Short Hunts - out of town hunts

[loganwayne]

How many days do you typically want at a minimum to figure out a piece of property to hunt? In NC we have a bunch of 3 day permit hunts that are on public and very low pressure. Personally i think 3 days is tough, even with showing up a day early and having cameras out throughout the year. i know if you can keep pulling the permit your experience goes up with the property and you start having better odds.

the hunt i had a couple weeks ago we saw a bunch of deer the day before hunt and then didn't see another until the last day and i wasnt going to shoot a 40lb deer. we didn't have any other hunters show up for the hunt.

Leaving for another one this afternoon hunt starts tomorrow, me and my hunting partner have hunted this property once before and we both tagged a deer on this hunt, it was earlier in the year though. this property is 1600 acres and there are 6 people hunting it on each permit slot. last year we saw one other guy one afternoon. we already have several areas picked out but im thinking on waiting till day light tomorrow morning to scout my way into a historical good area to make sure i dont miss the hot sign. we will probably pull 3 all day sits, depending on what we run into.

 

[slaton]

Probably a good idea to slip in with wind in your face and scout slowly while finding a place to hunt. With the moon almost full could see some later mornings early afternoon movement. Not sure what phase of rut the deer are in but sitting all day never hurts. Find the food and you will find the deer. White oaks are dropping good here. I’m in Georgia West of Atlanta. Good luck. Share success pictures.


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[Laramie]

With only 3 days, you need weather to cooperate. I have done it in that time frame a couple times but it was luck. In both instances I was able to scout a funnel via google earth and set my stand according to the wind. Both times I shot on day 2. I think playing the wind correctly should be number 1 priority, stand location being 2nd priority, and then just hope for good luck.

 

[loganwayne]

it should be pre-rut and id suspect some younger bucks will be trying to push some does around. my buddy checked cameras today where he wants to hunt. had some good bucks on it. the property is 1/3 -1/2 planted pines at different ages. last year we hunted oaks and travel corridors. thats the game plan again this year. success for us is harvesting an animal, we both eat 4-5 deer a year and both of us have killed one so far. i dont think either of us is against dropping a doe early in the hunt and then waiting for a nice buck. We also have a rut hunt on a place that has some real nice bucks, so thats gonna keep us being a little picky.

 

[Brian Fahs]

I would spend first full day snooping in the obvious places I had picked via maps or onx.
Especially this time of year you need to be on the best fresh sign to have a reasonable chance.
It only takes a few seconds to kill one so put yourself in the best current sign.

 

[loganwayne]

Confirmed today this buck as well as several others are still in the general area we are going to try tomorrow.

 

[FLS]

Just finished up a 3 day muzzleloader hunt here in SC. We both killed bucks, but we’ve hunted this NWR in the past. Nothing trumps experience but conditions do change. We both were hunting mature white oaks that were dropping. Younger trees have acorns but they’re not falling yet. We found them in a half day of scouting. I shot two does and he shot a 7 point off the same trees a couple of weeks ago with my bow. Find the food and you’ll find the does and right now the bucks are cruising.

 

[loganwayne]

Day one in the books. I made the mistake of not setting up where my gut said I should on some scrapes. Came out and found a new scrape and fresh poop. I ended up seeing a doe and a spike this morning and had a deer wind me tonight. My buddy saw a few deer and found some fresh sign. We making a game plan for tomorrow now

 

[loganwayne]

Day two had a buck slip in on me right before legal light make a scrape and leave before I had enough light to shoot.
Scouted again midday and found fresher sign and moved to it

buddy shot a coyote tonight, then had his target buck step out 3 minutes after legal light

I shot a tree trying to thread the needle

 

[loganwayne]

Day three last day of hunt.
buddy shot an 8 point at 7:45am we started tracking at 1:30pm good blood for 200 yards going as fast as you could walk. then nothing else we grid the area and tried to find a tracking dog with no luck.

i shot a doe early so we pulled up and packed everything out since my buddy is pretty tore up.

Arrow is from his buck.