Stay Put

[Rusty]

A few years back a buddy of mine was looking to get his first deer so I took him out on opening day of 6-day to a spot I had had good success at.  He was in a strip of woods that connected 2 large woodlots surrounded by picked corn fields.  I told him to stay put no matter what.  On opening day the guys that stayed in their stands had the best chance of scoring while the impatient hunters got up and pushed deer around.

 

By 11:00 he had seen a bunch of deer running across the fields but nothing came through his spot.  He was losing patients and had stood up several times to climb down but he knew I would be "displeased" so he sat back down.  Around noon he was taking a leak with his gun on the seat behind him when 4 does followed by a big 8 pointer trotted by right under his tree.  He was livid.  After 5 hours of waiting patiently a buck finally comes by and he's not holding his gun.

 

He starts cursing up a storm, grabs his thermos and pours a cup of coffee.  He's standing there in his tree, cursing, kicking the air, and drinking coffee when the 4 does come running back from the direction they had gone.  He dropped the coffee out of the tree and grabbed his gun just as the 8 pointer comes into view, a single shot straight down dropped the deer right next to the coffee cup.

 

 

[rgw]

 very true, he is lucky, most times you don't get many second chances. the deer probably picked out someone a little more impatient than him and came back

Edited December 8, 2015 by rgw

[Ravenrock_bowbender]

True.. me and a couple guys hunted our lease not 1 deer in the morning seen..at about 2:30 deer where everywhere until dark.

[Thunderhawk]

It is a game of patience.

 

If you're in a good spot..chances are they will come by eventually.

 

I believe I'm the only one in my crew that still sits dark to dark.

[JHbowhunter]

this is all true, but my preference will always be, to hunt completely unpressured deer on their natural movement patterns, even if that involves "no movement at all".   I do realize that is an unrealistic view, but just how I feel after deer hunting this state for 41 years.  If you are going to commit your time to taking a day off to hunt 6-day, you need to stick it out because the amount of deer drives going off in all parts of state private and public is pretty much un-quantifiable.

[Ravenrock_bowbender]

We figured the direction all the deer came from it was the othe guys lease down the road coming back to their stands

[delvalhunter]

Actually it sounds like the first time the buck came through he actually did have his "Hand on his gun"! Lol!!!

[_X7]

Patience is a virtue....these days I'm having a hard time being virtuous