What Have You Learned?

[2Poppa]

As Woods Walker indicated/observed/learned ... "The question is always greater than the answer!" That will get ya through life ... and deer huntin'!
 
I love huntin' on the ground ... sometimes I gotta throw in a tree stand for good measure, just, to get above the many eyes that precede that Monster I'm lookin' for.
 
I'm diggin' your "joy" Woods Walker!
 
By the way, I thought I was the only one that stared/observed the oak mast with binoculars, while laying on my back.
 
The moist area of a hollow was key ... for me this year too!
That is where I observed one of the biggest bucks earlier in the season. It was in a North/East hollow, mostly East, thirty yards from the top of a ridge, that received the "least" daylight/sun, which kept the ground moist and was  "t-h-e"  bunking area of a big buck.
It did receive the early morning sunlight, matter of fact, it faced it head on, but early in the morning, it was "mostly" cool.
 
I'm talkin' early season, September, early October, in Northern Kentucky, with temperatures reaching the 60's and sometimes the 70's plus.
 
As the sun rose ... it would get hotter in the day, and that particular hollow/area, would stay cool and moist, making it comfortable for the deer to bunk, most of the day.
They would set-up camp there until the next major feeding period ... usually it would be the evening hunt, when they would begin there next browse.
I like to call it,"headin' towards the watering hole!"
 
What state are you huntin' Woods Walker?
 
And JOEL, I agree ... but somtimes, you may have to saw a sappling.[;)]
 

ORIGINAL: Woods Walker

Hunting, or just being in the woods, has always been a lifelong learning process for me, and 90% of the time I come away with more questions than I have answers for, but that's the joy of it. One question leads to another. For example.....
 
 
Each observation leads to another question.
 
  (I'm a ground hunter). [:)]

[Woods Walker]

Illinois. I have ground in northern Illinois (Ogle County), and west central (Brown County).

[msbadger]

It's a chess game...all you can do is study the moves and watch your opponent...keep your whits about you and hope not to get checked..

[Scot]

Nice to see I am not alone! One of the mistakes I made this year is setting up on great buck sign instead of determining how the buck or bucks was/were coming in to it.Bottom line is that I should have dug a little deeper.as it relates to that next year I know where I will be!
While I was on my out of state hunt I found what I thought was the mother load of rub and scraping activity,I have never seen as much obviously big buck sign in the ten years I have hunted this area,I came through it (approximately a five acre area) frightened myself in the sense that I didn't want to be in the middle of sign like this,I didn't want to leave scent or bump deer out of it.(thick,bedding type area)I got on the downwind edge with great concealment and visability and spent the next day and a half sitting that spot.I never saw a deer.Still is a mystery to me,I don't believe I boogered the area up,I am so conscious of things like that,were the bucks on the move looking for doe's and not spending time there? many of the scrapes were wreaking fresh.I am still scratching my head on what took place there.
At home in late season worn down by the the rigors of my 10 days of hunting  out of state and frustrated by the incredibly crunchy walking,I was not beating deer back to their bedding area,and I bumped them two or three times.Late season at home deer are burrowed in and not moving a whole lot outside of very early and very late in the day.
Dragged my butt out of bed earlier,beat these same group of deer back to their bedding area and killed a mature doe.
I am a bit lost in our late season if the conditions are not conducive to still hunting.
 

[JOEL]

hey you sapling i say twig.I've also learned that i only visit the woods the deer live there 24/7/365 and no matter what they .....KNOW i was there but thats okay when they still walk into the perfectly trimmed "kill zone" the arrow releases  and whoosh off they run (they dont even know they are all ready dead)Say a prayer and then i learn again that im getting older and that deer is harder to drag

[Sam Menard]

I've learned that the answer to one question includes at least 2 other questions.
 
Sam

[dewey]

I learned I need to spend more time at the shooting range, but not just with the gun being supported.  I need to practice not having a rest taking quick shots at moving target to become an overall better shooter therefore a better hunter.  Not to pass up on a large 8 pointer the first morning naively thinking that I will see a larger buck later on during the hunt.  I am still kicking myself over that one.

[MHHC S. IL]

Deer hunters only have to go up 15 feet to get to heaven.

[JChurch]

I along with my cousin learned that no one wants to put up a stand or hunt the place that is terrible to get to especially with a 2-man ladder stand until you put the stand up and do all the work and start seeing deer and shooting deer then everyone decides it's not such a bad hike after all and you have to fight them off with a stick.

[Squirrelhawker]

[ul][*]I learned that after sitting in the blind and watching the 19 yard trail for three hours that it was still possible to get busted at 5 yards. But what was really important was sometimes you just have to chuckle, and then go home.[/ul]
 
[ul][*]       Electrical tape is your friend during MZ season[/ul]
 
[ul][*]Deer do not wear watches[/ul]