[48down]

As best I can count this is my 21st year archery hunting and I don't remember missing very many opening days. I usually hunt as much as possible but feel like I put pressure on the land I hunt.

This year I am thinking about staying out for the first 2 or 3 weeks of the season and then only hunting on the best of days (what I think is best for killing a bigger deer). Basically just trying have as little pressure on the deer as possible. Maybe doing just long range observation on the other days.

OR, should I just go and hunt every minute I can (like usual)?

Which do you think gives me the best chance to kill a mature buck?

********************Addition

I have ~800 acres to hunt. One other guy can hunt but he only hunts 2 or 3 times a year. We don't have much problem with trespassing.

 

[BCFrye_Kansas]

I went with hunt as much as you can........ Unfortunately with family/work/life as much as I can is often like relatively no pressure.

 

[cutonimpact]

i hunt as much as i can...but im also rotating between 3 states. i wouldnt hunt that much if i had only 1 place to go. u can put too much pressure on a spot imo

 

[DaveMI]

I usually hunt my best spots lightly early in the season and hunt my lesser spots more at that time, then when the bucks start running does I hunt my main spot every minute I can.

I have to say that it was a noticeable difference in seeing good shooter bucks doing it this way than when I started hunting this property and just hammered it from opening day til close.

 

[Jwillman6]

There is no doubt in my mind people ruin good stands before prime time. If you can hunt a lot try not to hunt the prime places until the rut and wind is right. Mature whitetails become nocturnal when there is too much pressure. Many people who try to pattern deer are simply letting the deer pattern them.

 

[Buckeyehunter12]

I do keep a couple of stands that I wont hunt until the rut, but your not gonna get a chance at a monster if you dont put hours in on the stand... You never know when your one chance will come and a monster will walk by one of your stands. I voted hunt as much as you can, but you should always keep your "amazing" spots for prime time.

 

[22feetseat]

i hunt as much as i can...but im also rotating between 3 states. i wouldnt hunt that much if i had only 1 place to go. u can put too much pressure on a spot imo

+1 im not rotating states but tracts.

 

[scrapejuice]

I voted hunt less

But,.....starting the last couple of days of Oct., I hunt as often as I can. but am very selective on which stands I hunt, wind direction, and my entry/exit routes. Once Nov. gets here though I spend every waking moment up a tree if possible!

 

[Rothhar1]

Honestly I hunted deer for 31 years seriously and I used to hunt every minute I could from opener to the close .Well the bucks I used to kill for the most part were average to small .They were mostly killed in mid to late October. Every once in a while I would get a big buck but it was on a stand and in a part of the farm I didn't hardly hunt. By the Mid November I had most of the good areas beat up perty good and was seeing a few deer here and there at best .I used to wonder what all the hubbub was about the rut in fact the first 5-7 years I hunted because I over pressured my stands and woods so much.

Then about 15 years ago I had a hunter that had maybe 20 bucks on his wall the smallest was around 130 in. up to a 180 in monster .And back then that many big buck on one wall killed by one hunter was all but unheard of. He told me that he almost never hunted the early part of October except to scout/hunt about 1- 2 times a week at the most and never in the AM.

Every once in a while he would get get lucky he said .But starting the 28th of October he was on stand somewhere every day Usualy of an evening ,and would always take a vacation the first and second week of Nov. and hunt every morning and evenig he could From Nov.1st on.

He also said there was all the time in the world after the rut to shot a doe or two for extra gub if he needed it. He would not hunt any woods that the other hunters shot some does in before the rut. He used the doe bedding areas as his ace in the hole.He said also in Nov he did not like to hunt near the edge of the woods or on a field.

I started imulating his stradagy and it worked just as he said it would I was on the big buck most of the time and my stands were fresh most of Nov. I have killed alot of big bucks like this and so have my two sons! It works around here and I will never change it either it works 100% of the time for us.

That hunter was about 10 years older than I was He was a great family orinted man ,he died this spring of a brain cancer.He will be missed and remembered always.
Good luck.

 

[Pickert]

Hunt hard but smart

I hunt as much as I can but try and hunt a different stand or property often umless the area is hot. Play the wind and use scent control. Good luck.

 

[wis_archer]

Every opportunity I have, rain or shine, snow or sleet, hail or heat, I'm out there.