Hunt smarter not harder. What's this mean to you?

[MandRroofing]

Just as the title States .what's this mean to you?Is this something that you keep in mind as you hunt throughout the season? For me that was my goal for this year to hunt smarter not harder. For me what that meant was to always put myself in a position to up my odds, whether that was funnels, pinch points,heavy trails, trail camera picture areas where I've seen good deer. Anywhere to up my odds at least seeing a good buck / deer. Were as before I would sometimes just kinda guess were and there,this year I Did not do that one time,always had a plan.I truly believe this has a roll in my success this year.I've always herd the saying "hunt smarter not harder" , man how true that is. I keep track of all my hunts with a counter on my phone and I got it done in Half the time this year as normal.so what's " hunt smarter and not harder" mean to you?

 

[Gordo]

The more experienced i become the more and more that serms to be the case.

In my earlier days, i used to think if i would just keep sitting in a stand, eventually a nice one would walk by, or any deer for that mstter. 'all these guys killing big bucks just sit there ass in the woods more then anyone else'. lol. Funny lookin back st it now. Talk about burnin stands/areas out before it even got good, me and my old man where kings of that.

This gonna be a great thread. I could go on forever.

Ill start by saying by just sitting in a tree any chance you get, anytime of the year, not paying attention to all other variables, will drastically decrease your chances at consistently seeing deer, especially mature ones.

Hunting smarter sometimes means not hunting at all.

 

[ImpalaSSpeed96]

This has me thinking. I think if I go back to the same piece i've been the last 3 years, which is big, I'm going to spend time on the internet and find a couple pinch points and focus on them. I'm lost as to how to kill deer in big woods otherwise.

 

[finelyshedded]

I've only heard the phrase, "Work smarter, not harder!" I guess it could be the same with hunting though. In a nut shell for me to increase my odds of killing a big buck "every" year would be acquiring prime land that holds big bucks as my first priority!

Then concentrate on the pinch points during the rut hunting them everyday till I'm tagged out.

I like hunting hard(a lot)because I enjoy hunting and getting out in the beautiful wild creation God gave us. What burns me out or makes it appear more of a job or hassle is when we have such low deer numbers you get skunked day after day! Then hunting smarter to me would mean just hunting a lot less....

 

[brock ratcliff]

I do not hunt any more than I have to. Like Ric, I love to watch wildlife and be out there with it. However, if you are spending time in their neighborhood when they are not moving much (early season, unless they are on a food source you can hunt without them knowing it), you are just educating them to your plan. They will just avoid you if they know where you are. I like to pick funnels I can hunt, get into and out of without bumping many deer, and I don't hunt them until I feel like deer are going to be moving on their own. I THINK that is hunting smarter than I used to. Seat time alone is not what kills deer. Quality seat time kills deer.

 

[Hortontoter]

I like to think I hunt smarter, but in reality I know I don't. I'm the guy that burns out the hunting area. I don't mean to, but I can't avoid doing so. Due to my physical impairments I pretty much need to hunt my own property almost exclusively. And I just can't stay out of the woods, even though at times I know I should. I've always thought hunting was an odds game. The more seat time the better my odds of scoring, but not so it seems. Oh well, if I don't kill a big one I'll still enjoy chasing them and letting the little ones walk by unharmed. What more can a guy ask for?

 

[Flatlander]

Like Ric said, pinch points and funnels. I concentrate on them and it greatly increases my odds. I have 2 areas, 200 acres each that are connected by a narrow strip 60 yards wide and it's the only way to get from one area to the other, guess where I like to sit?

 

[bowhunter1023]

This concept took on a new identity for me this year. Having a kid last December was certain to cramp my style. I've spent much more time looking for new properties that hold great pinch points. Learning to hunt smarter also means I stay out of the woods when conditions are unfavorable. Gone are the days of hunting just to hunt. I also consider hunting observations stands as a very smart approach and this is something I've focused more on the past 2-3 seasons. Using long range observation has allowed me to move in once I had quality information to act upon.

Perhaps the biggest change has come as my database of encounters grows. I've started plotting past encounters and observations on aerials and topos so that I could hopefully connect the dots. I truly believe as I continue to build a comprehensive database of information, I'll be able to use that knowledge to hunt smarter. I learned the hard way from 2006-2010 that hunting hard is simply not enough...

 

[yotehunter]

I believe I have hunted my one stand to death the last week or so it has slowed up a lot. I hunted two times with the wrong wind but I couldn't help myself knowing there is two shooters close by and have been in there often. My biggest down fall is patience to hunt the right stand with the right wind. I've used the smoker religiously this year and can say I've only been busted for once by a mature doe, so I do think it helps ,but I always wonder about the deer I don't see . I've stayed out of that stand for a week or so now so we will see what weekend brings.

 

[brock ratcliff]

There are some stands a person can hunt daily, I believe. I have one or two of them. They are few and far between, though.

 

[Gordo]

There are some stands a person can hunt daily, I believe. I have one or two of them. They are few and far between, though.

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