Hunting stupid...

[bowhunter1023]

I figure a man can go about hunting stupid in two ways and I seem to have a firm grasp on the not so favorable aspect of this scenario! I have been on the road 4-5 hours a day this week running title and leasing, so I've had a ton of time to reflect on last season and scheme for this year. I keep coming back to two spots I have wanted to hunt, but never did because I deemed them "stupid" set-ups...

I think I am going to hang those two sets this year and give them a chance this year. Anyone else ever hang a stand in a "stupid" location just because you think it should produce despite the lack of obvious sign?

The one spot in question is in a great observation spot and it is sort of a funnel, but not text book. I have seen some absolutely monster tracks crossing the bottom heading towards the thick hillside near this spot. The stand would sit on a small shelf in a 20' wide clearing for the fence line, just about a deep creek. To the east and west are nasty thicket. To the north is hillside and to the south, is the creek and open bottom. In the bottom are two thick draws the are small, but do hold deer. One of them is so easily over looked, yet those tracks I found lead in and out of a spot no bigger than my living room.

Overall, there is nothing overly appealing about this spot. But the lack of obvious deer sign makes me think it could be in a big buck haunt. I could see anything coming and going in that bottom with ease and that is very tempting...

If you got an odd ball spot that produces, please share if you would, why you chose it and why you think it works.

[Siman08/OH]

I have a very bad habit of hanging stands in "stupid" places. I need to focus more on topography, deer sign and terrain then what i always end up doing, and that is hanging stands where i "think" they will go based off past sightings. I have some killer properties, but i havnt been able to produce because of this.

[TheCream]

Finally, a topic I know a few things about. Stupidity is my thing. I hunt a few spots that I have been told are stupid setups, but I think the folks who tell me that are simply over-analyzing the situation/setup. What i look for in hunting setups are these things:

1. Are deer using it during shooting hours
2. Can I get in there without spooking everything
3. Can I go undetected there while in a stand/blind

I have some good hunting buddies that like to say "Well that's too close to a road" or "That's too close to a house" or some other excuse, ignoring the sign that is there. The spot where I killed my best archery buck they would have never hunted. It was a small pine thicket, bordered by a county road on one side, a driveway on another, and a house to the back side of the thicket, with a narrow strip of saplings connecting the thicket to an open hardwoods. There was one, count it, one tree suitable for a stand in a small clearing towards the edge of the thicket that was connected to the hardwoods. I hadn't even considered hunting that spot until, on my way home from work/class one evening, I saw a 140+ 10-pointer standing in that driveway that hopped into that thicket. A day or two later, I saw a solid 130" 8-pointer go into the same area.

Why were deer using it? It was excellent cover, and it received basically no hunting pressure. A group of does that was leaving that place at night, crossing that county road, and coming to my feeders around dusk/shortly after dark, they were the perfect "rut bait." Bucks were cruising along the narrow strip of cover, searching the pines for does. I hunted that thicket three times that year. On the first hunt, the day I hung the stand, I saw the 130" 8 pass by at about 40-45 yards, and he ignored calls, along with some other deer. The second trip in there, I saw 3 different other bucks, all smaller, and a few does. On the 3rd trip in, I was worried about pressuring the area too much and wasn't sure what to expect. I was in the stand that time by noon, and around 2PM I heard something coming from behind me. It wound up being the big 10 I saw the week prior, and I stuck him at 20 yards. Unfortunately, the property changed hands the following year and I lost permission to hunt there. :nono: I am confident I could go back to that same tree this coming November and kill another quality buck there, though. This was the one I killed (on the left):

http://i69.photobucket.com/albums/i58/creamernator/398f.jpg

There's another spot my roommate and I have dubbed "The honey hole" on a property we hunt that is similar in that it's sort of an odd-ball spot. You park alongside this old road that gets a lot of traffic, hike straight up a steep hill to a bench right below the top. I hunt the road side, not far from an old junk camper, and he hunts a bench on the opposite side of the ridge. In a 2-year span, he and I killed 4 bucks and 5 does from that spot, all by bow. It was close to a road, close to a junk camper, but you know what...the sign was there, and so were the deer. One of the does I killed there, I watched them climb the bank from the road, right past my truck, and I heard one of them snort...I am assuming at my truck. I stuck one of them, the rest headed over the ridge, and my buddy stuck another.

I say do not over-analyze the setup. If the sign is there, the deer are there, and you can get into it without blowing everything out, hunt it! I even remember on a Slunger Hollow DVD they were hunting within sight of a major interstate, maybe I70? So what? If the deer are there, I want to hunt there. :biggrin:

[Fish-n-Fool]

I've got a real stupid spot that I spend some time in every season. It is best described as an "urban" spot. It is actually in the township and wouldn't qualify as an urban spot. The spot:

There is a large active church off the highway (busy state route). Within 100 yards of this church on the adjacent property runs a ditchline. It is between 20 feet and 50 yards in width and runs from the highway into a thin stand of hardwoods. Behind this stand of woods (maybe 5 acres) is a large tract of woods - maybe 500 acres. This entire woods has homes scattered through it, kids playing, etc. To the north is another residence on 15 acres. It has good cover and a small pond. Across the road form this residence is another very large block of wooded ground with homes throughout - several hundred more acres.

I hung my one and only ladder stand right where the ditchline enters the thin stand of timber. As you stand in the spot, you watch busy highway traffic, kids running around the church, etc. You hear people coughing, talking, screaming, dogs barking. Cars pass within 75 yards of the stand heading down the lane.

I may hunt this spot 10 times without a sighting. Why in the heck do I bother??? I've seen a handful of bucks in the 140-160+ range here.The owner has a matching 10 point set of sheds in the low 160s and a left side of an 8 point that I roughed scored at 76 3/8!! No pattern (that I know), no consistency, nothing like that. IMO the deer population in the area is virtually nocturnal - even the does seldom move through there during daylight. In 9 years I have killed 3 deer here. One doe, one 10 pointer (high 130s) and an 8 pointer in 06 that nets 119. While on stand I have seen exactly 1 buck that was what I call a monster. He was dogging a hot doe and was in full rut mode. I have however seen a half dozen either at mid-day or more often than not in my headlights.

I think the spot is worthwhile becuase it has the potential to produce very mature deer. Other than very minimal bow hunting pressure, the highway is the only threat. It works for me because it is 5 minutes from the house. I think the reason it produces at all is simply it is a natural connecting area between the two very large chunks of cover. It certainly isn't your typical funnel, but when you least expect it a monster buck pops right through the area.

[Buckmaster]

The one spot in question is in a great observation spot and it is sort of a funnel, but not text book. I have seen some absolutely monster tracks crossing the bottom heading towards the thick hillside near this spot. The stand would sit on a small shelf in a 20' wide clearing for the fence line, just about a deep creek. To the east and west are nasty thicket. To the north is hillside and to the south, is the creek and open bottom. In the bottom are two thick draws the are small, but do hold deer. One of them is so easily over looked, yet those tracks I found lead in and out of a spot no bigger than my living room.

This sounds like one of my favorite spots. Are you sure you're not hunting my property. This spot is all or nothing. From an observation point I can see 300-400 yards at a 150 degree view. There isn't a day that goes by when I don't see a deer. Most are at 300 yards but my view is a good scouting point because I can over look the entire woods. One or twice a year a big shooter comes down that fenceline. Typically its those light rainy November afternoons when Big Boy comes down the fence line to refresh his scrapes.

[Hawgleg]

Finally, a topic I know a few things about. Stupidity is my thing. I hunt a few spots that I have been told are stupid setups, but I think the folks who tell me that are simply over-analyzing the situation/setup. What i look for in hunting setups are these things:

1. Are deer using it during shooting hours
2. Can I get in there without spooking everything
3. Can I go undetected there while in a stand/blind

I have some good hunting buddies that like to say "Well that's too close to a road" or "That's too close to a house" or some other excuse, ignoring the sign that is there. The spot where I killed my best archery buck they would have never hunted. It was a small pine thicket, bordered by a county road on one side, a driveway on another, and a house to the back side of the thicket, with a narrow strip of saplings connecting the thicket to an open hardwoods. There was one, count it, one tree suitable for a stand in a small clearing towards the edge of the thicket that was connected to the hardwoods. I hadn't even considered hunting that spot until, on my way home from work/class one evening, I saw a 140+ 10-pointer standing in that driveway that hopped into that thicket. A day or two later, I saw a solid 130" 8-pointer go into the same area.

Why were deer using it? It was excellent cover, and it received basically no hunting pressure. A group of does that was leaving that place at night, crossing that county road, and coming to my feeders around dusk/shortly after dark, they were the perfect "rut bait." Bucks were cruising along the narrow strip of cover, searching the pines for does. I hunted that thicket three times that year. On the first hunt, the day I hung the stand, I saw the 130" 8 pass by at about 40-45 yards, and he ignored calls, along with some other deer. The second trip in there, I saw 3 different other bucks, all smaller, and a few does. On the 3rd trip in, I was worried about pressuring the area too much and wasn't sure what to expect. I was in the stand that time by noon, and around 2PM I heard something coming from behind me. It wound up being the big 10 I saw the week prior, and I stuck him at 20 yards. Unfortunately, the property changed hands the following year and I lost permission to hunt there. :nono: I am confident I could go back to that same tree this coming November and kill another quality buck there, though. This was the one I killed (on the left):

http://i69.photobucket.com/albums/i58/creamernator/398f.jpg

There's another spot my roommate and I have dubbed "The honey hole" on a property we hunt that is similar in that it's sort of an odd-ball spot. You park alongside this old road that gets a lot of traffic, hike straight up a steep hill to a bench right below the top. I hunt the road side, not far from an old junk camper, and he hunts a bench on the opposite side of the ridge. In a 2-year span, he and I killed 4 bucks and 5 does from that spot, all by bow. It was close to a road, close to a junk camper, but you know what...the sign was there, and so were the deer. One of the does I killed there, I watched them climb the bank from the road, right past my truck, and I heard one of them snort...I am assuming at my truck. I stuck one of them, the rest headed over the ridge, and my buddy stuck another.

I say do not over-analyze the setup. If the sign is there, the deer are there, and you can get into it without blowing everything out, hunt it! I even remember on a Slunger Hollow DVD they were hunting within sight of a major interstate, maybe I70? So what? If the deer are there, I want to hunt there. :biggrin:
You have your priorities right. (Bucks are bigger than your TV) :bouncy:

[bowtech_buster]

well i'm not sure about "stupid" but definatley a "over looked" spot on our farm is a thicket not 100 yards off uncle odies front porch.no deer sign at all early then it gets loaded up after the season opens. not to mention that is where he killed freak daddy

[bowhunter1023]

This sounds like one of my favorite spots. Are you sure you're not hunting my property. This spot is all or nothing. From an observation point I can see 300-400 yards at a 150 degree view. There isn't a day that goes by when I don't see a deer. Most are at 300 yards but my view is a good scouting point because I can over look the entire woods. One or twice a year a big shooter comes down that fenceline. Typically its those light rainy November afternoons when Big Boy comes down the fence line to refresh his scrapes.

Not unless someone has been foolin' both of us!!! LOL :dizzy::dizzy:

Just after I posted this, Greg gave me a call and he had been out there scouting around. He said there is an old logging road that runs down to and along that shelf. He said it was loaded with sign. Neither one of us ever gave this spot any thought. He said 40 yards from where I was wanting to hang, was a perfect tree and it is in the heart of that thicket and still allows for easy access through the pasture and across the creek to the tree. Plus, you can still see well if we hang it high enough.

Sounds like my "stupid" spot just got less stupid. Can't wait to see it for myself tomorrow...

[Thunderflight]

Stupid is as stupid does. I prefer to refer to it as "out of the box hunting".

My last duty station had some really nice bucks, but they didn't hang out in the woods (except during the rut) and lived at the end of the runways in the high grass. Every hunter clinged to the edge of the woods that bordered these fields and to my knowledge NO ONE every had a shot at them with a bow. I decided to take the fight to them and start hunting the fields in ground blinds. The result was me killing a 7+ year old buck and missing a 5+ year old.

[Full Rut]

Early season Id say is a dffernet story. I want as much buck sign as possible, just depends on timing for me. I started hunting a spot this year that really didnt have much sign and would not hunt it before late October. The one thing I found out was ,I was close enough(about 125 yards) to see a meadow near a thick hillside where a couple nice bucks were bedding. Two evenings I watched year old bucks get up early, scrape and spar in this secluded field. One of the nights a nice 2 year old 9 point came running in before dark , looking for a fight. I rattled, grunted and snort wheezed to him. Thats all it took for him to work his way through a green briar thicket and come within 15 yards. On November 4th evening the same deal happened but this time a 130s eight point came in to the field. Grunted and can called him to the exact spot the other buck came to. Didnt get off the shot though, he caught me drawing back.:irked: So during the early rut I dont worry so much about sign all around my stand, just so the deer are somewhere close by.

[bowhunter1023]

I got a welcome break this week and picked up 134 acres in Athens County. One look at the topo and aerial and I know I have two stands worth the drive to scout and hang before the season gets here. Finally, a couple of no brainer set-ups...

[jbrown]

I got a welcome break this week and picked up 134 acres in Athens County. One look at the topo and aerial and I know I have two stands worth the drive to scout and hang before the season gets here. Finally, a couple of no brainer set-ups...

Sounds like a great addition man. Those are always the best ones when you don't even have to leave the computer chair find a honey-hole.

[Hoytmania]

Hey Jesse, I was reading your post and something came to mind. We call this "BRAIN SCREWING IT". Do you remember the rule when you are taking a test and you are not sure of the answer. You go with your gut instinct. I forget the percentage but the gut instinct is usually right. If you change the answer after you take the gut guess it usually turns out wrong. So if I where you I would go with your first instinct.

Is this what I always do? NO. :nono: I am just as guilty as the next guy for "BRAIN SCREWING" things. So I need to practice what I preach. But that is just what came to mind reading your post. Hope this helps.