Let me know your thoughts on this: https://www.deeranddeerhunting.com/content/articles/tv-shows/the-truth-about-patterning-whitetails
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Patterning Deer
- Thread starter woodsdog2
- Start date
Short take, I think he's mostly right but overemphasizing/overcorrecting against an equally distorted opposing viewpoint. If you take his stance and use it to counterbalance against the idea that super-hunters can tell you what an individual buck is doing before he does it, you probably have something beginning to resemble truth. Sometimes you can make a good guess at what deer are doing. The more deer you have to hunt and the more time you have to hunt them, the more your good guesses pay off. You can't begin to pattern what isn't there, and if he's there and you can be there enough, you'll bump into him and be able to use that rationalizing brain to concoct a story that confirms the idea that you knew what was happening. That story may or may not be true, but the deer will be on the wall!
He makes his money from managing and consulting on private lands and is, in a way, in competition over the hunting audience with the DIY, Public land, run n gun, beast-style trend. He who makes noise on the internet gets heard. He made a little noise.
I don't think he's necessarily doing just that thing. He probably as a land manager really believes what he's saying. When you have control over the environment, you approach hunting differently than when the only thing you can control is when/where you sit.
Spot on. To me land management isn't as organic as a method of hunting as just figuring out a place to hunt but that's probably because even though my buddy and I manage land to some extent (more for the timber resource than deer and turkeys) we still often scratch our heads in wonderment about how the deer seem very much more unpredictable than predictable most days.
I think a key distinction when talking about accuracy in patterning is the make up of the environment where you are hunting. Lots of areas in the midwest setup better for really dialing in exactly what a buck is going to do, like Steve said, during daylight hours. Broken cover areas are just easier to figure out movement between bed and food. There is definitely applicability on private where pressure and access is controlled. On public, it is a crap shoot more times than not.
In the NE, if you track a buck on snow for awhile, you may discover a pattern, which may change at any time, for a number of reasons, one being you are tracking him.
With enough time tracking specific deer, you will see that deer do go through periods where their movements are repetitious. And that they can be quite erratic as well.
I think it's a good starting point to evaluating "patterning deer", in the region.
With enough time tracking specific deer, you will see that deer do go through periods where their movements are repetitious. And that they can be quite erratic as well.
I think it's a good starting point to evaluating "patterning deer", in the region.
Lots of his videos are trying to “expose the magician” / anti hot shot tv guy, types. My take on them… I don’t read too deep into it. I believe he just wants his audience to be aware that the quote, “the magic of TV”, also applies to hunting shows. I read something recently “probably here on SH” about a man spotted on a mountain side out west. He was climbing up and down a small area of a hillside. The person observing him called the authorities. Turns out he was a famous TV Celebrity Hunter trying to make it look like he was trecking way out in the wilderness.
He constantly brings up in videos about how celebrities are always mentioning how product X is what you need to kill more deer and it’s only because product X is made by their sponsors.
He constantly brings up in videos about how celebrities are always mentioning how product X is what you need to kill more deer and it’s only because product X is made by their sponsors.
I'm not well versed in his stuff, but the way he presents his antithesis turns me off.
Clickbait, self-promotion, or holding the industry accountable and informing the general public as a matter of service?
Hmmm.
Ok. Lol.
this kind of post snd my answers are the reason I probably rub people the wrong way. Lol
Ok so In my areas and through my experiences with hunting both public and privste with all levels of pressure.
it really All depends on how much pressure is put on deer. Especially bucks.
bucks i believe have personalities similar to dogs. Some are brave some are super skittish.
I will say this though “ it is hell of alot easier to pattern a buck on a 3,000 acre piece of low to no pressure managed land compared to a high pressured public or private.”
In my honest opinion, the high pressured deer is a total different animal lol.
On the other hand no offense to snyone but, Everyone is an expert nowadays.
Kill a big buck and throw in a bedding area story and suddenly your a whitetail GOD.
lol.
An expert is something i will never be at deer hunting.
I have always been really good at chasing down big deer of all ages and sizes but i learn every time i sit or when im scouting.
If im learning constantly I cant be an expert, This is just how i like it.
You also need to consider to the more time in the woods studying these animals behaviors and traits. Your probably gonna get pretty good at it. Look at some of these youtubers. They hunt snd scout 7 days a week. I hope they are getting on big deer lol.
We need to remember and consider when watching or reading something.
we all cant hunt and scout like some of these huge youtubers can.
7 days a week and traveling state to state.
its just not realistic for the average hunter.
Someone gotta pay the bills somehow and deer from my are just not gonna pay anything.
if i was counting on money from being a so called influencer.
I would finally be able to lose this dam retirement quit smoking weight lmao.
Take what you read or watch with a “ grain of salt” and try to see or figure out what the motives are.
Try to take little tips from everyone you can and see if you can use it to your advantage.
One more thing. Make it fun. Dont get frustrated snd make it a MUST. Or it will be a long long season.
this kind of post snd my answers are the reason I probably rub people the wrong way. Lol
Ok so In my areas and through my experiences with hunting both public and privste with all levels of pressure.
it really All depends on how much pressure is put on deer. Especially bucks.
bucks i believe have personalities similar to dogs. Some are brave some are super skittish.
I will say this though “ it is hell of alot easier to pattern a buck on a 3,000 acre piece of low to no pressure managed land compared to a high pressured public or private.”
In my honest opinion, the high pressured deer is a total different animal lol.
On the other hand no offense to snyone but, Everyone is an expert nowadays.
Kill a big buck and throw in a bedding area story and suddenly your a whitetail GOD.
lol.
An expert is something i will never be at deer hunting.
I have always been really good at chasing down big deer of all ages and sizes but i learn every time i sit or when im scouting.
If im learning constantly I cant be an expert, This is just how i like it.
You also need to consider to the more time in the woods studying these animals behaviors and traits. Your probably gonna get pretty good at it. Look at some of these youtubers. They hunt snd scout 7 days a week. I hope they are getting on big deer lol.
We need to remember and consider when watching or reading something.
we all cant hunt and scout like some of these huge youtubers can.
7 days a week and traveling state to state.
its just not realistic for the average hunter.
Someone gotta pay the bills somehow and deer from my are just not gonna pay anything.
if i was counting on money from being a so called influencer.
I would finally be able to lose this dam retirement quit smoking weight lmao.
Take what you read or watch with a “ grain of salt” and try to see or figure out what the motives are.
Try to take little tips from everyone you can and see if you can use it to your advantage.
One more thing. Make it fun. Dont get frustrated snd make it a MUST. Or it will be a long long season.
I know exactly where the deer I shoot are going to be from the moment they are born. That said, I shoot a lot of fawns..
I agree, even though one of the main places I hunt is a 100 +/- acre private parcel surrounded by other 100 +/- acre private parcels, and one public parcel, the deer react very much like it is all mostly a public parcel due to a lot of pressure on the surrounding private parcels. I’ve identified one landowner who will hold out and he shot the monster I was after last year at the peak of the rut on his private parcel. So now it’s trying to keep the deer on our parcel with little to no pressure.
I would like to disagree with him. I think all creatures have habits. That's not to say they don't or can't change their minds. I think very early and late season are easier before they get other items on the minds but everything is used to habits and decisions the decide between. It's not easy to see but it is very possible.
2020 - northeast Ohio - we had a buck who had grown into a nice shooter on our property so I start trying hard to get him. A friend and I had gone halves on 7 Cuddelinks since we both live over an hour away… keeps morale up and we learn a lot. We did capture a couple pretty reliable pieces of his pattern. He survived, buddys son missed him at 35 yards, and he got bigger this past season. I wanted to learn more about mature bucks on our property and felt he could get shot any day so I went all in, 20 cameras on 100 acres, 9 of those Cuddelink cellulars. I learned even more about his patterns, I got within 75 yards of him on at least two hunts (proven on cam), but still have never seen him in person. I didn’t disturb / check cams often, most not until the end of season. Overall yes I did get some patterns but many mysteries still remain. I would say he is partially patterned. Yes, you can capture some movement that is repeated, and it of course varies by animal and by property, but even 20 cameras on 100 acres left me with big unanswered questions on a very core buck that doesn’t appear to be much of a roamer at this point… so it sure ain’t easy. I thought I knew where he bedded a lot in 2020 and I found his shed there, and then my stepmom found his shed from this season about a month ago. This is the most patterned buck I’ve ever hunted and he’s still a super super tricky dude, he works the wind real well.
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I’ve literally thought about challenging some hunting celebrities, like maybe the Exodus camera guys since they’re not too far away, to come try to shoot this deer. It feels like a bouldering problem in climbing… a small core area, know lots about him, still can’t get it done! We have so many close calls… one time my buddy was set up on a river crossing with an (Ohio legal) rifle, he had got up at 3 AM to be in position early. Just at daybreak downstream a little he sees headlamps and here come some loud talking steelhead fisherman - we have the buck on cell cam headed right toward him, then doing a 180 once the fisherman were in earshot. And that’s how it’s gone for two seasons. I could tell you exactly where the pics are and I’d still feel bad about your odds, heh.WowThat's a real stud of a buck your after. Good luck putting him on the wall this season. So where was that you said you got those pics of him?
I think the word "pattern" or "patterning" needs to change to "tendancy" like "This buck has a tendency to do ____________" but we are killing ourselves trying to think that a buck does the same thing every day and every day and maybe in the early season that is the case but definitely not an exacting thing either depending on a lot of variables.
So this brings up my next question. So on his video Steve Barytella shows different Travelways for a buck around a field or hunting location showing movement based on wind changes. How many of you will wait for the wind to be the right wind or will you just change up your saddle location based on the wind as depicted. I guess I have never really thought of changing that up and hunting the same buck multiple times on different winds for fear of too much pressure and totally bombing the whole area out but I would be interested in the rest of your thoughts on that tactic? It might be a great early and late season tactic once a buck is back on a straight bed to feed and feed to bed time period.
I agree. There are so many variables that can come into play every day that I don't think there's a big buck out there that does the exact same thing more than a day or two in a row. Just think about it. Weather patterns, coyotes, a hot doe, foot traffic ,stray dogs, his temperament. The list is virtually endless.