Hiking in deep or staying close

[Northcountryman]

It’s pretty common consensus that after the season starts, especially rifle season, that deer sightings plummet ; furthermore , most reason that they tend to stay further Away from the road, houses , anywhere near people basically. However, some of the best sign is often found with 100 yards of the road , a parking lot, etc. So I was thinking: wouldn’t it make sense to have a stand closer to civilization to work and a farther from the road stand intentionally to cover all bases? If I were to use both in 1 day for example, I would be more inclined to hike in to the further stand for the am hunt to try to catch them going back to rest and bed and go far the closer stand(s) for the afternoon hunt . I realize this is an oversimplification of strategy but basically does it sound about right? 

 

Thanks 

[dbHunterNY]

after the (regular) season starts is peak breeding.  deer will be moving around even if they get away from people.  private land with fields and ag or lots closer to roads usually show lots of sign but often it's from activity and feeding at night. deer are kept away from any resource/food other than at night. hard to catch them going back to bed because bucks say aren't really going back to bed too long. they're up moving. gotta find patches of cover or terrain that's used for bedding or hard mast stands and then hunt in between it without letting everything know you're there.  then you can find bucks cruising between spots likely to have doe or you'll find doe looking for the next spot for some piece and quiet without being pushed by bucks .  it's hard to beat them to bed, especially the bucks. evenings are more productive to hunt farther in with hopes of catching something headed to the spots closer to civilization and all the sign. just what i think has worked for me. edges feathered into wide open mature woods that run perpendicular to the prevailing wind that day are all good spots. especially if terrain or say a creek or bog is what created it. bucks will scent check a lot of acreage that way.  i killed one buck at like 10 yards with my bow on a huge tract of state land miles in that way. that's what i think.

[sodfather]

A lot of that close sign is middle of the night activity I believe but that’s just my opinion 

[518BowSlayer]

i don't think you could ever get a true answer to your question simply because every property is different. my best stand is right in my friends backyard, I can see his house from it when the leaves start falling. I see way more deer there than at my inlaws place where we gotta walk about a mile or so to our stands. but I see much bigger bucks there so it's a trade off. the only way your gonna find out is to scout and  hunt. set up trail cams if you can and check for sign. for me I gotta hunt around my work schedule so if I have all day ill usually go to the inlaws. if I get out of work early enough i'll go sit in my friends backyard for a few hours. only way to really find out is to get out there and hunt

[ncountry]

         I love to hunt the furthest spot I can find. That is usually where you would find me hunting. It is funny though , all the hunters seem to read the same book on where to hunt.. I cannot say how many times I have picked out the perfect pinch point/ funnel miles in only to find a stand already there. Dam! That was a waste of excersize..Took my stand for a walk again.. Lol

 In recent years I have started to hunt those spots just off the rd or parking lot more. The ones that I walked by and thought to myself" I oughta sit here." . I assume we have all done it. How many times have you come back out and seen the fresh tracks in The snow or mud?

The best spots are thick and or wet and people just walk around on their way to the deer "hot spot" . I am not sure if I have not been just as successful hunting this way... Deer, if anything, are lazy (efficient). On average they aren't that far from the food source.  A small thick patch can hold a pile of does.  And even if that buck doesn't live there , when the rut hits he will be around.

Imho ..it is just as , or more, important to pattern the people than the deer.

[NFA-ADK]

Typically the area close to roads, farms or residential I find are big doe areas especially if you see a lot of sign.  If you're just looking for any deer these are good spots to scout then set up properly, you can do this from your stand during season but is best to do it well before so you don't spook them.  

Not a bad idea to have one deep for early morning but remember if you have many people in the woods they like to come out for lunch and can push deer towards the front of the property when coming back, often this is around lunch time.  

Camera's are great if you get them in the right spot with no detection from the prey to give more information as stated above.  

I don't think the deer always go deep when the shooting starts, more often I find them in thick cover where most hunters don't like to venture in like a big swamp or thick brush.  Find the connecting area from those spots to food sources and usually you will see deer. 

Good point NCountry on patterning people!  

Good luck, hope you get the big one!  

Edited August 10, 2018 by NFA-ADK

[dbHunterNY]

25 minutes ago, ncountry said:

         I love to hunt the furthest spot I can find. That is usually where you would find me hunting. It is funny though , all the hunters seem to read the same book on where to hunt.. I cannot say how many times I have picked out the perfect pinch point/ funnel miles in only to find a stand already there. Dam! That was a waste of excersize..Took my stand for a walk again.. Lol

 In recent years I have started to hunt those spots just off the rd or parking lot more. The ones that I walked by and thought to myself" I oughta sit here." . I assume we have all done it. How many times have you come back out and seen the fresh tracks in The snow or mud?

The best spots are thick and or wet and people just walk around on their way to the deer "hot spot" . I am not sure if I have not been just as successful hunting this way... Deer, if anything, are lazy (efficient). On average they aren't that far from the food source.  A small thick patch can hold a pile of does.  And even if that buck doesn't live there , when the rut hits he will be around.

Imho ..it is just as , or more, important to pattern the people than the deer.

on public land... totally. deer patterns on a wednesday can be vastly different than on a saturday or sunday.

[Doc]

Recently what I have been noticing is that hunters in our heavily pressured public land are definitely sold on what they have been told and what they read. They jump out of the car with the intention of getting as far from the road as possible. Our deer have taken note of that change in hunter patterns and stay in that thick impenetrable multiflora rose that will tear a grown man apart in just a hundred yards or so. The deer seem to be patterning the hunters very well. I also have had more and more occasions when I come dragging in after a day on top of the hill, only to have my wife tell me about the bucks in the front yard. They seem to have  it all figured out......lol. 

[chrisw]

Like said already, every single spot is different, bottom line is I'm always scouting and I'll hunt where the deer are, sometimes it's 75 yds away from my truck and sometimes it's a mile. Some deer get old by living right under your nose, others hide deep. I've killed them both ways. I rely heavily on cameras because the sign can be misleading.

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[Lawdwaz]

200 yards from the road

150 yards from the road

Maybe 100 yards from the road

This one should have included an overnight bag; 500 yards from the road

[Northcountryman]

Very good discussion here IMHO! dbhunter : very well said about the bucks not bedding too long after an early morning push. I think I was assuming that their morning bed Down was longer than you suggest and I think your probably right in many cases. 

Also, the point made about a lot of sign made close being done at night is probably valid as well. 

But don’t you think that generally, after opening day of rifle when everybody and his brother is out there trying to accomplish the same objective and the deer are out on hyper alert that they don’t push back and deep in the am ? I know that so many guys stay within a few hundred yards from the road the entire season and certainly the deer figure that out? They seem to have no reservation about stepping out and coming close AFTER the sun goes down but there sure as hell gone by sunup!! 

[Northcountryman]

Lawdwaz;

 

Nice Bucks!! Congrats to you 

Edited August 11, 2018 by Northcountryman

[NonTypical]

This buck was taken 150 yards off the road on state land. I had a view of the parking area below and it wasn't too far off of the main logging road that had no less than 12 guys walk in on. I shot him at 7am on opening day.

Deer can pattern us much better than you'd expect. Every spot is different, and sometimes you just need to go where others are not willing to go. Whether it's right off the road, or hiking deep in. 

Edited August 11, 2018 by NonTypical

[dbHunterNY]

If there's a small patch of cover with routes to flee then deer will use it and let you walk on by. Most spots accessible get some kind of traffic close. Just have to scout smart and figure out what the deer and people do.

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[moog5050]

17 hours ago, Lawdwaz said:

200 yards from the road

150 yards from the road

Maybe 100 yards from the road

This one should have included an overnight bag; 500 yards from the road

So we have confirmed Larry only shoots lazy deer.    Me too.  The size of the properties I hunt means that most of the Deer I have killed are only a few hundred yards or less from a road.   But I suspect public land might require a different strategy.  

[Swamp_bucks]

I tend to go in from 200yrds up to a mile except for one spot. my best deer to date was 45yards from the road on stateland he was trying to get to the private land. Its the smallest chunck i hunt.  Always a nice deer taken by someone  in that same place each year. Had a chance at another 8 last year same spot. He caught me on my draw.

[steve863]

I've always believed that one could kill a crapload MORE and BIGGER deer within a stones throw from roads and homes if one is lucky enough to have such spots in comparison to those who need to travel miles to get to their spot in the middle of nowhere. 

[Northcountryman]

I’d like to set something up deeper In to hike to real early in the am and test this out as opposed to being deep for the afternoon hunt. Of course, trail cams with sighting times would help substantiate this lol.  If you can get out there early where there’s lots of other hunters , such as you see on public land , you can use other hunters to your advantage. I’m just thinking , based on my own experience and observations of deer over time, that you tend to see deer coming out closer to home at the end of the day whereas morning sightings tend to be returning back to their deeper, daily haunts . 

[Doc]

I have always had easy access to the back-country up on top of our hills where you would think no sane person would ever consider going. A short ATV ride on my own land up a steep "killer-hill" to where it flattens out, opens up hundreds of acres for me to get way back in without all the sweat and exhaustion that others have to contend with. And yet even way back in, the place is crawling with hunters. On the days when there is snow, the hunter tracks everywhere (and I do mean EVERYWHERE), tell you that the popular strategy now is to concentrate on the back acreage where it is thought that no one will go except the deer. People walk right by some excellent hunting grounds to get to such places .... and the deer know it too. I have seen guys cresting the hill, dragging all kinds of stands and backpacks, ringing wet with sweat, and panting like a steam engine, only to find the top of the hill and beyond totally populated with other hunters who thought they would be rewarded with deer running all over the place.

[Robhuntandfish]

i actually plan my season in stages.  The early season I hunt the field areas where deer are feeding and try to target an early doe for the freezer or the off chance of a nice buck.  I actually try not to hunt my farther back in places til later in the season more towards pre-rut and rut.  Then i hit those on the right winds.  This way i dont blow them out for the best time of year, yet still get to hunt the fields early season where its still more of a summer pattern and do more evening than morning hunts.  Towrds the end of October i start hunting those deeper places in the am's as well - always on the right wind .  They havent been disturbed and deer still feel safe there as i have been on the fringes.  

 

[LET EM GROW]

On 8/10/2018 at 4:23 PM, ncountry said:

         I love to hunt the furthest spot I can find. That is usually where you would find me hunting. It is funny though , all the hunters seem to read the same book on where to hunt.. I cannot say how many times I have picked out the perfect pinch point/ funnel miles in only to find a stand already there. Dam! That was a waste of excersize..Took my stand for a walk again.. Lol

 In recent years I have started to hunt those spots just off the rd or parking lot more. The ones that I walked by and thought to myself" I oughta sit here." . I assume we have all done it. How many times have you come back out and seen the fresh tracks in The snow or mud?

The best spots are thick and or wet and people just walk around on their way to the deer "hot spot" . I am not sure if I have not been just as successful hunting this way... Deer, if anything, are lazy (efficient). On average they aren't that far from the food source.  A small thick patch can hold a pile of does.  And even if that buck doesn't live there , when the rut hits he will be around.

Imho ..it is just as , or more, important to pattern the people than the deer.

I have 2 bucks that are 9.5 yrs old this year. Both bedrooms of these bucks are on a neighboring property of guys that shoot anything with a 3inch spike or bigger.. and there is over a dozen guys that gun hunt this property.One of thes ebucks in particular, I have said for several years now that this buck has to be in a perfect advantage point patterning and watching these guys as hunting season kicks in. HE knows where he is safe, and you can tell how cautious he is in nearly every single trail cam picture. I have one spot on our property where i have a decent chance at this guy, as long as the neighbors are not around.. Once they begin riding and stumbling around, my chances totally plummet and I basically hope and pray at that point, that a doe can bring him by, until late season comes around.. He knows where to find the need food source. And he is daylight bound again chowing down.. 

That being said, my best chance at him is a ways off the road. But my favorite stands for deer activity, are right behind my camp, whether its in my backyard or a few hundred yards away. The young bucks, and does are here all day long. Same goes for my neighbors house, i Have a bow stand about 200 yard sbehind her house. the deer are in their like crazy. 

All in all, if one wants daylight deer sightings to increase, and have a better chance at a mature deer in pressured areas(outside the rut)... one MUST limit trips into the woods, keep pressure off as much as absolute possible, and hunt only when a pattern is shown, or conditions are just right for certain spots.. Im a firm believe in this. 

Edited August 14, 2018 by LET EM GROW