Possibly the most difficult decision a DIY bowhunter has to make during the course of a constantly changing season is whether to push on or to move on. Here are some tips for making the right decision.

By Bernie Barringer

I’d waited three years to draw this Iowa tag, so I was really torn when I received the news. It was October 31, 2013 and I had been in Iowa a few days; I was getting nice bucks from 140-160 on trail cameras. The daytime buck movement was just starting to heat up. So when my wife called and informed me that her mother had died, and the funeral would be on Saturday, my whole world was thrown into a tailspin.

“If you want me to come home, I will come, just say the word.” I meant those words when I said them, just as much as she meant the words she said to me when she told me to stay and hunt. I guess that’s part of why this marriage has lasted for 35 years.

This may be an extreme case, but you don’t have to find out a family member has passed away to be faced with what I believe is the most difficult choice in DIY hunting away from home: Should I stick it out a few more days or should I bail out on this plan and move on to potentially greener pastures?  In 20 plus DIY bowhunting road trips, I have been faced with that decision dozens of times, and often, I hate to admit it, I zigged when I should have zagged.

Most often when faced with this decision I am not looking at the option of just packing up to go home with my tail between my legs. I am more likely choosing whether or not to resort to a plan B that is already in place; a move to another hunting location that I have already researched.

Knowing when to hold ‘em and when to fold ‘em is a decision that can be different on every hunt and may change during any moment of any hunt. There are some basic guidelines I have learned to help me make the decision.

Weather influences

I left Kansas early one time because the November forecast was for several days with highs in the 80s with south winds. South winds were terrible for the stands I had in place, and try as I might, couldn’t seem to find good locations for that wind direction. I wasn’t seeing much buck movement during the day and with hot weather coming, I felt my chances were better elsewhere. I spent a sweaty day packing up all my gear and headed to North Dakota.

I arrived in North Dakota two days later during a blizzard. The trail cameras I’d left there earlier in the year showed great daytime movement and I started immediately seeing chasing activity at all times of the day. It was one time when I made the right choice.

Long stretches of rainy weather can influence you to move as well, and in some cases, extreme cold or wind could cause the deer to hole up for a few days. Keep an eye on the forecast and make the best decision you can with as much information as you can gather.

Today’s technology allows you to get an accurate long-term forecast at the touch of a finger. Radar shows what’s coming and when. Some good examples of excellent hunting weather apps are MyRadar, Accuweather, and Scoutlook Weather (my favorite).

Hunting pressure

I have been to places where I was getting more trail camera photos of other hunters than I was getting of shooter bucks. This is one of the unknowns that can’t be researched ahead of time. You can make calls to biologists and game wardens to get a feel for the hunting pressure you are likely to encounter, but their advice is nothing more than speculation and the reality might be quite different than they expected.

In one case I almost backed out of a plan because I was told the hunting pressure on an 800-acre piece of public land in Kansas was quite intense during the first week in November. I decided to go there and battle it out because the property was large and I figured I could snake my way into some deep piece of cover and find a buck. I hunted there a week and saw a total of three other bowhunters. I guess they have a little different idea of hunting pressure than I do.

One time I arrived in Missouri and found the parking lot of a public hunting area full with seven trucks. The license plates showed that these trucks were from five different states.

While these types of situations cannot be predicted, there is no excuse for finding yourself in a crowd due to other hunting seasons. Once again in Missouri, I awoke on a Saturday morning and went to my hunting area before daylight, surprised to see so much activity around me. A weekend youth hunting season opened up that day. I wasn’t caught off guard because I knew the season was opening that day, but I was unprepared for the amount of pressure a rifle season brings and I hadn’t chose my stand site accordingly. A little foresight would have helped me use the pressure to my advantage if I had planned ahead.

Outside influences

Once I had big plans to hunt a piece of property out of state and it was with great optimism that I had all my spots marked out on Google Earth for some boots-in-the-dirt scouting. I called the biologist a few days before leaving home to ask him some details about the kinds of crops that were planted in the food plots on this public hunting area. He told me that they were going to do a controlled burn on several hundred acres of switchgrass prairie on that property the day I was scheduled to arrive. I really had to put a plan B into place in a hurry that time. Sure glad I made that call.

Sometimes a hunting area just goes dead for no apparent reason. I’ve seen it happen when coon hunters are working an area hard. The noise, scent and chaos of hounds running through an area during the night can move the bucks out for a few days. If you are not observant, you would never know that an army of people and hounds descended on your hunting area an hour after you got out of the stand in the evening. I have learned to look for clues in the parking areas to determine if there is a lot of activity going on when I’m not there.

Trail cameras

You cannot have too much information and game cameras are a huge part of the decision making process when choosing if you should stick it out through tough times or bail out.  They will offer lots of info about not only deer movement, but hunting pressure and even the presence of predators. I’ve seen where a pack of coyotes were constantly working a bedding area and the deer just won’t put up with the harassment. Without trail cameras I wouldn’t have known what happened.

Deer patterns can change quickly when a crop field is harvested or, on an early season hunt, the acorns drop. Trail cameras will fill you in very quickly when things change.

Choosing when to hold ‘em and when to fold ‘em is often a tough call. Sometimes it’s obvious, but most often it’s a compilation of subtle clues that bring the question to the front. The best decision can be made by gathering as much information as you can, then make the decision based on all the factors.

 

You’re not hunting at home: The Four Parts of a Successful DIY Mentality

By Bernie Barringer

Hunting away from home presents some unique challenges. When you are hunting in your home area, you have an entire season to bag your buck and fill out your deer tags. But on a DIY road trip, you are hunting under a deadline; you have a limited amount of time to get the job done. The situation calls for an entirely different set of strategies and actions. We can break the hunt down into four separate factors that can significantly improve your chances of success.

Scout Thoroughly

Back home, you have a pretty good feel for the deer movement patterns. You know where they tend to bed and where they tend to feed and at least a general idea of how the move between the two. When you arrive at a new hunting area on a DIY hunt, you must learn as much as you can in a short period of time. The greatest mistake most hunters make is to climb into a stand too early. You may find an area that’s all torn up with rubs and scrapes or a beaten down deer trail and you can’t wait to get a treestand set up and start hunting. That can be a big mistake, because you may lack confidence in your spot. It’s a lot easier to sit all day when you have confidence in your spot, and that confidence comes only from thorough scouting.

Hunt Aggressively

Hand in hand with an exhaustive scouting is the desire to make important decisions on the fly and be very aggressive in your hunting. Back home, you would never walk right through a bedding area, but on a road trip you might need to know where the deer are bedding and what is available to you. Spray down the lower half of your body with Scent Killer to minimize your ground scent then go right in there to look it over.

Get some game cameras out and check them often so you have a good feel for the area’s potential. It’s hard to beat a game camera on a primary scrape with some fresh urine or an estrus lure. You must take calculated risks and force the issue. If you wait for the information to come to you, you may run out of time, you must go get it.

Hunt in Any Conditions

Rain or shine, you must be out there to make it happen. I have done more than 20 DIY road trip hunts in several states and it seems like it usually comes down to one or two stands where I feel like I am going to be successful if I just put in my time. Take the appropriate clothing for any conditions and gut out the tough times. Each time you hunt, you have a chance. If you are sitting in a motel waiting for the snow to stop or the wind to change, you are more than likely going to go home with an unfilled tag.

Be Mobile

Right along with hunting aggressively and hunting hard is the willingness to move quickly and adapt to changing conditions. On one hunt in Iowa, I felt like I was about 60 yards off target, so I climbed down and moved my entire set up the hill. I killed a mature buck the next morning from that tree and I would have helplessly watched him walk by if I had not moved. If you sense that you need to make a move, or feel that a wind switch may betray you, don’t wait, make your move NOW. Using equipment that is light and easy to put up and down is a real key to being mobile.

Keep these four factors in mind on your next DIY hunt and you will increase your odds of coming home with a buck in the back of the truck instead of a tag in your back pocket. For more info on DIY public land hunting, get a copy of the book The Freelance Bowhunter: DIY strategies for the travelling hunter.

The Successful DIY Mentality

The Successful DIY Mentality

You’re not hunting at home: The Four Parts of a Successful DIY Mentality By Bernie Barringer Hunting away from home presents some unique challenges. When you are hunting in your home area, you have an entire season to bag your buck and fill out your deer tags….

Success in Manitoba… Finally

Success in Manitoba… Finally

November 3, 10:00 p.m. Well we just got done getting a buck out of the bush. It’s a crazy story but bear with me. First of all the wind was great for a sit at the hayfield. A west wind is good because most of the deer come out of a tractor trail at the southwest…

My plan for Kansas this year

My plan for Kansas this year

Since I drew a tag for southern Kansas this year, I plan to hunt a large public hunting property which I have hunted three times in the past four years. Since I have hunted this property several times and I know it well, my strategy is going to be a little different….

November 3, 10:00 p.m.

Well we just got done getting a buck out of the bush. It’s a crazy story but bear with me.

First of all the wind was great for a sit at the hayfield. A west wind is good because most of the deer come out of a tractor trail at the southwest corner of the field, which is where I have my stand. I only have two days left to hunt so I was thinking about which bucks I was willing to shoot. If that 9-point came through again, would I shoot him? I’m known for lowering my standards towards the end of the hunt.

I got settled in about 2:30 and had a steady stream of deer moving through back and forth all evening. Lots of does and small bucks. About 6:30 there wasn’t much light left when two large-bodied deer appeared on the west side of the field and started making their way towards the deer in front of me. These were definitely two bigger bucks but with several does right in front of me I couldn’t make a move to even raise my binoculars.

As they got closer I could see it was the 9-point I had passed up previously and a 10-point that I had only seen photos of. The 10 had a little longer tines and I decided if he gave me a shot I would take it. They started bothering the does and bumping them around. Soon they both began to concentrate on one doe and they ran her off to my right 100 yards or so. By now it was getting dark enough that I was concerned my chances at a shot were done since they had moved so far away. But shortly they turned around and started heading back at an angle towards me. The doe was zig-zagging with the 10-point right on her heels and the 9-point right behind. The heavy overcast was causing darkness to close in quickly.

As they came closer, they looked like they might actually get within range. When they went behind a clump of trees that blocked my vision, I looked around and since the other deer were staring their way, I drew my bow so I would be ready when they came out the other side of the trees. It was a moment but here they came and they were closer. I saw the doe go through my sight picture and right behind her was the buck so I settled my sight pin in his chest in case they would stop and offer me a shot. Sure enough, the buck stopped right behind a patch of weeds that I had earlier ranged at 35 yards. I anchored the pin and touched it off. I heard the tell-tale “Thwack” of a solid hit.

Pandemonium broke loose as deer were running everywhere. I hung my bow up and got my binoculars to my eyes just in time to see the 10-point running straight away to the north with a group of four other does and bucks. At the top of a hill 300 yards away, he stopped and stood still. The others all stopped to look back at him. He just stood there for the longest time as his head began to droop. I thought for a moment there it looked like he was feeding, but surely his head must be just sagging as he dies. This lasted quite a while and I could barely see when a doe looped back around and he took off chasing her. WHAT??!!!!

I texted Tom to come clear the field with the 4-wheeler and when he arrived I got down and started looking for my arrow. We soon found it covered with blood from end to end. There was blood at impact and a good blood trail so we took it right up. We headed straight west into the bush, which was not what I expected. Another 30 yards of easy trailing found us looking over a dead buck which had been heart shot. When I lifted his head I could not believe my eyes, it was the 9-point. img_1107

Replaying this whole episode in my mind I can only think of one way this happened. When they were behind that clump of trees for a moment, the doe must have made a circle or something, and somehow the two bucks traded places so the 9-point was now in the lead. When they came back into my view, I was concentrating so hard on getting ready for any shot that may come in the gathering darkness, I never looked at the antlers to realize that I was now about to shoot a different buck.

At any rate, this is a nice buck and I am happy with him. There are a lot bigger bucks here, but after all, I do not want to set the bar too high so I have reason to come back and try to get a better one. Thanks to Tom and Deb for putting up with me for this week and working so hard at raising an amazing deer herd in the Canadian bush.

Tomorrow morning we will skin and quarter the buck and put it in the chest freezer in my trailer. Then I will pull my cameras and ground blind and head down the road towards another hunting adventure in Kansas, where it will be a lot warmer, and hopefully the bucks will be running hard.

 

Since I drew a tag for southern Kansas this year, I plan to hunt a large public hunting property which I have hunted three times in the past four years. Since I have hunted this property several times and I know it well, my strategy is going to be a little different. Normally, I spend a lot more time scouting and tending trail cameras but since I know of a couple really good spots where the bucks move through during the rut, I plan to spend a lot more time on stand in these two spots and park my butt in a stand for a lot more hours than I have done in the past. This is one advantage to having prior knowledge of a property.

The property I am hunting offers a chance to shoot a great mature buck such as this one. Believe it or not, this was the second biggest buck I saw on my last hunt in southern Kansas.

The property I am hunting offers a chance to shoot a great mature buck such as this one. Believe it or not, this was the second biggest buck I saw on my last hunt in southern Kansas.

I will of course do some prospecting when I can and get some scouting cameras out on food plots and funnels. But since I already know of one excellent funnel I plan to hang two stands there to compensate for various wind directions and then really dedicate myself to these spots. Plans can change rapidly of course, and I may find something that changes this strategy when I arrive or it may change as the days tick away, but I feel like this offers me the best chance of shooting a mature buck on this property. We shall see. When the deer start really cruising the first week in November, I will be ready for them.

Following my hunt in Kansas, I will most likely go to a OTC tag state, either Nebraska or North Dakota. It all depends on several factors including how long I spend in Kansas and if I have a deer in the freezer when I leave there.

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