Thank you... Yes I hear all of you - sit sit and sit ... I plan on it. The problems I have with "find a spot and sit all day" is:
1. I am hunting public lands
2. Almost all public lands in NC are 6 day week huntable (we have weird blue laws and game lands -which almost all public lands are have a no sunday hunting rule).
3. The closest public lands are a little over an hour away.
4. Given 1, 2, and 3 that means from middle of Sept to end of Dec - I have roughly 14 huntable days to hunt these lands - given I have a job Mon - Fri.
5. There is a LOT of big woods in these public lands and deer seem to be somewhat nomadic in them. I have seen them all over a spot one day and never to return the next.
6. So if I pick a spot and sit - all day - each time I do that in a place where the deer have moved on, I am burning close to 10% of my chances to kill a deer.
The way I have been tackling these woods is to scout, find, set up hunt before dawn till around 2ish then if nothing is there, move on. Rinse and repeat. At least then I am only burning 5ish % of my huntable time.
Right now, in spite of active sign, sitting in/around it... I am not even hearing deer, much less seeing them. If I were spooking deer on my stand I would know its scent/wind or noise. If I were seeing them but they were 100 yards off, then I would know its my set.
Its early I know... and I am not seriously ready to sell my shit. I have a small farm and if I want I can set up a stand on my food plot out front and whack a doe (or maybe a buck). That's harvesting meat, not hunting deer. And yes I am looking into clubs to join but most of them fall into: 1) small badly located or managed lands 2) super large and your competition is worse than public lands. I also am cultivating some farmers and farms I can get some sunday hunting in on. The ones that don't fall into that are expensive, and if I am going to spend several $1000s to join a club - well I would rather buy an elk tag and go hunt Montana!
How small is your farm? What kind of food plot(s)?
I am an avid SC whitetail hunter. I drive 3 hours to my 100-acre property every Friday after work and 3 hours back late Saturday night or early Sunday morning. Wish I had more time in the woods, but it is what it is. Unfortunately, the rifle season where I live in SC starts two months later than the game zone where my property is. So, even though I have a few places to hunt up here, I’m spending 6 hours in a car every weekend from August 15-October 15.
I mostly hunt over food plots that we’ve clear cut, planted, and developed over the years. Hunting from a stand/blind on a food plot isn’t just “harvesting meat.” It absolutely can be extremely successful and rewarding hunting.
This is just my two cents, but it sounds like you’re naturally inclined more towards the ideas and concepts of spot and stalk hunting out west. I’ve never gone myself, but am very much obsessed with the idea of going out west to hunt elk. But I understand that the reality of eastern whitetail hunting is MUCH different. I think your idea of what “hunting” whitetail is may be the thing that is holding you back. There’s something romantic about hunting big woods - either public WMA in NC or public land out west. But the reality is that most whitetail hunting in NC/SC is just fundamentally different.
Food plots are often very useful and important here, but it doesn’t have to be as simple as putting a box blind up at the top of a large Ag tract. Hunt the edges. Hunt the funnel points. Hunt the trails to and from the food or water source. Know the various wind scenarios and have stands available for all options. You can build cheap elevated box blinds for less than $100 with scrap wood. Use climbing stands to catch the big boys slipping because you’re right that you’re not going to see a record buck walk out to a corn feeder or bean field at 9 AM outside of the rut.
Develop your land. Develop your herd. Put out mineral sites in the spring. Plant quality food sources. Ensure there is water access or that the deer can get the water they need from the browse or food. Use game cameras all over your farm to get a true idea of your total herd and buck to doe ratio. If you have too many does, kill some does and vice versa. Make your farm an attractive place for deer. Utilize QDMA principles and you can have such a good privately owned place to hunt.
That’s just the reality of hunting whitetail in NC and SC. You can have so much fun turning a small farm into a great piece of hunting property. The work itself is very rewarding but seeing it all payoff after a few years is such a good feeling.
I get no less satisfaction hunting my food plots than I do big private or public land. I’ve hunted 10+ full days this year on 100 acres, passed on countless does, and caught a nice buck yesterday morning on my favorite 2 acre field. That wasn’t an easy “meat harvest” like you insinuate. I scouted and hunted hard and have worked for years to turn my small tract of land into a great hunting spot. I haven’t seen a buck for almost 7 years on my property. After putting in a couple years of real work, I’ve seen several this year and have at least 20 different shooter bucks on camera. I *can’t wait* for the rut.
Remember, there’s a reason we hunt. We hunt to commune with nature, to clear our minds from the stressors of daily life, and to fill our freezers with a sustainable source of quality meat. If you’re not having fun, then just take a break for a while and reflect on why you started hunting in the first place. Every Thursday after work, I still get SO excited packing my gear to go my farm with food plots. You get out of it what you put into it.
I wish you the best. Take a breath and think about WHY you hunt. Our hunting lives aren’t measured by the mounts on our wall. They’re measured by the experiences we have.
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