Most important factor in choosing hunting area.

Crippledsledge64

Lil-Rokslider
Joined
Mar 5, 2017
Messages
207
Location
South East Idaho
Pretty straightforward question with probably a ton of different answers. What is the number one factors or list of factors in your choice of a hunting area.
Hunting pressure, game spotted during scouting, accessibility, good habitat, close to home, the family's been hunting it since great great granddad, whatever?
 
Are you asking from the perspective of a resident or a non-resident?

My answers are different now that I live in Indiana, than when I lived in Montana.

Jeremy
 
Cell phone service so I can keep up with the bro's.




Actually one of my biggest factors is where I can get a tag. Then I sort everything out. Habitat, accessibility, pressure, then finding game.
 
First, timing , whether there is an opening when I want for what I want
Then its intel , for local hunts garnered by repeatable visits, long distance by www sleuthing
 
Local: Does it have the game/quality I'm looking for.
Can't kill what is not there. I have a ton of places I can shoot a deer but very few for quality bucks/animals

I can shoot small bucks and does anytime...Could be done opening day archery season if I just wanted to shoot a deer.

Out of state: similar but it has to have 2 of the three with #1 being a constant
1.Quality animals or at least what I would like to shoot.
2.low pressure (at least tolerable or enough land to work around pressure)
3.accessibility (obviously there is a threshold on low accessibility with still having enough to hunt and a waste of time.)

I am not a numbers guy even though it is nice to see a ton of deer but normally these hunts aren't quality producers. Low pressure and quality good even with limited access.

Hunted a spot in MT this year that I constantly see postings about limited to no access. I will definitely be going back because you couldn't hunt all the land available in a month but you do have to walk to get where the animals are. From what I saw during the peak rut little to know pressure on most of it but a ton of pressure on easy spots close to town. Most important the average buck size was a welcome change of pace from where I normally hunt with "tons" of public accessible land, a ton of deer, and a ton of pressure.
 
Accessibility by far,
If you can’t get to it all other factors don’t matter.


Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk
 
Hunting pressure does not bother me to much if you can figure out how to use that pressure in your favor


Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk
 
Terrain would be next. If your not in good enough shape to get around it can really limit things.

Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk
 
Will I be able to put the time into learning the area?

I'd much rather hunt a marginal area I know like the back of my hand than a better unit I have no boot leather knowledge of.
 
Permission/access and habitat. Getting harder and harder to get permission on private land in Ohio.
 
My goals. Those will determine the most important factors for where I hunt. If I'm after a certain size, it has to be a unit that actually has plenty of that size animals. If I'm just after a kill, then it better have a whole bunch of animals in it.
 
Back
Top