who has changed the way.....
 

anyone changed the way you hunt? orinfluenced you to change the way you hunt? celebs, HNI memebers, family, friends???? I would have to say no, I have not been influenced by anyone, I have mad respect for many, but not influenced to change my hunting.

RE: who has changed the way.....
 

Nearly everyone I have ever met.. or spoken with.. or read.

The trick is understanding what your hearing and seperating the good advice from the bad.

RE: who has changed the way.....
 

me, i change the way i hunt my spots almost every year ,but i would have to say hunting magazines i love reading anything about hunting,and so far ive been beyond blessed with sucess .

RE: who has changed the way.....
 

really?? I get very little from mags, I mean I may pick up some tuning tips or tech stuff but rarely do I read anything that would pertain to where and how I hunt.

RE: who has changed the way.....
 

it has not changed my way extremely but i do pick up somethings and try to put them to use ,plus i read magazines when sitting in a stand most of the times ,so im going to be stuborn and say atleast it makes the time go by on those all day sits .

RE: who has changed the way.....
 

I have not had anyone who had an overwelming effect on how I hunt now. I read like crazy growing up - then I hit the woods and realised that that info only gave a very general idea of what was going on. My older brother showed me more than anyone else, and I learned most of my lessons in the first few years the hard way.

RE: who has changed the way.....
 

Big time! Uncle Wally was as close to a hunting mentor as any I've ever had. He wasn't my Uncle of course... he was the advisor of our Rod and Gun Club at the Citadel.. Colonel West to be exact. The man pretty much taught me everything I know about bow hunting that I didn't learn on my own. He definately fostered the interest and gave me a place to hunt quite often.

RE: who has changed the way.....
 

My Dad:He taught me how to find good areas (funnels,pinch points &travel corridors) and taught to figure out why they would use it.
My Uncle:He always said hold out for something a littlebetter.

RE: who has changed the way.....
 

Most recently my neighbor. He makes me think harder before we do anything.

RE: who has changed the way.....
 

I read over the years that bean feilds are good to hunt but for some reason i can't get myself to put a stand on the other end of the woods to hunt it .I keep thinking if i hunt there i'll miss a nice a buck coming threw on my other stand .My feinds at work keep telling me you'll never know what going threw untill you hunt down there . I see alot of good sign down there rubs, scrapes, droppings, and deer tracks and still i get seem to hunt that end. mybe i''l give it a shot this year who knows i might get a nice buck and then i'll be kicking myself for not huntinh it sooner

RE: who has changed the way.....
 

Everyone that I hunt with or discuss hunting with has an influence on me. Books and mag. have also shaped my hunting.

RE: who has changed the way.....
 

My dad. Then again, I'm not old enough yet to go out by myself. He talks waaaaay too much while we hunt...

RE: who has changed the way.....
 

well forme not he way I hunt but the way I shoot and to be honest I am trying to go back to the way I used to shoot. I need to shoot for fun and have fun!

RE: who has changed the way.....
 

My dad has a huge influence on how I hunt. I've taken more advice from that man then anyone else. A few people on here as well have put some excellent points out there that I plan on doing and trying this fall. There's always room to learn with me. I'm not a book learner, I like to hear it from the horses mouth. When I quit learning its time to hang it up.;)

RE: who has changed the way.....
 

x2

RE: who has changed the way.....
 

I usually hunt the way that makes me feel right, for instance, i will not hunt deer over a feeder, but i do have one set up for my game cameras and to hold deer in my area. I actually didnt hunt within 200 yards of it last year.

RE: who has changed the way.....
 

Well...My dad died when I was 20 and he was a small game hunter...But I have lived and hunted in NC, GA, VA and SC...By living in different areas I have changed how I hunt simply because the food sources are different...Most folks can't identify a red oak from a white oak, or know what food sources to hunt during different times of the season...Guess I'm saying that during the past 30 years or so that I have changed how I hunt, but it's not due to hunting with someone else, it's due to different habitats encountered...

RE: who has changed the way.....
 

So you never try anything new?

I try a lot of things that I hear or read about. As said in an earlier post, it is about sorting out the good from the bad. I do it by trial and error and replications of certain tactics or beliefs.

By doing so, I have learned a lot of things I didn't know beforehand and can categorize a lot of other things as gimmicks/nonsense,etc. But I would never know for sure without testing/experimenting withthese things firsthand.

RE: who has changed the way.....
 

I would say the Bucks themselves that I have chased for 40 years have had the biggest influence on the way I hunt. I learn something from them every year.

As far as Celebs: Fred Bear, Gene Wensel, & Bobby Worthington have all had there influence on me in one way or another.

Dan

RE: who has changed the way.....
 

The more I see of this gaint planet, the less I understand. I am all ears. My mind is wide open. I strive to know more about tracking from the black african bushmen, for example. I have learned enough, but not enough...

I have learned that when you stop learning you stop living.

RE: who has changed the way.....
 

Itmay sound crazy, but Mike Waddell. I like his style, his humbleness, and his ability to know when and where. I learned alot from his stalking, setting up stands, and all around personalaity it takes to be a successful hunter. I know...alot will disagree, but his style is one that impresses me and he just has a knack for the outdoors.

I know with the sponsorships he has, if ou took them all away he would still be my best hunting bus in the woods. After all, I learned to wear my scent wafers on my hat...and its worked!

RE: who has changed the way.....
 

well said huck!

RE: who has changed the way.....
 

Davidmil influenced the way I hunt. A couple of years ago I posted a thread about a trail I cut through the woods and all the lumber I felled for shooting lanes. David explained to me why taking a low impact approach to lanes would benefit me. He explained that I was in the deers living room and they would notice thelarge changes I was making in thier territory. Now I cut as little as possible. An arrow doesn't need much of a space to fit through. Less cutting also means I have more cover. I've seen more deer traveling the trails I hunt since I've taken this approach.

RE: who has changed the way.....
 

Another VERY important lesson I've learned here is what to do after the shot. Robs annual "What to do after the shot" thread helped me tremendously in tracking my first deer that didn't fall in sight. If it had not been for that information he so willingly shared here I don't think I'd have found that deer or several hogs I have shot. Most of what I know about blood trailing is due directly to that thread. Thanks again Rob!

RE: who has changed the way.....
 

Reading mags, a few select members on this site, but mostly time and maturity have shaped how I hunt now more than anything.

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RE: who has changed the way.....
 

How can you not?If I were not influenced by others and picking up informationit would seem like I have it all figured out, which I know I don't. So I am constantly trying to sponge up information from other successful hunters, the woods/deer, magazines/books, and just about anywhere else I can find it. Like Duke mentioned though you need to be able to determine what is useful or applicable to the areas you hunt and what isn't.

VAit seems hard to imagine thatnothing or noone has influenced changes in your hunting. On some level you were influenced somewhere along the lineotherwise you would still be hunting the same way you were 20 years ago (or whenever you started) except for self learned stuff,and I can't imagine that being the case(for myself anyway). You have never heardsomething or readsomething and thought "Man I am going to try that in that bottom I hunt or near that bean field", never?

I'm just asking, Idon't me to sound like a jerk or anything.

RE: who has changed the way.....
 

Good question NEW!! I have hunted the same farm for 20 yrs and I worked the farm as well, that has helped a lot. I have people that that taught me the basics, but once I learned the basics it was all me so far. Im not saying I know it all, I just know my woods and know them well. I don't recall anyone that has changed how I do it, I just learned on my own really. Not saying that I can't learn from others, but i just haven't had the opp yet. I have made changes, but it has only come through years of hunting not b/c someone pointed me in the direction. Im open to it all though!!

RE: who has changed the way.....
 

That's a great answer.

RE: who has changed the way.....
 

Having hunted the same farm for 20 years it makes sense that you would have that place pegged. If you want a pretty good morsel of knowledge read GregHs' post from today, good stuff there.

If you want to try something new don't forget about this bow season and the possible VA hunters bowhunt. I got a sweet piece of low pressured public land (roughly 3200 acres) that could be fun to learn. 4 points per side antler restrictions have been in place there for a few seasons and it doesn't see much pressure during the bow season. Lots of oaks and a river runs through it. I'm just saying.

RE: who has changed the way.....
 

Actuallythe regsare at least 4 points on one side now that I re-read it.

RE: who has changed the way.....
 

I am in very similar situation. I have hunted my primary hunting spot for quail and turkey long before we even had deer on it. Although we hunted sdeer down state when I was a kid, I really didn't know much until I started hunting back in the mid 80's on our own property when we started seeing more and more deer in the area.

My primary hunting property is roughly 300 acres and like you, I literally know every square foot of it.

Where we differ it seems,is in our approach to hunting these properties. Granted, I already know bedding areas, travel routes, early season feeding patterns, late season feeding patterns, etc., but every year I am still learning something in regard WHEN to hunt, HOW to enter and leave, Wind direction, inclement weather adjustments, rut tactics, etc, etc.

Some of my new tactics are things I think of myself but mostof these things I experiment with because of something I read or heard from someone else. Not anyone in particular, just a cumulation of a lot of people/resources.

The way I hunt today is so different than 5 years ago as it was so different than the 5 years before that.

As has already been mentioned by others, when I get to the point that I don't think I am learning something new and improving in my approach to hunting, that is when I will find something else to do.

RE: who has changed the way.....
 

sounds good. Im open to learn I just haven't met anyone that would help me learn my woods better than me. All this pertains to my woods, if i went to a new place I would need help big time!! I will be hunting new land this year and it will take some time to learn it. Please don't think that Im saying I got the deer figured out, that will never happen but so much. I just have not tried a lot of things different over the years, see, and you should know this too NEW, the dog hunting around here screws everything up all year, these trials and people running in the off season makes bowhunting really hard in this section of the state.

RE: who has changed the way.....
 

I can’t see how anyone could NOT be influenced at least in some way by an outside source/person. You may not even realize it, but unless you’ve never talked or read anything about hunting, you HAVE been influenced by someone else.

RE: who has changed the way.....
 

let me re-phrase.... I have been influenced, but not influenced to change my style of hunting, but come to think of it, I really don't have one!! I go in with the stand on my back and look for sign and set up, sometimes I kill/see sometimes I don't, that's it though, I wish I had a strategy!!!

RE: who has changed the way.....
 

For me, my ex is the reason I got into hunting. And I thank him for that, I have really come to love being in the outdoors and the challenge that hunting brings to the spirit.

RE: who has changed the way.....
 

Va...Find an area where 3 habitats come together...In your area it could be a swamp that borders a cutover and a white oak or a beech ridge...There will be a deer trail there, going to and from the swamp and cutover onto the ridge which will be the feeding area in Sept-late October...If you see acorn tops with a half circle cut out of them, that's where a deer ate the acorn...Squirrels don't cut the top...

RE: who has changed the way.....
 

been there done that, killed many deer this way, but thanks for the heads up!!;)

RE: who has changed the way.....
 

I am pretty much 100% self taught in the deer hunting arena. There were 2 "turning points" though. 1. I read Mapping Trophy Bucks by Brad Herndon. Light bulb came on, and my deer sightings went up tremendously.

2. Buckeye. That guy is an absolute wealth of information,and I've learned a hell of a lot from him.

RE: who has changed the way.....
 

Is it any wonder why I duck hunt during the deer season Landon? :D

You are definately right there.... I see where you are coming from with this thread. The place you and your brother visited with Reb and I is much like the farm you have hunted on for so long.... I learned nearly all of it on my own two feet. Scouting cameras, spending time out there, turkey hunting, pre-scouting, hunting... I understand the place better each time I come back from there.

But of course... all that comes back to what I've learned from my mentors as a young man, and a lot of T&E.