Successful Hunters How Do You Do It?

[Scott E]

Before I start when I say successful I mean taking game on a regular bases. I enjoy my time outdoors but eating tag soup year after year is getting old soooo...
How do you guys manage to consistentley take game?
How do you choose your tree stand locations?
What kind of sign do you set up on?
Theres a milliom more question I could ask but we'll go from here.-Scott  

[md126]

without question the most important things are persistance and attention to detail!!
   
 as far as stand locations and sign... i try to set up in funnels whenever possible and/or multiple trail intersections. i don't really hunt over sign but use it to tell me there are deer and good bucks in the area

[Scott E]

How do you know deer are walking past your stand during shooting hours?-Scott

[dino]

The biggest change that I have made over the past years is hunting multiple properties.  In the past I was spending too much time in one area and I think it burns it out when I am there too much.  When I aquired some different properties to hunt on I could hunt the different areas based on weather, wind, and other condition versus "this is the only place I have to go".  That one thing has really increased my success rate.

Minimizing presence is big for me.

Secondly, like md126, funnels, interesections and travel routes have always been good to me.  Sometimes I sit at a distant vantage point for a couple of days to study deer movement and move my stand according to what I see.  dino

[Weekend Warrior]

Scout your area.
Find their food source.
Whitetails Favorite food White Oak Acorns

Lots of patience

Lots of hours in stand or ground...

USE Scent control.

Some good luck helps also..

[Shawn Leonard]

Scott, the biggest mistake guys make is not hunting the right wind. If yoy have an idea where the deer are feeding in the evening set up a hundred yards or so from threi food source and make sure the wind is good. Funnels are great but ya need to know which way deer are traveling so you can hunt the wind. deer can pick you off at hundreds of yards if the wind is not in your favor. Shawn

[Deadbolt]

Hunting new property first thing i do is get a topo map and mark where they will be.  Locate water, hardwoods, fields, funnels, gullys, etc etc.  Remember deer are lazy they will always take the easiest route to minimize energy loss.  Now once you familiarize yourself with the area via map get in the woods and look around if there are streams or rivers walk along em find where they cross or find the travel patterns.  If your hunting big heavy hardwoods and there is a small steam running in there they will follow it so they dont have to fight the brush.

Plus the water/mud makes for easy sighting of tracks and what not.  Easy to pickup where they cross.

Where fields meet hardwoods find both parts where the hardwoods taper out to the thinnest spot b/c the deer will travel out of their way if it means staying in the woods that extra 100 yards or more till dark but the woods will help funnel em in close to ya.

Also where the field funnels in narerow the deer will expose them in those areas first before they get out into the vast openenn.

TIME IN THE WOODS!  You wont learn their patterns unless you are there to watch em.  Dont be afraid to move mid season.  This year we moved to a different part of my state and I had to find new hunting grounds.  With only 2 days to scout I got my map found some nice little openings in hardwoods and then went a foot to hang stands.  My stand was hung with zero hours in the woods but yet I've managed to take 2 deer out of it.  Find the food/water and find the bedding try to setup somewhere in between.

Majn I could go on for hours of little tips...and I learn somethign new every day i hunt every day i talk to a hunter.  There are a ton of little tricks but follow the basics and you will do fine!

Deer are lazy and will take the path of least resistance and they must always eat!  The have a 4 chamber stomach they can't afford not to eat so they will always move.

[Barry Wensel]

Scott: You need to become a "student of the whitetail." You'll find there's not any one big secret other than dedication. I genuinely enjoy sharing knowledge but have a hard time finding the time to share it. That was one of the reasons I started my whitetail bootcamps (www.brothersofthebow.com). Just tonight I had a guy call from Ohio who attended my bootcamp in March of 2004. He said prior to attending he used to average seeing 8 or 9 bucks per season. This year he said he saw 56 bucks while hunting. He called tonight just wanting to thank me. I really appreciate calls like that. I obviously get a lot of self satisfaction by helping others. But I must stress, I might be able to  teach you, but then you have to go out and apply what you learn. Scouting/studying whitetails leads to understanding; understanding gives confidence; confidence gives you patience and patience equals success. Read up on whitetails, hang around with other successful hunters then get out there and do it. Have fun.  bw

[Scott E]

Do deer ever disappear on you? This year I thought I had everything perfect the deer would come to this apple tree at the same time every day. I set up my tail cam and a pop up blind weeks before the season opened. I have several pictures of bucks and allot of does. But on sept 15 the deer were no where to be seen and the apples were still there. Was it me? or do deer just do that sometimes? thanks for all the replies-Scott
Mr.Wensel your boot camp might be the thing to turn my luck around I'll talk to my dad about it.

[Deadbolt]

sometimes deer just stop...or they come back.  They hit spots for a while then leave em alone.  Where did you put the blind and the camera?  Maybe you fussed with the area to much?  I noticed with cameras these days people want to be there everyday to check them out.  I personally think they spook alot of game b/c people frequent the area to much and the deer know this and will change their patterns.  

I only go in and out of the woods for my camera on rainy days or when i know it will rain that night and follow my same scent precautions as well as slipping in and out quiet and i dont play around while im there.  Just swap memory cards out once before season opener and move on.  Then when I want to check it I'll do it whenever i hunt if I have it up during the season.

[Scott E]

because I live with my mom and hunt at my dads on the weekends I only get in the woods one day a week. So i figured once a week wouldn't be to much pressure right?? Alot of the public land i hunt has sign but a trail deer use often is non existant most of the ones i've found are faint and don't look like theyre used often. Also I dont think the deer actually move that much because for the most part the woods are thick and full of laurel and they can just eat acorns in their beds. do you think thats what they're doin?-scott
deadbolt your the man  

[Larry247]

This year it didn't do any good to hunt the oaks in my neck of the woods so i focused on travel routes, thickets, and funnels. Filled all three of my archery tags.

[Gatekeeper]

Scott

Hang in there.

This is a great time of year to do some aggressive scouting. Snow on the ground will show the heavy traveled routes and when the snow melts the heavily traveled trails will be a mud line since there isn’t any vegetation growing right now.

Shed hunting is a good time to gather information also. But I strongly agree with the other comments too. Watch the wind and change your site if you have to and get out as often as you can throughout the year and study you prey and their habits.

Your game camera is a great tool so keep using it.

Are you hunting public or private land? If you can post a satellite picture of your hunting area do it and see what kind of advice you get from that.

Your day will get here and you will remember it forever.

Good luck.

Tom

[Widowbender]

I once read that mature bucks spend 90% of their time in 10% of their habitat. I don't know if its true or not but it has proven fairly accurate for me through the years. One thing is for sure... you can't kill a deer if their aren't any around. When scouting new ground, I try to look at a topo map first to look for natural funnels, then look for food, cover, water sources. IF you can find deer that are in their natural pattern (meaning that they haven't been heavily pressured) you will be ahead of the game. On public land, this may mean that you will have to get further from the road. When scouting use a compass when picking stand sites so you will know which kind of wind you will need to hunt there. Never hunt an area if the wind is wrong. A deer may see you or hear you and not know what you are or become suspicious, but if it smells you, game over. Its a long learning process, just be patient.

Happy huntin"
David

[Dirty Bill]

Scott you need to scout the area now.Use maps,use your camera,use your legs. If the deer stopped eating apples,you should find what they changed to.

I like pizza,but I get tired of it if I have it more than once a week. If a new food source becomes available,the deer will go to it.

Use your eyes when you are scouting to notice all the SMALL signs they leave. Right now you should be able to find a rub line and follow it to a bedding area.

Go to see Uncle Barry. I would go in a heartbeat if I had the money.

Good luck,but the harder you work,the luckier you'll get. Dirty Bill

[Brian Krebs]

With all species I have hunted: scouting is the key.

[NorthShoreLB]

What did Hill say ? the only trick in being a good hunter is.....HUNT HARD.

[Rico]

Hunt were there are alot of deer nothing improves your odds more than having a lot of game in the area,which can vary from block to block in some locals and day to day.
  Sometimes  even a little hunting pressure is going to push them out of your area especially if they have better less pressured habitat near by not uncommon when hunting relatively small hunting plots here in the east.
  The deer will concintrate on your neighbors that have the better habitat and less pressure.
   How big is your huntig area are you the only one hunting it or do you have invited or uninvited guest when your not there. Do you have food plots planted are they better than your neighbors. These and many more will effect your particular hunting. Don't give up and become too discouraged perhaps its not what you are doing its what others are doing.
  The fellow hunter that  has a large parcel of undisturbed land with lush food plots that gets to hunt everyday is going to have far better hunting than you.
   You have gotten good advice from others here follow threw and eventually you will score and the reward will be proportional to your efforts. Good Luck

[Lechwe]

Originally posted by Shawn Leonard:
Scott, the biggest mistake guys make is not hunting the right wind. If you have an idea where the deer are feeding in the evening set up a hundred yards or so from their food source and make sure the wind is good. Funnels are great but ya need to know which way deer are traveling so you can hunt the wind. deer can pick you off at hundreds of yards if the wind is not in your favor. Shawn

Scott,

This is probably the best advice you have gotten on this. You obviously know you have deer in your area. You have to figure out where they are staying during the day so you know what way they are likely going in the mornings and evenings. Once you have done that pay attention to what Shawn is telling you here. The most important thing to watch in my opinion. I watch way too many guys ignore this and at teh end of teh season they still have their tags.

The only other thing I would suggest is scout and find more food sources. They will change often and without warning. Have a few stand sights set up and use them all. Don't burn out a stand by sitting it everyday. It sounds like you wont based on just hunting weekends. Just before season or right when it starts, instead of just going into a stand maybe you should sit back at a distance and watch to see where the deer are moving. You can hunt one of your stands in that area the next day.

Good luck. Once the first one is down they start to come easier.

[Biggie Hoffman]

Scott, I don't want this to sound like an advertisemnet but Uncle Barry's Bootcamp could really help you chnage the way you look at things. I've seen him time and time again over the last 20 or so years, pick not only the right area but the exact TREE to be in.
We were hunting Iowa one year, 94 I think. I had two stands up on some tremendous rubs and scrapes and hunted them several times without seeing the "big one". I asked Barry to look over my set-up. He walked over the hill and I heard him whistle. I walked over and he said "right there" Long story short, I killed a 157" non typ a few days later and there have been other P&Y bucks taken and mmmmmmissed out of that tree.

If you can take the time this spring to attend his Bootcamp, I'm sure you'll be pleased. He ain't gonna keep doing them forever you know.