killadoe

I hunt thousand of acres (public land / and Hunting Lease) every year. My best advice is to find better quality spots. When you are scouting and find a place to hang a stand or a tree to climb, keep looking there may be something better. The better your scouting is before season the more successfull you'll be ( which applies anywhere but especially to larger tracts of land ). Find the hottest SPOTS and hunt them. You cant cover it all and dont kid yourself with the " I shoulda been over there " routine.

So find the hottest spots you can and pray its your lucky day...Oh yeah keep moving...

magicman54494

Then why do you want to fix something that ain't broken?

GMMAT

That's a fair question. I realize the benefits of having multiple spots to hunt.....I do. I just wonder if people find themselves second-guessing their setups who've gone through this.

I'm not looking to "fix" anything....and I don't think I've been "lacking" anything, either.

I've gotten some good advice from this. For one.....learning each property will be fun (knowing when/where to hunt). Also....giving certain "previously productive" spots a rest can't do anything but help.

I suppose (don't know).....I'm taking a chance that .....what I'm (possibly) giving up.......can be part of the excitement....and the new areas (possibly) can be fruitful (maybe even MORESO). It may just take a little more time (Also not a "negative").

For the most part.....I've been screwed with any N, NW, NE wind in the past. Now I'm not. I also know I've over-hunted my good spots.

So....we have guys who hunt the CRAP out of spots that have been productive for them in the past. One thing that I'm thinking is......my REALLY good spot is a really good spot at a certain time of the year. I now can stay the heck out fo there until that time arrives. I've been too stupid to do that in the past....and I've still gotten away with it.

In compormise.....I'll likely NOT hunt all of these areas in '08. Maybe just try to learn one more property at a time. The land I won't hunt (very much) this year isn't going anywhere (family land).

I suppose the best of all worlds would be.....having "hot" spots on different properties at "most" times of the year. That's what I'll be looking for. I guess we all are.

MNpurple

More land is never bad thing and in my opinion does not diminish your chances because you are spread thin. What more land will do is increase your scouting time dramatically to narrow down your stand sites. More land doesnt necessarily equal more stand sites, it equals the "best" sites.

You coudl have 100 acres to hunt for the whole seaosn and have 10 stands there because thats all you got. Another guy could have 500 acres and still have only 10 stand sites, but he has the liberty to me much more picky on those stands.

Its also my opinion that even if you hunt smart,in general, the first two timesin a stand are your best andodds decrease from there on out as you leave more sign of your presence.

LittleChief

Actually, Jeff, I understand this one.Last season,my only available hunting waspublic land in MO and a 530 acre lease in Arkansas. No complaints at all. This season, I added two leases in Tennessee - a 450 acre lease in Tipton county and a 1000 acre lease in Hardeman county. While I like the idea of having multiple hunting sites, that's a lot of acreage with a lot of possibilities and I can see second guessing myself on where to go on what day.

Still, I'm thankful that I'll have multiplelocation choicesthat'll let me either work around the plans of the other hunters or usetheir plans to my advantage. Also, the way leases seem to slide right out fromunder hunters these days, I like the idea of having three available. I know that the odds are pretty heavy in my favor that I won't lose all three.

twildasin

Jeff I know what you mean! Its a good problem to have but its a problem. I just got access to a new peice of property i was telling Rob its loaded with deer and there are 3 huge buck there. The guy has watched them grow over the years they come into his yard. He now has way to many and is allowing me rights to come in and archery hunt. Then there is my honey hole farm that I have been hunting for 10 years and it holds some very nice buck for Pa. standards. We also spotted a white yearling while out shed hunting. Here are 2 of the bucks that made it for sure from last year and gosh are they gonna be nice this year.


See i put so much time into this woods and now I got this new peice and the guy told me there were 2 10points and a 12 point in his yard last year he said they are probably 4 years old he has pictures of them every year. he recently planted sod around his daughters house which is beside his and the next morning there were 32 deer eating it. Thats when he got fed up. So im in now but i feel torn to leave one of these bucks Ive been hunting for awhile!

Siman08/OH

I think you should obvoiusly keep your old spots and find a few new ones through scouting that seem really promising, the unknown factor would persuade me to at least try a few new spots during the season.

NY/Al

I must say that i definatly have too much land for one man to hunt. I know a lot of people that let me hunt thier personal woods, plus all of the dairy farmers know me so i can hunt theirs too. Were talking thousands of acres that a ton of people gun hunt, but im pretty much the only bow hunter in most of my spots. Some places i never even step foot on to scout or hunt, if i had less land i know that i would probably have more success in my core areas because i would be scouting more. BUT on the other hand, i am also not in there enough for the deer to become wise to me. I guess its a trade off on my part...? Like all of these discussions, theres just too many variables....

Siman08/OH

variables is the key word....

I would still stick to what i said if it were me

LKNCHOPPERS

Seems likeI need 4 separate places. Something always happens and spoils a spot for a while.Dogs, people, other hunters, nearby builders. I use trail cams and read sign to evaluate these spots in the order I will hunt them.