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To Hunt Or Not To Hunt ????

HuntNFish

HuntNFish

Member
Just wonder what keeps some of you guys out of your stands, Wind? Cold? Heat? Bugs? Calander? Moon? Rain? Snow? Etc. I am sure some will say nothing, but there has to be times as we walk to our stands we second think of the stand we choose. How far do you push wind direction, and what are the concerns with burning out a stand early?
 
I personally don't worry too much about burning out stands, but I don't push it with the wind at all.
 
I have plenty of stands for all types of wind conditions so I choose based on that first.

I just like to stare at some different landscape each day so I just think...hey, I haven't been there yet... and the wind is just right /forum/images/%%GRAEMLIN_URL%%/smile.gif
 
I got off work early today and really wanted to go to the stand. However the wind was the wrong way for all of my stands.

I did not go.

Went out for Pizza and Beer instead.

I will not go hunt my stands with the wrong wind.
 
i like to hunt any stand i have in a valley in the morning, cause air currrents rise, stands on top of a ridge, ill hunt at night, air currents fall. depends on where i think or know where the deer will come from, consider your food source next to your stand and their feeding patterns at night. in the mornings before rut, bucks will head back to their bedding area usally low lying thick stuff.Getting closer to rut, i pay attention to doe movements, where they are , bucks are, you just need to pay attention to wind direction when entering your stand.when rut comes, its a guessing game, but, deer need two things to survive, food, water, find the feeding habits of does, bucks will follow., esp, if does are close to their estrous period.Basically,its just being there at the right time if-- you have done your homework. good luck to all!
 
I have some stands that I want to hunt but they take too much time to get to them. Otherwise wind is the biggest factor is wind.
 
<div class="ubbcode-block"><div class="ubbcode-header">Originally Posted By: tlambert</div><div class="ubbcode-body">Wind is the biggest factor with me.</div></div>

Totally agree with that.. On saturday I pulled a set in early afternoon and moved it to adjust to the wind. The lone wolf setups work great for that though and work great for not burning out a particular tree/area.

About burning out stands though I would say it can easily happen. I have a two buddies that also hunt a few properties that I do as well and there is a huge difference after they go in there, I can usually tell if they have just by deer movement. Maybe they are hunting it wrong sometimes? I dont know. But the less pressure during this time of the year (well anytime of the year) the better, IMO.
 
Heavy rain would keep me at the house but other than that I like to hunt crappy weather. In my little timber there is no good wind deer can come from everywhere. But I do what I can with where they generally come and go from.

IBOWBIGBUCKS- Isn't that the opposite. I've always heard you hunt high in the mornings and low in the evenings. If you're sitting in a valley and the air is rising isn't that going to carry it up to the top of the hill or ridge?
 
I hunt terrain more as the Pre-rut nears and stay out this time of year (saddles, ditch crossings,pinch points). Food sources and staging areas near a food source at this point. However, once I have established what "type" of terrain I am hunting, then the wind must be right or I have no confidence. So in one word...WIND!
 
In Oct. I just choose to bag warm days BECAUSE I can only take a limited amount of days to hunt SO I wait for the cold ones.

I'll hunt EVERY SINGLE DAY IN NOVEMBER I can- the only day in Nov I won't hunt is if it's thunderstorming SUPER BAD or tornadoes OR I have to go into work. I have about 50+ stands (I know that is crazy) so wind direction generally isn't hard during Nov.
 
Bow string,
your right, i hunt differently," Before Rut"-- i check wind, getting there is half the battle. bucks will bed in low lying THICKETS,i know they will come back and bed in their core area,after feeding all night & crusing. im in early before they return, and spend the day their.air currents rise in the morning , so when they return, ive been their.- along time,, my scent block had better of worked or im banking on the currents to rise above them as they return.you cant crash their core area during broad daylight.big bucks move around in their sancuary during the day, as long as they feel safe,they will browse ect, if were already there, they wont know it.As for hunting ridges at night, they will come out of their core area to feed, where, feild edges and such. why would i want to go deep in the timber and spook them?as rut gets closer, Bucks will follow does, does will be in feild edges,not in the timber, at night , you need to play the wind, you need to get their first, 2.00 pm or so, as november 1st approaches, i hunt more bottle necks ect, concentrated pieces of ground that will funnel deer.I changed up the way i was hunting, and it has worked for me, seen more deer ect, its whatever works for you.just dont be afraid to change it up.i read a artical on changing hunting tactics in outdoor life 4 or 5 yrs ago, the last thing it said was---dont be afraid to change your odds, happy hunting,
 
Wind, of course...but I also have specific stands for mornings and evenings. Two of my stands have proven to be a total waste of time as morning stands, there just isn't any action there until the evening. SO based on the time of day and wind then I move into a particular stand.

I like hunting in crappy weather when others might be staying home, but I won't risk getting sick because of it. I also benefit from neighboring hunters pushing deer out of their areas and into mine. Living 2.5 hours from my hunting ground helps keep me from burning my areas out and hopefully no-one has tresspassed into my areas so by rut they are full of deer...usually.

If I lived back home I would probably find it difficult to not over-hunt my stands. I just like being outdoors.

PLUS, if I see a large buck in an area I will hunt that area with a marginal wind because chances are likely he won't be staying there for too many consecutive days anyway. Sometimes you've just gotta forget all the logic and try to kill that monster why he's in your area.
 
<div class="ubbcode-block"><div class="ubbcode-header">Quote:</div><div class="ubbcode-body"> what are the concerns with burning out a stand early? </div></div>

For me, NONE. What happens early in October isn't likely to affect my setups in Nov. Bumping deer once is only going to make them leary for a few days...and they might just think it's fluke deal. Bump them a handful of times in the same stand (before rut) and you won't have much luck during the rut.

I'm lucky to live far enough from my hunting grounds that I can't hunt every weekend or every night so I'm not usually in danger of over-hunting my stands before rut.
 
IBOWBIGBUCKS-
Sounds like a good plan. I don't have a big enough piece of land to hold bucks so might not work for me. I usually have a couple does and a little spike or something like that hanging out.
But the does do like to bed on one end so your tactic might work during the rut. They tend to cruise thru the timber but at 15 acres I can set up pretty much anywhere. But I always wanted to sit down in the bedding area just never had the stones to try it.
Thanks for the input.
 
I'm not a big fan of lightning! Of course, wind factors in always.....your only going to be as successfull as your freshest stand. I try to have as many locations as possible. Its been my experience that sometimes hunting a wind that is just about wrong is your best bet.
 
Bow string,
not knowing what ground you have around you,im gussing some peice must connect to your 15 acres.if you have thick spot, you might be surprised, a big buck doesnt need alot to bed down in. they will bed next to where they know does will cruise, look for scrape lines in that 15 that lets you know theres one there. if you find one , freshen it up with your favorite lure.i shot a 11 point a few yrs back, that bedded in a grater ditch no bigger than the size of 5 big moter homes, in the middle of a bean feild.but the timber i was hunting was across the road, 80 acres, i was leaving my stand mid morning and happened to see him cross the road to my area, i marked the time & hunted it a few days later and got him.i had seen big scrapes in the area, but never seen anything, thought he was nocturnal, in fact he was a mid day cruiser, i was leaving to early. i talked with a farmer a few yrs back, 70 or so yrs old, he told me, Deer hunting is like war, hunt like your being hunted, think like they do to survive, what would you do if you were being hunted and someone was pattering you? change things up, you need to out guess your opponet like a chess game.kinda crazy old coot, but he lets me hunt his ground, and his words of wisdom seem to be true as i keep applying these statagies latly.Dont get me wrong, i dont kill Booners every yr, but have put myself in a position where i see more.i just need to keep fine tuning, but doing what we enjoy, is there anything better?
 
Turtl,
im with you, always use the wind, as far as hunting in crappy weather, the worst the better. have you ever noticed that before a storm, , 6-12 hrs, before rain or snow the deer move and feed heavly?they know!!because when the nasty stuff hits, their pounches are full, and their bedded underneath a evergreen somewhere laughing at us nuts for being out there & their not moving.thats why, if i know a front is moving in, ill hunt a few hrs before, if my job allows.big fat snow doesnt seem to affect them as much as rain, but ill hunt thru anything,cant kill the the big one on the couch my wife says!Happy hunting Turtl.
 
The only thing that keeps me out of the field would be lack of deer /forum/images/%%GRAEMLIN_URL%%/smile.gif Then I just move to an area that does have some... LOL.

I was out in the pouring rain/sleet last year, in a tree stand, gun covered in sleet, couldnt see through the scope anymore as it was fogged over, but still managed to shoot a button buck. Yeah I know, thought it was a doe.

Then went down south for late season antlerless, and was there in the morning when it was .......... -15F. Stayed out all day, and got two doe with one bullet that evening.

But hey, us ex military guys live for those kind of extremes right /forum/images/%%GRAEMLIN_URL%%/smile.gif
 
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