Who is going to be more mobile and aggressive with their set-ups this year? Do any of you see this as a trend that has increased in your hunting over the years? I won't have much time to hunt this year. I can easily see myself only being able to hunt 10 times from October-Mid November this year. I will try to hunt down deer and kill them each hunt. No observation stands( get lucky stands as I observe deer movement) for me this year, just moving in to kill. I have become more aggressive over the years and it is starting to pay off. How about you?
I won't be changing my aggressiveness when it comes to mobility or time constraints. I already hunt in a mobile fashion (public land can have that effect) and I have few commitments at this point in my life, so I'll be spending every available minute I can hunting this season. I have decided to become more aggressive with deer hunting in general though. I decided to spend all my time this summer specifically getting ready for the upcoming bowhunting season. Any money I've spent on gear has gone solely to bowhunting equipment and all of my scouting and physical preparation has been geared to it as well. Out of the last three seasons I've killed two deer. This season I'm planning on putting as much venison in the freezer as I can. We're allowed five deer up here and I'm hoping to tag out.
I wouldn't say I'm going to be more aggressive, but smarter really. Last season I didn't take one and that was just fine with me, there wasn't one big enough I wanted to shoot. However, I'm going to take what I learned last year, and the information I get this year and go from there. I'm still going to use my stands, but I'm going to use them smarter.
When I say aggressive I am not talking about just walking right through deer and setting up. You can be aggressive and smart at the same time. That being said, there has been times I have been aggressive and stupid.
Nothing will change for me this year....every hunt will be from a kill tree. Some stands have a passive entrance and exit.....other spots have a one and done, aggressive entrance and exits.
Not much change for me other than a few more spots im wanting to try. I also have some public land spots picked out to hunt for the first time!
Same here but will be on the ground unless the couple tree spots pan out this year with the mock scrapes. I hunt very aggressive and push it now. No need to get more aggressive. The only change for me is trying mock scrapes to see if they will get the mature bucks to use the few tree spots I have during daylight hours. I will run more cameras then I ever have to scout these spots once the mock scrapes are in place starting next weekend or so. That way I can still concentrate on my long range scouting in the open areas and let the cameras do the work in the trees. Covering all my bases if you will. Next weekend all my tree stands will also be up in their spots. If the mock scrapes pan out... all's I have to do come hunting season is sneak in, climb a tree and hunt. No disturbance!!! :D Tim
I am going to be going in after a specific buck this year when I hunt home. I am going to o right where I think he hangs out. I know there is a chance I could bump him out of the area, but in the big woods where he is there is a chance that I will never see him anyway. I feel I have nothing to lose.I do plan on waiting til the middle of Oct befoere I get in there, and when the rut gets closer I plan on being more aggressive with calling. As for when I go to kansas, def. going to be more aggressive on the calling but utilize the same stand locations, and make adjustments as needed
I guess you could say I am going to be more agressive this year. I am 100X more knowagable this year than last and mostly impart to you guys on this forum. I know more about my deer than I thought I would ever know just from listening to all of you. So thanks for that guys!! I know where they travel, where they eat, where they bed and where they water now. Last year I only knew from where I had physically seen deer. I had one stand last year that I moved every few weeks. This year I have three so far and in two weeks or so I will have two more maybe three. My stands are more aggressively placed meaning closer to trails, last years scrapes, food sources and watering holes. I have one at a barbed wire fence crossing hoping that they will be distracted by crsoosing the fence. I am willing to move any stand at any given time if I need to get closer to a trail and a climber if I need to get there without moving a hang on or a ladder stand. So I guess my short answer will be yes. I believe this season will be a great season for me and I feel it will only get better. Once again thanks everyone for the help with everything.
I'll bumble around like I have the past two years and get jealous when you get a deer and I don't. Actually, I have learned a great deal the past two seasons and hope to apply it to at least getting one deer down this year. BUT I am gun hunting this year - slug gun is set and ready to be dialed in.
I have somewhere between 35-40 spots set up. I'll never have to hunt the same spot twice if I don't want to. Every one of my spots is an aggressive spot besides the few that are set up for the rut. Every day will be like opening day for me.
Being that I am such a passive person by nature, I hope to get in the woods a couple times this coming season and pray that the Deer Gods send luck my way.
You don't need luck shed....just something worthy enough to make you use a tag and resharpen a broad head. :D God only knows how big that buck will be!!!
I'm in a learning year, new properties and such. I'm gonna climb more this year than I ever have. If that makes me more aggressive in the process, then so be it.
im with you on that one. i am much more knowlegable and have more experience for this up coming year. im ready and more prepared than i was in years past and have put a lot of effort into this year. especially when it comes to food plots and deer managment.
Being more aggressive paid dividends last year on a public land bowhunt when I was awarded with the opportunity to harvest (and I did) a 152" buck at 10:20 AM 15 minutes after the last hunter walked right past me heading out of the woods. He was basically walking the same trail as the hunters heading to a creek/river. I had only decided to hunt that location for 2 reasons: 1. I had just relocated my set-up from the morning for the PM hunt trying to cut-off an even larger buck so I grabbed my climber and walked about 1-1.5 miles to another location for the remainder of the AM as it was Nov 10th. 2. It was nearly 80 degrees and I knew that if bucks were chasing all night they were going to looking for some water. I set-up in a tree that had not 1, not 2, but 3 crossings of the creek/river within 30 yards of the tree. Many of you already in corporate all of your knowledge regarding wind, time of day, deer movement and deer behaviors into your stand selections for the day. By becoming single-minded ("But, I got a deer out of that stand 8 years ago!!") you are really lowering your odds. Of course, there are properties out there where you can hunt the same tree/blind year in and year out and be successful, but NOT where I hunt!!! I would luv to have land like the Drurry boys, but that will have to wait for another lifetime. Yes, after seeing the benefits of being aggresive I will continue to be aggressive. It might be more work having to improvise and/or move stands more often, but I think it can be the equalizer in catching that big boy off guard even if it is just for one minute of the entire hunting season. That minute can be the difference between eating that tag or affixing to the deer you just harvested with your archery equipment.
Controlled aggression ... I observe and when the time is right, I pounce. "Hunt like you are the hunted" can sum up my strategy.
I'm going to be more aggressive but less intrusive this year. In years past I've hunted a lot in the early season, mostly because I love to hunt, but this year I'm going to limit my early hunts to just a hand full. I know the properties around mine get a lot of pressure so I'm going to try to make mine a haven.
I don't know if I have to be more aggressive but remain consistant and very confident in my preparation for the season and when the season arrives! I have the same general game plans as last season and may be hunting some public land as well. If I'm granted a certain spot back to hunt I will be in really good shape, only time will tell. Otherwise I'm not letting anything get in my way of another successful season and I'm really excited about hunting Ohio for the first time especially having some private tracts of land already scouted and setup for me. I'll be studying quite a few topo and aerial maps of these farms before I even step on them.
I didn't get to hunt early season last year and as of now September 15 can't come soon enough I've got an 8 on cam right now with some decent growth I knw where he beds and I knw he has been a regular at the monster raxx site. He has been coming in the same way and from what I can tell going out the same way I've never had a " Target buck" so its pretty exciting/ aggressive to me. Only time can tell next cam check is 8 days away!
