Elite wrote:I scouted several public spots last year and located good buck bedding. One spot I hunted this year October 2, November 3 and December 12. All three times I saw zero deer even though the rut and buck sign was there from spring ‘21 scouting and this fall. Not sure if the summer drought had anything to do with the lack of bedding in this particular swamp.
I also hunted another spot Oct 1 and November 2/3 with zero sightings even though the spring scouting showed good rut sign. This is my first year hunting these two pieces so my question is, how many years do you give public spots before you abandon them? I have aerial scouted several different pieces that I’m looking forward to walking this coming spring. It’s hard to hunt them all especially during the rut and vacation time.
if it looks like a good spot, keep going as long as it looks like a good spot. If you hunted it 3 times, there might have been a buck near by that you didn't see that night, or might have been in that spot other nights. It could be that the buck or bucks are only using that particular spot on very specific conditions, so you'd have to figure out when that is. They might just be bucks that travel alot and only hit that spot once every few days or less, so you'd have to be there more frequently or just be lucky enough to be there at the right time. Maybe you'll need to in season scout and hunt when you find the hot sign. Sometimes it's a game of inches. Sometimes it's a game of patience. Sometimes it's a game of chance.