What part of your "game" do you feel you need to work on the most to increase your efficiency in the whitetail woods? Read efficiency as the ratio of time spent in pursuit of whitetail to successful whitetail harvest. Be specific on what sort of whitetail you are speaking of in relation to the question as well. (ex. any deer, does, bucks, mature bucks etc)
I just have to figure out how to make my season year long or make more money so I can travel to other states to hunt :0
Besides last year Mature buck numbers are usually very low where I hunt. In knowing that I have to be as efficient as possible when locating and hunting a certain bucks bedding area. I've gotten pretty good I think over the last 4 years doing this but I believe I gotta be a bit more aggressive and act on It right away Instead of thinking about It for a few days after I think I've figured out where a particular buck Is bedding. I no longer hunt where I think I'm going to see mature "bucks". I'm hunting where I think one particular buck Is bedding or traveling.
This. For me, not to be scared to move on in, on a mature buck. When its time to hunt the deer I'm after, I need to go in there and do it. I am always so worried about screwing the area up. I feel that this past year bit me in the butt, by not going after him when the time was right.
Finding better entry/exit routes. If the stand does not have a decent entry/exit route don't bother. No matter how good the actual stand location is. The stands I do hunt, find and use the best possible entry/exit locations even if it means walking A LOT more.
usually I was always very mobil in trying different spots on a particular farm, but once you have figured things out and you have an all around hot spot, don't be affraid too hunt that spot more than often. If the entries and exits are good to the stand and it is a natural runway for deer all season, hit it hard. I hunted a particular inside corner this past season, had cams up from springtime through rut and was getting non-stop action. Harvested my biggest whitetail in this spot on oct. 1st, continued too see various buck activity and several shooters. I learned to leave the bottom lands alone because the bucks and does would bed down there. I stayed up top on this inside corner and found my hotspot!
Mine is really simple, I just simply need to figure out what type of buck i am after for that part of the season. I have ended up killing smaller bucks than what I have passed up earlier in the season. Timing is everything for me when it comes to hunting, I hate tagging out early and spending the rest of the season listening to my buddies hunting stories.
Finding consistently used mature buck beds. That will increase my odds of getting a shot at a mature whitetail from a needle in a haystack to maybe a needle in a hay clump.
I hear ya GFY, I hate tag soup, rather have some fried tenderloins. End of the season my requirements get lower...I'll pass up buck after buck in Oct. but when Nov. rolls around I'm ready to kill. I need to figure out what is worth ending my season early with.
I've been getting on them so the scouting and being agressive has been working well for me. Looking back... the two things that have cost me success was being too picky and botching the shot. I've passed some really good mature bucks hunting the biggest bucks ( rackwise ). I won't lie... I hunt strictly for the rack. I want to kill a 150 or better. I shot does for the meat and will eat my buck tag before shooting something less. I've passed a lot of 130's and a couple 140's over the last 10 years and could have filled my tag every year. I just don't see that changing though. Botching the shot killed me two years in a row in the last 3 years. I missed judged the yards on a buck I was stalking and shot right under him. I've noticed the older I get... the worse I am getting at judging yards. Not so much with anything under 25 yards but after that is getting to be a problem. What looks like 30 yards to me... ends up being 35 - 36 yards. I will range the area if sitting/ambush but using a range finder gets tough to do when stalking. I am going to have to force myself to use the range finder even if it means a greater chance of getting busted. Otherwise drop my shooting distance down to 25 yards when stalking. The second botched shoot was shooting at a buck on high alert. Still not sure if I choked or he dropped. I had ranged the spot when I got there so no error there. The biggest error besides missing was using a decoy which put him on high alert in the first place. If I hadn't had the decoy... he would have walked by under 10 yards without a clue in the world. When he saw the decoy he swung wide and was right at 30 yards when I shot. It was the first year I used a decoy and it will be the last time I use one. I put a lot of time scouting/hunting this buck. That one hurt !!! Bottom line... practice shooting more during hunting season and use the range finder more to eliminate human error. Sucks to finally get a shot at the buck I am hunting and botch it. Tim
Patience!!!! I get alittle to aggresisve at times and you just can't do that when you are playing with mature bucks..
I wish i could hunt more when the conditions are right, not just when I have a day off. Other than that I am fairly content.
I'm working on how to be in the right place at the right time. I am still learning how the deer use my land and their pattern changes through out the year. I do this by walking a lot of miles and with the use of trail cams. So far, I have located 4 different bedding areas by back tracking the deer in the snow. I will also improve the habitat by putting a few small food plots and fertilizing and pruning some oak flats to improve acorn production.
Excellent answer. Could be one of the biggest reasons guys can't be as sucessful and selective as they'd like....Responsibilities get in the way.:D
Kinda like Shultzy said. I'm gonna get more aggresive this season. I am pretty sure I know where the bucks bed and know where they like to feed. I was always one step behind them last season. On the wrong trail or the wrong side of the food plot. This year I'm hanging some stands right in the bedding area and hoping to catch them their instead of trying to pick the right trail. They simply have too many choices when its time to travel. They rarely do the same thing twice in my woods.
I'd like more time scouting as well as more time in the woods. Only being able to hunt on weekends has its drawbacks as it seems like everyone is in the woods. Mid-week hunts would be better after the deer have a chance to settle down. The land and the times I can hunt it are limited. Since I'm mostly self-taught I try to use what I've read and translate it into what is actually going on in the woods I hunt. Sometimes I'm right in deciphering the sign I see, alot of times I'm wrong. Stand placement being one of the big things that affects my hunting success. I shoot all year round but need to set up a stand that I can shoot out of during the off season. I live in a residential area (shooting is not illegal yet) but I currently don't have a tree to put a decent stand to practice from. But in the plus column, I learn everytime I go out. And I enjoy the solitude even if I don't fill a tag.
Being able to locate food sources better would help in my efficiency where I hunt. where I live and hunt the food sources are hard for me to find, and I would imagine they change fairly often as well.
To kill bigger deer more consistently.......I could do a few things: 1. Move. 2. Hunt more with my ML or rifle. 3. Hunt with a compound bow. In that order.
