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Not hunting as much?

Rutin

Rutin

Senior Member
2,029
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Ina Duck Blind
Over the past few years my life has been a rollercoaster but taught me A LOT! With the birth of my son that cut my time afield by a lot & with my divorce it cut it even more. I'm very thankful for what I still have in life though and with my young mindset I struggled with not being in the stand as much as I was used TOO. Running trail cameras all year (when they weren't stolen :smiley_blackeye:) taught me even more! The more I stayed off these properties the more the deer showed up (no brainer right?!?) Well after 3 seasons of hunting this way I have come to the conclusion that being less invasive on a property has truly increased my chances at a target buck over the years. Last year my main farm had 3 shooters all year after Oct 26th and I only hunted it half a dozen times before killing one of my targets. I'm starting to believe that running the cameras and staying off the farm until the deer I want start showing up is working due to scent and pressure else where, leaving them no where to go but the farm I hunt which I give little pressure too.

Does anyone else use the philosophy of staying out until the time is right? Moon, weather, time of year, ect....

This doesn't necessarily apply to Nov. rut hunting in corridors but more geared towards early season and late season when deer seem to be patternable.
 
I probably won't have a serious bow hunt until the middle of October.

I'm just not a fan of shooting them while it's hot.

This cool weather is enticing and I may sit for a few hours on Saturday depending on the weather then, but I'm not planning on hitting it hard until the end of October / Nov. Hardly getting to hunt for 4 years had that effect on me. Selective weekened warrior...
 
Depends on each property. There are certain stands I certainly won't hunt often. Sometimes not all year. Other years maybe once or twice. I have one property with 4 stands on the eastern side. 3 of them I can access with 20yds or less intrusion onto the property. With a west wind I can get in and out and observe a lot without them having much clue. Other properties I hunt I cannot get in or out of easily. One hunt and they are scratching their heads and wondering what is going on. Really depends on the property. Overall though, I would agree with you. Less is often times more when it comes to whitetail hunting.
 
I have that exact philosophy for the few private areas I hunt. In fact, the stand that I killed my buck in last year was only hunted two times all season. The first time I hunted for 2 hours and killed my buck, the second time my buddy hunted for 2 hours and missed a big buck. Granted, a lot of luck was involved in that, but I def. try to wait for the right time to hunt my prime areas. I love guys that don't though, especially neighbors!!! On public land, its hunt whenever you can, logic doesn't apply when there are 100 other people walking around your spot anyways, its pure luck and woodsmanship.
 
You and I are going through similar rides Zach (minus the divorce) so I can sympathize there. I just had this talk with my buddy this weekend while we were squirrel hunting and it was a good little introspective talk for me...

When dad bought the farm back in 2005, I had just graduated college and was coming off my first mature buck harvest. I had it in my mind that I was going to be the Drury Brothers of SE Ohio. The next summer I took a new job paying a lot more money and with no real responsibilities, I dumped a ton of $ in having stands all over the damn place. I spent the next 6 years, I hunted that farm like gangbusters. When I wasn't there, I had people in from out of town. I had a blast having my buddies in from out of town, but I was killing myself trying to kill a mature buck and it was taking a toll on me. Then one day I got some harsh, but oh so true advice from someone on another forum. He simply said: "You'll never kill a mature buck on that farm as long as you AND your buddies are fucking around out there." I was incensed. And then it kind of sank in. About the same time those words really started to sink in, I found waterfowl hunting. It injected a new love for the outdoors in me that I desperately needed. That helped a little, but I was still struggling with the burning desire to prove myself to me, and yes to you all, that I was a good bow hunter and to do that I needed to kill something legit. Then came the 2012 season with a wife who was 8 months pregnant going in to November and as she was opening up gifts at the baby shower, I connected on the slump buster of all slump busters for me! Killing that buck last year combined with my love to chase birds and a beautiful baby girl, have profoundly changed me as a bow hunter. I say all that to say this. Life is about growing and maturing. You, me, Greg and a handful of other guys, we're all leaving one stage of our lives and are moving on to another. Because being a hunter often defines men like us, a change in us as men warrants a change in us as hunters.

Gern told me last year that he didn't find his grove for killing big bucks until he had kids and I believe him now. We started our low impact approach on the farm last season and it nearly produced on 3 occasions. This year, we have put next to now impact on that farm. All my cams are confined to the center of the farm around food sources where I can drive right to them. I plan to hunt there once on opening weekend, then not again until November. I may not even step foot on there in October. For me, October is now about duck hunting. I'll bow hunt in November, gun hunt a day or two, and spend December/January chasing birds. If I bow hunt in October, I'll do it here and there just hoping around to different places I have in my hip pocket. No pressure, no expectations, just doing what I love to do...
 
Best part about duck hunting Jesse... all of Late Oct and Nov is FREE!!!! Not only that when the good duck hunting comes in late in the year, all you have to do is find a solid food source, put a camera over it, wait til Mr. Right shows up and go in for the kill. Early Sept. hunts are A LOT like Late Dec & Jan hunting.... its all about food and bucks are more patternable. It really works out nice and allows you to be a Father first and good in for the kill when its right, rather than hunting all the time and constantly buggering areas up.
 
Time sure seems to be a hard thing to come by these days for me as well. My daughter's softball is literally a year round deal with scrimmages and tourneys well into Fall, winter practices, camps, clinics, etc. and then Spring and Summer is the holy grail for them. This year my son decided to give Fall baseball a try as well so it's been a juggle this year. Just getting the time to get them out to hunt is a challenge and I take that back seat at least until my one full week in November there in Ohio. I try to hit a weekend here and there as well but to keep their interest it's a matter of dropping everything when they want a shot at it. As for moon, wind, etc. that doesn't cross my mind as much as holy crap...we have an evening or a day on a weekend we can actually DO something!! It's my goal this year to get them to Ohio to hunt a couple weekends in November including the youth season. Hopefully I get a good one under my belt the week I am down because if not they they will get first dibbs from there after.
 
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