Grrr need help!
- Bonecrusher101
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Re: Grrr need help!
No deer sign? Lots of hunter sign? No thanks I'm out.
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Re: Grrr need help!
Weaver.b wrote:tbunao wrote:I scouted that area for a day and 1/2 in march. I ran into a ridiculous amount of human sign no matter where I went. Doesn't mean that some good deer don't run through there I just moved on. There are good spots around you....
I am glad you got to see it first hand haha do you live close?
I live in NY
- Boogieman1
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Re: Grrr need help!
I hear a lot of talk about how hard it is to get permission on private and suggest u might be going at it the wrong way. Yes knocking on doors is tough, most folks feel u r eithier there to rob em or sell them something. Look for small parcels of private backed up to large heavily hunted patches or odd spots most people would never think of hunting. Treat it like a sales job eithier u sale them a reason to hunt it or they sale u a reason u can't! Eithier way a sale is made...
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Re: Grrr need help!
I would decide that it would be my "nasty weather" property and snow tracking property. This way you get away from high pressure days there and can branch out with still hunting skills and snow tracking skills. And you don't have to drive too far to make it happen. Try something different that you don't normally do there. But mainly I would move on and spend most of my season elsewhere.
As a bonus to moving on to a new plot of land, learning a new property kicks you out of a comfort zone in a way and teaches you new things.
Driving an hour to hunt a good property is not much of a sacrifice to me. What would you be willing to sacrifice? It's all up to you. If you live in the city, then that hour drive can remove a lot of pressure sometimes. Think of it as a positive thing.
Many people wish they lived in Ohio and had your opportunities. Think "glass half full" and you can make it happen. Think "glass half empty" and you are already halfway to giving up altogether.
Hopefully this is helpful. It is exactly what I would do. Gotta keep learning and trying new things in order to grow and improve. Good luck and keep us posted!
As a bonus to moving on to a new plot of land, learning a new property kicks you out of a comfort zone in a way and teaches you new things.
Driving an hour to hunt a good property is not much of a sacrifice to me. What would you be willing to sacrifice? It's all up to you. If you live in the city, then that hour drive can remove a lot of pressure sometimes. Think of it as a positive thing.
Many people wish they lived in Ohio and had your opportunities. Think "glass half full" and you can make it happen. Think "glass half empty" and you are already halfway to giving up altogether.
Hopefully this is helpful. It is exactly what I would do. Gotta keep learning and trying new things in order to grow and improve. Good luck and keep us posted!
Work hard, stay humble, be kind.
- elk yinzer
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Re: Grrr need help!
Some public is just too small and too close to big cities. Having lived in a city for a few years it is tough but you just gotta buck up and drive past those first few tracts to find better options. 3 AM wake ups are never fun but neither is sitting in a stand seeing nothing but other hunters all day.
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- northeast beast
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Re: Grrr need help!
Make the hour drive...pain in the but.. yes...but think about how many guys won't want to go that far so they will stick with the place your at now...I have a small piece of public 3min from my house..I would not think about touching it...it's so over run its scarry during gun to see how many trucks are around that area...I drive 35mins and completely different story...pressure still there but good sign and over looked pockets are too....keep tabs on your current place but venture out I think it will be worth it for you
- Weaver.b
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Re: Grrr need help!
Thanks for the positive support guys I have been doing a little cyber scouting in some other areas in the state and will give them a shot
When my time upon this earth the days they are fulfilled let me die at least as clean as those I killed
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Re: Grrr need help!
Weaver.b wrote:Jackson Marsh wrote:Sometimes you have to just move on from a property. Do you have any other viable options within a reasonable distance? Are good bucks killed out of the property you are frustrated with?
I've dumped properties that were tough to get away from other hunters and never regretted it.
Thats the only problem getting private permission around here is about like asking someone for their first born. And no more decent public land for about an hour away.
Have you checked out Funks bottom wildlife area? I am planning an out of state hunt from nc to oh this year. Was looking at funks bottom/killbuck areas. They appeal to me because of the swamp/marsh/agriculture mix I'm seeing from maps. This post has me wondering if it'll just be heavily pressured. Looking to hunt it mid-late November.
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Re: Grrr need help!
Give up? What you going to do? quit hunting? You make the best of it and set your goals accordingly. I can tell you this, I hunt about 1 out of 10 public properties near me. A lot of them are worthless based on pressure and cover. I also spend a lot of my season searching for a property with a shooter. Then, I start to focus and narrow it down. If you have no rubs, no big tracks, and no sign of a big buck, move on... Better to drive an hour and actually be hunting than making believe there are target bucks on that property. But... If there is big buck sign, you might just have to look harder, and dig deeper.
- backstraps
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Re: Grrr need help!
I cannot say first hand about your particular Wildlife Area....BUT
I have a friend the lives in Wooster and there are large populations of “deer” near you. Finding a mature, shooter buck takes work. However my friend spends a lot of time scouting and tags each season within 2 weeks of the opener last Saturday of Sept
Also, south of you is probably the heaviest pressured public lands in the state but that pressure often is t bad until 3rd week of Oct
Now I have hunted south of you and I do know first hand there are some mature bucks around there :). I say keep grinding, stay positive and keep it fun
Good luck man!
I have a friend the lives in Wooster and there are large populations of “deer” near you. Finding a mature, shooter buck takes work. However my friend spends a lot of time scouting and tags each season within 2 weeks of the opener last Saturday of Sept
Also, south of you is probably the heaviest pressured public lands in the state but that pressure often is t bad until 3rd week of Oct
Now I have hunted south of you and I do know first hand there are some mature bucks around there :). I say keep grinding, stay positive and keep it fun
Good luck man!
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Re: Grrr need help!
Only thing you can control is staying positive so the good thing is you are learning the area and crossing spots off. That being said an oak trees value is the acorns. Not sure if last year there wasn’t much production which would limit the amount of sign. If you look on the ground and you don’t see acorns on the ground there may not have been much production and this fall could be a completely different story. Depending on what other options you have sometimes mentally it helps to move on and like everyone says the sign won’t lie. Best of luck! We’ve all been there
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Re: Grrr need help!
Weaver.b wrote:tgreeno wrote:So you walked the transitions and the points?
As Dan has always said..."Sign don't lie"!
If you don't see any, find a place where you do see it! That's my best advice.
Hahaha I walked every square foot around and on the darn thing...not even one old rub or sign of a bed
You just answered your question about when to move on.
If folks are getting deer there, then they are there - you just haven't found em yet. But if you have covered the place and can't find deer, time to go where you can find deer to hunt.
- hoyt31786
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Re: Grrr need help!
From first hand experience there's never a day I don't see at least 5 trucks throughout this public. Also the amount of waterfowl hunting pressure it receives as well. I'm not gonna say there ain't big bucks there bc I have several trail cam pics of solid 4 1/2 and older deer. I just don't think they spend much time on the public at all. May catch one passing thru onto the private they go. I think that's why there's not much sign there laid down cause they really aren't there that much. There's good public hunting not to far from ya . I would venture out i try to never put all my eggs in one basket. I will say the pressure on Ohio public land has only increased over the years. I don't think it I'll get much better as private ground is next to none around here anymore. I sent out over 200 letters and have tried to gain access it's very very hard anymore. Ohio got flooded like Illinois with the big buck craze when we keep putting deer on the cover of North American Whitetail magazines. Leasing, outfitters, nonresident ect ect.We are located perfect for so many eastern states the non resident draw here is as much as any state on the map I'd put money on it. With our cheap license cost for non residents it's no wonder they all wanna come here. I feel your pain it's tough going but id venture out I know there's good hunting not far from ya. Reality is there's always gonna be pressure and it's never gonna be easy to get on mature bucks on our public. But that's what makes it all the more sweet when all the hard work comes together ! Hope it gets better for ya !
- hoyt31786
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Re: Grrr need help!
Ranger Matthews wrote:Only thing you can control is staying positive so the good thing is you are learning the area and crossing spots off. That being said an oak trees value is the acorns. Not sure if last year there wasn’t much production which would limit the amount of sign. If you look on the ground and you don’t see acorns on the ground there may not have been much production and this fall could be a completely different story. Depending on what other options you have sometimes mentally it helps to move on and like everyone says the sign won’t lie. Best of luck! We’ve all been there
Spot on! Oak trees don't produce every year sometimes every other year sometimes every 2 to 3. They do this to offset all the critter predation. Alot more than deer eat acorns as well. So they have some hope of acorns germinating when some trees are dropping here and there different years. There's a great article on this in the latest edition of QDMA Magazine. I've even seen deer leave oaks that have dropped acorns already for trees that are dropping fresh acorns . Like Ranger said maybe trees didn't produce last yr and deer weren't there .
- ThePreBanMan
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Re: Grrr need help!
I have some woods near me that are like that.... I don't hunt there either... Plenty of other options.
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