I may hunt close

For about 12 years I have been driving 65 miles one way to hunt a big piece of public land. Yesterday I took my new tree saddle out to try and went to a piece of public land about 10 miles from my house. It is only 950 acres but there was tons of deer sign. I think I may save some diesel this year and just hunt close to home and see how that works out. The only reason I haven't hunted it is it is surrounded by neighborhoods and not as peaceful as the other 50,000 acre tract I hunt. I did find some really awesome places so I think I am going to give it a try this year. I will be back out there today scouting. Anyone else hitting the woods right now?

You know, over the years I have found that the crowded spot close to home can be a good bet. Don't get me wrong. I like the road trips, hotels, tents, remote locations, sure, probably will be there again. But that over hunted spot 15 minutes away and only a thousand acres or so can pay off by default. You have so much more time not only to scout it out well, but to put in a quick few hours after work, or on an unexpected day when the wind and weather lines up and you (cough) didn't feel so well, when you wouldn't have otherwise been able to hunt.

Good to see you back slow blow. I was wondering what happened because you usually post right away on anything I post on. One of my other decisions on staying close is I have two beagles I wanted to teach the blood track. When I'm driving 65 to 70 miles it's hard to take them with me all of the time. Now if I shoot something I can run home and get them and come back. Also this is a three day per week area so it can't be over hunted to much.

Been killer busy lately. No end to the overtime I've been putting in, and I turn around and I'm not making a dent in the workload. Hopefully I'll have it all smoothed over by the time fishing gets good! My son has an Otterhound, they wanted to train it to bloodtrack, even had me save a few gallon zips full of blood from kills and thawing deer meat. But then it turned into a house pet. Lot of work right there, you'll need to be close to home for that!

A few years ago I had a spot I hunted and kept consistantly killing nice bucks on, it was about 25 miles from home. A fellow asked me where I was hunting, so I used the old trick and sent him to a different area. One that was only 2 miles outside of town, a small 30 acre parcel owned by the county. I had never bothered to hunt it because I knew it was heavily hunted and probably devoid of deer activity. His third time hunting it, he killed a nice 20 inch wide tall 9 point. Serves me right! LOL ....
It was a good spot I never thought twice about because I figured it was too close and too easily accessible.

I am learning that myself. I was hunting over an hour away at my favorite spot but never hunted the Gamelands close because they are only 1,000 acres. I had to hunt the close area 5 times last year and I saw deer 4 times. They is why I am scouting close this year.

Close is definitely good, all that saved gas money can get you a lot of new hunting gear! I found a very small piece of public land just off the nearby freeway. Its actually a rest area but its legal to hunt and very close to home. And it looks very promising so I'm very excited to scout it this spring.

madeforthewoods wrote:Close is definitely good, all that saved gas money can get you a lot of new hunting gear!  I found a very small piece of public land just off the nearby freeway. Its actually a rest area but its legal to hunt and very close to home. And it looks very promising so I'm very excited to scout it this spring.

If it is to close to the rest area you may get a few free grunt calls coming from the bathroom! That's awesome

Parkersdad wrote:

madeforthewoods wrote:Close is definitely good, all that saved gas money can get you a lot of new hunting gear!  I found a very small piece of public land just off the nearby freeway. Its actually a rest area but its legal to hunt and very close to home. And it looks very promising so I'm very excited to scout it this spring.

If it is to close to the rest area you may get a few free grunt calls coming from the bathroom!  That's awesome

Nice cover scent too...

LOL speaking of cover scent, I work for the local Dept of Public Works and the city owns some land that a couple of my fellow workers hunt. Our Waste Water treatment ponds (the wonderous place ALL the city toilet-flushings and septic tank-pumpings go) are on the neighboring property. The eminating smell around there is RANCID. But the guys say they always see nice deer there. But there is no way I could go hunt there and tolerate that odor. I'll rather see no deer and smell the clean autumn air of my public woods

A, yes, that would probably be the one time I really wanted the wind to be blowing the other way. LOL