Originally posted by Arrowsmith
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I agree with this. Many of the success stories at at Hagerman can be attributed to shear luck. With 70 or so hunters, scouting, setting stands, hiking in and out multiple times, moving stands, searching for wounded deer how can you expect the deer to be on any kind of "normal" movement pattern. The deer are more on alert and are getting pushed around by this influx of humans. Some guys set ups will just end up just being at the right place at the right time.
If a hunter is lucky enough to get a buck that they want to kill within range it will probably be their only chance and you will normally have only a few seconds to decide and get a shot off.
Mature bucks....and I am talking about 4.5 year old bucks and older live and die by their nose. With 70+ hunters in the woods mature bucks are going to be on high alert. I will guarantee that if they are not following a hot doe they will be quartering into the wind when and if they move. If they are uncomfortable enough with the scent and activity intrusion they simply will not move until after dark. You can get away with a lot with 1.5 to 3.5 year old bucks and that is the age structure that a lot of hunters see at Hagerman. The older smarter age class bucks are there.....but they definitely are not just going to be aimlessly wandering around... unless you are lucky enough to have one follow a hot doe within bow range.
I know a man up here in Iowa that consistently kills giant mature bucks. He has a precise method of hunting these bucks that involves wind direction (most important), precise stand placement on pinch points, and meticulous entrance and exit strategy. These are bucks that he has history and intel on....game cam pictures, sightings, and in some cases close encounters. Even with all this intel most of his 180" to 200+" bucks have taken 100 to 200 hours of stand time to get them killed. Some of his bucks have taken up to 3 years to kill.
When you relate this back to Hagerman how can you expect hunters to do much better than about a 10% success rate on any legal buck in about 30 hrs on stand if the hunter does 3 all day sits.
Here is my friends buck from this year. This buck was killed on October 30th. He had been hunting this buck for two years.
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If a hunter is lucky enough to get a buck that they want to kill within range it will probably be their only chance and you will normally have only a few seconds to decide and get a shot off.
Mature bucks....and I am talking about 4.5 year old bucks and older live and die by their nose. With 70+ hunters in the woods mature bucks are going to be on high alert. I will guarantee that if they are not following a hot doe they will be quartering into the wind when and if they move. If they are uncomfortable enough with the scent and activity intrusion they simply will not move until after dark. You can get away with a lot with 1.5 to 3.5 year old bucks and that is the age structure that a lot of hunters see at Hagerman. The older smarter age class bucks are there.....but they definitely are not just going to be aimlessly wandering around... unless you are lucky enough to have one follow a hot doe within bow range.
I know a man up here in Iowa that consistently kills giant mature bucks. He has a precise method of hunting these bucks that involves wind direction (most important), precise stand placement on pinch points, and meticulous entrance and exit strategy. These are bucks that he has history and intel on....game cam pictures, sightings, and in some cases close encounters. Even with all this intel most of his 180" to 200+" bucks have taken 100 to 200 hours of stand time to get them killed. Some of his bucks have taken up to 3 years to kill.
When you relate this back to Hagerman how can you expect hunters to do much better than about a 10% success rate on any legal buck in about 30 hrs on stand if the hunter does 3 all day sits.
Here is my friends buck from this year. This buck was killed on October 30th. He had been hunting this buck for two years.
Sent from my SM-G965U using Tapatalk
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