You will get no argument at all from me on this at all.
Hell, if you get the deer conditioned to road feeders good enough I've been on places that I could literally pelt the deer with corn from mine because they were coming out of the thick brush an onto the road in front of me as I was feeding. I also believe in most cases you leave far less scent walking from just a few feet away from a parking spot in thick brush than you would walking in down a road/sendero.

I just know there have been times in order to kill a smart old mature buck we've had to either walk in or be dropped off and not leave that vehicle anywhere near a stand because they wouldn't show up otherwise. That is not very often but it has happened.

He who is most prepared often benefits from the most luck.

It still is not just the luck part on the unskilled. They did not go on a hunt alone but were taken by someone who had earned the skill set. They were in a spot because of someone else's help and skill set.

Yessr.

I completely agree

It is no different IMO than bass fishing. A really good, skilled angler catches more and better fish a heck of a lot more often than an average one does. He does this by knowing what to throw, when to throw it, how to present it. A good one also knows what to do when that strike happens and lands a huge more percentage of the bites he gets than a novice does! Any novice can luck into a giant bass and that is mostly LUCK but the skilled guy puts a ton more in to the boat.

Sorry guys but when a big buck happens to walk up to your feeder rather than your neighbor's when you just happen to be in your stand, luck is definitely at play.

On the flip side, when you're sitting in your stand at a spot you picked out because you studied the area and know that deer have been using it as a major crossing, skill has now bled into the equation.

When someone goes hunting on a specific day to a specific spot they are then there by their choice. No luck was involve in those decisions. If they kill a big buck it is because that buck lived in that area and that is exact area the hunter chose to hunt. You have to hunt where an animal lives....you can not kill what does not exist where you are hunting. If you go to the same exact location and do the same thing over and over without success, then change and suddenly find success....was it luck or your skill set kicked in to reason with your failures?

Was that buck there yesterday when you weren't there? The day before when you weren't there? 20 times the month before when the season was not open? The skill was in picking the right location at the right time based on your skill set. I had a buck that was working 2 different feeders, but would avoid the best location(most deer). Of the two he worked, I hunted one and he would be at the other(based on TC pics). We played the game for several weeks. Many said to just turn off one feeder, I chose to leave them all running on the place to not change the patterns of other deer. I finally pieced together a pattern of him hitting one feeder(that I was not at) at one time then going to the other one later the same morning/evening. I killed him at 9:55 in a pouring rainstorm coming from the feeder I did not hunt but heading the the one I was sitting on all morning.

Here's a cool photo that I wanted to share earlier but couldn't find it. Thankfully, I was able to recover it from an old post.

It was some time after first downloading the photo and focusing only on the bobcat that I happened to notice the young buck in the background. No telling how many deer, hunters walk or ride by late in the season and never know just how close they were to them. And yet, they claim all the deer have either been killed or have left the area. As I noted earlier, studies using radio-collared deer have found how wrong you can be. And if you're taking the same route to that same old stand that you've been hunting all season, and doing it around the same time every week, the deer know just when and where to hide.

Where would you likely be around noon on a given Monday in mid to late December?

Luck and skill set go hand and hand most of the time.
Luck is finding the right lease where the deer are, along with skill set knowing what to look for!

Yes.

Luck is also finding a group of folks that are like-minded that can work together and communicate.

Big deer/little deer/different goals for different folks.

I love big deer, but for me personally, I would rather help a kid shoot a big deer.

I'll take 2 does in my freezer vs a big buck. I know that sounds crazy to some, but that's where I'm at in life.

I agree with you on this as well, I’ve killed my fair share of big deer and I’ll definitely still shoot one but I get more of a kick seeing my wife, dad or daughter shoot a good deer than I do when I kill one. I guess getting older changes things but I’m more excited helping rather than being the shooter. Their is one particular deer that will change my attitude on this but I’m hoping I can get my wife on him this year. If he shows up when she’s not around though it’s happy dance time for me though

I have been hunting our family ranch for the past 41 years. I am now 53 and have several uncles as well as my father who are still hunting this ranch. They are all "old school" hunters. Basically, they each have there own deer blind which they hunt in all the time. One hunter always shows up at his blind in the morning when you can just barely see 50 yards in front of you. Then he hunts about a hour and a half then he leaves. In the afternoon, he goes hunting at 4pm and gets out just before dark. He drives a 4 wheeler to his blind ladder all the time. This uncle very rarely kills a mature buck or even sees one. Of course, my uncle won't change his ways. All I can say is....I hope that big buck comes by me. I have 4 mounted deer heads from this ranch throughout the years and several nice European mounts. Every last one of these "bigger" bucks was killed when nobody was out at the ranch but myself. I always liked the early morning hunts to "catch" that big buck before he beds down in the morning. I definitely would walk to my deer blind 400 yards away from my parked Polaris. I would only feed the sendero or road which I walked to get to the blind wearing rubber boots which were sprayed down. Forget going to corn other senderos. Just get to the blind and stay quiet. I like getting into the blind a good hour before first light. Again, this would only take place if nobody else is at the ranch but me. When others are there, then you can just forget trying to be sneaky, getting to the stand. Staying quiet is the key to success with these animals!

Sounds like your uncle is a firm believer in a very old saying. "I don't hunt to kill but kill in order to have hunted." God bless him and all those like him.

Thanks for sharing.

Pretty awesome you still have your Dad and Uncles to hunt with.

Rubber boots make a big difference, especially bow hunting. I have learned this to be true.

I guided a hunter once that got in early enough to hunt the evening sit before the rest of his group got in. Off we went to the blind and about an hour later he shot a really nice management 8 ( which was what he was there to hunt ). He mentioned how lucky we were to get that buck.....I didn't have the heart to tell him I saw that deer every evening at that feeder for the previous 2 weeks......


I like getting lucky but at some point skill needs to take over to keep the success rolling.

On my old place in Goliad county my best hunting was mid-week but not for the reason you are thinking. Both of my neighbors on the N, E and S of me all used a road feeder, so the deer did not need to come to my place like normal with all the extra corn on the ground. They also road around more mid day than I did and most did not hunt late, but with all the corn on the ground the deer could eat at any time they wanted to. The deer would come to my feeders after dark for protein and hit the oats all night long on weekends. From Tuesday - Friday morning my hunting was far better when I used the road feeder to hunt, as I would have deer on corn before I could get into the blind on some occasions. My sighting during the middle of the week were twice what I saw on weekends during the rut and early season. Now late season it was different on that place. I would hold a lot more deer post rut the free choice protein, oats plots and a lot of corn. I had food and water and the deer had good bedding cover to hide and recoop from the rut. I still saw a few less deer per hunt on the weekends compared to mid-week but the numbers I saw overall were much higher numbers per sit than early season. That place was a better morning hunting than evening hunting...weather dictated that to a point though.

I’m also in the camp that doesn’t think it takes much skill or anything else to kill a deer while sitting in a blind watching a feeder. I never really feel like I’ve accomplished much when I kill a deer sitting in a blind. I’m aware it takes even less skill to kill one off of my back porch feeder. To me anyone can be a deer hunter. If you can afford a place to hunt, a rifle, and a feeder you’re a deer hunter.

Skill is knowing how to read deer sign in order to make a decision on when to be in the area in order to get a chance at taking a shot at the buck that made it. It's finding a rub and paying attention to which side of the tree the buck rubbed and deciding if the rub faces a bedding area or a feeding area. Because bucks are lazy creatures and usually don't walk around a tree before rubbing it, you can determine his most likely direction of travel when he made it. If the rub faces towards a bedding area, you consider the buck made it late in the afternoon or early evening when he was heading out for the night. If the rub is on the opposite side of that same small tree, you're thinking he likely made it early in the morning while he was heading back to bed after being out for the night. It's also knowing that while both young and old bucks will often rub small trees, it's big bucks that most often rub bigger trees. And of course, the height of the rub can help determine the age of the buck that made it.

IME one small rub does not tell you as much as a series of sign post rubs in the areas of Texas I hunt. Sign post rubs are mature bucks calling card to mark his territory. If you can see for a little distance you can follow the rubs to feeding areas, water or bedding along that corridor. Those sign post rubs will be used year in and year out by the same buck and then any buck in the future. If you find sign post rubs marked on all sides then that will the place to hunt since all trail connect at the central location between feeding, water and bedding areas. If you have a good buck to doe ratio you are going to have multiple bedding areas in one location then multiply the by the acreage and deer numbers on one piece of land(that is large enough). Areas around feeders, water, bedding , trails or food plots IME in the areas I hunted will be littered with smaller rubs and scrapes. I have watched deer make a scrape on the way to feeder and then never observe another deer use it. While a few others scrapes will be active every year...year after year When you find a large community scrape then that is something to key in on. It will be used by every deer entering a food plot or approaching a feeder or a water source. Community scrapes will be active year after year if the drawing source is still there. In the pre-rut I have watched bucks thrash or rub a smaller tree or limb and then it will never be used again.(you can tell a fresh rub to an old one by color of the bark and underlayers). While a few rubs will be hit year after year.

Any ideas as to what may have been tipping him off as to which feeder you had chosen to sit and watch? I've spooked bucks that picked bedding sites that were near roads and trails where they entered the property. In fact, it's happened so many times that I would swear they knew where to bed to be alerted if anyone was entering the area. While some might scoff at the suggestion, I could see a buck being wise enough to pick a bedding site that allowed him to monitor a given area with his protection in mind. Thankfully, they're not wise enough to avoid curve balls.

Wild turkeys on the other hand are masters at throwing hunters curve balls. It's why I've always believed that deer are much easier to get within bow or shotgun range than turkeys, baiting not included.

It did not matter where I sat in the 3 blinds on that place. He used 2 of them everyday and I suspect he had a multiple bedding areas on my place. I would set in the blind he never was on TC or seen in person and he would hit both other feeders the same morning(as seen on TC). He would randomly hit them any hour of the day. I would hunt a blind and he was at the other. This was during the rut. I started concentrating on one blind in particular after Thanksgiving and mule deer season so that I could see down long ROW and corned it going out to hunt and then after the hunt(evenings after dark especially). I also stopped corning and hunting the one feeder location he never used. By corning one location much heavier it trained the does to come there first and he followed the does(second rut when I killed him). One morning I sat in the blind he was never at, but walked towards one of the other feeders he used. I stopped about 200 yards from one feeder and rattled at 9:30 in the morning. The next day I pulled the TC card and he was in the pen at the time I was rattling and I had a pic of him look the direction I was rattling from. My first rattling of the year and did not respond at all. It right before the rut so I kept thinking all the does would be the draw for him at the blind he never went to. It took some TC work and thinking out of the box to kill him. He traveled and fed in areas that was to thick and difficult to try to stalk in or sneak in to check the feeders. I even walked to one blind from the house a couple of mornings and he was at the blind I finally killed him at. He was not resident deer and it was the first time I have had TC that season. He showed up in mid November right before the rut.

It’s never been all that difficult to kill most any North American animal. Most of them were wiped out with black powder weapons and no feeders


You wanna feel like you accomplished something get off your [censored] and go kill any of the wild sheep / goat species or kill a bull elk in the mountains. When it comes to skill levels whitetail hunting is playing on the JV team

Pretty much where I stand. I will hunt that way if I have to, but I'd rather not. I always get a kick out of those TV "hunters" who say "we have hunted so hard this week" after sitting in a blind for 6 days.

More power to those who choose to though, and I realize it can be effective.

Here they come. Talk to me after you've hunted something, walking, for a week. Bird hunters.