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Questions of a failure

IkemanTX said:
I ALWAYS check the stomach contents of every deer I clean. It is by far the most direct evidence you can get to narrow down food source.
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My buddies think I'm nuts intentionally cutting open that stanky stomach but I'm with you. I want to know all I can about their habits at the time. For instance, the buck I shot this year in our late rifle season was just stuffed full of beech nuts. It's just another clue to follow up on later in the year or in similar time frames in the years to come.
 
Lets not forget failure isnt eating a tag at the end of the year. Failure comes when the pressure to succeed overtakes the fact that you are out in gods creation enjoying your days off of work. I beat myself up last year for not killing a shooter and didnt enjoy my season. This year i didnt care and have done more hiking and exploring just enjoying the journey which lead me to being successful. Ive had more fun this year than i have in a long time.
 
ThebigD said:
Lets not forget failure isnt eating a tag at the end of the year. Failure comes when the pressure to succeed overtakes the fact that you are out in gods creation enjoying your days off of work. I beat myself up last year for not killing a shooter and didnt enjoy my season. This year i didnt care and have done more hiking and exploring just enjoying the journey which lead me to being successful. Ive had more fun this year than i have in a long time.
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Well said.
 
I tried to employ some Beast tactics this year with minimal success. In hill areas near me hunting wind based bedding definitely works. The problem is there are usually about 10 different places in a mile radius for deer to bed for each wind direction. Scouting the area will show me the beds and after a while they will be easy to find. So why is he going to bed on this point today instead of the other three that work with the same wind within a quarter mile. If you can answer that you might be on to something. If you’re walking in four hours it seems like you are probably walking past some great hunting to get where your hunting area. Going in really deep means that you may get to hunt deer that are moving naturally. That doesn’t always mean it will be the best hunting. One of our mountain wma’s has triple the deer density down low near private ag as up high a few miles in. Biggest thing is just try something different.
 
I hunt mountains also. When I watch stuff on the internet (even the hunting public which I love] I'm always thinking a deer actually walked in a spot that wide open. Beast tactics don't work all of the time in the mountains. I used to walk like you and every time I would come back to my truck I would jump deer. I sat where I was jumping them and killed my largest buck to date on public land. He was only 150 yards from the road. Sometimes I think you can walk too much in the mountains because they can hear and see you much better than on flat land.
 
DaveT1963 said:
if I remember right from the Beast site you are in PA correct? If so, dude you have hard hunting all year and the vast majority struggle there on public land. Don't let what you see others do in other areas get you down. I quit looking for bucks beds because it is silly to do so down here. I went up to see Dan and my jaw dropped on how easy it was to find beds and hair - night and day difference. @IkemanTX can testify to that as we went together. Not trying to dissuade you to being aggressive- keep at it you will figure them out - just don't get too wrapped up in how others do things as it may or may not work where you are. It sounds to me like you are putting in the effort and time, probably just in a harder area. keep at it.
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Actually I’m in northern VA and WV. I hunt the National Forest on the state line. But not far from PA. Same type of hunting if I understand correctly. I won’t quit until the mission is accomplished. Thanks man


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DB4x4 said:
Here's an idea I haven't seen anybody suggest yet:

Everyone says key in on food sources, but nobody tells you how to figure out what they're specifically eating. If you have a tag for it, shoot a doe. After you gut her, cut her stomach open and see what's inside. That may clue you in on where the other deer feeding.
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I like this idea!


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michigandrake said:
How large are the bedding areas you are hunting and are you hunting any mornings?
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Hunting mostly evenings. Hunted a couple mornings and saw nothing. Bedding areas are roughly 2-6 acres is my guess. They don’t seem to make the boundaries very precise so not sure


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Guff Dawg said:
Don’t ever give up! I am finding inspiration in the messages listed here. I’m embracing the fact that failure is essential to success. Albeit a bitter medicine to take. Hang in there. Pun intended:)
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Quitting is never an option. They don’t call me DATM for nothin


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I'm not a beast hunter so I can't help you there. But, just remember social media gives us a distorted view of success rates. Everyone posts their success. Rarely do you see posts saying: "Sat for 5 hours didn't see sh&t". This is a game of mostly failure.

I hunted about 50 times this year. I saw 4 potential shooters and got 2. Both of my bucks gave me about 1 minute of combined time that I could have actually shot them. If my average hunt is 5 hours, and I hunted 50 times, that's 15,000 minutes in the field. One minute of potential shooting over 15,000 minutes! That's a whole lotta failure.

I was pretty happy with my results.....seems like you got some good advice above on tactics....keep at it.
 
It’s a great point about success rates. If you look at the reported success rates of the “Beast” hunters it is very low. 2-5% I think I remember reading. If you hunt 20 times a season you MAY get a shot at a mature deer. More likely gonna take more hunts than that if you’re around lower deer densities.

You also have to understand that you’re going to see WAY less deer hunting that way. It also doesn’t happen overnight! Keep grinding out there man!
 
DannyAttacksTheMountain said:
I like this idea!


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Stomach content analysis can be helpful in determining WHAT the deer has eaten but it won't necessarily tell you where they ate it. If your hunting big woods full of acorns it's hard to pin point where their eating those acorns. But it sets a starting point for your scouting efforts. Or if the herd is on browse then pin pointing the source is difficult. A belly full of corn in western NY where the area is full of corn fields tells me less than partially digested apples when I know the source location for the apples is more defined. Your analysis coupled with some scouting to determine where they're getting those acorns, or corn will be more valuable. In season scouting of food sources in the late season is invaluable.
 
KYHunter said:
It’s a great point about success rates. If you look at the reported success rates of the “Beast” hunters it is very low. 2-5% I think I remember reading. If you hunt 20 times a season you MAY get a shot at a mature deer. More likely gonna take more hunts than that if you’re around lower deer densities.

You also have to understand that you’re going to see WAY less deer hunting that way. It also doesn’t happen overnight! Keep grinding out there man!
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Sound advice and I couldn’t agree with you more. Thanks much


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Kurt said:
Stomach content analysis can be helpful in determining WHAT the deer has eaten but it won't necessarily tell you where they ate it. If your hunting big woods full of acorns it's hard to pin point where their eating those acorns. But it sets a starting point for your scouting efforts. Or if the herd is on browse then pin pointing the source is difficult. A belly full of corn in western NY where the area is full of corn fields tells me less than partially digested apples when I know the source location for the apples is more defined. Your analysis coupled with some scouting to determine where they're getting those acorns, or corn will be more valuable. In season scouting of food sources in the late season is invaluable.
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I will definitely look into possible food sources. No Ag in the area. My guess would be red oaks this time of year. I now plan to hunt browse areas with fresh sign. Thanks much


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Kurt said:
Stomach content analysis can be helpful in determining WHAT the deer has eaten but it won't necessarily tell you where they ate it. If your hunting big woods full of acorns it's hard to pin point where their eating those acorns. But it sets a starting point for your scouting efforts. Or if the herd is on browse then pin pointing the source is difficult. A belly full of corn in western NY where the area is full of corn fields tells me less than partially digested apples when I know the source location for the apples is more defined. Your analysis coupled with some scouting to determine where they're getting those acorns, or corn will be more valuable. In season scouting of food sources in the late season is invaluable.
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Earlier in the season, a major food source that a lot of guys never consider is freshly fallen leaves. Ive watched deer stuff themselves with poplar leaves for hours. Eat for a while, then lay down and chew cud, get up again and do it over and over...they never leave the spot. They love to hammer maple leaves, too. Seems like they may like the red colored ones more than the yellow ones.
Those types of feeding patterns can make deer sightings spotty. I believe its a big part of the "October lull".

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