hunted every weekend and not a thaaaang

Cat_Lady

Guest
I started bowhunting about 2 yrs ago, albeit not consistently. I went out maybe 2 times each year (I moved a lot and had a hard time finding land), so of course I never killed anything. However, my first year in Charlotte I spent every weekend of deer season in Uwharrie. I would go out 2 days in a row and spend hours in a stand or a blind. I switched spots maybe 3x since I never even saw so much as a raccoon. What gives? Am I crazy or has this happened to other people? I am leasing land for 2017 with higher hopes. Maybe I am doing something wrong?


Oh I hunted with my boyfriend who's been hunting for years, and of course the one day I was too sick to go he actually killed a buck in MY spot, on his FIRST year ever bowhunting :rolleyes:

I don't want to get discouraged. I am going coyote hunting and turkey hunting for the first time this yr and hoping its going to be a bit better.
 
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Boojum

Ten Pointer
You need to hunt where the deer are at, and probably not hunt the same spot all the time. :) Getting the feel of it takes awhile, even on private land. You learn with time-scouting for stand locations, hunting the wind, approaching your spot without spooking the deer, staying still, learning to get around the other hunters, keeping your confidence up. In the end, even with experience, deer hunting isn't easy. If it was, they would call it deer killing. :D
 
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bowhuntingrook

Old Mossy Horns
Are you doing the above^^^^. I enjoy the scouting and finding and prepping spots just as fun as the hunting. Makes it that much more rewarding.
 

Deerherder

Ten Pointer
So, let's go back to the basics. I "hunt" January-August and "kill" from September to December. My newest weapon weighs 33 lbs and stands 18" tall! What I'm saying is spend some time scouting during the off season to find several spots, don't just have one go to area. I started taking my dog into the woods before the season to help me identify where the trails are in the woods that the deer are using. She shows me where they are, & then I look for bottlenecks or transition zones around feeding areas to set up on. The other thing to think about is that not all of the woods is created equally when it comes to deer. Think about the limiting resource & set up near it. For example, in a drought, find the water hole. In the early season, find the blackberry & grapevines. Go out right now and see where any "green" plants or acorns are, the deer will be concentrated in those places after the first frost. Go on YouTube and look at Grant Woods' Growing Deer TV channel to learn more about their behavior & biology. I did the same thing you did the first year I started hunting again a few years ago, & those are the things I did. Keep working & trying, you'll get it. I know I learn something new every year even though I hunt the same land year after year. In fact, I'm going to move a stand I put up this season because I set it too close to a trail and keeping bumping deer on my way to it. If I move it 40 yards, I won't have that problem anymore, so it's never perfect.
 

TravisLH

Old Mossy Horns
I generally wont hunt the same spot again until its had more than a week to cool off, and wont hunt any spot if the winds wrong. Since i stopped hunting the same few "hot stands" and started watching the wind Ive gone from seeing 3 or 4 deer a season to seeing that many most sits.
Best advice I can give us hunt funnels and the wind. We all have things we think makes em move and for me outside of the rut it's temp, moon, and barometric pressure. When you get 2 outa 3 the first or last hour of light be in the woods!!! Temp is obviously the colder the better, moon is optimum when overhead or underfoot, and BP is either a .2 or more rise or fall over 5 hours. I know there are as many guys that think moon position is crap as there are believers but i have only seen mature deer from 10-3 within 2 days of a full or new moon so there has to be something to it.


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DRS

Old Mossy Horns
I don't see many raccoons either, at least not while deer hunting and during daylight hours.:D


Scouting definitely helps. Move around and hunt different spots you have scouted. I myself and I'm willing to bet others here as well hunted deer for quite a while before we had success. Once you figure it out it will seem a lot simpler. When I start hunting new places it has taken a year or two to learn how the deer use the property. Trail cameras can help, but I prefer to hunt without using them. Not because of what you can learn from them, but I had problems not hunting areas I knew were good when I would not get pics of deer I wanted to hunt. Hint: cameras can't catch what don't walk in front of it, along with some that do. If we ever quit learning while we hunt, we are messing up.

Just this year my honey hole was a bust only seen three deer I could have shot. I stay out of the of this area and did not have time to regroup and the area will likely be clear cut before next season, so if I'm lucky enough to be able to hunt this land another year, there will be another learning curve. Although, I have learned that topography has a lot to with how deer use a piece of property, being I have seen deer use the same travel corridors before and after logging.

Also, know your food sources and what is used by the deer throughout the season, changing as the seasons change.
 
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TravisLH

Old Mossy Horns
myself and I'm willing to bet others here as well hunted deer for quite a while before we had success. Once you figure it out it will seem a lot simpler .
I think it was around 20 years before i got my first mature buck, where i grew up hunting it wasnt abnormal to see 1 buck every 3 or 4 years and he usually wasnt legal



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