Home Forums Hunting & Shooting General Big Game Are you Patient or an Impatient Hunter?

I’ve only hunted one place where I could walk with a chance to ease up on deer. That was fun, I was in my twenties, I walked all over that lease in Ozona. After that I was in south Texas for years, no walking, sat in a stand on senderos. I hunted north Texas for twenty five years, that’s stand hunting brush and big fields of winter wheat. I hunted east Texas piney woods and Juniper thickets in central Texas now. That’s all stand hunting. I sit until about 10 am, go back out at 3:00 pm until dark. Boring hunting compared to open country, but at least I’m out hunting.

I think to much and when Im sitting on a deer stand it gets even worse

If you hunt big mule deer you better be patient. A couple years ago I sat for 17 hours over a 3 day period waiting for a buck to edge out of the timber. He finally made a mistake at daylight of the third day, staying out at timbers edge. I shot him at 200 yds. Nothing to do but wait and hope he made a mistake.

Do my best to be patient and hunt hard.

All of our deer here are mulies plus elk. I'd make a lousy whitetail hunter. There's no way I could sit for hours staring at a tree line.

Great post.

I grew up hunting WT deer. I would usually sit in a treestand until around 8:30, then I would Still Hunt until noon. Go back at 3 and Still Hunt my way back to the previous or a different Tree Stand ( or Box Blind) and sit until dark. When I moved out West, I learned to move fast until I found/got into game, then I'd slow down. But OP said when we "knew" game was in area, I go back to bowhunter mode.

Depends on a lot of factors. how much property one has to work with and if you have a good deal of land to work then when the weather is suitable still hunting can be an option. As I get older tree stand hunting has been the most productive for me. Though I do have fond memories of a Windy October day where the deer were not moving and the wind made siting in a tree unbarable.

Made a plan to work a Tree lane along a large beding area a few miles from my tree stand. As I approached 75 yards from the start of where I expected the deer may bed I noticed a doe and faun ahead. They seemed uneasy for reasons I did not understand why as the 20 to 30MPH winds were blowing my scent crosswind in a safe direction. The noise I was making should have been cover-up by the wind.

Well they moved on & I attempted to close the distance. Turns out a nice 4x4 buck was up wind of them and was looking to close the distance as well. I found myself between the buck and the does path. when he reached 11 yards Broad side in heavy cover I released the arrow. The arrow threaded through through the cover and the dear rain off. I sat back at replayed the shot and seen no reason the shot would not be good. I eased over to the place the deer was standing to look for the arrow.

Did not take long & the arrow was found buried in a tree. Stepped over to evaluate the arrow & found the arrow to be covered in deep red blood. That was enough for me, Backed out and headed to the vehicle too retrieve a dragging rope. Upon returning an hour later an attempt to pick up a blood trail was made. Nearly no blood was found over the corse of 80 yards where I found this 4x4 leaning agents a tree Purdy as could be. Sorry to say I had no camera.

H a

Man THAT would have been a Fantastic Photo !


Jerry

I can sit for an hour or so on a favorite vantage point where a couple well used trails intersect 400 yds out, that usually includes lunch and hydration. Knowing the number of deer and elk killed from that vantage point by family members over the last sixty years is conducive to patience.

But that is the exception, I have always spent the majority of my hunting time walking or horseback riding trails looking for targets of opportunity.

Patient. Very patient.

During the whitetail rut, I'll put in up to 12 eleven hour days out of 14 days (fewer if a mature buck does something stupid in front if me) 20-some feet up a tree on a 24" x 30" hang-on. I love It !!!

So ... that doesn't describe how I hunt. I seldom glass, seldom spot and stalk. I'm a primarily a still-hunter and I focus on heavy brush and black timber. I hunt in equal parts by sight and sound. In oaks and brush I often sit and listen for the sounds of bucks running does or deer pawing acorns. In big timber it is almost all by sight though sometimes I'll find a semi-open ridge to sit and watch, still timbered, but distances open up to 50 yards or more.

In over 40 years of deer hunting, most of my shots have come at 40 yards or less. 2-3 have been under 20 feet ... still hunting, not in a stand, not in a blind, but on the ground face to face with them. Y' oughta see that horrified "oh crap, I just effed up" look when a dominant buck thinks he's come to whoop ass on another buck and suddenly realizes instead that he's brought antlers to a gun fight.

Tom

I get real patient if it’s cold and raining. Turn my heater up a little more!

Yes sir, there are a few spots we hunt that I can recall multiple good deer and elk kills year after year. I tend to stick to those multiple days if it is my turn to hunt them. Happy Trails

Impatient. Hunting season is still MONTHS away.

Patient in the field.

I hate hunting out of a tree stand but oftentimes it’s the best approach for certain applications, 3 hours or so on average unless I’m seeing animals then I can sit there all day. With a rifle I’m usually up walking from the start unless I have a particular place I want to sit, then I can only take it for an hour or so.

+1.....I’m impatiently waiting for summer to end...😎

Myself, I have oodles of patience but I need to climb, walk and glass. Sitting at a preplanned spot watching a lick , bait area or an opening just does not feel like hunting. Climbing a mountain, glassing along the way and sometimes for hours , is my style.

If the woods are alive, I can sit for half a day. If things are obviously slow, it gets harder. It all depends on the game.

In a tree stand, one hour before first light until dark. Yup, I bring along an empty 1/2 gallon jug so I'm not smelling up the place.