Hunting around Pressure?
- Thread starter bigbuck15
- Start date
DRAFTSTUD
Well-known member
If you are Hunting Whitetails in the East or Midwest I'd bet you anything here is the senerio. First most hunters come out and Hunt from before light till about 10:00 am and come back on stand at about 3:00 pm till dark. They are giving you 5 of the most active times of a deer's day. First you have people leaving the woods bumping the deer when they are leaving, the same as when they are coming back to hunt. I can't tell you how many big Bucks I have seen driving home from a morning hunt.
If you feel the woods are being pressured, be there at the times when they are not pressured. As a kid I used to hunt a scope of woods with an older man who seemed to show up as I was calling it quits. Quess which one had mounts on the wall. Hope this is helpful. John
If you feel the woods are being pressured, be there at the times when they are not pressured. As a kid I used to hunt a scope of woods with an older man who seemed to show up as I was calling it quits. Quess which one had mounts on the wall. Hope this is helpful. John
as Draftstud said, be there when they are leaving. also, if you want to hunt when they are there, find the deepest, nastiest stuff on your land, and hunt around it. the deer will probably be heading for it for cover when they are taking off from the other places. do you have any water on your place? may want to check that area out also.
Another thing I would consider is setting up a 'refuge' on your place. By that I mean a place that you NEVER go into except to retrieve a downed animal. A pard of mine sorta has this as he only has permission on a piece of ground next to a place that allows no hunting. Once the pressue kicks up, the deer don't take long to head to the place without hunters. But with the rut on, they don't stay there. I read an article about a year ago written by a guy who makes his living as a consultant for managing lands for deer. His suggestion is that you should set aside a minimun of 10% of your land as a refuge. He stated that this really seems to hold older bucks outside of the rut. He went as far to say that his suggestion for folks that own say 40 acres to only hunt the outside 100 feet!
Short of that, I'd say you have gotten good advice above. Only thing I'd add is that pressure can make movement very unpredictable. If possible I'd stay out all day. Though I didn't get a shot, the biggest whitetail I've ever seen while hunting was out moving at 12:30pm.
Short of that, I'd say you have gotten good advice above. Only thing I'd add is that pressure can make movement very unpredictable. If possible I'd stay out all day. Though I didn't get a shot, the biggest whitetail I've ever seen while hunting was out moving at 12:30pm.
