OLDHAT's Circle Theory

[bowhunter1023]

Jesse added this to the Team Scouting thread and I thought it deserved its own thread. I'll post his thought before I add mine...



Here is something to add:

One really has to think about the "circling effect". Those bucks for the most part will "Circle" this area, so plan accordingly and start trying to think about your circle. Try to pinpoint your best bedding areas. The local bucks will work around your stand locations in a circle pattern that circle needs to be thought of in a 1 day period. i.e start with an idea that your bucks are bedding a "point x"...they get up from there, they search out does, mark their area by working a "circle" around the area. Well, I think during pre-rut this will be fairly consistent on say a 100-200 acre area, your maps/hunting area is "perfect" for this scenario. That deer has multiple fields under his "local area" that he may check daily on his circle.

The evening circle:

He's bedded, he is close to the "thick stuff", he gets out of bed, browses on green stuff and potentially some acorns. He is only on his feet the last hour before dark. He "eases" his way to an oak flat where you've been seeing most of the does hanging tight to (they are there damn nearly daily). He may make it to them before darkness he may not, but he is going to "swing dick" to those does and check them out/rub/scrape to establish a dominance in an area. Now after he checks out these does in the oaks, picture in your mind where the next set or group of does are at (again thinking of a circle pattern), continue this on a circle pattern until you get him back to his "prime" bedding area (where you started). Most places like this will have 3 or more consistent bedding areas, doesn't take much, 30 yards of thick stuff to bed. Now try and understand these bedding areas.

For the most part, I have figured out one area and it seems to be a few hundred yards from the does in the oaks going any direction from what I consider one of 3 bedding areas that I hunt, I get my deer coming in to bed/browse on the "front end" of this bedding area, so I see a lot of my action between 9:00 -10:30, gives me plenty of time to get in, get set-up and let everything settle down.

Think of your circle just like you would think of running the bar scene looking for gals, you start at "bar x", you are looking for a lady, none are there that will have you so you then leave and go to the next bar, you will start with your "favorite" bar and will probably end back here later that night on your circle pattern and will probably stay there, then start again the next night.

Keep this "circle" idea in mind, identify how big your circle pattern is and understand it. Then hunt accordingly. If you hunt one spot in the morning and see no deer, then work around your circle for the evening hunt, don't "jump to the other side" of your circle. Go to the next bedding area on your circle. This will increase your odds, if you seen no deer come into bed on your "circle pattern" in the morning then you know they have not bedded here, so move to the "front edge" of another bedding area, you've potentially reduced your "circle" down by 25% by working in a circle pattern.

Having 2 guys on a circle pattern helps, you can get rid of a lot of ground quickly with 2 guys working a circle. Once one of you see a deer by hunting close to the bedding areas, then in the evening you can surround the area with 2 guys and increase your odds of that deer coming out one way or the other and one guy gets to see him/gets a shot.

Understand your "circle" that the bucks in your area are following.

OLDHAT was able to put into words something that was merely a thought for me over that past couple of years. I was told shortly after my dad bought our farm, that it can take five years to learn how to hunt a particular property. Well, I have four seasons invested in that farm and the one thing I was starting to see, was how the bucks worked a circle around that farm. One buck in particular, made it fairly clear he was "circling" our farm when he was on the premise. After he was killed, I began to put together all the pieces, both old and new, and it wasn’t long before he “circle” become fairly obvious.

Over the span of my three year hunt for Deuce, I got pictures of him in 8 different locations around our farm. I also had two visual sightings myself and acquired information about four other sightings after he was killed. If you plot the locations of all those pictures, the visual sightings, and where he was killed on a map of our farm and the surrounding properties, you can easily see a circle if you connect the dots. I had never really given much thought to why his pattern resembled a circle until now and it makes perfect sense to me after reading what OLDHAT posted. I really think there is more to this theory and I felt it deserved its own thread.

Anyone else have any experiences that would relate to the “Circle Theory”?

[CritterGitter]

I wanted to say I have read this from Charles Alsheimer in D & DH. I just can't be sure of it though, and I dont' save magazines.

[Gern186]

When travelling in these circles, do they like to go clockwise or counterclockwise:mischeif: ?? If you are trying to figure out which way to go next, how do you decide if you go to the 9 o'clock position or the 3 o'clock position, assuming that you hunted at a point located at 12 o'clock first?? Is it based on wind direction or is it based on bedding cover?

[geezer II]

When travelling in these circles, do they like to go clockwise or counterclockwise:mischeif: ?? If you are trying to figure out which way to go next, how do you decide if you go to the 9 o'clock position or the 3 o'clock position, assuming that you hunted at a point located at 12 o'clock first?? Is it based on wind direction or is it based on bedding cover?

Ya have to watch the water drain out of yur baf tub and seez which wayz it circles - the deerz in yur area will circle in the same direction :whistle: :mischeif:

[OLDHAT]

Gern,

You have to start somewhere!

There are 3 bedding areas (so-to-speak) and you've got to start at some point. It's not a "tried and true" method but is something for all hunters to consider and keep in their head while hunting.

You have to go into your circle theory with believing a buck you are after is somewhere in that circle. You can pick any spot in that circle to hunt. I'd say on a 125-150 acre area that I'd personally have up to 6 stand locations (some lock-ons hung and other spots ready for a climber) then I move according to what I've seen. It may take 2 days at one stand sight and not seeing any deer before I move or you may catch me moving to another spot from a morning to an evening hunt.

A circle (especially with 2 guys hunting) also gives you a good indication of if there are any bucks at all in your area, I've seen times where deer are absent from the entire area, where have they gone, I do not know? But they are not there so I might as well hunt another area for a day or two.

Think of the circle idea though, then throw in your other hunting knowledge about wind and conditions, etc to come up with where to start. Most "good" hunters will know an area well enough to know where the morning stands and evening stands are at, etc. But when that buck is in there, try to understand his circling pattern, you may "bump" him in the afternoon leaving your stand, for the most part he's gonna run off 100-200 yards and settle down then probably continue on his circle pattern later that day. The "circle" helps you better understand where he is heading to or coming from...you can then potentially cut him off in the evening.

Understanding the circle idea also allows you to pin-point the funnel areas better, feeding areas, etc. Is a good thing to understand/get familiar with in my mind. The circle pattern is an idea, I may not stay on a circle pattern nor do I base my entire hunting on it, but the idea is in my head and I try to understand it for any area that I hunt.

1023:

I think it takes 3 years to really understand an area, in 5 years one should have it mastered.

[CritterGitter]

The circle theory does go along way to help with one thing I have often wondered about. A buck comes into my set up and go in a direction that leads to..........well..........seemingly to me...........nothing. So, I would expect him to come back through even if he is skirting me a little. However, most often..............they never come wandering back(least not while I am on stand). These are bucks that had no clue I was there as I was passing on them and not interested in giving myself away. I have also noticed sign in a pattern of a perimeter so to speak around a general area. In my best spot there were a lot of rubs all throughout the area last fall. Though, most all of the scrapes were found in a this "perimeter" places. I think it was a 1.5 yr old staking it out.

[Kaiser878]

1023:

I think it takes 3 years to really understand an area, in 5 years one should have it mastered.

I dont know if I agree completely with this! I think the area that is being hunted matters! Not all areas are as hard to figure out as others! Some people are better at figuring out a specific area, then say the next guy! I have a hell of a time figuring out an open woods, still to this day I struggle and avoid these areas! Personaly my forte is small woods surrounded by agriculture or a thick woods with adjacent ridges! The farm that I hunt now I acquired in 05. Lucky for me it has 3 thick areas amongst a network of ridges. I dont think all spots are as hard to "figure" out as others!

[OLDHAT]

To ellaborate a bit on not the "circle", but to put into your guys heads understanding your area in a 3-5 year period:

Once you learn what the deer are doing, then for the most part you can take that to the bank for the rest of your life (if the environment doesn't change in your area..i.e clearcuts, houses, etc).

For example, there are a lot of guys here that kill damn good bucks, I'd almost bet these guys only move or put up 1-2 stands per year and that is because they needed to add a stand to an area or they needed to "tweek" their stand. The same stands year in and year out are productive....so once you figure it out it becomes "easier". Easier in a sense that you won't find most of these guys moving stands, etc. The stands are left up year after year, you move in a few weeks before hunting season, check out your ratchet straps and such to make sure your stand is safe and then go hunt starting opening morning....there is not a lot of maintenance. Once you figure it out, it's typically just a matter of time. Tip and I are blessed on the property we hunt to have never had a stand stolen or ever seen any trespassers, the stands stay up in the same spots from year to year, the deer are on the smae pattern.

Do any of you think MRex is out busting his chops moving stands....I'd bet he's not, he's figured the area out and knows the deal with his stand placements, all of the tweeking, adding, moving was finished and damn near set in stone after the 1st 3 years. There is no "scouting involved", it boils down to shooting your bow to get ready for season, checking your lock-ons for safety issues from year to year and simply going to these stand placements to hunt.

So let's say you kill the "big boy" one year in your area, well don't fret, there was a reason your big boy was in there in the first place so the "next" big boy will probably move in and take over the "better area". All properties are not treated equal in hunting, the "big boy" likes an area for certain reasons, the next buck in line in the hierarchy of things would probably like to have his area, so once the "big boy" is gone then he will more than likely move in and take over the area. If you've got a spot that will house a "big buck" (let's say 140" or better) then you can expect once he is gone for another one to move in.

All properties are not treated equal. Food plots and such are helping guys with their properties, if it was up to me and I chose to either put in food plots or grab a chainsaw, I'd be grabbing the chainsaw and creating habitat for deer, clear-cuts and select cuts are amazing.

SO once you "learn" how to hunt a peice of property irtually nothing will change from year to year. I think the biggest change that I see is with or without the presence of acorns from year to year...this cna mess up your "pattern", but knowing that either having acorns or not having acorns and what pattern to shift to is important along with the "circle theory" and the theory of how long it takes to actually understand an area.

[Gern186]

Ya have to watch the water drain out of yur baf tub and seez which wayz it circles - the deerz in yur area will circle in the same direction :whistle: :mischeif:


I will see which way it goes down the toilet and plan accordingly:dizzy:

I do agree that a buck will use this "circle method". I also think that some guys outguess themselves by moving here and moving there instead of concentrating on 1 or 2 good areas and waiting on the game to come to them. Remember, if the buck is travelling in this circle he is going to come back around to the beginning at some point. If you know that you are in a buck's "circle" then time will tell when you will get a chance at him. I rely on the bucks testosterone level to tell me when that time will be. As October goes on, his testosterone level is getting higher, causing him to move around more and more during daylight hours, therefore giving a hunter an increased chance at seeing and harvesting him. That's why I believe that it is more beneficial to just hunt 1 or 2 spots in a given area and wait until he shows up. I don't mean hunt anytime and all the time either, I am talking about hunting at the right times, like during favorable wind directions and such. I believe you can burn out a stand if you are not cautious about scent control, bumping deer on the way in or out, making noise, etc. BUT, if you watch what you are doing you can hunt a stand many times with no ill effects. I have hunted stands for a week straight and finally gotten shots at the deer I have been after in the past, but extreme caution was used coming and going from those stands.

I believe if you have too many stands in a given area, you are spreading your scent over a greater area if you are hunting them all, and educating the bucks at the same time. My theory is to stay put and be patient and let the buck come to me on his time.

[OLDHAT]

Kaiser:

I can agree that all areas are not created equally.

Most of the items I post on here or "ideas" are based on hunting "big woods" and not the crop/ag lands in a lot of our state. I grew up hunting large spreads of timber and am currently on 600 acres that is probably 50/50 of woods and cow pasture (fields). If one only has 100 acres to hunt, then it will be short lived how long it takes one to understand that 100 acres, but you will never understand the other 500 acres that are around you if you cannot step foot on it. But if one has 200-1000 acres to figure out it is gonna take some time.

I like the size of 600 acres because I feel there are 2-3 distinct different groups of deer on it. My circle idea is based on "smaller" tracts of say 175-150 acres. I for the most part do not think a deer will circle 600 acres on a consitent bases but instead will work the circle on up to 200 acres or so.

I will admit that one has to consider the "circle patter" a lot more where there is a field or fields to circle around.

A deer is like us, we drive to work on a familiar route everday, we shop at the same stores, play golf on the same course, fish the same ponds, sure every once in awhile we will switch it up and go out of our "comfort area" but for the most part we are on a daily pattern. That circle idea is in essence the same idea as our daily pattern. Whitetail deer to me are on a daily pattern, in my mind I can understand that daily pattern, the only time it really gets screwed up is during the "peak" of the rut...who knows, that buck may be down circling the local walmart during this time period or laying dead on the highway.

Oldhat

[jbrown]

This is the first I have heard of the "Circle Theory," and I have to say, I like it. Now that I think back on areas I hunted in the past and areas that I currently hunt, it fits like a glove. Especially down at my stepdad's property in Carroll county. The open pasture, where the majority of feeding activity occurs, is on top of a ridge... the majority of the buck trails that I know of there seem to surround the ridge top. And of course, all of the primary doe bedding areas surround the ridge top. I never considered the circle pattern before, but it's really got me thinking now. Great stuff, OLDHAT.

[Master Baiter]

If it takes you 5 years to figure out the area your hunting then your not paying attention to what is going on around you!

[bowhunter1023]

If it takes you 5 years to figure out the area your hunting then your not paying attention to what is going on around you!

Now that is a comment I will disagree with.

It took me 2 hunts to find a good spot to kill does on our farm. But it took me 3 years to figure out what the bucks liked to do. We have 80 acres there and it can be divided into 3 sections based on terrain. I spent too much time focusing on the best section and not enough time on figuring out how they worked in unison. If you are just talking about killing deer, then I agree. You should know how to kill deer within the first season. But to figure out the best stands for killing mature bucks, a man can tweek for several seasons before he finds that one hot spot. It all depends on what you call "figuring out an area"...

[Kaiser878]

Here is a photo of the first year I hunted the farm I hunt now! This was in 05 and is a perfect example of a thick ridge running buck! I shot him on Nov 7th! THe ridge he was running was down wind of the doe bedding area and I slipped into the middle between the does and the ridge! Just so happened it worked in my favor!
http://i235.photobucket.com/albums/ee73/Kaiser878/1535IM000846.jpg

[OLDHAT]

If it takes you 5 years to figure out the area your hunting then your not paying attention to what is going on around you!

So Year's 1 and 2 you have a great acorn crop, loads of acorns, you get things figured out. Year three happens and there are "no acorns"..now what are you going to do? Year 4 happens and you have "spotty" acorns here and there (best scenario I think)..now what are you going to do?

Year 1 you may have beans in a field, year 2 may be corn, year 3 may be nothing...Too many things change from year to year, it takes 3-5 years to get all the scenarios under control and be able to adjust according to the scenario you are faced with..after 3 to 5 years just about anything should be able to be thrown at you and can make the neccessary adjustments without having to spend a year on trial and error. Some "best" stands go absolutely "dead" from year to year..most of this is based on the "what is the food supply". Most does are on field edges or on oak flats, take away the acorns and those does are on field edges and thickets, your oak flat stand that you were hunting is now a bust...you finally realize that there is some new learning and you thought you had it "all figured out" then you finalize realize that you don't.

3-5 years is a good measure of how long it takes to figure a piece of property out. The 1st thing I do when I'm getting ready for hunting season is to check for acorns then I start planning based on that. If I see no acorns in several areas then it's a trek around the entire property trying to find trees that are producing acorns..Are the acorns White or Red? This will change the pattern a bit. Then if there are no acorns then I change the plan. I think that all of these scenarios take 3-5 years to happen, 1 year shold be enough in any of the aformementioned scenarios for a "good hunter" to figure out a pattern/prodcutive way of hunting during that scenario.

[TheCream]

Is this material from your book, oldhat? :whistle::D

[bowhunter1023]

So Year's 1 and 2 you have a great acorn crop, loads of acorns, you get things figured out. Year three happens and there are "no acorns"..now what are you going to do? Year 4 happens and you have "spotty" acorns here and there (best scenario I think)..now what are you going to do?

Year 1 you may have beans in a field, year 2 may be corn, year 3 may be nothing...Too many things change from year to year, it takes 3-5 years to get all the scenarios under control and be able to adjust according to the scenario you are faced with..after 3 to 5 years just about anything should be able to be thrown at you and can make the neccessary adjustments without having to spend a year on trial and error. Some "best" stands go absolutely "dead" from year to year..most of this is based on the "what is the food supply". Most does are on field edges or on oak flats, take away the acorns and those does are on field edges and thickets, your oak flat stand that you were hunting is now a bust...you finally realize that there is some new learning and you thought you had it "all figured out" then you finalize realize that you don't.



Exactly what happened at our farm...

Year 1: Beans and great acorns.

Year 2: Nothing and spotty acorns.

Year 3: Corn and good acorns.

Year 4: Beans and great acorns.

It is hard to master something when the parameters are constantly changing...

[OLDHAT]

1023:

You're screwed, wait til the "Nothing and Nothing" scenario happens. At this point you should think: "What are my deer doing in January" and get on that pattern.

Cream:

Yeah, my book would be called "Oldhat's Circle Jerk".....I'll refrain from saying who the "pivot" characters are to keep you in suspense....did you say you wanted a part?:whistle::D


No in all seriousness fellas, keep the "circle" in mind, I don't live or die from this theory but it's good to have an understanding of it..in the same sense of understanding bedding and feeding areas, wind directions, etc...is part of the "game".

Oldhat

[Master Baiter]

You adapt, if there are no acorns you don't sit there! I'm divorced and limited to hunting every other weekend. Where I hunt on the Wayne the oak ridges change every year as far as what's producing. Some years their all producing and thats when it gets a little tough. My point being- deer leave sign, don't hunt a area if there is no sign. I think some of you are making things way more complicated than it is- it sounds like your reading out of a deer hunting playbook!

[OLDHAT]

MasterBaiter:

We are for the most part hunt out of some form of "playbook", there is no way around it. Be it the bows we shoot, the camo we wear, the scent, the smoke, the piss, the grunt calls, the oaks, the ridges, the crops, etc. You are working from a playbook also, your playbook may be different verses others, these are "ideas".

Some ideas may not be worth a crap, but they my help some out, it's what the site is for.

I hope that someone takes the circle idea and at least starts thinking about it, it could help them or it may not but don't forget, it's a "concept".

No one is over-thinking anything. It's a perspective, a concept, an idea, a circle.

Oldhat

[coonskinner]

i have used this theory for years as i have lots of stands,not all are perfectly placed i found out,thats where the climber comes in...i have had as many as 20 stands up on one decent sized farm but all were on 100 acre section of it...and i basically circled that area...but the bucks worked well farther out of that circle onto other properties...i use this a lot on the national forest...but just because you are in that circle does not gauaantee your buck will be close to any of those stands...bucks visit large open fields at night where lots of doe congregate...if he picks up a hot doe from there he's following her in the direction she goes...that could be north,south east or west...and he might be away from the circle awhile...but sooner or later will return to his main area...this is that time the buck seems to disappear sometimes for weeks i believe...i've always believed in lots of stands and at one point i even made my own to accomplish this...i'm not as much into this practice anymore as i have so many areas i hunt but when i'm on farms where theres not so much area i use it...sometimes:D

[mrex]

Do any of you think MRex is out busting his chops moving stands....I'd bet he's not, he's figured the area out and knows the deal with his stand placements, all of the tweeking, adding, moving was finished and damn near set in stone after the 1st 3 years.

Four or five years ago your assumption would have been spot on. Now that my two sons (and a third teenager who lives with us most of the time), can climb in all of my stands, I've been demoted to position "D" and forced out of my comfort zone. Right now, I'm trying to "re-learn" ground I hunted 20 years ago.

The circle theory makes perfect sense to me. A prime example would be the buck my son killed this year. We have a photo album full of evening trail cam photo's on his way to feed. We knew exactly where he was coming from and where he was going to, but not a clue how or when he made it back to his bedding area after that. All we could say for sure was that he didn't enter the same way he exited very often.

From a "big woods perspective", I believe most veteran hunters can semi-figure a place out in one season, but there's a big difference to me between semi-figuring and knowing exactly where you need to be and when and that usually takes me at least 3-5 years (if ever). I also believe that getting to know a piece of hunting ground is a never ending process. The example of changing mast crop / farm crop etc... is just part of it. Cover changes, thickets become poll sized timber and mature timber gets cut. IMO, the most important variable to consider is that no two deer use terrain exactly the same and truly patterning (if that's even possible) a mature buck takes covert leg work and observation.

We've had some fun exercises on here "picking the perfect stand placement" with a topo and aerial photo, but those are really only useful for generalizations. One of the aspects of deer hunting that's helped keep things interesting for me is that my expectations parallel hunters from 40 or 50 years ago. By that I mean, in the 50's and 60's, not every patch of woods harbored deer. Just seeing a deer was a big deal. Today, every patch of woods doesn't harbor the class of deer that I aspire to kill. Locating a deer of interest is 75% of the battle for me. It can be difficult to sit patiently in an area you "think" should have something you're interested in but you cant say for sure because you haven't personally seen it. Once a big buck is located, taking the circle theory into consideration could be of benefit

Threads like this one are why I enjoy reading this forum.

[bakerboy]

Radio tracking studies of mature whitetail bucks during the rut have revealed an oblong territory. Hey, that's a circle that's just a little flatter. The core area prior to rut was a circle, more or less, with a doubling of territory in one direction resulting in the oblong.

[Kaiser878]

We've had some fun exercises on here "picking the perfect stand placement" with a topo and aerial photo, but those are really only useful for generalizations. One of the aspects of deer hunting that's helped keep things interesting for me is that my expectations parallel hunters from 40 or 50 years ago. By that I mean, in the 50's and 60's, not every patch of woods harbored deer. Just seeing a deer was a big deal. Today, every patch of woods doesn't harbor the class of deer that I aspire to kill. Locating a deer of interest is 75% of the battle for me. It can be difficult to sit patiently in an area you "think" should have something you're interested in but you cant say for sure because you haven't personally seen it. Once a big buck is located, taking the circle theory into consideration could be of benefit

Threads like this one are why I enjoy reading this forum.



The selected statement is one I have been pondering for quite some time! It is this way of thinking that has me excited but stressed about next season! It seems the area I hunt doesnt seem to harbor 160+ deer! Atleast I have never seen them, I guess that doesnt mean they aren't there! I would agree, atleast 75% of the battle!

[CritterGitter]

Four or five years ago your assumption would have been spot on. Now that my two sons (and a third teenager who lives with us most of the time), can climb in all of my stands, I've been demoted to position "D" and forced out of my comfort zone. Right now, I'm trying to "re-learn" ground I hunted 20 years ago.

The circle theory makes perfect sense to me. A prime example would be the buck my son killed this year. We have a photo album full of evening trail cam photo's on his way to feed. We knew exactly where he was coming from and where he was going to, but not a clue how or when he made it back to his bedding area after that. All we could say for sure was that he didn't enter the same way he exited very often.

From a "big woods perspective", I believe most veteran hunters can semi-figure a place out in one season, but there's a big difference to me between semi-figuring and knowing exactly where you need to be and when and that usually takes me at least 3-5 years (if ever). I also believe that getting to know a piece of hunting ground is a never ending process. The example of changing mast crop / farm crop etc... is just part of it. Cover changes, thickets become poll sized timber and mature timber gets cut. IMO, the most important variable to consider is that no two deer use terrain exactly the same and truly patterning (if that's even possible) a mature buck takes covert leg work and observation.

We've had some fun exercises on here "picking the perfect stand placement" with a topo and aerial photo, but those are really only useful for generalizations. One of the aspects of deer hunting that's helped keep things interesting for me is that my expectations parallel hunters from 40 or 50 years ago. By that I mean, in the 50's and 60's, not every patch of woods harbored deer. Just seeing a deer was a big deal. Today, every patch of woods doesn't harbor the class of deer that I aspire to kill. Locating a deer of interest is 75% of the battle for me. It can be difficult to sit patiently in an area you "think" should have something you're interested in but you cant say for sure because you haven't personally seen it. Once a big buck is located, taking the circle theory into consideration could be of benefit

Threads like this one are why I enjoy reading this forum.

Your's is the biggest challenge of them all. You not only have to find a B&C class buck and figure out how you might run an arrow through him, but you have to figure out the puzzle 4 times! :yikes: Once you have that 4th whopper narrowed down, all you have to do is make the shot. Boy.......that's a tall hill to climb aint it. ;)

[CJR123080]

.
All properties are not treated equal. Food plots and such are helping guys with their properties, if it was up to me and I chose to either put in food plots or grab a chainsaw, I'd be grabbing the chainsaw and creating habitat for deer, clear-cuts and select cuts are amazing.

SO once you "learn" how to hunt a peice of property irtually nothing will change from year to year. I think the biggest change that I see is with or without the presence of acorns from year to year...this cna mess up your "pattern", but knowing that either having acorns or not having acorns and what pattern to shift to is important along with the "circle theory" and the theory of how long it takes to actually understand an area.

I think as hunters, we often times underestimate the importance of habitat. Food plots have become increasingly popular recently, yet this topic doesn't seem to get enough attention or discussed as much. A chainsaw or a group of guys with a few chainsaws is something that can be beneficial to the property you hunt. Obviously, this is easier said than done if you don't own the property you hunt as the landowner may not be a big fan of chainsaw use :biggrin:.