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Burned Out!!! Tips?

@Jwiggins762, I've been hunting the areas you're hunting (if I remember our conversation correctly) for over a decade. It's some of the toughest deer hunting in the country. Our county has 0 pope and young bucks on record. The terrain is terrible. We have a fair amount of hunters and an insanely long and lenient season. The flood last year is making for tough hunting this year.

I've milled one deer and one coyote, missed 3 deer, and had to pass on 2 bucks due to questionable shot opportunities. I'm burned out too, and get that way every year around this time? Wanna know the secret to getting fired back up?

Duck season. We have some stupid-good wood duck hunting. Grab a shotgun, take that kayak out, and go shoot some birds in the face. Then hunt the squirrel rut in december (don't laugh, it's a thing.) By the time you've had your fill of that, you'll be rejuvenated just in time for the January rut to start warming up.
 
@kyler1945 hit a lot of really great points, especially if you're new into hunting. My only suggestion that when you go walking / scouting, slow your pace WAY down and move methodically while looking for signs, look for horizontal features, ear flicks, tails, antlers, anything moving. If you see any of that stop and don't move until you confirm what that movement was. I had a great opportunity still hunting a new section of public land and still hunted / slow moved into a Doe at about 50 yards or so, saw it's tail briefly, raised my rifle and couldn't find her again, I thought she slipped down the knoll out of sight, so after about 1 minute I started slow walking and 2 steps I busted her out directly onto private land. The lesson I learned here was that I was NOT patient enough, I knew a deer was nearby and should have just remained next to the tree I was at much longer and I would have likely gotten an easy shot at her.
 
I think a great idea for a new hunter or unsuccesful hunter is to do a lot of research before even setting foot into the woods. I can't say I've gotten too burned out if I'm still seeing deer. Then again, I havent hunted in areas with super low densities and I'm not sure how you guys keep going. Buy several books/DVDs. Eberhart has several, watch Infalt dvds, look at the Benoit book, Ken Nordberg books, etc. Learn the basics before blowing your chances this year or next. We spend a ton of money on gear yet could probably spend more on learning. Apply their tactics as you see fit and make them your own. Every new book or DVD I buy has a different way to hunt/scout which keeps the spark alive. Try sitting on the ground in a ghillie, try a crossbow or recurve, use different tactics/strategies, etc. Strictly hunting public this year with a recurve is testing my patience and determination. Sometimes a few days off is the ticket.
 
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I think a great idea for a new hunter is to do a lot of research before even setting foot into the woods.
I kinda disagree. Hear me out.

My uncle is a lawyer. Lots of money, not so much time. Super smart guy. Started getting into hunting. Read all the books. Watched all the videos. Joined the forums. The works.

He is not a good deer hunter, despite being a very well-read one.

Every year I go hunt with him on his local public land, I'm on deer. He rarely is. He will show me spots and tell me all about why they'll work and what deer will be doing there. He's usually very wrong. Why? Because Infalt's Wisconsin deer and Eberhart's Michigan deer and the Hunting Publics Dakota deer aren't nutterbuster's uncle's Alabama deer. They're not even Nutterbuster's south Alabama deer. His deer don't do what they are "supposed" to. Not to say they don't act predictably, because as I've hunted and scouted there I've started to pick up on some themes. But he's trying to put a square peg in a round hole.

Deer hunting is very, very, VERY location specific aside from the really basic stuff. Analysis paralysis is a very real thing, and it's easy to get complacent and become an armchair scouter.

I wish I could go back to my college days when I first started to get serious about it, take all of my books and crap away, and force myself to spend more time in the woods, pay better attention, and ask myself more questions about what I saw or didn't see.

Deer hunting is easy. To quote a friend, "hunt where the deer are." Not where the man on the podcast says they should be, not where they map says they should be, and not even where they were 3 years ago when you killed that one.

@kyler1945 is right. Wear out boot leather. Bump deer. Get blown out. Stumble across other guys' stands. Then, once you start getting an idea of what's happening, educate yourself. But always be keenly aware of the differences between your reality and the other guy's reality.

Infalt talks about bumping and dumping. That probably works great in Wisconsin, but not so much on several thousand acre tracts of monoculture piney woods. Eberhart talks about hunting 30ft up. That probably works great in Michigan, but not so much here in Alabama where even if you cut through the insane vegetation to make shooting lanes to see, it'd grow back up over the summer.

Reading can give you a preconceived bias. You think you already know, so you don't actually learn. You assume you're doing something wrong on your end (not reading the wind well enough, not scouting hard enough, not seeing a piece of the puzzle), when you're really just following bad advice.

Get out there. Screw stuff up. Find out what the deer do on your piece of property. Become an expert in your little area.
 
I kinda disagree. Hear me out.

My uncle is a lawyer. Lots of money, not so much time. Super smart guy. Started getting into hunting. Read all the books. Watched all the videos. Joined the forums. The works.

He is not a good deer hunter, despite being a very well-read one.

Every year I go hunt with him on his local public land, I'm on deer. He rarely is. He will show me spots and tell me all about why they'll work and what deer will be doing there. He's usually very wrong. Why? Because Infalt's Wisconsin deer and Eberhart's Michigan deer and the Hunting Publics Dakota deer aren't nutterbuster's uncle's Alabama deer. They're not even Nutterbuster's south Alabama deer. His deer don't do what they are "supposed" to. Not to say they don't act predictably, because as I've hunted and scouted there I've started to pick up on some themes. But he's trying to put a square peg in a round hole.

Deer hunting is very, very, VERY location specific aside from the really basic stuff. Analysis paralysis is a very real thing, and it's easy to get complacent and become an armchair scouter.

I wish I could go back to my college days when I first started to get serious about it, take all of my books and crap away, and force myself to spend more time in the woods, pay better attention, and ask myself more questions about what I saw or didn't see.

Deer hunting is easy. To quote a friend, "hunt where the deer are." Not where the man on the podcast says they should be, not where they map says they should be, and not even where they were 3 years ago when you killed that one.

@kyler1945 is right. Wear out boot leather. Bump deer. Get blown out. Stumble across other guys' stands. Then, once you start getting an idea of what's happening, educate yourself. But always be keenly aware of the differences between your reality and the other guy's reality.

Infalt talks about bumping and dumping. That probably works great in Wisconsin, but not so much on several thousand acre tracts of monoculture piney woods. Eberhart talks about hunting 30ft up. That probably works great in Michigan, but not so much here in Alabama where even if you cut through the insane vegetation to make shooting lanes to see, it'd grow back up over the summer.

Reading can give you a preconceived bias. You think you already know, so you don't actually learn. You assume you're doing something wrong on your end (not reading the wind well enough, not scouting hard enough, not seeing a piece of the puzzle), when you're really just following bad advice.

Get out there. Screw stuff up. Find out what the deer do on your piece of property. Become an expert in your little area.
I've hunted that way for years. I've shot decent bucks but with no real consistancy. I realized something needed to change. I've hunted smarter and harder than I have in years past and have seen more deer than in years past. There is always room to learn and new ideas. There are things in books I would've never even thought to try until I've read or seen them done. Granted I agree nothing beats pure woodsmanship but shortening the learning curve with some suggestions from others and/or books, DVDs, forums doesn't seem that crazy either does it? Oh and if you plan on wearing out your boot leather and screwing stuff up, please don't do it where I hunt, I do a good enough job of that on my own.
 
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@Jwiggins762 im so glad you started this thread! Think lots of us are feeling the mid season burn out about now. I am not a fantastic woodsman yet but one thing I like to do is; if I see a spot that I think might be a good spot I throw a cheap camera in there. The I’ve got something to either confirm my suspicion or totally let me know i was way off! Either way I’ve learned something super valuable. And it’s just fun going in and checking cards anyway.
 
I'm not a vet, but I know about feeling burnt out. If you wanted to challenge yourself w/ hunting public, pretend you're a total newby. Forget about the nice bucks you shot over feeders or on private, don't keep your standards that high. Goal one should be to see more deer. Goal 2 is a doe. Goal 3 is any buck. Goal 4 is a better buck, etc. etc.

There is nothing more demoralizing to an all day sit and seeing no deer. I get it. Taking a break is fine too. Don't turn a fun pastime into a job. It takes the joy out of it. Keep your goals very low until you get better. Remember: you don't REALLY need the meat. You'll survive until you start having success. Take a day or two off...get recharged.

One of the advantages of public is you don't need to worry about spooking deer off your property, so if you get bored..climb down and walk...look for sign...set up again somewhere else.

Oh, and one other thing: sometimes social media can have a negative effect. Sometimes, seeing all the success leaves you with a distorted view that everyone else is finding it easy. I'm certainly not. I just finished 4 days of sitting in DE and saw a single spike buck. So.....
 
I agree with Nutterbuster about everything being local, and different locations give different results, but on the other hand, if you can learn a trick that helps, i say go read or watch that vid. Dont leave any tools in the box.
 
I was getting burnt out this year, I was thinking "man hunting is just another thing I kinda suck at". I had rifle hunted the last few years and only got one. I was actually lowering my bow one night on a property I had hunted a few times but never had any luck, and wham. I see 5 deer walking my way. One came in close enough to allow me to harvest her for my first bow/saddle kill.

Keep at it and even if you dont see anything, try to learn at least one new thing each hunt.

Lol I’ve been thinking the same thing. “maybe I’m just a crappy hunter?” Second year still waiting for my first kill.


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I kinda disagree. Hear me out.

My uncle is a lawyer. Lots of money, not so much time. Super smart guy. Started getting into hunting. Read all the books. Watched all the videos. Joined the forums. The works.

He is not a good deer hunter, despite being a very well-read one.

Every year I go hunt with him on his local public land, I'm on deer. He rarely is. He will show me spots and tell me all about why they'll work and what deer will be doing there. He's usually very wrong. Why? Because Infalt's Wisconsin deer and Eberhart's Michigan deer and the Hunting Publics Dakota deer aren't nutterbuster's uncle's Alabama deer. They're not even Nutterbuster's south Alabama deer. His deer don't do what they are "supposed" to. Not to say they don't act predictably, because as I've hunted and scouted there I've started to pick up on some themes. But he's trying to put a square peg in a round hole.

Deer hunting is very, very, VERY location specific aside from the really basic stuff. Analysis paralysis is a very real thing, and it's easy to get complacent and become an armchair scouter.

I wish I could go back to my college days when I first started to get serious about it, take all of my books and crap away, and force myself to spend more time in the woods, pay better attention, and ask myself more questions about what I saw or didn't see.

Deer hunting is easy. To quote a friend, "hunt where the deer are." Not where the man on the podcast says they should be, not where they map says they should be, and not even where they were 3 years ago when you killed that one.

@kyler1945 is right. Wear out boot leather. Bump deer. Get blown out. Stumble across other guys' stands. Then, once you start getting an idea of what's happening, educate yourself. But always be keenly aware of the differences between your reality and the other guy's reality.

Infalt talks about bumping and dumping. That probably works great in Wisconsin, but not so much on several thousand acre tracts of monoculture piney woods. Eberhart talks about hunting 30ft up. That probably works great in Michigan, but not so much here in Alabama where even if you cut through the insane vegetation to make shooting lanes to see, it'd grow back up over the summer.

Reading can give you a preconceived bias. You think you already know, so you don't actually learn. You assume you're doing something wrong on your end (not reading the wind well enough, not scouting hard enough, not seeing a piece of the puzzle), when you're really just following bad advice.

Get out there. Screw stuff up. Find out what the deer do on your piece of property. Become an expert in your little area.
I agree with most of what's said here, but I think guys like Dan infalt, John Eberhart, the hunting public etc. could get on better than average bucks anywhere in the country. Heck the hunting public boys seem to get on good bucks everywhere they go, including Alabama. They adjust their tactics accordingly and that's what makes them such good hunters.
 
I was getting burnt out this year, I was thinking "man hunting is just another thing I kinda suck at". I had rifle hunted the last few years and only got one. I was actually lowering my bow one night on a property I had hunted a few times but never had any luck, and wham. I see 5 deer walking my way. One came in close enough to allow me to harvest her for my first bow/saddle kill.

Keep at it and even if you dont see anything, try to learn at least one new thing each hunt.

A wise man on here has advised to “embrace the suck”

It makes the reward of getting a deer that much better




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@kyler1945 hit a lot of really great points, especially if you're new into hunting. My only suggestion that when you go walking / scouting, slow your pace WAY down and move methodically while looking for signs, look for horizontal features, ear flicks, tails, antlers, anything moving. If you see any of that stop and don't move until you confirm what that movement was. I had a great opportunity still hunting a new section of public land and still hunted / slow moved into a Doe at about 50 yards or so, saw it's tail briefly, raised my rifle and couldn't find her again, I thought she slipped down the knoll out of sight, so after about 1 minute I started slow walking and 2 steps I busted her out directly onto private land. The lesson I learned here was that I was NOT patient enough, I knew a deer was nearby and should have just remained next to the tree I was at much longer and I would have likely gotten an easy shot at her.

Good advice

I’ve watched multiple different bucks stand still for 20-30min before resuming activities

A fellow hunter this weekend had a doe stand still out in a palmetto chop for a full hr before she decided to move on

When I was young, an old man once told me that it’s called still hunting cuz u should be still more than moving

I still walk way too fast tho


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Here's another piece of advice, or information, and it isn't fully formed.

The real killers are successful for a lot of reasons. I don't think you can pinpoint which one is most important. But there is something to be said for cross training and adaptability.

One way I've gotten better at deciphering deer behavior is by traveling to hunt. Not everyone has this opportunity. But it doesn't necessarily have to be out of state. It can be a different public tract near you with different terrain, pressure, food, etc. When you stop trying to kill a deer in the moment, and begin to play the long game - this will become very valuable. Anyone can luck up and trip into an awesome spot. But deer are rats with hooves. Across subspecies, geography, terrain, food sources, exposure to hunting pressure, etc, they all share certain traits, display certain types of behavior, and fall into certain habits. These become much more obvious when you've seen them in their "different" form, and can pull the common strand from each situation.

If you're watching Infalt's "hill country bedding", and trying to apply deer bedding on leeward ridge points in a swamp in south alabama - well yeh, you're not going to have much luck connecting dots. But generally speaking, if bucks can hide in cover, with wind/noise protection from behind them, while watching where they intend to go that evening, they're gonna do it. When you run across "buck beds" in Louisiana, Alabama, Mississippi, Texas, and Missouri, you start to identify the common theme. When you can extract details like that, you can then apply the general knowledge to where ever you're hunting.

I recommend a change of scenery from where you're currently hunting. Go try to solve the puzzle from a totally different angle.

The advice to read the books and watch the videos and follow the blogs is good - but only if you understand what you're trying to pull from it. You aren't going to get a short cut. They don't exist in deer hunting. You're looking to find concepts, theory, ideas, that you can apply to your specific situation. The broader the spectrum you're learning on, the better off you are for a couple of reasons. Number one - you'll learn more stuff. Number two, you get better at learning, and fast. This is why i recommend going cover a bunch of ground. Not slow. Probably not even with a weapon in your hand, but i'll let that one slide since it is hunting season. But DON'T carry a way up a tree.

Squirrel hunting is an awesome way to scout. If you want a challenge, bring your bow to do it. But just go cover some ground. Cross train. You'll learn some adaptability in the process.

I think you can drop any of the legends in any part of the country and they'll get on deer quick, and get on big ones fairly quick too. This is due to a lot of reasons. But I can promise you, they'll all start with eliminating the crappy places to hunt as fast as possible. And they're covering ground to do that.
 
I haven't gotten "burned out" but have had my days or weeks. For me... just being in the woods is the draw/relaxation. I haven't tagged a buck in 6 years... passed up a few smaller ones and fumbled on a SC monster my first day out this season... still kicking myself in the ass for that. Best advice is to keep honing your skills, play the wind and observe while youre in the field.. itll happen at some point.... but any day in the woods is better than a day at work lol.
 
Here's another piece of advice, or information, and it isn't fully formed.

The real killers are successful for a lot of reasons. I don't think you can pinpoint which one is most important. But there is something to be said for cross training and adaptability.

One way I've gotten better at deciphering deer behavior is by traveling to hunt. Not everyone has this opportunity. But it doesn't necessarily have to be out of state. It can be a different public tract near you with different terrain, pressure, food, etc. When you stop trying to kill a deer in the moment, and begin to play the long game - this will become very valuable. Anyone can luck up and trip into an awesome spot. But deer are rats with hooves. Across subspecies, geography, terrain, food sources, exposure to hunting pressure, etc, they all share certain traits, display certain types of behavior, and fall into certain habits. These become much more obvious when you've seen them in their "different" form, and can pull the common strand from each situation.

If you're watching Infalt's "hill country bedding", and trying to apply deer bedding on leeward ridge points in a swamp in south alabama - well yeh, you're not going to have much luck connecting dots. But generally speaking, if bucks can hide in cover, with wind/noise protection from behind them, while watching where they intend to go that evening, they're gonna do it. When you run across "buck beds" in Louisiana, Alabama, Mississippi, Texas, and Missouri, you start to identify the common theme. When you can extract details like that, you can then apply the general knowledge to where ever you're hunting.

I recommend a change of scenery from where you're currently hunting. Go try to solve the puzzle from a totally different angle.

The advice to read the books and watch the videos and follow the blogs is good - but only if you understand what you're trying to pull from it. You aren't going to get a short cut. They don't exist in deer hunting. You're looking to find concepts, theory, ideas, that you can apply to your specific situation. The broader the spectrum you're learning on, the better off you are for a couple of reasons. Number one - you'll learn more stuff. Number two, you get better at learning, and fast. This is why i recommend going cover a bunch of ground. Not slow. Probably not even with a weapon in your hand, but i'll let that one slide since it is hunting season. But DON'T carry a way up a tree.

Squirrel hunting is an awesome way to scout. If you want a challenge, bring your bow to do it. But just go cover some ground. Cross train. You'll learn some adaptability in the process.

I think you can drop any of the legends in any part of the country and they'll get on deer quick, and get on big ones fairly quick too. This is due to a lot of reasons. But I can promise you, they'll all start with eliminating the crappy places to hunt as fast as possible. And they're covering ground to do that.
Agreed. I guess I was assuming most of us already have a little understanding of deer behavior being either a beginner or someone that's hunted for awhile. Some of us dont have the luxury of spending a lot of time scouting due to various reasons so shortening the learning curve through research seems like a viable option. I'm not saying pick one strategy and apply it in your location, I'm saying take your base knowledge and apply the knowledge learned as you see fit to your area. Eliminating "crappy" places to hunt isn't always the smartest either. Deer are constantly adapting and for us that can't travel all over the country, seeing tips and tactics from others can be a good strategy.
 
Agreed. I guess I was assuming most of us already have a little understanding of deer behavior being either a beginner or someone that's hunted for awhile. Some of us dont have the luxury of spending a lot of time scouting due to various reasons so shortening the learning curve through research seems like a viable option. I'm not saying pick one strategy and apply it in your location, I'm saying take your base knowledge and apply the knowledge learned as you see fit to your area. Eliminating "crappy" places to hunt isn't always the smartest either. Deer are constantly adapting and for us that can't travel all over the country, seeing tips and tactics from others can be a good strategy.

It’s kind of my point. You have X amount of time to spend in the woods. 80% of my X is spent walking. I don’t have a bigger X than anyone else. It’s not scouting per say, with the intention of finding a tree to hunt. I’m just looking for deer. I don’t set up until I’m in deer. If you want to jack up a tree because you feel like that’s what you’re supposed to do, or because it’s as good as it will get for you, fine. But I promise it’s not. Regardless of how poor deer herd size or quality is in your area, If the gubment is allowing you to kill em, they’re there. Find them. Not their sign from last year or last month or last week. Find them now.

As far as crappy places to hunt goes - I don’t mean eliminate a piece of property because there are better places elsewhere in the country. What I mean, is that you can look at a map and knock off 50% of a property, then you can take a walk and eliminate another 20-30% of it that won’t hold deer or lead to you killing them. You took that the wrong way. I hunt ‘crappy’ properties in the way you took it all the time. But I will only get in a tree in the parts of that property that hold deer. No book or video will tell me where that is exactly, my boots and eyes will.

Plus it’s fun. Or more appropriately, the fun is the main point, and the learning is secondary.

You thinking that you’re not ‘hunting’ unless you’re in a tree and that ‘scouting’ eats up valuable time is the issue I take.
 
You thinking that you’re not ‘hunting’ unless you’re in a tree and that ‘scouting’ eats up valuable time is the issue I take.
Scouting is 90% of the game. Boots in dirt is the most important part of scouting. I scout year round. Squirrel hunting, duck hunting, turkey hunting, hog hunting...all that is used to scout for deer. Riding my bike down trails early in the morning this past summer gave me some good intel. Canoe trips give me intel. Camping and backpacking trips in the backcountry with the missus give me intel.

Heck, I spend most of my time driving around looking at the back corners of fields and the side of the roads for deer, dead or alive.

Always look to learn what your deer in your area are doing. In season scouting is very important, unless your John Eberhart.

Books are great. But the guy who reads books because he doesn't have time to scout will always be at a handicap compared to the guy who makes scouting his biggest priority. It's an ugly truth, kinda like how a hunter who makes six figures will (ceteris paribus) kill more deer than the guy who barely pulls in 40k. You don't have to like it, but you'd better believe it and factor it into your schemings.
 
Finding the sign is something im still learning, im starting to think i need to stick with one area and learn it and quit jumping around.
I have to disagree with you on this. While it is possible to kill by staying in one area, the more areas you learn, the less pressure your putting on any one area. On top of that, 90% of my kills are on that "first sit", as many other have said. Save the learning as much as you can about one area for February or after season winter scouting. Pay attention to wind and try to think about where others are going in and out. You'll start to paint a pretty clear picture. Keep notes or a journal and plot all of you moves on an app like onx or huntstand. You'll get better at it. Keep at it good luck!
 
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