#2011825 - 07/30/10 11:29 AM
Driving Time/Logistics vs. Hunting Time
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Poser
14 Point
Registered: 07/28/10
Posts: 8133
Loc: Tennessee
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Curious how far some other folks are willing to drive for day hunts. I am not so interested in how far you drive to get to your lease for the weekend, but how far will you drive to hunt for a day hunt (morning, evening, or all day). In other words I'm interested in discussing the lengths you are willing to go to in order to hunt for one day. I was talking with someone from the Midwest who was rather surprised that I was willing to drive anywhere in order to hunt.
I start out the bow season hunting a variety of public lands throughout TN and MS within a 4 hour radius. For a week day hunt, I'm typically willing to drive 1.5 hour. These are almost always morning hunts where I'll stay on stand until noon to 2 PM, hustle back to my truck and deal with any important email/phone calls until I can get back to the office.
I like to be situated in my stand 1-2 hours before 1st light, minimum 1 hour. If I have an hour hike in and I am hunting 1.5 hours away, I need to be out of the door by around 2:00 am, depending on sunrise. That's a 1:30 wake up call to be on stand by 4:30.
Once gun season opens, I abandon much of the public lands with the exception of a few difficult to access areas and archery only areas. Particularly in MS, the pressure is instantly very extreme and deer become ghosts. I then focus on a couple of small, private tracts in a 30-40 minute radius. These have much shorter approaches of 10-20 minutes. For these, I can usually be on stand within 2 hours of waking up (shower, eat, drive, change clothes, hike). Day light savings is painful on the sleep, but, generally I am usually waking up around 2:30-2:45 during mid-season 30-40 minute drives.
Once MS dog season opens in the late season (once dog season opens, bow hunting is pointless unless you have a large private area or are next to a hunting club where the dogs push all of the deer away), I stop hunting there and shift to 1 very small private tract in TN and some extremely difficult to access public land and archery only areas. I have a tract 4 hours away that I'll drive to once or twice during late season as well, depending on how many people are hunting there.
Of particular lack of sleep during this phase of the season are the difficult to access public lands. I stay at a friend's house in the Nashville area where I'm only 20 minutes from the area, but it requires a 1/2 mile canoe trek. Also sucks because he lives in a condo where I can't leave the canone on top of my truck. These morning require me to get up, load up the canoe, drive 20 minutes to a boat ramp, unload and then canoe across a lake. The logistics here are very time consuming to the point that I always use more time than I a lot no matter what time I wake up. The hunting is just ok, but almost guaranteed not to see anyone else unless they have wealthy friends who are the adjoining landowners. I have been occasionally interrupted by children and people walking dogs, though the deer don't seem to perceive this as pressure.
By late season, all of the driving really starts to wear on me. The all day sits during the rut, keeping up with work and 3 hours of sleep really catches up. I don't mind anything directly related to the hunting aspect, but the drives become brutal. On the occasional day that I hit snooze or don't get up, its because I didn't have the motivation to drive 45 minutes at 3:00 in the morning.
For me, hunting has been exclusively a solo affair. In general, I haven't been able to find partners willing to travel these distances for day hunts. While some ride shares to some of these public lands would be great, I haven't been able to find partners willing to depart this early in the morning. Either they plan on arriving to their stands a few minutes before or at 1st light, they only plan on hiking in a few hundred yards, and/or they are unwilling or not available to stick it out until mid day. I rode with a guy once last year and he complained that he didn't get enough sleep, I wanted to leave too early, he was 25 minutes late in meeting me, and waited at his truck for almost 4 hours even though I told him I would be in the woods until early afternoon.
The way that I look at it, hunting time should be at least twice the driving time. If I'm going to drive 3 hours round trip, then I should plan on hunting at least 6 hours, otherwise its a great waste of effort, resources and a fully productive work day. That being said, a 6-8 hour hunting day with a 3 hour round trip drive, 1 hour walk each way and another 30 minutes to shower, eat and get out of the house is almost a 12 hour day before I start working.
I am willing to do this and not complain and in fact, I rather enjoy the discomfort in some strange masochist way, but the driving just sucks.
How far do you go?
_________________________
It doesn't have to be fun to be fun. Wild & crazy, can't be stopped. Only the strong will survive. Keep your knife sharp and your skillet greasy. http://www.GoCarnivore.com
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#2011834 - 07/30/10 11:45 AM
Re: Driving Time/Logistics vs. Hunting Time
[Re: Poser]
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tndrbstr
16 Point
Registered: 10/06/05
Posts: 12157
Loc: knox co tn
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I have left home many times on a 1 1/2 hour drive just to make a few hour hunt...There are several things that I weigh in makeing my decision to that...
The biggest factor for me is usually just my gut feeling that THIS is going to be a great time to be in the woods for one reason or another....
I would much rather make the trip and be proved wrong,(which is often not the case) than to not try it and regret not giving it my best shot... 
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#2012155 - 07/30/10 05:01 PM
Re: Driving Time/Logistics vs. Hunting Time
[Re: tndrbstr]
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Living2Hunt
8 Point
Registered: 12/17/07
Posts: 1299
Loc: TN
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i drive 72 miles each time! its about 1 hour 45 mins. hard to do when its early. alot of times we go just for a morning hunt. but i like to atleast stay all day. i go from white house tn. to center hill lake. also will drive from white house to cheatam game reserve. about 1 and half hours. i do have a local game reserve to hunt, but its still 40 mins and bow hunting only! i like to go there if i cant stay all day. unless im seeing deer at my other place.
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#2012178 - 07/30/10 05:34 PM
Re: Driving Time/Logistics vs. Hunting Time
[Re: Living2Hunt]
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Bone Collector
12 Point
Registered: 09/09/09
Posts: 6116
Loc: Murfreesboro, TN
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I don't have to drive that far usually, at least not yet. I usually only have to drive 20-25 minutes to my public places, but sometimes i take my boat and then i have to unload it by myself and that takes time. I do however get up as early as 3 to either take my boat or to go to Giles or Hickman Co.
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Don't let the screen name fool you spikes are made of bone too  Semper Fidelis! The tree of liberty must be refreshed from time to time with the blood of patriots and tyrants. - Thomas Jefferson
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#2012180 - 07/30/10 05:36 PM
Re: Driving Time/Logistics vs. Hunting Time
[Re: Bone Collector]
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Poser
14 Point
Registered: 07/28/10
Posts: 8133
Loc: Tennessee
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Bone Collector,
Are you hunting in the East Fork/ Percy Priest areas of Smyrna?
_________________________
It doesn't have to be fun to be fun. Wild & crazy, can't be stopped. Only the strong will survive. Keep your knife sharp and your skillet greasy. http://www.GoCarnivore.com
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#2012238 - 07/30/10 06:53 PM
Re: Driving Time/Logistics vs. Hunting Time
[Re: Poser]
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Bone Collector
12 Point
Registered: 09/09/09
Posts: 6116
Loc: Murfreesboro, TN
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Poser,
I used to but it got crowded in there and that was before i had my boat. I have been thinking of going back now that i have it, but i have never navigated that area in the dark with low water, so i will have to go once or twice for afternoon hunts, before i go in the morning.
_________________________
Don't let the screen name fool you spikes are made of bone too Semper Fidelis! The tree of liberty must be refreshed from time to time with the blood of patriots and tyrants. - Thomas Jefferson
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#2012264 - 07/30/10 07:21 PM
Re: Driving Time/Logistics vs. Hunting Time
[Re: ]
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Poser
14 Point
Registered: 07/28/10
Posts: 8133
Loc: Tennessee
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most times i drive 2.30-3 hrs to my best spots
For day hunts?
_________________________
It doesn't have to be fun to be fun. Wild & crazy, can't be stopped. Only the strong will survive. Keep your knife sharp and your skillet greasy. http://www.GoCarnivore.com
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#2012270 - 07/30/10 07:25 PM
Re: Driving Time/Logistics vs. Hunting Time
[Re: Bone Collector]
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Poser
14 Point
Registered: 07/28/10
Posts: 8133
Loc: Tennessee
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Bone Collector,
I turkey hunted there this Spring and marked some potential set ups for bow season, though I haven't been back to Mid TN since then. I have navigated to some areas on Percy Priest using a canoe. It's not to badd in the dark as there is a lot of light pollution around much of the lake. I use a GPS to navigate to my locations.
-never been so sure about leaving my boat unattended for hours on end, so I use a bike lock and chain it to a tree as a precaution. I've used the boat on approaches that could be made by foot, but its so much more stealthy if you are hunting close to the edge of the lake.
_________________________
It doesn't have to be fun to be fun. Wild & crazy, can't be stopped. Only the strong will survive. Keep your knife sharp and your skillet greasy. http://www.GoCarnivore.com
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#2012282 - 07/30/10 07:37 PM
Re: Driving Time/Logistics vs. Hunting Time
[Re: Poser]
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Food Plot 101
8 Point
Registered: 02/07/06
Posts: 2067
Loc: Goodlettsville,TN USA
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I feel lucky to live 3 miles away from my lease. My others are all within a 30-45min. drive. I only have one over an hour drive and that's in Humph. county. If I oversleep I can always hunt on my property 
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#2012335 - 07/30/10 08:38 PM
Re: Driving Time/Logistics vs. Hunting Time
[Re: Food Plot 101]
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Football Hunter
18 Point
Registered: 10/22/07
Posts: 24550
Loc: Wilson Co/Perry Co
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Ill drive to wherever I think the best spot i have acsess to is,1 to 5 hours
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