Once again, I have worked this concept over elsewhere in this text, but it warrants repeating. The spot seldom hunted is the spot that seldom fails you. This is one of those concepts I have the most trouble driving home to hunters. And it seems those most resistant are the hunters who have enjoyed some modest success. They have engrained hunting patterns etched into their experience that have yielded an occasional deer, perhaps even a good one or two. These typically represent a favorite spot that, in fact, most often meets the criteria of a good spot quite nicely. The hunter may not have really understood what made the spot a good one, but tends to see deer there fairly routinely. Hunting the spot frequently during a season, and then from season to season slowly but surely diminishes its yield. But by this point in time, the hunter has enjoyed too many successful hunts here. A friend of mine who has taken more than 500 whitetails with a bow has kept a detailed diary of his hunts for more than forty years! I asked him about this idea of overhunting a spot one day, and he immediately responded, “Let me show you something.” He pulled out a ragged, worn logbook containing hundreds of hand entries of his personal hunting trips. He showed me the statistics revealing that nearly 70 percent of his successful hunts were represented by the first time he hunted a given spot each season.
Good points.
A few things I'll add:
1. Anthropomorphizing deer - I have a relative that hunts based upon where he'd like to live if he was a "deer" or what would make a pretty oil painting. He isn't successful. "This area is so beautiful"
2. If you live in an area where you can bait on private land, then you are at huge disadvantage if you don't bait (I'm not advocating baiting here, I don't do it). Understand that most nice bucks people show off were killed over a bait pile. Heck, this is often true even where it is illegal to bait on private land. Don't compare yourself to these hunters.
3. Hunters develop glitches just like how baseball pitchers decide upon lucky underwear (superstition): you get lucky/are successful in one spot and you put too much stock in that area or areas like it. Sometimes you did everything wrong and got lucky. Downplay those successes in your mind accordingly.
4. Travel corridors don't mean anything if there is no reason for deer to travel through there. This is like local government wants to build a road to nowhere to encourage development that never comes. I've sat in perfect topographic features to funnel deer movement in the big woods, but never saw a deer because there was no reason for them to be there. This is why when digital scouting I always look for land cover changes/attractants first and topography second, before I ever put boots on ground.
5. I only hunt areas where other hunters might be very early in the season. After the first week or two, I no longer hunt small public parcels with easy access because very soon the deer figure out what is up and leave. I have shot decent bucks in these areas but it was early on. I then start hunting large woods with more difficult access and specifically look for spots other hunters won't travel to (crossing rivers, walking long ways, no parking, etc). Sadly, my area is riddled with obesity and drug abuse, and this has helped me because a lot of people can't walk a mile up a hill with a pack on their back.
6. We should strive for the perfect spot with the perfect wind with the sun in the deer's eyes, etc. But it rarely comes together just like that. Don't get paralyzed by over analysis (letting perfect be enemy of the good). If a spot is good but the wind is a little swirly (it almost always is in the hills) and the tree is a little thin but I have cover, then I'll probably hunt it and won't necessarily walk around stinking up the woods with my footprints for another hour.
7. I took this from The Hunting Public, but try to find at least one thing to use to your advantage (even what might seem bad). For instance, next weekend is a 2 day doe season. I'll have to wear orange and have added pressure, but maybe I can get in early and set up where the deer will move to once other hunters wind bump them.