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Biggest Learning Lessons of the Season?

Sligh1

Sligh1

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So, it's obvious folks are really frustrated with the current state of hunting. I get it. Totally understand. What's some positive things you can control that you'll implement next season? Any lessons you learned from this season that you'll change for next season? Mistakes, successes, etc? The hunting could very well get tougher and big or small things I can change will be on my radar.

I think for me, I focusing on areas with the most cover and cedar thickets. A lot of areas that got torn up, CRP came out and put cows in timber - all those types of situations seemed to make things super challenging when I saw it or had buddies hunt that type of ground.

I don't think I did anything with gear or set-ups that were mistakes or big goof ups. I guess that's luckily a result of making most the mistakes before and fixing MOST of them. I'm sure I have a few more lessons to learn long term!

I think next season I have my calendar buttoned up a little better, time frames I'd like to be out is some more Oct evenings when weather dips and also Nov 6-22 instead of earlier Nov.

Last, I think next season I'm just going to take a year to lay off the does completely.
 
Main lesson for me was that mature bucks stay active late into Nov. My sightings were at their best from Thanksgiving till shotgun opener for me. Maybe it was just circumstances but it was definately better during that time that earlier in the season.

I have a couple access control improvements in mind that I have discussed with one landowner (who is on board 100% with the idea). Also bought a couple small pieces of ATV accessories that I have been wanting for a couple years so I can maintain plots better and possibly put a couple more into new areas. So, I am looking forward to 2014 for at least one perspective anyway.
 
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Because of time constraints, I did my best to hunt smart rather than hard. It paid off with a mature buck on December 6th. Also, with the rut being less intense (from my perspective) I am really beginning to learn and appreciate that late season bowhunting can be as good or better than the rut. Easy to say this year because we had the right conditions and I put a big one down, but my best hunts over the last 3 years have all happened within a week of 1st gun opening.

Next year I will be putting my cameras out in full force again. I miss having that extra set of eyes out there and I have some new spots to learn. Good post Skip - this site is in need of something positive.
 
Next season, I'm going back to the basics. Running cameras more so on deer activity rather than over a food/mineral stations early. I seem to get a ton of quality deer early in the year in velvet and first part of the season however, with extreme pressure from other guys and neighbors, etc; I need to hone back in on why I started bow hunting in the first place. I need to make it "fun" again. Past couple years I've stressed myself out entirely too much chasing one deer or setting my standards potentially too high for what I could realistically accomplish. I have some great ground I have the privileged to hunt however so do a couple other gentlemen. I felt rather than hunting and figuring out the deer, I was hunting and trying to work around these guys, it made for a lot more stress than needed be.

Next fall I'm going to look to gain access in a couple "less" desirable places that I know hold good deer. Instead of hunting with the mentality of quantity, I'll now be looking for quality hunts. Also seemed like I seemed to pick bad days to hunt stands, as I hunt these properties each year I'm consistently learning new things about each property. I felt like this year in particular, I didn't hunt earlier enough (end of October) when it seemed like the big dogs were about the only deer actively on their feet-at least in my neck of the woods. I waited until first week in November and it seemed like the couple deer I was specifically after were already locked up with does.

Great post Skip, as always.
 
I'll be hunting a new area for late ML since the farm I was hunting sold and the cover will be removed. It won't be from the blind so just some afternoon sets on food sources. The place where I hunt during shotgun is more of a traveling corridor and this year the deer traveled a different direction. It's all row crop so really can't add any habitat, but thought about maybe trying a late food source like I see some of the farmers putting down for a cover crop.
 
The biggest thing I forgot is patience. Patience is patience and lack of patience is lack of patience no matter where you live and/or hunt, but out here where its primarily spot/stalk for archery deer (at least where I hunt), having patience is the ultimate thing I need to work on. I need to be less aggressive. The next time I get to within 35 or 40 yards of a bedded mature buck that I can't see, I'm going to sit down and wait him out rather than try to force a play and watch him stot over the next ridge away from me. That, and I'm sure I'll invest in a better, quieter pair of sneeky feet (and remember then for when I'm standing 35-40 yards from a bedded mature buck!).
 
Biggest lesson for me is to follow Dbltree's foodplot plan to the letter!! I couldn't believe how many more deer I had around.
 
I got permission for quite a few spots this year but right away I had a big 8 point patterned and on opening day, sure enough he came by 15 minutes before shooting light. This caused me to focus on that property and with it being right next to my house it was easy to get to before classes and after so I hunted it a lot and it eventually paid off. But during late season I went to a few of the other properties I can hunt and noticed way more deer sign so next year I plan to spread out more even if its not as easy.


I hunted 60 of the 67 day first archery split which allowed me to make some great moves after patterning the deer in the areas so o plan to do the same next year. Also got a new stand and sticks to do a few hang and hunts.

After 8 shooters being taken this year and two houses put up in the timber close to my stands. I have a lot of scouting ahead of me. Also need to talk to the trapper trapping the creek because he walks through the bedding area to go to his traps..Going to be a rough year in my neck of the woods.
 
1.) Plant more habitat or improve the properties that I hunt on.

2.) Get any needed equipment early, and especially, hang stands where I absolutely need them.

3.) Strive to be more encouraging to my fellow hunter where they need it and not to be afraid to share what has worked for me.

4.) Do more research to understand the better tactics for the rut

5.) start keeping a Day Log for all day hunts. I really need to do this. I think I can better plan the times I'm out there hunting if I keep something like a journal.

6.) Do all my equipment Prep (maintenance etc.) before the season. I have a habit of waiting till the last minute to do it.

7.) Prepare for the "what if" scenarios.. I blew chances at filling my tag by not being alert and planning ahead for the different scenarios that often pop up.

8.) Do more scouting
 
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I agree, good post idea Skip!

For me, 2013 was a weird bow season, and not until it was almost over did things start to make sense to me as to what was happening on our farm and in the surrounding neighborhood.

Our practice has been to run cameras over mineral sites through the summer months mainly to inventory the bucks that are around and verify who survived and who has disappeared. We had several of the "usual suspects" show themselves this summer and a couple of very solid high 150's to low/mid 160's to look forward to hunting. But it also seemed like there weren't as many bucks around as in the past and there were no giants...hmmm.

Our food plots continue to get more/bigger/better...BUT the stupid droughts in 2012 and 2013 have also been tough on the plants and whereas we had some bright spots on the food plot front, we also had some failed plantings too. FWIW, as near as I could tell, other similarly minded neighbors were having identical struggles with their plots too and some of the neighbors were reporting seeing very little deer sign and/or deer on their place v. previous years...again, hmmm.

We started bow hunting in early October and we usually pick around the edges of the farm in the early going and nab a few does for the freezer. We actually had very good hunting early in the season and I was beginning to worry that we may have too many deer on the farm. In fact, my son commented to me after a mid-October action packed hunt that he had never seen so many deer on our place at that time of the year. And he wasn't even in our best area on the farm. Life is good...

Fast forward three weeks later and we were both asking each other, "Where did the deer go?". It was a strange thing, it was as if they just kind of filtered away through the end of October and into what we thought was going to be a prime rut period for us. Now well after the season has passed, as near as I can determine, we were holding a disproportionate number of deer early, relative to the "neighborhood" and as the season went on we had what amounts to a "fall dispersal" into surrounding habitat that for a variety of reasons was very low on deer numbers going into the fall.

The lesson(s)...I know we have been spoiled on our place, which is in a well managed neighborhood, to have had a reliable, strong deer population over the past few years when other people "around" were really starting to see dramatic drops. After watching the proverbial air leak out of the balloon this season, seemingly right in front of our eyes, I now realize that we are not immune from the effects of much lower deer numbers in the surrounding region.

It is said that nature abhors a vacuum, and I believe that to be true. What will we do differently? Take fewer deer ourselves, build even better habitat to support the ones that are still there and hopefully provide some sort of influence on other hunters and land owners to be more active in managing their lands more effectively and not just treating the deer herd as an unlimited supply of rifle targets so the neighborhood that we are in remains a strong area.
 
1. Pick my spots to hunt the best days.
2. More food for late season hunting, the best hunting of the year right there.
3. Determine if more does need taken, buck sightings increased after killing 19 does.
 
My biggest lesson i have learned this year is to always have your gun cleaned and don't always go off of what your grandpa tells you! Haha ;) I missed the biggest buck of my life during gun season because my powder didn't go off!

My goal for this year is to put food on our farm, i would like to hold the deer more then what it already does,(deer bed on our place but leave to feed, other then browse)We had a very successful season on our farm with on food whatsoever on it! I can't imagine what's its goin to be once we get food on it!
 
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I saw a lot of deer in Nov with late morning sits. Typically I'd hunt the morning and afternoon only. Ive been missing a lot of action these last 15 years.
 
I won't do much differently.
I always follow the same approach, get out after work on days that I can in Sept. and Oct. I always focus on hunting food source edges, it has worked for me and will continue to at that time of year. I involved my kids more this year than before and at times that meant more throw away hunts in exchange for time hunting together before they are of age as well as the chance to teach them the things I had to learn on my own. The only change I will likely make is that I will iclude them even more next year. At this stage in life, my killing the best buck I can find is secondary to sharing the entire hunitng experience with 2 boys who are eager as all heck to one day be able to kill a buck.
 
Things I will try:
1. Gain access to the neighbor's ground...oh wait, it's leased. Gain access to the other neighbor's ground...oh wait, leased. Gain access to...oh who am I kidding! :)
2. Not have a baby at the beginning of December so I can still get out for all of early bow split, shotgun and late muzzy/late bow split (although the one we had and any future babies will always be more important than any deer!).
3. Get food plots in.
4. More screening?
5. Reanalyze stand locations and move if needed...more scouting.
6. Not go after one buck...hmm, that sounds like the last two years. And I'm sure if the one I was after the last 3 years makes an appearance next fall, I'll be sucked back into focusing on him!
7. Try to convince my wife that I do need to be in the stand as much or more than I am. I know, good luck. :D
8. Don't second guess some days to hunt.

I'm sure other things will come up thru the year.
 
Sounds like a great plan Sask!

This was the second year I left cams out from June through April. I will be moving/removing some stands since the cams photos have repeated the same patterns of where mature bucks move specifically. I found out I have way too many stands that I won't be able to use because of specific deer movement directions and timings.

This year my wife and I hunted specific times, late Oct thru Nov, then Dec. muzzle loader and saw the highest number of good bucks and older bucks than years past. Part of this success was because my screening of stands was a lot better quality than years past and because of not hunting stands that weren't screened well.

I also had double digit all day sits and it revealed what I have been missing all these years. I will be doing as many if not more than last year.

Box blinds make all day sits possible for me. The younger me will continue building for the older wife and me.:) My dad already loves them. I passed on many bucks from 30 yards and in(closest 1's at 5 yards) and they never knew I was there.
 
Daver said:
Fast forward three weeks later and we were both asking each other, "Where did the deer go?". It was a strange thing, it was as if they just kind of filtered away through the end of October and into what we thought was going to be a prime rut period for us. Now well after the season has passed, as near as I can determine, we were holding a disproportionate number of deer early, relative to the "neighborhood" and as the season went on we had what amounts to a "fall dispersal" into surrounding habitat that for a variety of reasons was very low on deer numbers going into the fall.
Click to expand...

I had a similar experience, loads of deer the first week or two of the season and then a steep drop off. At he time i thought it was due to the harvest of crops changing their patterns, but looking back they just dispersed to other areas dropping the numbers where i hunt drastically. This led to a slow rut overall for me. Couple sightings but no real opportunities at shooters.

The biggest change i am going to make is making a concerted effort to get some food plots up and going. My first attempt last year was a total fail, due to insufficient knowledge and the drought.

The other thing will be to focus on quality hunts instead of quantity. This season, when i wasn't seeing deer it caused me to hunt even more because i felt that i was just in the wrong spot or wrong day. This caused me to miss some family events that probably should have taken precedence.
 
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Ha that's pry what it will look like in a couple years when every deer hunter is chasing the only deer left in the state!
 
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