I think in many cases, the term sanctuary is a bit generic in that it means something a little different to everyone. I suppose it would make more sense if there were one standard definition, but there's not. When we first started this discussion, I was into my first season on a private piece of 125 acres. The land is long and narrow with a roadway abutting the front, a river tracing the backside and competing hunting pressure on the left and right.
To effectively access the backside of the piece without bumping deer the whole way in and scenting up the place, taking a small boat down the river was the best strategy to hunt that end of the land. With the shorter days in the fall, along with long work days, taking the time to deploy the boat strategy was counter productive - at least for evening sits.
So it wasn't so much by choice so much as it was the natural time constraints that kept me from invading the backside of this particular piece.
When gun season arrived, we went in and killed two big bucks between the four of us. Had that season not been EAB, we would have had three big bucks on the wall after opening day of that firearms season.
That first winter having access to this land I left tracks everywhere all the way until mid-summer the very next year. I learned how the deer moved to and from neighboring food sources using the cover of the dogwood and tag alder thickets that meander throughout this piece. I discovered classic swamp beds in the lowland areas and made sense of the staging areas. I was able to piece together the rut activity I witness from observation stands over 400 yards away from the area I hadn't accessed the season prior except for gun season; I could see into there from a tall tree.
I knew that next season I needed to saddle up and go in just once for a hang-and-hunt. I brought the boat to work, parked in an inconspicuous spot, made up an excuse to leave early, changed in the car, slipped the boat in and went to work. That evening I killed a big 6-point not 50-yards from his bed. That was my first Beast Style kill done on purpose.
I learned a lot those first two seasons how to most effectively hunt that small acreage. Limited intrusions, minding the wind, strategic entrance and exits, and with a LW with sticks on my back, I have since been able to kill 6 big bucks over the last 6 years there Beast Style. All of these bucks have fallen in what I initially considered the "sanctuary" I originally planned to leave alone until gun season.
A little long winded, but maybe my lessons will help someone...
