunting and saw more deer, and bigger bucks, the whole season ( I hunted almost every day). You will probably realise, like I did, what overhunting can do a month or more into the season. Now, I have access to much less....but I hunt much less, also. Regardless....congrats on the 'problem'!!

RE: "Too many locations"?
 

EXCELLENT point!:)

RE: "Too many locations"?
 

I've had that "dilemna" in the past, but as stated, it's a good one to have.

If you're limited to one location, then one single element such as wind can ruin your hunt.

Multiple locations also allow one to rotate hunts so as not to "overhunt" one spot.

With multiple locations, I would invest in enough trail cams to "scout" all the locations.

I've alsohad my decision on which location tohunt made for mesoley because I overslept and didn't have time to get to my first choice. That also comes in to play if you're short on time, having alocation in close proximityhas advantages even if it means just more time in the woods.

RE: "Too many locations"?
 

I see what your saying, and the unknown factor is the best part of hunting

RE: "Too many locations"?
 

I hunt 100,000's acres of public land and I guess i don't understand your problem. Study all the land you have and pick the spots that look good or where you spot big bucks. You can play that" I should have been somewhere else" game. That will only drive you crazy. A successful trophy hunter only has to be right one time. I tell myself this everytime I go out. More land = more chance at success IMO.

RE: "Too many locations"?
 

The reason I asked the question, MM....is I've taken a 3.5 and 4.5 yr old the last 2 seasons. It's gonna be a "little" tough to hunt the area I've been hunting "differently".....when it's been good to me.

Not a problem....I admit.....butITISthe unknown.

RE: "Too many locations"?
 

I hunt thousand of acres (public land / and Hunting Lease) every year. My best advice is to find better quality spots. When you are scouting and find a place to hang a stand or a tree to climb, keep looking there may be something better. The better your scouting is before season the more successfull you'll be ( which applies anywhere but especially to larger tracts of land ). Find the hottest SPOTS and hunt them. You cant cover it all and dont kid yourself with the " I shoulda been over there " routine.

So find the hottest spots you can and pray its your lucky day...Oh yeah keep moving...

RE: "Too many locations"?
 

Then why do you want to fix something that ain't broken?

RE: "Too many locations"?
 

That's a fair question. I realize the benefits of having multiple spots to hunt.....I do. I just wonder if people find themselves second-guessing their setups who've gone through this.

I'm not looking to "fix" anything....and I don't think I've been "lacking" anything, either.

I've gotten some good advice from this. For one.....learning each property will be fun (knowing when/where to hunt). Also....giving certain "previously productive" spots a rest can't do anything but help.

I suppose (don't know).....I'm taking a chance that .....what I'm (possibly) giving up.......can be part of the excitement....and the new areas (possibly) can be fruitful (maybe even MORESO). It may just take a little more time (Also not a "negative").

For the most part.....I've been screwed with any N, NW, NE wind in the past. Now I'm not. I also know I've over-hunted my good spots.

So....we have guys who hunt the CRAP out of spots that have been productive for them in the past. One thing that I'm thinking is......my REALLY good spot is a really good spot at a certain time of the year. I now can stay the heck out fo there until that time arrives. I've been too stupid to do that in the past....and I've still gotten away with it.

In compormise.....I'll likely NOT hunt all of these areas in '08. Maybe just try to learn one more property at a time. The land I won't hunt (very much) this year isn't going anywhere (family land).

I suppose the best of all worlds would be.....having "hot" spots on different properties at "most" times of the year. That's what I'll be looking for. I guess we all are.

RE: "Too many locations"?
 

More land is never bad thing and in my opinion does not diminish your chances because you are spread thin. What more land will do is increase your scouting time dramatically to narrow down your stand sites. More land doesnt necessarily equal more stand sites, it equals the "best" sites.

You coudl have 100 acres to hunt for the whole seaosn and have 10 stands there because thats all you got. Another guy could have 500 acres and still have only 10 stand sites, but he has the liberty to me much more picky on those stands.

Its also my opinion that even if you hunt smart,in general, the first two timesin a stand are your best andodds decrease from there on out as you leave more sign of your presence.

RE: "Too many locations"?
 

Actually, Jeff, I understand this one.Last season,my only available hunting waspublic land in MO and a 530 acre lease in Arkansas. No complaints at all. This season, I added two leases in Tennessee - a 450 acre lease in Tipton county and a 1000 acre lease in Hardeman county. While I like the idea of having multiple hunting sites, that's a lot of acreage with a lot of possibilities and I can see second guessing myself on where to go on what day.

Still, I'm thankful that I'll have multiplelocation choicesthat'll let me either work around the plans of the other hunters or usetheir plans to my advantage. Also, the way leases seem to slide right out fromunder hunters these days, I like the idea of having three available. I know that the odds are pretty heavy in my favor that I won't lose all three.

RE: "Too many locations"?
 

Jeff I know what you mean! Its a good problem to have but its a problem. I just got access to a new peice of property i was telling Rob its loaded with deer and there are 3 huge buck there. The guy has watched them grow over the years they come into his yard. He now has way to many and is allowing me rights to come in and archery hunt. Then there is my honey hole farm that I have been hunting for 10 years and it holds some very nice buck for Pa. standards. We also spotted a white yearling while out shed hunting. Here are 2 of the bucks that made it for sure from last year and gosh are they gonna be nice this year.


See i put so much time into this woods and now I got this new peice and the guy told me there were 2 10points and a 12 point in his yard last year he said they are probably 4 years old he has pictures of them every year. he recently planted sod around his daughters house which is beside his and the next morning there were 32 deer eating it. Thats when he got fed up. So im in now but i feel torn to leave one of these bucks Ive been hunting for awhile!

RE: "Too many locations"?
 

I think you should obvoiusly keep your old spots and find a few new ones through scouting that seem really promising, the unknown factor would persuade me to at least try a few new spots during the season.

RE: "Too many locations"?
 

I must say that i definatly have too much land for one man to hunt. I know a lot of people that let me hunt thier personal woods, plus all of the dairy farmers know me so i can hunt theirs too. Were talking thousands of acres that a ton of people gun hunt, but im pretty much the only bow hunter in most of my spots. Some places i never even step foot on to scout or hunt, if i had less land i know that i would probably have more success in my core areas because i would be scouting more. BUT on the other hand, i am also not in there enough for the deer to become wise to me. I guess its a trade off on my part...? Like all of these discussions, theres just too many variables....

RE: "Too many locations"?
 

variables is the key word....

I would still stick to what i said if it were me

RE: "Too many locations"?
 

Seems likeI need 4 separate places. Something always happens and spoils a spot for a while.Dogs, people, other hunters, nearby builders. I use trail cams and read sign to evaluate these spots in the order I will hunt them.

RE: "Too many locations"?
 

I think having more hunting land is like playing alot of other sports and the problem of stepping out of your personal limitations....for example, a pitcher has a good fast ball and slider.....that is his bread and butter. Then he tries to get cute during the most critical times of the game with other pitches he knows so so and gets creamed. He doesn't know all the little fine details of those other pitches, although he does "know" them in average practice/theory. Same with hunting, you get too fancy and try to overanalyze/overplay/only look at the big picture and hunt too many spots and not focus on the fine details of the places you hunt, you get burned by wasting your time on the dead spots.

RE: "Too many locations"?
 

In myexperiences once you start hitting new spots, it get's into your blood and moving around will become part of you. [/align][/align]Learning new ground will help you learnimmensely as deer on different tracks utilize their cover differently. Things you learned to be truewhere you currently hunt..... Some will hold true whileother things will surprise you.Nothing like taking a nice whitetail on land that is new to you. [/align][/align]Good luck.[/align]

RE: "Too many locations"?
 

i would much rather have one very big farm to hunt, not a lot of smaller farms

RE: "Too many locations"?
 

same here, it is a lot easier to manage than a bunch of small farms

RE: "Too many locations"?
 

I have 21 spots I hunt, some I hunt about 5 times a season others only once. I try to keep each spot fresh like its the first time I've been there.

RE: "Too many locations"?
 

Don't overlook the fact that hunting spots come and go.

We used to have access to a second farm in WV that still brings misty tears to my eyes when I daydream about the acorn littered ridges and sagging meatpole. I would keep friendly access to all of the land I could for the previosuly posted reasons - bearing in my mind that I will eventually lose one of the spots to development, greed, other hunters etc..

RE: "Too many locations"?
 

Ten years ago I gave up on the private land game. I never knew how long I would be able to hunt an area or who I would be sharing it with. Now I drive 170 miles to where I hunt. It's public land. Lots of it. There are problems with that as well but at least I know I can hunt and there isenough land so I can get away from other people. I don't think I could go back to huntng those small pieces of property. My hat is off to all of you that put up with it.

RE: "Too many locations"?
 

Magic I am doing both worlds with small private and thousands of public and you know the challanges im sure.

RE: "Too many locations"?
 

Agreed.

The land on which we hunt is one large lump area. It makes it much easier to manage especially considering one of the keys to any successgul management area is to create a santuary into which hunters nEvER are to enter during hunting season.

RE: "Too many locations"?
 

More is always better for me. It really depends on your situation. Since I have no control over the land I hunt from other hunters,poachers and slobs,bucks being pushed out of an area from being pressured,crop rotation,losing hunting spots,landowners/their relativesdeciding when you can hunt it, amount oftime to hunt, time of year and wind directionall dictate where I will hunt on a given day. I want a lot of land so Tyler andI can hunt on any given day and not botch an area up morethen it already has been. We need to be able to go where the bucks are on that given day which a week earlier might have found them using adifferent area.

Spread ourselves thin?? It isn't even a concern when dealing with all the other things while hunting mature bucks for us. Plus it is suppose to be fun which it is even when flustration is a part of it. :D

Tim

RE: "Too many locations"?
 

That too!!

Tim

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RE: "Too many locations"?
 

IMO, you never diminish your shot at killing a deer, you only diminish killing them at a certain location.

The wind is IMO the most important hunting tool. I want as many stands for every wind as I can.

RE: "Too many locations"?
 

Jeff, when I was just starting out bow hunting I went thru many different properties for various reasons. At the time I thought that it was a curse. I would just get to learning a piece then I would have to start all over. Looking back now I realize it was really a blessing. It forced me to learn to read new areas and my learning curve went up faster then others who only knew how to hunt their woods. As long as you don't second guess yourself, having more options is a great thing. As you grow, your success may dip slightly but in the end it will pay off. I love getting up in the dark, going out and checking the wind, then as I'm eating breakfast going thru all the possible stand locations I could hunt then picking one.

One more thing: I have spots that I won't hunt until the rut hits. I stay out. period. Your old honey hole may be a spot to do that. With other options you could do that now.

RE: "Too many locations"?
 

Gospel Magic!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

RE: "Too many locations"?
 

Good post Willie.They don't becomemature bucks by leaving the country but by changing routines.

RE: "Too many locations"?
 

I think you can have too many locations, but never enough stands. In the past, I've scouted some big parcels of land, came up with several locations, and had little success. Inow concentrate on fewer areas, with more stand sites in those areas, to play the wind. It's worked for me. It is nice to have options though, that's for sure. I agree with some others that over the years, you can really learn the lay of the land no matter how big it is.

RE: "Too many locations"?
 

I know what you mean by that last year Iwas in another stand when thisdeer, came through where I was at the morning before.

RE: "Too many locations"?
 

I bet the public land hunters are hot over this post....but I still understand your frustration...I tend to follow the wind...and my instinct on where to hunt...If I get really flustered I stick my best buddy in my alternate stand....or put out a trail cam :)good post GMMAT.

RE: "Too many locations"?
 

I hunt some quality land, and have kinda permanent setups....many stands.....though this year I plan to scout more, and throughout the season, and move stands to hotter new spots if called for, so I may also have too many spots......but I think this year im going to really taylor and move those spots if sign suggests a reason to move. but if those spots continue to be in good locations, why move em.