- Dec 28, 2020
- 7
- 2
You have roughly 32 hours access to a parcel of land holding some nice bucks. You’ve never scouted it. No overnight camping. (lets say dawn to dusk, until noon of next day).
How do you make the most of it?
I’ll start:
1. Dawn: Quiet, walk/sneak up on the clear cuts, look for ambush opportunities.
2. Mid-day: scout, find areas with fresh tracks, trails and sign. Do not blow out the bedding areas or go into clear cuts. Be quiet.
3. Dusk: set up downwind of one of the trail crossings leading to/from clear cut.
4. Dawn next day: Move in before light, set up downwind of a trail crossing to/from clear cut.
5. If no movement by 10 o clock, start moving. Sneak up to the clear cuts. Glass. If no deer, then move through the bedding areas to jump something.
This has been my M.O. for hunting small areas the past ten years. Super simple, highly effective. If it’s an area I plan to access to all season, I skip the last step, and stay out of the bedding areas. If I’m not coming back, I’ll blow through before leaving, hoping for ambush.
I know it sounds simplistic, but it took me a few years to refine this with all the minutiae of other details that go along – how to walk around a bend on a path to open up the terrain in front of you without being seen – backdrop, sunlight; where to setup so you’re invisible even though you can see the animals – how far away to setup from a crossing lane so the animal won’t spook even if it sees you – how to freeze an animal that spooked….
What would you do differently?
How do you make the most of it?
I’ll start:
1. Dawn: Quiet, walk/sneak up on the clear cuts, look for ambush opportunities.
2. Mid-day: scout, find areas with fresh tracks, trails and sign. Do not blow out the bedding areas or go into clear cuts. Be quiet.
3. Dusk: set up downwind of one of the trail crossings leading to/from clear cut.
4. Dawn next day: Move in before light, set up downwind of a trail crossing to/from clear cut.
5. If no movement by 10 o clock, start moving. Sneak up to the clear cuts. Glass. If no deer, then move through the bedding areas to jump something.
This has been my M.O. for hunting small areas the past ten years. Super simple, highly effective. If it’s an area I plan to access to all season, I skip the last step, and stay out of the bedding areas. If I’m not coming back, I’ll blow through before leaving, hoping for ambush.
I know it sounds simplistic, but it took me a few years to refine this with all the minutiae of other details that go along – how to walk around a bend on a path to open up the terrain in front of you without being seen – backdrop, sunlight; where to setup so you’re invisible even though you can see the animals – how far away to setup from a crossing lane so the animal won’t spook even if it sees you – how to freeze an animal that spooked….
What would you do differently?