I think by now most people who are paying attention know that I'm a Bob Sheppard fanboy. I have his "list" of things that are important to hunting success taped to my fridge. Number 1 on that list is "access to quaity whitetail habitat." I think we all know it matters. We all like to point out that, "anybody can kill those farm deer." I've heard the "if I had the money" and, "if i lived in xyz state" excuses. Heck, I've made them myself.
Sheppard is a cardiovascular specialist. He hunts where he wants because he has time and money. Those two things definitely make most things in life easier. Initially, I kinda disregarded his number 1 list item because I thought it was something I couldn't do at 20 with no trust fund. I've kinda changed my view on this over the past several years.
I kinda have been hesitant to write this post because I don't have a whole lotta "tricks" up my sleeve, and I've seen the results of cats and improperly tied bags. But, I have been channeling some negative energy lately because I see a lot of threads about little things like arrow weight, camo types, carabiner shine, etc get a lot of traffic. I figured instead of pooing on those threads it'd be better to give my two cents on what makes the biggest difference on hunting success. I'd rather shoot crappy arrows out of a discount bow while sitting on a bucket in blue jeans, on a prime piece of property, than shoot calculator-built arrows out of a 2021 bow while sitting in my saddle in Sitka gear while hunting poor ground.
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TLDR, good dirt and low human population makes quality whitetail habitat. I've expounded on it because I believe in having a firm grasp of the basic theories of stuff. Knowing WHY something is so has value.
Light pollution maps and aerial photography helps to see a big picture, but there are tools you can use to really narrow it down. Last year, I put together a spreadsheet with information on each county in Alabama. First, I joined the Pope and Young and the Boone and Crockett foundations, along with the Alabama Whitetail Records membership. This allowed me access to the databases containing info on "trophy" bucks. Ceteris paribus, the more trophy bucks a county has, the more interesting it is, even if you're not interested in trophies. If you have big bucks, you most likely have plenty of other deer surrounding them
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That's my spiel. I'm happy to answer questions about how I try and narrow it down, or hear from others how they separate the wheat from the chaff. Remember, Hemingway once said, “I write one page of masterpiece to ninety-nine pages of sh/t. I try to put the sh/t in the wastebasket.” Don't make the mistake of thinking you can use gadgets and gear to kill deer that don't exist. Put the sh/t in the wastebasket, and go find that one page of masterpiece.
@Nutterbuster - was that a post, or a tome?
Very thoughtful ... and thought-provoking. It’s easy to get all caught up in chasing the latest gear - thanks for focusing us on a more fundamental & important discussion.
Early this year was the first time in many years that I’ve explored public lands that are new to me. I just haven’t been seeing mature deer at my usual old places, and I want to increase my odds of taking mature deer without spending my hard-earned money on obtaining hunting rights on private land.
That leaves two (legal) options:
1. Seek private land hunting permission that I don’t have to lease
2. Seek out better public land hunting locations
I studied the maps after this past season and did more public land “boots on the ground” post-season scouting than I’ve ever done before. I eliminated vast areas of potential through scouting, and discovered some promising new locations with lots of deer sign. In the best areas I found, I bumped large deer, but those areas are tough going in security cover that will be very challenging to approach undetected. All part of the learning process to become better at the craft I suppose.
Dr. Sheppard’s work is a new source of information (to me) and your focus on his first priority of “access to quality Whitetail habitat” certainly gives me pause.
When I’ve read John Eberhart’s body of work, he’s emphasized that he doesn’t pay for access on private land but he does tell us that he puts in a lot of time seeking permission to hunt on private land, and that he loses permission on parcels every year (typically after he takes a trophy buck on the property and the landowners revoke his privileges to reserve the property for family hunts or private lease).
The point is, he does a lot of work replacing permission lost on old parcels with permission to hunt new ones. He even tells us his tactics for seeking permission to hunt private land from landowners he doesn’t know.
So ... how much time have I put in to obtain permission to hunt private land since I’ve started focusing on finding new places? Exactly ZERO. My focus has been public land because it saves the time and effort of knocking on strangers doors as well as the rejection I will face from the majority of landowners who don’t know me. Is that focus on public land hampering my success finding mature deer?
I see big bucks taken locally almost every year, but I don’t see them when & where I hunt. Is that because I’m not that good of a hunter, or because I’m only hunting pressured areas accessible to everyone else?
Am I sub-optimizing the use of my time & resources?
For all the TIME I put in: researching, buying, and trying hunting gear; For all the time I spend doing boots on the ground investigation of public land accessible to everyone else; Might I be better served spending that time obtaining free hunting rights on private land parcels in my area? Places that produce and shelter big bucks from the majority of other hunters in my area?
Would the MONEY I spend each year on the latest gear serve me better if I spent it on obtaining private hunting leases (or making hunting trips to prime big-buck states) instead?
Your OP was a pleasure to read. This is a paradigm-shifting thread. Thank you, Nutterbuster.
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