In all my years of experience, I have observed that your greatest chance of success of harvesting a nice buck, or even a deer in general, is the very first time you sit in a stand location. Why is that? It is because you haven’t been in there messing your own spot all up by leaving scent everywhere each time you walk in or walk out. You also haven’t been in there alerting all the deer that have passed down wind of you and pegged your location without you even knowing it and afterward avoided your area. Add to this the new people to hunting who go in there with a bag full of calls and scents and the problem gets even worse for alerting deer by calling at deer in the wrong conditions and wrong wind directions.
While these are all obvious points, there are also hunters who own their own land and strictly want to hunt on their own property. The problem with this is that some properties simply can’t be hunting in certain wind directions, yet some people go out there anyway and “hope they get lucky.” Once again, this can be devastating to a spot because you are leaving scent and letting deer wind you and identify your exact hunting location. This can even hold true in some suburban areas where you are literally hunting off your back deck or standing next to your neighbor’s garage. While those deer are certainly used to a lot of human activity, and can quickly return to their normal feeding patterns within a few days of being spooked, they still can begin to adjust their time of day that they travel into that area. The deer sightings on that property may turn nocturnal overnight even though they continue to come to feed at that location.
I have known people that own their own property that get frustrated all season because they insist on hunting their own land yet are not seeing any deer. The deer are there, but they are all nocturnal because of the factors I alluded to above. So what do I recommend you do about this?
The first thing I recommend is DON’T PUT ALL YOUR EGGS IN ONE BASKET. What I mean is, don’t just focus on one or two hunting locations for your hunting season. In the summer, before the season even starts, begin talking to friends, neighbors, and people at your church. Let them know you are looking for some backup spots to hunt. Ask them if they know of anyone who has land or a lot of deer in the area or if they allow people to hunt there. You’d be surprised at what kind of properties could begin to pop up to you just by this word of mouth floating around. Just like the old saying goes, “It’s not always what you know. It is who you know.” I’ve known people to get permission to hunt properties in which the land owner wouldn’t let anyone hunt that land for years. However, the people I knew who got the permission happened to talk to just the right person who was very close to that individual. As such, the owner couldn’t turn down that close of a friend… (I’ll write a separate Blog on asking permission to hunt someone’s property.)
Aside from that there is hunting public land. It really doesn’t matter what state you live in, there are thousands of acres of public hunting land and state forests in your state if you live in the United States. Get out there and scout it. Pick out your favorite spots and keep them as backup options for the days when the wind just doesn’t work for your other spots. In that way, you are more able to save your favorite spots for the perfect weather conditions.
I personally like to have as many hunting spots as I have days I plan to hunt that year. That way I am constantly bumping around to fresh stands where the deer haven’t been all spooked up or alerted to my presence.
Lastly, if you are reading this during hunting season, and you already are behind the game by not having enough backup spots lined up, then start still hunting on rainy days. Walk slowly through new areas and pick out hot spots. By doing this on rainy days you will give your scent a chance to be washed out right away. That way, if you want to hunt that spot in a few days, you have a better chance of it working out. As I said, your best chances of success are often the first time you are in an area to hunt it. Thanks for reading my article. Good luck out there and God bless you.