THE SAME THING OVER AND OVER

I remember the horror stories well. When I first joined our deer camp, I
was quickly informed that the deer numbers were way down from years ago.
Time was, a hunter could see 40 or 50 deer in a single day. But not
anymore. Now they were lucky if they saw one or two….all season! I was a
bit disappointed by this information but I soon discovered the reason for
the decline in deer sightings.

SQUATTER’S RIGHTS?

Many of the camp members had been hunting the SAME stand locations year
after year…regardless of wind direction, hunting pressure, or food sources.
I was blessed to have early success at deer camp. I bagged a buck in four
out of my first five seasons there. I just couldn’t understand why I was
seeing and harvesting deer while most of the other guys were not seeing
anything. I would love to tell you that it was because I was a superior
woodsman and hunter extraordinaire but alas…such is not the case. The real
reason why I was seeing deer and my fellow campmates were not was simply
because I was a new camp member and therefore had to find my own spot to
hunt. I had to find a place where none of the other camp members hunted.
Not a spot that someone had been hunting in for…oh….the last 20 years or
so!

IF YOU BUILD IT, THEY WILL COME…FOR AWHILE ANYWAY

Deer cannot reason like you and I but they do have instincts that warn them
of danger. If they are repeatedly exposed to the sight, sound, or smell of
a perceived danger in a specific location year after year, they will
instinctively alter their travel patterns to avoid that area. The does will
train their young to also avoid those areas and that is then passed down to
other generations. Pretty soon, the hunter that has been sitting in that
same stand for 20 years will be complaining that the deer that once were in
abundance have left the area. In reality, the deer are still there but are
avoiding that spot.

HIT THE ROAD JACK

What I’m trying to tell you is this…if you have a stand location that once
provided lots of deer sightings every season but now seems barren of deer,
and you have been in that same stand every year, maybe it’s time to find a
new hunting spot.
And you might not have to go far either. It could be just a short hop to
the other side of the ridge. Instead of hunting that spur that comes down
the mountain, try dipping into the draw that comes up the mountain. Try
finding a staging area instead of hunting the field edge.

CONCLUSION

Trust me…I know how hard it is to leave a stand location that USED to
provide lots of deer sightings and the occasional meat in the freezer. You
keep thinking that this will finally be the year that the deer come back in
the numbers of old and you had better be on that same stand…again.
It’s time my friend to give up the ghost and explore the woods for a new
hunting spot. And if you can find more than one new spot, your chances have
just gone up on seeing more deer this season and next.

Check out my blog, videos, and lots of other stuff at www.thinkarchery.com.
If you would like to discuss this or any other archery topic with me
directly, please feel free to email me at todd@thinkarchery.com