Define "Pressure"
05-30-2008, 10:50 AM
#21
Super Moderator
Join Date: Feb 2004
Location: Central Utah
Posts: 4,815
RE: Define "Pressure"
The spot I hunt the most had 60 hunters signed in on opening day (a monday). There are 100 guys wandering around out there the week before season opens, hanging stands. Some guys still are dragging stands out there once season opens, even in mid-November.(setting them up at 4pm no less)
This is on 600 acres of woods at best.
Last season I set my stand up on what I figured would be 'escape routes' for the deer when they ran into the other hunters. Well, sure enough, opening evening a bunch of deer come past, some running, one stumbling about, nonepresentinga shot. A hunter 100 yards away hadshot a doe. It was a bad hit. He spent the entire next day looking for that doe on that same ridge that I was hunting. I'll give him credit for looking, but it entirely ruined the area I had hung my stand. [&o]
High pressure public land rocks!
This is on 600 acres of woods at best.
Last season I set my stand up on what I figured would be 'escape routes' for the deer when they ran into the other hunters. Well, sure enough, opening evening a bunch of deer come past, some running, one stumbling about, nonepresentinga shot. A hunter 100 yards away hadshot a doe. It was a bad hit. He spent the entire next day looking for that doe on that same ridge that I was hunting. I'll give him credit for looking, but it entirely ruined the area I had hung my stand. [&o]
High pressure public land rocks!
05-30-2008, 11:23 AM
#22
Join Date: Mar 2004
Location:
Posts: 13,082
RE: Define "Pressure"
ORIGINAL: GMMAT
In terms of whitetail deer hunting......define "pressure".
Is it always (in your opinions) due to hunters?
Germ's reply to another post makes sense to me. He said there was an absence of big bucks in his area.....due to "pressure". I buy that. I'm the only one "legally" hunting the woods I hunt. But...the herd there is "pressured". I've always contended that a whitetail doesn't care if you're checking your cam....scouting....planting a food plot.....hanging a stand......walking your dog.....jogging or hunting.
He only knows you're in his bedroom.
In terms of whitetail deer hunting......define "pressure".
Is it always (in your opinions) due to hunters?
Germ's reply to another post makes sense to me. He said there was an absence of big bucks in his area.....due to "pressure". I buy that. I'm the only one "legally" hunting the woods I hunt. But...the herd there is "pressured". I've always contended that a whitetail doesn't care if you're checking your cam....scouting....planting a food plot.....hanging a stand......walking your dog.....jogging or hunting.
He only knows you're in his bedroom.
Ok, when I was notified of being drawn, I took to the woods for some scouting. I can't tell you how many deer I walked right up on w/in 20 yards and they just watched me walk by. I talked to several folks on horseback that had similar stories.
Fast forward to the hunt. Now I'm sneaking around in camo and off of the trails. I spooked quite a few deer. I personally feel like the deer noticed the difference in behavior, and while they didn't understand it was because I was trying to kill them......They didn't care either. It was different, and that's all they needed to know.
I think if there's consistant activity in an area, the deer grow used to it and it doens't bother them. That's why they simply watch a farmer plow their field, but don't try walking across it, or driving across it w/ your truck. I agree that for the most part they don't care what you're doing, but they notice the difference. And in most cases, human activity in the woods IS the difference.
05-30-2008, 02:17 PM
#23
Join Date: Feb 2004
Location: Inverness, MS
Posts: 3,982
RE: Define "Pressure"
I define pressure as 4 months of deer season, 2.5 of which is firearm.
I define it as firearm season encompassing all facets of the rut.
I define it as every male I know hunts deer.
I define it as dog hunting is a way of life.
I define it as extremely liberal bag limits.
I define it as an almost completely nocturnal rut.
I define it as deer hunting in Mississippi.
I define it as firearm season encompassing all facets of the rut.
I define it as every male I know hunts deer.
I define it as dog hunting is a way of life.
I define it as extremely liberal bag limits.
I define it as an almost completely nocturnal rut.
I define it as deer hunting in Mississippi.
05-30-2008, 02:31 PM
#24
Boone & Crockett
Join Date: Sep 2005
Location: Michigan/Ohio
Posts: 11,682
RE: Define "Pressure"
Pressure = instrustion in a deer core area out of sync with deer(in that area)"normal" routine.
IMO there is a level of "pressure" each whitetail will tolerate in an area. Once that level has been reached, we now have a pressure whitetail who is going to change his or hers routine.
IMO there is a level of "pressure" each whitetail will tolerate in an area. Once that level has been reached, we now have a pressure whitetail who is going to change his or hers routine.
05-30-2008, 03:01 PM
#25
Giant Nontypical
Join Date: Sep 2007
Location: Central Minnesota
Posts: 9,445
RE: Define "Pressure"
ORIGINAL: Germ
Pressure = instrustion in a deer core area out of sync with deer(in that area)"normal" routine.
IMO there is a level of "pressure" each whitetail will tolerate in an area. Once that level has been reached, we now have a pressure whitetail who is going to change his or hers routine.
Pressure = instrustion in a deer core area out of sync with deer(in that area)"normal" routine.
IMO there is a level of "pressure" each whitetail will tolerate in an area. Once that level has been reached, we now have a pressure whitetail who is going to change his or hers routine.
05-30-2008, 03:14 PM
#26
Nontypical Buck
Join Date: Mar 2005
Posts: 1,933
RE: Define "Pressure"
IMO - pressure is a combination of two things. First, bumping deer. Second, putting human scent into an area that human scent doesn't usually exist. Now consider this as a scale. The more "pressure" on one side, the less movement you can expect to see on the other. For mature deer, it doesn't take much. The younger the deer, the less pressure willeffecttheir movement.
This is the reason I hunt so many areas, trying to get as many surprise attacks in a season as possible. The number of deer we see is completely dependent on my ability to locate new stand sites throughout the entire season.
This is the reason I hunt so many areas, trying to get as many surprise attacks in a season as possible. The number of deer we see is completely dependent on my ability to locate new stand sites throughout the entire season.
05-30-2008, 03:45 PM
#27
Giant Nontypical
Join Date: Feb 2003
Location: Phoenixville, PA USA
Posts: 5,541
RE: Define "Pressure"
ORIGINAL: early in
Bryan, that reminds me of something a lady said to me one time. She owns a small parcel ofground that she lets me hunt exclusively. She hates the deer because they eat up all of her Hosta's (sp), flowers that she spends a lot of time planting, that she LOVES!!She told me it should beeasy killing some of these deer, because they just graze on her lawn as she tends to her gardening.
I laughed, and told her those deer don't run because they seeyou do thatall the time, and you pose no threat to them. She also told me she has banged pots together to scare them, and they just stand there and look at her! I also told her whenI go back into their world to hunt, they become a TOTALLY different animal, because they know I'm a threat!
Bryan, that reminds me of something a lady said to me one time. She owns a small parcel ofground that she lets me hunt exclusively. She hates the deer because they eat up all of her Hosta's (sp), flowers that she spends a lot of time planting, that she LOVES!!She told me it should beeasy killing some of these deer, because they just graze on her lawn as she tends to her gardening.
I laughed, and told her those deer don't run because they seeyou do thatall the time, and you pose no threat to them. She also told me she has banged pots together to scare them, and they just stand there and look at her! I also told her whenI go back into their world to hunt, they become a TOTALLY different animal, because they know I'm a threat!
He politely explained that doing that would be illegal and highly unethical. She didn't seem to care.
Todd, there is something to be said for your method. They always say the best chance you have of shooting a deer out of a stand is the first time you sit it. If you move around enough and have enough spots you can make each hunt almost a "first time" from that stand.
05-30-2008, 10:26 PM
#28
Giant Nontypical
Join Date: Dec 2006
Location: Chatham, Ohio
Posts: 8,834
RE: Define "Pressure"
"Pressure" to me is activity that isn't normal to a deer. Around my property, their are bedding areas right next to logging roads that i will jump deer out of every day and they come back. Now farther into the woods, they probably wouldn't come back. There's certain places the deer will expect humans to be IMO.
05-31-2008, 01:09 AM
#29
Nontypical Buck
Join Date: Nov 2007
Location: Central Wisconsin
Posts: 1,196
RE: Define "Pressure"
Any time the animal has to be alert, it is loosing its sence of comfort. If that said animal has been alerted in a certain place and made a conection with the threat (stinky human) time and again, there is no comfort in that area and then the deer is under "pressure" in said area.