Hey all, So i have been thinking about how to make this next years hunting season a success. i have been thinking of how i am going to priori tie my tasks. What i mean by this is what is more important have on lock. i have come up with a prioritization based on my experience (1 season) and my hunting situation(public land/semi private). I have only one full season of experience and that was in 2012. I ate a deer tag that season due to a new relationship and just lack of experience and know how. I also am hunting public/semi private land. what i mean by that is i hunt on my base that i am stationed at which is military exclusive besides around 50 tags that there are a drawing for non military. so lots of soldiers all around this huge base hunting. Ok onto the real subject. Prioritization of tasks. Scouting, Bow, and gear. These are the things that i have been thinking about a lot. I have been thinking how i should be prioritizing and what i should be focusing on the most. I know that all of these tie into each other in some way, shape or form. Here is my take on it...... SCOUTING: For me i feel this is the most important thing for me to do with the land that i hunt. the reason i feel this is the most important is simply, if you do not know where the deer are then you can't kill them. I have really taken this part seriously for this upcoming season because last year i was just throwing up a stand next to a field or near any old trail. I was not taking the time time to pattern the deer or find the perfect entrance and exit routes. Also just in general peeping for the season as far as grooming the infill and exfill routes or trimming my shooting lanes or simply finding a good tree to put a stand in or use my climber. So with all that said. i have already been romping around thinking methodically about every last detail of the woods and setting up a trail cam to start patterning bucks. I know it is late season and the way the deer act now may be totally different next year but for me i think it will be good insight on how the deer are behaving and maybe these patterns will carry over to next late season. I have gone so far as to use google earth and make a scouting plan along with several apps and a hand written journal with all my scouting endeavors. This is just one tool i use and that i have developed for scouting. BOW: Next subject is my bow and everything that is involved with a bow. My self i have a Mission Venture. It is my first bow and will be the only for quite some time. It works and does its job. I feel like this is the second most important thing because if your bow is not tuned and you are not good at shooting your bow, there is no way you can kill a whitetail. Well kill one efficiently. Last season i will admit that i did not take care of my bow very well and that i would just put it in the back seat of my truck every day and along with the extra arrows that were not in the quiver would end up thrown back there too. This caused a lot of accuracy problems and having to zero in my sights a lot. These upcoming weeks i am going to service the hell out of my Bow. get some new strings, sight zeroed in, adjust my peep sight and other stuff so i know my bow is performing well. The next step is for me to go out to practice since i have not been able to because of a recent deployment. I plan to take much better care of my bow so that it can take care of me when it comes down to me coming to full draw this next season. The first day i got my bow. Just the skill of my self and also costing myself some money haha. GEAR: Ok the last subject. The gear. for me i have an assembly of gear that i was piecing together throughout the season. when i talk about gear i mean, climbing stand, hang in stand, clothing and footwear. I started out with just wearing some BDUs and some face paint when i went on a bow hunt with my buddy(just as an observer). But after that bow hunt i was hooked. Maybe a story about it on another thread. Of course now i have the proper scent eliminating gear and all the other facets that go with it now. But the reason i feel it comes in third is if you can't blend in to the woods visually or eliminate your odor and noise the deer are not going to come near you or they will spook easily when they get close. No matter how good of a set up you have. I also have some skepticism about buying the most crazy new expensive scent eliminating or absorbing clothing. i treat and use the clothing properly but i still think playing the wind is the most secure way because thats what our ancestors did. Also i feel like it all starts with using all of your scent eliminating soaps, detergents, and sprays and that is the stuff that takes care of your oder at the source and the clothing is only meant to keep in the stink that you accumulate from perspiration or oils etc excreted from your body when you are moving to the stand. But beyond scent elimination the most important aspect of the gear area would have to be the stands. Of course the first priority with stand is safety. where safety straps and then making sure your star is properly and safely working and then making sure the tree is structurally sound to hold a 190 lbs man or more if you have a camera man sitting above you. With all that you are worried about how easy it is to set up and how light it is to carry into the thicket. I have the beginner brands and wish i had invested in some better quality gear but i got what worked and i could afford. It works safely and that is what matters to me. I have been trying to figure out how to make my stands more silent though. That seems to be the main problem with mine. The hang on stand creeks when i stand up if it is really cold and my climber makes a big racket when going through the bush no matter how tight i secure it so it does not rattle and then it also creeks when i stand up. Any suggestions? My first bow hunt with my best friend. (the night i got hooked on hunting.) just one of my stands setup in a terrible spot from from 2012 season. I am the goofy one on the left with new Under Armor gear on. haha Alright everybody. I know this is a long one but i just wanted to get some suggestions input or whatever else you all can think of. I am looking to discuss all of it with you guys. Sincerely, Chris.
First off Chris, best of luck to you. After trying many things in the deer woods I try to make it simple these days. Scouting, playing the wind, and being able to put an arrow into a deer at 25 yards and under with my bow are the most important things to me.
Scouting far and away. Don't neglect shooting but there is a definite cut off on your improvement vs time spent practicing. You can only become so good at shooting a bow. You will NEVER know enough about the animal you chase, the land it lives on, and the movement patterns they make. Basically for every hour spent preparing, whether its spent buying/researching gear, shooting your bow, or scouting... Scouting will always give you the biggest improvement on success rates when it comes to hunting.
Scouting is absolutely the number one thing. While scouting, take into consideration what the dominant wind direction will be when determining where to place stands, etc - Don't just go off of the sign you see/best tree in the area... Actually think about things more in depth (I learned this the hard way this last year). It doesn't take a new bow or the latest and greatest gear to kill a deer. Play your wind and you will do fine.
From a soldier to a soldier, thanks for your service. And now onto the fun stuff. Scouting scouting scouting. Know that spot like the back of your hand. Every little nook and cranny that the others might not venture into or notice. Pay attention to the wind and hunting pressure. Most of all enjoy the process. Shooting your bow with your friends and battle buddies or just sitting and enjoying the sunset without any deer will make for some great memories too.
First off thank you for all the wishes of luck for next season. TEmbry makes a very good point about the behavior etc of deer. You never can truly pattern them down to the last detail. But I am glad that you agree with scouting would give me a big improvement. MnHunterr. All those things you mention about winds and best tree etc I have been doing that and it makes scouting so much more enjoyable. I neglected to do that in my first season and I ate a tag sandwich! Scentloksoldier I thank you for your service also! Where are you stationed out of? Thanks for all the tips on finding the best part in the woods and patterning other hunters essentially Haha. I enjoy the whole experience every day. Its gods blessing that we get to experience nature like we do. Thanks for the replies! Really refreshed some things and some new things that I should be doing.
Gear is last priority out of those three but not a low priority if that makes sense...and shocker but bow is part of gear to me. Scouting and habitat work on properties where it can be done are of the upmost importance. I can have a $2000 rig, standing on a $600 stand/stick set up, with over $1000 in garments on and all the new fangled calls, release and broadheads imaginable and NONE OF IT MATTERS if there are deer where I put myself. I am not a rich man though so perhaps I by default don't put as much emphasis on equipment because I sadly never was able to afford the "good" stuff. However as I have matured and gotten older and more zoned in on a select few hobbies I have started spending more and more but I still refuse to pay insane amounts of money for a name or logo when I can get 2 or 3 serviceable items that will do just fine. I don't shoot a insanely high priced bow (Mission Venture) and that was driven by two factors; 1-didn't want to spend a ton of money (for me that was $700+) on a bow...so I got a ready to shoot set up brand new Mission for just over $500 if I remember right. 2-I didn't feel like I was any less deadly for not getting the brand new Hoyt, Mathews or Bowtech... I knew I would practice, I knew I would get comfortable with it so I didn't see the need for anything more. Now over the last couple years I've updated my release, sight, stabilizer and rest from the RTS package but the bow is still as sweet as ever....and I didn't "waste" in my opinion a bunch of money I could spend elsewhere. I also hunt a lot of early season style set ups where slipping in and out quickly are huge....while LW style hang ons are the best the industry has to offer I do not like having to hang sticks or even a stand when I go in. Some of my small acre set ups require next to no disturbance when slipping in and anything besides climbing the stand and getting set just isn't happening....so cheaper hang on stands I am okay with leaving out and set are the better avenue for this approach I use...again why gear/bow isn't a priority of mine. I rambled way too much, but a feel some explanation why the down play on gear and bow from my perspective. I would never say anyone is wrong for disagreeing as so many different opinions and approaches to hunting are neither right or wrong...however I do feel too much emphasis on one can greatly decrease your effectiveness on another in turn lowering your hunting effectiveness.
Out of those three, my order is scouting, gear and bow. Scouting, is the obvious first choice, as you explained, if you don't know where they are, you can't kill them. Scouting will also help you learn the lay of the land. My plans for scouting this year include using Google Earth and getting into the field. I put gear second based on the type of hunting I do, spot and stalk. My biggest lesson that I learned from last season is there is a LOT of hiking involved, especially if I get the early archery season (August 9 - September 9). I didn't have a decent backpack for the gear that I was carrying (bow, binos, spotting scope, etc.) That seriously hampered where I could go, as far as wooded areas, tight quarters, etc. I have since fixed that issue with a new backpack, one that will allow me to carry all my gear in a way that is comfortable and tight to my body. I put the bow as number three, because that's the last major thing in the process. I don't think it any less important as the others, but in the way I ordered it (finding deer, getting there, and harvesting) the bow comes last. I still practice on a regular basis and as it gets warmer/lighter, I will practice more.
tynimiller: we have the same bow! pretty crazy. its an excellent bow for our money and once tuned it is awesome! I think we have the same kind of thinking and we know what works and we make it work for us. as for the stands i definitely agree i don't have a light weight set up so i just leave it in a place and if necessary i move it but i am thinking of moving the stand for my honey hole and then either getting a light weigh or just using my climber if i can going to be hoping spots or trees. as for the rambling don't worry i do the same thing all the time. wreckless448: i definitely see your point of how you may need to place priority on other things. i guess it just depends on your "hunting situation" and it reminds me to that we as hunters need to be flexible and versatile when we hunt around the world. and i think that everyone who bow hunts will consistently practices with there bow before during and after the season. so its one of those things that is always important. and i agree with tynimiller that bow is a part of the gear part. cause it is essentially "gear". Let us not forget that all three are a culmination of each other and with all of them properly used we get great results.
