What are some new strategies or techniques you will use this season?

On the flip side to that, I rarely see inexperienced hunters or hunters that just walk into a spot over and over, be consistently successful at getting close to and or killing big deer.

 

This year I am giving up the camera game. I just want to hunt for the surprise anymore. Tired of wanting to go check cards and walking around too much. Cameras do add a level of excitement to the game but I want to get back to just seeing a deer for what it is and not looking to see if it’s the one I’m after. I’ll look forward to the rut and whatever Mother Nature throws my way.

 

I did that a few years ago and couldn't be any happier! I like the element of surprise, and to be honest, if by chance I was only getting 100" bucks on camera, I'd have a harder time getting up at 0230 to get to the woods.

I also used a camera to confirm that the hoof prints I were seeing were in fact buck hoofprints, and to confirm that bucks do exist in the woods I hunt considering the lack of rubs and scrapes there are/were.

 

Fun question for me! I'm going to hunting a lot of public this year, mostly big woods mountain deer. I have to admit i've become somewhat of a Hunting Beast and Dan Infalt junkie as well as other prominant mountain buck specialist.

For me, I'm doing a lot of e-scouting to make best guesses on buck bedding and then trying to make my way in there over the summer months to check it out. So far, out of two dozen spots I "guessed", I've found 8 buck bedding areas and 2 sheds in the vicinity. So my strategy this year is pretty simple, hunt close to these areas in the evenings and hope I guessed right that day and not busted him out of there trying to get in there. So... i'm going to constantly bounce from spot to spot until I either kill something or find sign of a big buck or see one.

Truth be told, its been a long long time since I"ve been this excited about hunting season coming up. I of course am always jazzed about season approaching but this one is different. I've gotten so complacent and comfortable hunting my little private spots and its been boring to be honest. The excitement of the hunt is back with this new found endeavor. Plus, i'll get to share all of this with my two best friends and we are all diving head first into public ground.

 

I look forward to hearing of your adventures.