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Public land help,what would YOU do

D

Dmathews87

Well-Known Member
Joined
Aug 30, 2022
Messages
762
Location
SE Louisiana
I have a trip next week on some public land that ive only been to once and that was 2 years ago (shot a doe). Ill be heading out Sunday morning so i can get there and setup camp with hopefully enough time to scout\hunt that evening. Here's where im curious as to how you guys do it...so lets say i find something good sunday evening and setup on it but it ends not producing by nightfall....do you guys come back to that spot in the morning (like 4:00am and what i would do) and then get down and scout around noon for the evening spot?..or do you wait until day light and scout something else to setup on? I ask because i always hear these guys say they never hunt a spot twice and when you see guys on YT hunting new areas it seems like they dont bother with the ealry morning hunts and just scout through until they find what they like. Just wanna make sure im making the best of my time and not just sitting in a tree for no reason as i tend to do...
 
If you found something Sunday evening, I’d hunt it again Sunday morning before I took off looking for something else.

If you find nothing Sunday evening I’d probably take off at daylight looking for something. Or If there was some great looking terrain feature/edge/funnel I could see on a map I might give it a short blind sit Sunday morning. Some may disagree with this but I’ve had really good luck doing it.
 
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if it was me ?
Sorry if I ramble but ya'll know I love Talking deer and Love to help people try to see the whole picture and think outside of the box.
My info or opinion on what you should do is this and really would depend on a few things,
How much pressure is on the deer,
What's the food sources in the areas.
Where is the most likely area that will be good bedding
I think a lot of guys think that they need to be literally hunting to learn what's going on in an area. yes this helps but how much?
In my opinion not much because it may tell you that the deer are coming through that area or that they aren't.
The real deal is scouting and putting the pieces together to be in the right spot to get that opportunity.
I am a firm believer in bettering your luck, odds, or whatever you want to call it by good old fashioned hard work.
Scouting more than hunting will almost definitely do this
When I go in blind into a new area I'm pretty confident I'm going to find what i need to find in order to setup and have encounters.
are my encounters always with bucks? of course not. That's just hunting and the challenges we face.
If I even hunt a spot, I want to be pretty confident and almost know that I will see deer.

Now what I would do is
The first day I arrive I would settle in and setup camp, then if there is time I would scout with gear on my back bow in my hand until I found sign screaming "HUNT HERE!" I would scout until probably a 1/2 hour or so before dark. If I find nothing its back to camp.
There is nothing to really learn just by setting up in a random spot in the woods unless you find something.
If you don't find sign to setup, then you have learned to scratch those areas off the list and now know where not to be.
There are so many days this year that I put a ton of miles of scouting with bow in hand and gear on back but never found a spot to hunt.
people need to realize that's not a failure its a success because you know where the deer are not so keep moving on.
I refuse to just hunt to hunt even with limited time to do so especially in an area I have zero clue about and have zero idea where the deer are nor what they are doing.
You need to find the red hot sign and if you wait to hunt it you will always be a day or two behind.
That sign where I hunt is or can be in several different locations.
Also remember this sign found withing open woods, field edges, and areas that are super easily accessible are probably all seeing nighttime movements. Unless your sitting on a farm or woods type setting comparable with most tv celeb hunters.
A few Examples would be to look at super thick transitions in spots near human access trails, parking lots, or even behind homes, Marsh or swamp islands, fingers ,points, bowls, corners, etc. Any thick edge could be good bedding.
look anywhere like that where it is thick that will give especially bucks wind sight and hearing advantages.
sorry to ramble but not hunting is far from a failure it is a success that is waiting for you in the future.
Mornings are jsut as good as afternoons especially during and right after the rut the colder the better
the only thing is you need to be almost within bedding or super close by.
 
Robert loper said:
if it was me ?
Sorry if I ramble but ya'll know I love Talking deer and Love to help people try to see the whole picture and think outside of the box.
My info or opinion on what you should do is this and really would depend on a few things,
How much pressure is on the deer,
What's the food sources in the areas.
Where is the most likely area that will be good bedding
I think a lot of guys think that they need to be literally hunting to learn what's going on in an area. yes this helps but how much?
In my opinion not much because it may tell you that the deer are coming through that area or that they aren't.
The real deal is scouting and putting the pieces together to be in the right spot to get that opportunity.
I am a firm believer in bettering your luck, odds, or whatever you want to call it by good old fashioned hard work.
Scouting more than hunting will almost definitely do this
When I go in blind into a new area I'm pretty confident I'm going to find what i need to find in order to setup and have encounters.
are my encounters always with bucks? of course not. That's just hunting and the challenges we face.
If I even hunt a spot, I want to be pretty confident and almost know that I will see deer.

Now what I would do is
The first day I arrive I would settle in and setup camp, then if there is time I would scout with gear on my back bow in my hand until I found sign screaming "HUNT HERE!" I would scout until probably a 1/2 hour or so before dark. If I find nothing its back to camp.
There is nothing to really learn just by setting up in a random spot in the woods unless you find something.
If you don't find sign to setup, then you have learned to scratch those areas off the list and now know where not to be.
There are so many days this year that I put a ton of miles of scouting with bow in hand and gear on back but never found a spot to hunt.
people need to realize that's not a failure its a success because you know where the deer are not so keep moving on.
I refuse to just hunt to hunt even with limited time to do so especially in an area I have zero clue about and have zero idea where the deer are nor what they are doing.
You need to find the red hot sign and if you wait to hunt it you will always be a day or two behind.
That sign where I hunt is or can be in several different locations.
Also remember this sign found withing open woods, field edges, and areas that are super easily accessible are probably all seeing nighttime movements. Unless your sitting on a farm or woods type setting comparable with most tv celeb hunters.
A few Examples would be to look at super thick transitions in spots near human access trails, parking lots, or even behind homes, Marsh or swamp islands, fingers ,points, bowls, corners, etc. Any thick edge could be good bedding.
look anywhere like that where it is thick that will give especially bucks wind sight and hearing advantages.
sorry to ramble but not hunting is far from a failure it is a success that is waiting for you in the future.
Mornings are jsut as good as afternoons especially during and right after the rut the colder the better
the only thing is you need to be almost within bedding or super close by.
Click to expand...

Solid advice as usual,you ramble on if you want to lol
 
Dmathews87 said:
I keep hearing @kyler1945 telling me to walk until i find deer in the flesh so yesterday i walked 5.5miles until i thought my legs were gonna fall off....did see a nice buck and a doe so theres that...
Click to expand...

same….

does anyone try to catch up to deer that they’ve bumped? Has it worked? Tried yesterday but only managed to bump them again.
 
I’m a pretty big fan of finding first sets from topo and Arial maps like Google earth. I’ve walked in, in the dark, first time in an area, and killed bucks many many times. Some of em really nice ones. Kind of lucky, kind of a knack. But during the rut, man you almost have to sit until at least 1 pm to really see if it’s a good corridor for travel. Which I’ve successfully done as well. Last season I missed a giant at 12:30 and shot a big buck at 330 out of a spot I picked off of topos and arials. Didn’t see a deer from daylight until 12:30. I was putting up my sticks and saddle in the gray light of the morning so I could see shootable areas. I rarely see big ones at first light
 
pesqimon said:
same….

does anyone try to catch up to deer that they’ve bumped? Has it worked? Tried yesterday but only managed to bump them again.
Click to expand...

the deer i bumped yesterday only heard me at first and only ran just a bit. i froze and let them calm down before crouching and sneaking more towards them. I managed to get decently close and see that doe standing broadside across the lil swamp i was at, he was a little ways behind her...if i had a rifle or crossbow she would have taken an easy dirt nap. they did eventually bust me and run off...
 
Robert loper said:
if it was me ?
Sorry if I ramble but ya'll know I love Talking deer and Love to help people try to see the whole picture and think outside of the box.
My info or opinion on what you should do is this and really would depend on a few things,
How much pressure is on the deer,
What's the food sources in the areas.
Where is the most likely area that will be good bedding
I think a lot of guys think that they need to be literally hunting to learn what's going on in an area. yes this helps but how much?
In my opinion not much because it may tell you that the deer are coming through that area or that they aren't.
The real deal is scouting and putting the pieces together to be in the right spot to get that opportunity.
I am a firm believer in bettering your luck, odds, or whatever you want to call it by good old fashioned hard work.
Scouting more than hunting will almost definitely do this
When I go in blind into a new area I'm pretty confident I'm going to find what i need to find in order to setup and have encounters.
are my encounters always with bucks? of course not. That's just hunting and the challenges we face.
If I even hunt a spot, I want to be pretty confident and almost know that I will see deer.

Now what I would do is
The first day I arrive I would settle in and setup camp, then if there is time I would scout with gear on my back bow in my hand until I found sign screaming "HUNT HERE!" I would scout until probably a 1/2 hour or so before dark. If I find nothing its back to camp.
There is nothing to really learn just by setting up in a random spot in the woods unless you find something.
If you don't find sign to setup, then you have learned to scratch those areas off the list and now know where not to be.
There are so many days this year that I put a ton of miles of scouting with bow in hand and gear on back but never found a spot to hunt.
people need to realize that's not a failure its a success because you know where the deer are not so keep moving on.
I refuse to just hunt to hunt even with limited time to do so especially in an area I have zero clue about and have zero idea where the deer are nor what they are doing.
You need to find the red hot sign and if you wait to hunt it you will always be a day or two behind.
That sign where I hunt is or can be in several different locations.
Also remember this sign found withing open woods, field edges, and areas that are super easily accessible are probably all seeing nighttime movements. Unless your sitting on a farm or woods type setting comparable with most tv celeb hunters.
A few Examples would be to look at super thick transitions in spots near human access trails, parking lots, or even behind homes, Marsh or swamp islands, fingers ,points, bowls, corners, etc. Any thick edge could be good bedding.
look anywhere like that where it is thick that will give especially bucks wind sight and hearing advantages.
sorry to ramble but not hunting is far from a failure it is a success that is waiting for you in the future.
Mornings are jsut as good as afternoons especially during and right after the rut the colder the better
the only thing is you need to be almost within bedding or super close by.
Click to expand...
I love how analytical you are. Just setting up random and relying on luck will usually not get it from my experience.anyway. I prefer to spend more time scouting, and trust my gut when you decide to set up. Spend more time planing your set up and actually less time sitting on stand. Once your gut tells you that the serup will work be persistent. It will eventually pay off. At least it has worked for me.
 
Dmathews87 said:
the deer i bumped yesterday only heard me at first and only ran just a bit. i froze and let them calm down before crouching and sneaking more towards them. I managed to get decently close and see that doe standing broadside across the lil swamp i was at, he was a little ways behind her...if i had a rifle or crossbow she would have taken an easy dirt nap. they did eventually bust me and run off...
Click to expand...

sounds a but like my day
 
pesqimon said:
same….

does anyone try to catch up to deer that they’ve bumped? Has it worked? Tried yesterday but only managed to bump them again.
Click to expand...
One trick I heard but never tried is to run like heck when you jump one sort of perpendicular to it so it won't hear you running when it is running and you can start tracking the deer from a different spot than it expects you to come from.
Sounds reasonable enough...
 
Thnks man. I love to make or at least try to get people to understand why deer do what they do.
Especially With how much pressure there is on deer these days.
Combining human pressure and the very limited time that most people have to do anything. I think detail and of course location is so critical. Thats why i just dont see any kind of learning experience in just hunting to hunt.
hunt where the deer are using now not where they were using yesterday
 
Here’s an easy hack:

Sitting in a tree with no strong evidence that deer will be under you is not hunting. That’s sitting in a tree. At best on faith.

Scouting, with an eye out for deer sign, sleeping eating locations and travel corridors, and deer themselves is hunting. It’s relying on evidence to dictate your next move. That’s hunting.
 
Listen to THP episode 227. I don’t really listen to much of their stuff but the topic was related.

Listen to minute 13:00 - minute 15:30 or so.

You hear the one guy say exactly why it makes sense to scout until you have a good amount of information. Then the other guy says “yeh but it’s so weird to tell some people to do that”.

What he’s really saying is “everyone posts videos from trees, and all the old timers sit in stands. It would be uncomfortable to not do the same as everyone else.”

Other guy is much more agreeable than me, and takes a long way around to reinforcing the point. I’m jealous of his communication skills.


I like Lopers advice above on first eve. Most of my hunting buddies “hang a set” first day and hunt it next morning and then start scouting. I typically don’t hang it if I don’t find what I want. I can make breakfast, sleep in, or strike out early to scout. At worst I’m even with them.

Scouting is hunting. Sitting in a tree on blind faith is squirrel watching.
 
Early season, I would lean more toward scouting because you're hunting feed to bed and you don't want to be guessing. This time of year is tougher to answer, there really is no bad time to be in a tree and buck/deer movement can be somewhat random. There is obviously a balance to be struck where you need to at least scout until you find some decent spots, but you need to put in the time in a tree this time of year too because the bucks are on their feet all hours of the day. Also this time of year I would not be at all afraid to hunt a good spot two or three times so for a week you really only need a a few spots.
 
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