How long to spend in an area

[bigredchev]

Been thinking...


How much time and effort do you invest in an area before you deem it's no worth the effort and move on?


If you've been scouting and are interested in a new area, how many days hunting or hours scouting do each of you put in before making a "pass" determination or a "keeper"? What qualifications do you have: tracks, scat, rubs, viewing of animals, etc.


Does it involve digital scouting like game cams?


Of course it depends on each hunter and their camp, Ive heard of the tradtional families going to the same spot for decades: same camp, same swamp and same blinds for moose for multiple generations.

Or there are others, like me a at times, if i dont see any sign or indicators that pique my interest ill move until something does.



Personally, im slowly realizing it depends on several things, sometimes we cant explain why:


some years are knockout good, some years same place and time and the weather is completely different than years prior and it very slow activity if any.


Some years, same weather and its dead slow.


just talking is all. thoughts...

[BRrooster]

I like to hunt a known area first thing I the morning and spend the afternoon checking out other areas. I am typically a morning hunter. Walking in to a stand or blind in the dark and setting up for first light. If I find a good looking spot in the afternoon while scouting I will build a new blind or find a tree to set up my portable tree stand in for a morning hunt. I don't like going in for a hunt , in an area I haven't checked out before.
So that being said , I am always checking out new to me areas to hunt almost every time out. I have my old standbys , but as the years go by, new growth and new logging areas change things up. A big storm can change travel routes with new blowdown also. One tree across a trail some hundred yards up the path can alter the travel of game animals enough so that you will not see them in your old blind. I bow hunted for many years and found that to be true many times.
my experience for what its worth.
good luck and sometimes just be happy to be out there.
Bruce.

[Boner]

Been thinking...


How much time and effort do you invest in an area before you deem it's no worth the effort and move on?


Personally, im slowly realizing it depends on several things, sometimes we cant explain why:

Same for me. I’m learning to move on to new places and not get so invested in my “honey holes” of the past.

[338win mag]

Depends on what your hunting.
Lets say Whitetails, pre-rut,, I will spend a couple days in an area looking for various sign of a buck, tracks, poop, and especially rubs, in lets say in a 30 acre swamp with a series of ridges, draws, etc,, leading into the swamp. If I dont see much sign after 2 days, I go to another spot and it may be nearby. It takes time to sneak into an area and see who has been feeding where, and especially, living the life of a bachelor in the back of some swamp.

If its closing in on the rut then its all about fresh big rubs,, and the best of all is scrapes,, and my favorite, a urine saturated scrape. The buck will return and I will spend a couple days watching that scrape or a series of scrapes in a line.

I dont have any trail cams....
Driving around till you see something to shoot is productive too, lol.

[HarryToolips]

Fresh sign and the quality of habitat are the factors that determine the hunt length for me..

[wideopenthrottle]

if I may refer to any given spot I have started the day at, I will generally only move when I can see further than an animal will hear me.... so open/tight bush, rain, snow, crunchy dry or windy conditions will affect my decision of when and how fast to move...it also affects the "mode/speed" I move along at when I start to spot and stalk... super ninja stealth mode or trying to get to a new destination as fast as you can are way different ways of walking!!!!!

[Wild one]

Species, habitat, sign, time of year, and style of hunting used dictates the time I interest. Way too many factors to give a set time for hunting but fresh sign is a huge factor. Some locations are only good for a small part of the season or if the right series of weather conditions come together that season

When it comes to scouting sign, habitat and at times trail cams. Unless the area has pics of a special animal it better have great sign or it’s passed by