Well not the best opening day ever, but definately not the worst. I decided to hunt the 8 acre parcel behind my house that I have permission to hunt and have been seeing quite a few bucks on. I got shut out on sightings this morning though. I chose the "less aggressive" stand location out of the 3 that I have set up. That turned out to be a bad idea, because I had zero action. After that sit, I decided I would go sit a stand that I've never hunted and just hung this summer. Right at 7:30, I saw two deer come out of the thicket and I made the mistake of just locking on those two. After grabbing my bow, I was frantically ranging them before they got out of my shooting lanes. They were moving fast and I only had a couple minutes of shooting light. I ranged them and out of the corner of my eye I saw another deer bolt a few yards, blew once, and then the woods exploded with all the deer going every which way. I just put my head down knowing I had just made a rookie mistake, LOL. I knew better but they had snuck in on me, they were moving fast, and I was fighting darkness. I just got way too rushed. I saw 6 deer for sure, 2 bucks, but neither of those were the big 8. I'm just completely amazed at how quiet these animals can be, they just appear out of nowhere sometimes. Anyway, here's my delimma. Do I return to the 8 acres and try to hunt those deer again in the morning? Or do I let it rest and go hunt the property I killed my best buck to date, last year? The stand I saw the deer out of tonight is on the edge of some SUPER thick cover that can double as a bedding area for these deer but they don't always bed there. Going into that stand in the morning is risky, but could pay off. So what do I do? Return to the stand I hunted tonight or hunt another stand in the same woodlot further away from the thicket or do I just hunt another property that I haven't stepped foot on since hunting season last year? __________________________________________________ UGG boots uggs
Fred, I don't know what stage the rut is in where you are hunting, but I would tend to err on the side of an aggressive set-up right now. I would move in and hunt the best spot you have ONLY if you have the correct winds. Now, if the rut is still going strong and that 8 acres you are hunting holds does, I say hunt it hard in the morning until around noon to see if any bucks come in scent checking. If the place is dead, then pick up and move your stand location to either a different part of that 8 acres or to your other property.
