I try not to hunt a property more than one day a week unless the hunting is good, I can get a long way between stands, or the pre rut or rut is going. I never hunt the same stand two days a week unless I am waiting on a buck that only comes in every few days. As soon as I see some changes to deer activity I lay off. If I spook deer in or near the stand I move it or don't hunt it for a long time. If I see does track me to my stand, spot me or avoid my stand it is time for a change. If the does start avoiding me early in the season they will not be there when the buck are following them. I try to move stands a little ways each year. I may hunt the same area or run, but I move the stands around to different spots or trees. Deer can and will pattern you. They do remember you from the year. If you never see older deer particularly big old does you need to change things. I always scout land I have hunted for years just to make sure I am on the best spots each year.
I try not to hunt just because I can. I try to pick the best days, winds and times so as not to burn out an area or stands on low percentage hunts. The more I hunt a stand the less I see and lower the chance of a kill on it. I am most likely to make a kill from a stand on the first hunt.
The deer do the same things every year until they are on to you or something someone is doing changes things, and then they change. It could be you or even a neighbor. I have relatives on our main farm that gun hunted. We all did well when they showed up opening day of gun season and stayed out the rest of the time. Then they retired and became real serious deer hunters. They spent a lot of time pre-season "scouting" September until November gun season started, baiting, and building deluxe blinds in the "best spots were all the deer always go". Well the best spots are now worthless for me to spend a minute setting. They have had the worst years hunting ever. The last two years they have hunted with cross bows to get those deer all the bow hunters always get before they can hunt because that is why they don't see more deer or bucks. They have hunted hard all season the last couple years probably 4 or more days a week October through December with maybe one or two deer between them and not with the x-bows. Mean while I have shot deer every year there with a bow and pass up more than I have shot. It has gotten a lot harder. They are in all my old hunting spots now or have cut off traffic to them. They have seen few deer and no bucks this year. I have shot a buck and a doe on the property. I have seen 7 different bucks and passed up chances to shoot several small ones along with 3 or 4 does. I now hunt the bad spots they gave up on the last couple years. They are gone from there and the deer are back. My new method of hunting that property is to figure out where they are hunting and go as far away as possible because I don't want to be around them. Oddly neither do the deer for some reason, and somehow we end up in the same spots.
Topic: Too Much Hunting - Opinion (Read 503 times)
