#1838488 - 03/14/10 11:18 AM
Reflecting
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TN RDG RNR
12 Point
Registered: 06/28/07
Posts: 6091
Loc: Rhea County
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Wow! Cant say Ive ever seen the Serious Forum so dead. Thought Id start a thread about hunting for a change. LOL
Looking back on last year I can say I did "some" good things, I feel like I read the terrain right and climbed the correct tree almost every time giving me numerous opportunities to shoot some smaller 2.5 year old bucks.
The problem is I wasn't hunting 2.5 year old bucks. So there was a bunch of things I know I did wrong that hopefully I wo'nt repeat this season.
1)I over hunted an area. To compound the problem my entry was all wrong.
2)I didn't move around enough or find new places. I pretty much stuck with 10 or so of the spots I have hunted over the past years. All of the success Ive had killing mature deer have been in a new spot and area first time hunting it.
3)I should have killed a doe. Especially early in the season.
Anyone else changing it up next year?
_________________________
WARNING: The above post may contain sarcasm and/or sophisticated satire. I will not be held liable for any psychological damage sustained.
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#1838495 - 03/14/10 11:34 AM
Re: Reflecting
[Re: TN RDG RNR]
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DUCK37101
"Link" Police
16 Point
Registered: 08/29/05
Posts: 18867
Loc: McEwen, TN.
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I may hunt some of the thicker areas and areas that are nearly impossible to get into. Terrain features taught me a little more about how and where mature deer travel. Problem is, and always will be, that mature deer travel and eat mainly at night and that's something I'll never be able to overcome.
I will probably hunt harder during the late October through late November time period MUCH harder simply because the mature deer are prone to making mistakes when "love" is in the air.
_________________________
You Can't Take It With You.....So Don't Go.
IN GOD WE TRUST!
"The Constitution does not just protect those whose views we share; it also protects those with whose views we disagree."
- Ted Kennedy
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#1838551 - 03/14/10 12:27 PM
Re: Reflecting
[Re: DUCK37101]
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tickweed
10 Point
Registered: 11/25/09
Posts: 3540
Loc: medon,Tn.
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Yea,hunting an area too hard has always been an issue I've had to watch.Its really hard not to hunt an area if you have a deer that you are really trying to take in that area .Makes a man make mistakes before he realizes it.I had a dream year this year,taking my two best buck in my lifetime,but I'll give the credit to luck.This year I'm really going to make myself pay more attention to the wind,as well as pressure.I'm already trimming lanes,scouting,getting ready,as I'm sure a lot of you guys are.It will be here before we know it.Have a good summer.
_________________________
The hardest thing about Bowhunting Turkeys is leaving the gun at home!
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#1838562 - 03/14/10 12:51 PM
Re: Reflecting
[Re: tickweed]
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gator-n-buck
16 Point
Registered: 10/22/08
Posts: 14908
Loc: Knox, TN / Palatka, FL
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Yeah, I have a habit of hunting my old honey holes and not moving around enough. I really need to work harder on my set-ups. Cost me one nice buck this past season on the side of a ridge.... I have found that every year is a new learning experience, no matter how long I have been hunting..
G-N-B
Edited by gator-n-buck (03/14/10 12:52 PM)
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#1838708 - 03/14/10 03:32 PM
Re: Reflecting
[Re: gator-n-buck]
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Mike Belt
TnDeer Old Timer
16 Point
Registered: 03/26/99
Posts: 16929
Loc: Lakeland, Tn.
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I am a pretty good hunter. I've passed on bookoos of deer and plenty of bucks most folks would have probably taken. I haven't killed a buck in the last 5 years because I keep waiting on the buck I've conjured up in my head. In truth, he's there but we haven't met face to face yet. The problem I have is that as good a deer hunter as I am I must really suck at being a mature buck hunter. I'm sure that quite a few of the bucks I've passed on were in fact mature bucks but I keep looking for the one that has both the age and the headgear. That combination cuts into my odds of success. I have to constantly remind myself that I'm no longer just deer hunting and that I'm now "ghost" deer hunting. There's a major difference.
That being said I don't know how much I'd read into last season. It was by far one of the strangest I've ever experienced. I don't ever remember hunting around as much fresh sign as I did most of the season to not see any deer...and it wasn't just me. I know of hunters every bit as good as I am or better that experienced the same results. Unless you were specifically hunting the older, smarter versions whatever you did wrong last year may not have been a result of what you did or didn't do but more over that the deer didn't do what they normally were supposed to.
_________________________
BONE HEAD HUNTER
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#1838793 - 03/14/10 04:30 PM
Re: Reflecting
[Re: Mike Belt]
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Football Hunter
18 Point
Registered: 10/22/07
Posts: 24550
Loc: Wilson Co/Perry Co
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I over hunted one spot,WAY to much,but its hard not to go to it when you see 8 to 10 deer each time,was walking around it today,trying to come up with some different angles.
_________________________
The best day to plant a tree,IS TODAY!
You wont know,if you dont go!
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#1839086 - 03/14/10 07:48 PM
Re: Reflecting
[Re: Football Hunter]
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BSK
Jerkasourous of the non-typical kind
Non-Typical
Registered: 03/11/99
Posts: 59548
Loc: Nashville, TN
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Honestly, I believe we did the majority of things right. But that heat wave right during our normal peak of the rut in mid-November just killed us. I picked up a lot of chases at night on camera, but we hardly saw any daylight chasing.
_________________________
"Know where you stand, and stand there" --Jesuit Father Daniel Berrigan
"There is no reasoning someone out of a position he has not reasoned himself into." --Clive James
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#1839264 - 03/14/10 08:44 PM
Re: Reflecting
[Re: BSK]
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JCDEERMAN
14 Point
Registered: 07/19/08
Posts: 7633
Loc: NASHVILLE, TN
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Honestly, I believe we did the majority of things right. But that heat wave right during our normal peak of the rut in mid-November just killed us. I picked up a lot of chases at night on camera, but we hardly saw any daylight chasing.
Yup.....Numerous times this year, I couldnt hardly get to my stand before light without bucks grunting and making their way towards me. Several times, I tried to get up in my stands as fast as possible because I had bucks that heard me and would walk to the base of my tree as I got to the platform of my lock-on. NEVER have I had that happen before. Never thought that would happen, I was wrong. Seemed like things were pretty competitive for them 
Once it got light, it was a one horse town....just a few does. That goes to show that we can only do so much as hunters. Being at the right place and almost the right times, and in the middle of the rut, though nature didnt play along at those times....too warm. Some things are just out of our control
_________________________
Be nervous, but fear no one
In God we trust
God bless the USA!
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#1839530 - 03/14/10 09:57 PM
Re: Reflecting
[Re: JCDEERMAN]
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Setterman
8 Point
Registered: 12/31/09
Posts: 1783
Loc: Knoxville, TN
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I will tote the rifle instead of the bow when it comes time to really get after a certain buck. The only mistep I had last season was continually trying to kill the same buck with a bow, in most areas it would work, but the area he frequented was so large with so many places he could move that it became evident that I was fighting a losing battle towards the end. With a rifle, he would have been dead on day 1.
Other then that I can't really find any other mistakes, I took 3 mature bucks last season, so most things went right.
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#1839788 - 03/15/10 07:51 AM
Re: Reflecting
[Re: Setterman]
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Bottom Hunter
16 Point
Registered: 12/29/06
Posts: 15480
Loc: Hatchie Bottoms
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i did most everything right, except one thing......and it still haunts me....
I had been sitting in my stand for about six hours. I decided that i wanted to move the stand about 100 yards. I got down to walk over and look at where I wanted to move it to....While walking back to move it, I heard something, looked up and saw a buck and doe leaving out like they saw , well, ME, about 75 yards from me.... they appeared to be headed straight for me, before they spooked. I can't be sure, but the deer looked like a deer that had been missed by another hunter and he described the deer as the biggest buck he had ever seen. The good thing is, the deer may have indeed made it to next year......I sure hope so...tall, wide, white rack...eight pointer or better......130 plus, IMO.
BH
_________________________
There are some people who always seem angry and continuously look for conflict.
Walk away; the battle they are fighting is not with you, but with themselves.
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#1841277 - 03/17/10 07:23 AM
Re: Reflecting
[Re: tickweed]
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MUP
Non-Typical
Registered: 08/01/07
Posts: 36085
Loc: Just North of Chatt-town
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I may kill a doe, if I see more than 6 this time. Other than that, I'm gonna try to branch out as much as I can on the limited property that I have. More stand loc's hopefully.
_________________________
MUP
Amateurs: Built the Ark
Professionals: Built the Titanic
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#1841868 - 03/17/10 12:46 PM
Re: Reflecting
[Re: Bottom Hunter]
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Bayou Buck
8 Point
Registered: 05/11/09
Posts: 2151
Loc: Spring Hill / Perry Co
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We had 100+ acres of our property clearcut right befor the season last year. If it rains as much as it did last summer I may be putting a few more stands in that area. I found myself only hunting a small section of our farm last year because I was seeing deer every day. This year I might move around more for some different scenary.
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