I agree with your observations 100%, however, there are those on here that will argue that scouting , reading sign, woods hunting and such is not a dying art.

I agree with your observations 100%, however, there are those on here that will argue that scouting , reading sign, woods hunting and such is not a dying art.

No was actually just st getting thoughts and making conversation. Trust me I love hunting open areas and seeing a long ways but it didnt prepare me for actually getting in a bucks bedroom and possibly taking him at another time of the year than the rut when most people seem to take their bucks.

I wish I knew what the happy medium was concerning scouting vs stinking.

I feel like a backwoods hick barbarian these days because I do all my hunting from a climber, and almost never on fields. Even when we leased premium land for 20 years, with powerlines, cutovers, food plots, I "might" hunt from a permanent stand or shooting house once a year. Had a great shooting house on the powerline overlooking a lush greenfield, but from that shooting house I couldn't see what I wanted to see into the woods (nor could I hear the deer). So I would literally climb the power pole 10 yards away from that stupid shooting house.

I went to a club as a guest a couple of weeks ago, hunted three days in a row morning and afternoon, never once took the climber out of the truck. Nothing I've ever done felt as stupid and lazy as sitting on a greenfield in a shooting house in the morning???!!! The whole time I'm thinking, "If I was in that tree right yonder, I could get another 25' higher and see all those woods the left, I could see all those woods to the right, and still see this big food plot here (that no friggin' deer is gonna walk out on till 30 minutes before dark this evening). We'd drive by a mile of the most premium looking cutover, only for him to drop me off on a road and say "walk till this road hits that field, there'll be a shooting house on the left". Drove me nuts. 3000 acres of insanely good land in the Black Belt, and everybody sits in shooting houses on plots morning and evening.

I feel like a backwoods hick barbarian these days because I do all my hunting from a climber, and almost never on fields. Even when we leased premium land for 20 years, with powerlines, cutovers, food plots, I "might" hunt from a permanent stand or shooting house once a year. Had a great shooting house on the powerline overlooking a lush greenfield, but from that shooting house I couldn't see what I wanted to see into the woods (nor could I hear the deer). So I would literally climb the power pole 10 yards away from that stupid shooting house.

I went to a club as a guest a couple of weeks ago, hunted three days in a row morning and afternoon, never once took the climber out of the truck. Nothing I've ever done felt as stupid and lazy as sitting on a greenfield in a shooting house in the morning???!!! The whole time I'm thinking, "If I was in that tree right yonder, I could get another 25' higher and see all those woods the left, I could see all those woods to the right, and still see this big food plot here (that no friggin' deer is gonna walk out on till 30 minutes before dark this evening). We'd drive by a mile of the most premium looking cutover, only for him to drop me off on a road and say "walk till this road hits that field, there'll be a shooting house on the left". Drove me nuts. 3000 acres of insanely good land in the Black Belt, and everybody sits in shooting houses on plots morning and evening.

BC I can see that you are offended by something or someone has rubbed you the wrong way in the past, but literally I grew up mainly hunting by myself and never really had anyone to really talk much deer hunting with over the years and thats why when I found this page years ago, I just enjoyed reading the daily threads and experiencing everyones excitement and joy from this side of the phone, so I decided to post a thread. I have many, many, many deer under my belt. I have a 152” 10 point from Talladega county I scouted for early season and finally took him in December, BEFORE the rut, sitting on a stump, because I played all the variables correctly, and the stump was literally the only place to sit and that has been the most gratifying kill of my hunting career, so I have taught myself quite a bit from trial and error. I never had anyone whatsoever take me out to the woods and show me what to look for when it comes to trails and food sources, and bedding areas. The ones that did invite me to their clubs, just stuck me on some food plot or cutover no one ever hunted, and yes I killed many bucks but didnt learn anything. I learned to walk to a stand, shooting house or whatever and just wait.

What I love about hunting, its continuously changing (much like everything else) and I love to increase my knowledge of whatever it is I am pssionate about. I love golf, and there are COUNTLESS ways to play the game just like hunting. I have a 2.8 handicap and most people would say, dont change a thing, but I love trying new things just like hunting, (heck im not getting paid to do either so whats it going to hurt) and hunting thick stuff is extremely new to me and I didnt realize I didnt know half about hunting that I thought I knew, at least when it pertains to changing up tactics and habitats. Its been a learning year for me and I was literally making a “serious deer hunting” conversation and your opinion is greatly appreciated if it pertains to the thread subject but Im sure most people would appreciate it if you would just keep your first assumption pessimistic comments to yourself. Not just for this post but others.

Sorry...... nothing personal. I just subscribe to the theory that you should hunt the way you enjoy as long as it's lawful and not have to worry about people looking down their nose at you. I've killed them in cutovers, shooting houses, greenfields, and looking them dead in the eye in a thicket a rabbit might think twice about entering, and I just don't look down my nose at anyone and tell them they aren't "hunting". The President of my club and my Dad like to pull up to areas and watch out the truck window. Not my bag but they seem to enjoy it, and I'd love to see someone tell my dad he wasn't "hunting" by doing it. He's 70 years old and that guy has killed more bucks than CWD lol.

I don't understand why it's so difficult to let guys hunt the way they want.

We get these type thread a lot. It's worse during turkey season when noobs that have 10 birds under their belt show up and tell turkey hunters around here that kill 15 birds a year in multiple states that they aren't doing it right if they don't call them up to within 3 feet. Just gets old after you've read 40-50 of them.


Sorry...... nothing personal. I just subscribe to the theory that you should hunt the way you enjoy as long as it's lawful and not have to worry about people looking down their nose at you. I've killed them in cutovers, shooting houses, greenfields, and looking them dead in the eye in a thicket a rabbit might think twice about entering, and I just don't look down my nose at anyone and tell them they aren't "hunting". The President of my club and my Dad like to pull up to areas and watch out the truck window. Not my bag but they seem to enjoy it, and I'd love to see someone tell my dad he wasn't "hunting" by doing it. He's 70 years old and that guy has killed more bucks than CWD lol.

Because of ego, mainly, and bullchit.

I’m going to hunt where and how I need to hunt in order to kill deer. If that means sitting in a shooting house and waiting to better increase my chances so be it. If that means getting in the woods and hanging off the side of a tree ok. I don’t understand the need to hunt in the woods in order to do it it “right”. I’ll let the deer dictate what I need to do.

I wonder if you could do a drive with a drone in a cutover?

Is it "real hunting" if I use a ladder stand or a climber, or do I have to grow my toenails out real long so I can climb the tree without any assistance?

All this scouting and “buck’s bedroom” stuff....... if you find his “bedroom “ and it’s in daylight hours there’s a good chance he was laying there and you done run him off, making him that much harder to kill. I get excited when I find a lot of buck sign in a thick place but then I start thinking I’ve done stunk this place up brushing up against these limbs and bushes. I’ve got about 60 acres of limestone and cedar thickets that I get in my head I could kill a good deer on but on the other hand I hate to stomp thru it cause I think that’s where the majority of my deer live.

I wish I knew what the happy medium was concerning scouting vs stinking.

Once you get over the phase of trying to prove something to other people then you won’t really give a damn about where or how you choose to hunt. Hunting is way more enjoyable when you stop caring what everyone else thinks. You can go to the woods and just have fun without feeling so much pressure to make it happen. You don’t feel that intense disappointment if the season ends without you killing the big one. All of that stress you put on yourself goes away and you can just go to have fun.

I think everyone(except me, because I appreciate the advancement of technology) should hunt with a sharpened stick and should walk or ride a horse to where they will be hunting. Think how challenging and rewarding that would be

Once you get over the phase of trying to prove something to other people then you won’t really give a damn about where or how you choose to hunt. Hunting is way more enjoyable when you stop caring what everyone else thinks. You can go to the woods and just have fun without feeling so much pressure to make it happen. You don’t feel that intense disappointment if the season ends without you killing the big one. All of that stress you put on yourself goes away and you can just go to have fun.

Once you get over the phase of trying to prove something to other people then you won’t really give a damn about where or how you choose to hunt. Hunting is way more enjoyable when you stop caring what everyone else thinks. You can go to the woods and just have fun without feeling so much pressure to make it happen. You don’t feel that intense disappointment if the season ends without you killing the big one. All of that stress you put on yourself goes away and you can just go to have fun.

I don't use trail cameras, feed, food plots, half the time I don't even use a treestand, scent control, mock scrapes, any other kind of scent stuff. I find the terrain and vegetation pinches on public land and shoot the deer that give me quick clean kills. That's really all there is to it. I chuckle at the guys that feel obligated to adopt every knew product as necessary to their "arsenal" like scent bags and ground blinds and new camo patterns and all that bull.