Being a mobile hunter....
10-29-2008, 05:34 PM
#1
Dominant Buck
Thread Starter
Join Date: Oct 2005
Location:
Posts: 21,043
Being a mobile hunter....
It has its' benefits. It also has its' pitfalls.
I've been trying to get on a buck (or a few of them) for a while, now....and I seem to get closer and closer to where they are bedding. PITFALL. You wait 'til it's almost dark (no shooting light)....then you have to make a call. Do I rush it out of here....hoping I'm still in front of him? Or....Do I wait and see if he passes .....and not take the chance of spooking him?
What do you guys do? It also applies in reverse for AM hunts. If you're trying to hug a bedding area.....do you go in there earlier? What if you get pinned down? Gonna sit there all day?
Tonight I rushed out....and hoped he went the other way....or I beat him out of there. Last night....long wait....waiting for him to clear the area.
All in all, though....I wouldn't trade it for sitting in one spot for anything. I think my days of passive bowhunting are behind me. I know they are. Even LOSING at this game is more fun than that.
I've been trying to get on a buck (or a few of them) for a while, now....and I seem to get closer and closer to where they are bedding. PITFALL. You wait 'til it's almost dark (no shooting light)....then you have to make a call. Do I rush it out of here....hoping I'm still in front of him? Or....Do I wait and see if he passes .....and not take the chance of spooking him?
What do you guys do? It also applies in reverse for AM hunts. If you're trying to hug a bedding area.....do you go in there earlier? What if you get pinned down? Gonna sit there all day?
Tonight I rushed out....and hoped he went the other way....or I beat him out of there. Last night....long wait....waiting for him to clear the area.
All in all, though....I wouldn't trade it for sitting in one spot for anything. I think my days of passive bowhunting are behind me. I know they are. Even LOSING at this game is more fun than that.
10-29-2008, 05:41 PM
#2
Nontypical Buck
Join Date: May 2006
Location: Castile N.Y.
Posts: 2,090
RE: Being a mobile hunter....
Im the exact same way, i love being able to move around, gives me more options.
When I hunt the mornings I usually go to a perminant stand, but in the afternoon im always on the move. Tonight, for example, there way about 5 minutes of shooting light left, but no sign of deer in the area, so I just got out of there while I could. I might not get a shot, but at the same time I wont spook him either. Im this way because I get a lot of time to hunt, if my time were limited, id stick it out till dark:30.
When I hunt the mornings I usually go to a perminant stand, but in the afternoon im always on the move. Tonight, for example, there way about 5 minutes of shooting light left, but no sign of deer in the area, so I just got out of there while I could. I might not get a shot, but at the same time I wont spook him either. Im this way because I get a lot of time to hunt, if my time were limited, id stick it out till dark:30.
10-29-2008, 05:45 PM
#3
Super Moderator
Join Date: Feb 2003
Location: Southeast Central Illinois USA
Posts: 6,969
RE: Being a mobile hunter....
Even LOSING at this game is more fun than that.
ORIGINAL: GMMAT
It has its' benefits. It also has its' pitfalls.
I've been trying to get on a buck (or a few of them) for a while, now....and I seem to get closer and closer to where they are bedding. PITFALL. You wait 'til it's almost dark (no shooting light)....then you have to make a call. Do I rush it out of here....hoping I'm still in front of him? Or....Do I wait and see if he passes .....and not take the chance of spooking him?
What do you guys do? It also applies in reverse for AM hunts. If you're trying to hug a bedding area.....do you go in there earlier? What if you get pinned down? Gonna sit there all day?
Tonight I rushed out....and hoped he went the other way....or I beat him out of there. Last night....long wait....waiting for him to clear the area.
All in all, though....I wouldn't trade it for sitting in one spot for anything. I think my days of passive bowhunting are behind me. I know they are. Even LOSING at this game is more fun than that.
It has its' benefits. It also has its' pitfalls.
I've been trying to get on a buck (or a few of them) for a while, now....and I seem to get closer and closer to where they are bedding. PITFALL. You wait 'til it's almost dark (no shooting light)....then you have to make a call. Do I rush it out of here....hoping I'm still in front of him? Or....Do I wait and see if he passes .....and not take the chance of spooking him?
What do you guys do? It also applies in reverse for AM hunts. If you're trying to hug a bedding area.....do you go in there earlier? What if you get pinned down? Gonna sit there all day?
Tonight I rushed out....and hoped he went the other way....or I beat him out of there. Last night....long wait....waiting for him to clear the area.
All in all, though....I wouldn't trade it for sitting in one spot for anything. I think my days of passive bowhunting are behind me. I know they are. Even LOSING at this game is more fun than that.
10-29-2008, 05:50 PM
#4
Dominant Buck
Thread Starter
Join Date: Oct 2005
Location:
Posts: 21,043
RE: Being a mobile hunter....
Coug....
Believe me
....We had similar experiences this morning....except I was going in @ 5:30. I made it ONE ste into the woodlot. He let me know he was home...and I left.
Believe me
....We had similar experiences this morning....except I was going in @ 5:30. I made it ONE ste into the woodlot. He let me know he was home...and I left.
10-29-2008, 06:05 PM
#6
Dominant Buck
Thread Starter
Join Date: Oct 2005
Location:
Posts: 21,043
RE: Being a mobile hunter....
As I started up the hill, he blew (or....a deer blew where I thought I'd find him this morning). NO WAY he saw me from where he was and where I was. He only heard me.
I turned around and walked 1/2 mi, back to the truck......came home and walked another .7 mi and hunted there.....lol. Lots of walking in the cold morning.....but it beat bumping him. He never left the ridge. I heard him blow from there again as I got up the road. he's OK.
I turned around and walked 1/2 mi, back to the truck......came home and walked another .7 mi and hunted there.....lol. Lots of walking in the cold morning.....but it beat bumping him. He never left the ridge. I heard him blow from there again as I got up the road. he's OK.
10-29-2008, 06:06 PM
#7
Super Moderator
Join Date: Feb 2003
Location: Southeast Central Illinois USA
Posts: 6,969
RE: Being a mobile hunter....
Hope you are luckier than I was a few years ago. I sighted a huge buck twice but could not pinpoint much anything really usefull until one day I found brand new scrapes and knew I put a stand up right there and then. Mind you it was not a bedding area or didn't seem to be any of the resident's deer bedding area. I was there bright and early the next morning, even had my inlaw let me off in the middle of a highway for keeping the wind in my face. I'll be damned if I was only 10 yards from the newly hung stand and that buck was about 50 yards away from the new scrape[:@]. Last I saw of him
10-29-2008, 06:38 PM
#8
Giant Nontypical
Join Date: Nov 2004
Posts: 5,425
RE: Being a mobile hunter....
I don't leave until it's good and dark...During bow season, I may even leave the climber and sneak out without a light...
I have also been pinned down and waited in the tree for up to 2 hours...
It's a chess match and shouldn't be taken tooseriously, it's fun...Of course, I was one of those guys that laughed out loud on the football field when I knocked the snot out somebody...
One other point...Nobody can tell what a rutting buck is going to do, or where he will show up...There are areas that he will frequent, or cruise through...But he doesn't know when he leaves his bed in the evening where he will end up...(Remember how it was when you where hitting bars at a younger age???)...
Thank the Lord these days are here...The next 3-4 weeks are prime time...
I have also been pinned down and waited in the tree for up to 2 hours...
It's a chess match and shouldn't be taken tooseriously, it's fun...Of course, I was one of those guys that laughed out loud on the football field when I knocked the snot out somebody...
One other point...Nobody can tell what a rutting buck is going to do, or where he will show up...There are areas that he will frequent, or cruise through...But he doesn't know when he leaves his bed in the evening where he will end up...(Remember how it was when you where hitting bars at a younger age???)...
Thank the Lord these days are here...The next 3-4 weeks are prime time...
10-29-2008, 07:22 PM
#9
Dominant Buck
Thread Starter
Join Date: Oct 2005
Location:
Posts: 21,043
RE: Being a mobile hunter....
Yeah....I told Duke I wish today was 10/10 instead of 10/29. I finally found something....and now the rut will throw them off their normal patterns.
Not a bad thing.....and something to bank for next year.....if he makes it.
Not a bad thing.....and something to bank for next year.....if he makes it.
