I promised I’d take some time reviewing the 2022 archery season. So here goes.
First, let’s take a look at things I learned or want to improve on for future seasons.
- What stands out most for me from this season is a lack of good spots to hunt during a drought. Or maybe it’s a lack of good habitat, mainly food, during a drought year when my green plots have mostly failed. One way I will be addressing this is by putting in a water hole here at home that I can hunt during periods of hot dry weather with a south wind. Hot dry weather is almost always synonymous with south winds…so I will plan a water hole for a south wind hunt. I don’t have equipment to dig a big water hole, and I won’t pay big money to have someone else make one for me, so my only option is to sink a tub or tank or maybe even a small kiddie type pool that I’ll have to fill with water. The idea of going into hunting areas to fill a water tank is not ideal, but I guess I’ll have to consider it? Most years, there is abundant water on the farm in various spots, so adding a water source…then having to go fill it is not what I would want to do. But I need to be prepared since these dry hot periods are more common than when I first started hunting 3 decades ago.
- I have to come up with a plan for green food plots for fall attraction during periods of very hot and dry weather. The best way to accomplish this would be to seed my plots with a no-till drill but there’s no way to justify buying this expensive of equipment. Some of these drills are very expensive, used ones are at least 5-7 thousand dollars if you can find one. If I could find a way to use the drill for more than just my plots I would consider it…but no way I spend that kind of money just for green plots during dry hot years. The county NRCS has one I can rent at like $5/acre which at this point seems like a good option. Using no-till preserves soil moisture and allows me to get my seed in the ground without tillage (which packs and dries the soil). There are other methods of seeding using no-till methods, but none gets the seed in the ground like a drill. At the end of the day, I didn’t need green plots this year…it just would have made early season a little better. I absolutely HATE spending money on “stuff” for hunting preferring instead to spend all or as much of my resources on habitat work and things like fence jumps. We’ll see, for now renting a drill seems like my best option.
- Lastly, one of my goals is to be able to hunt every day. Or maybe hunt as much as I can. This can only be accomplished if you have great access to stands, great exit strategies, and enough locations to hunt that you don’t burn stuff out. With Amy really getting into archery season, I need to find/put out more stand/blind locations to make this work. I felt at times this year that we were really pushing up against too much pressure. So, I’ll have to look into this. Even one or two more spots would be great and helpful. I have a neighbor that lets me hunt on her land but I haven’t taken full advantage of that offer yet because she also has grandchildren who hunt her land…I don’t want to take advantage or be greedy about how much land I can hunt. And, I would feel bad if I shot a really big buck on her land knowing her grandkids won’t have that chance. Too much land hoarding already in this sport by big money, I don’t want to be a part of that. But we’ll see?
Now, things that helped us to have a successful season.
- The easiest way to have a successful season is by defining it in a way that makes it easy for success? For example, if your definition of success is to shoot the new world record typical whitetail, or to shoot a mature buck when no mature bucks exist in your hunting area, you are sure to fail. Instead, try something like this. I want to grow a buck to his next age class…or I want to have one stand that every time I hunt it I have perfect access and exit and never get busted or winded while on stand…or I want to see more deer this year than last…or I want to see one deer this year bed down or stand up from his or her bed. The list is and can be endless. Challenge yourself to new things or successes you’ve never had before. For me, this year, it was to be able to hunt as much as I could all season long without burning out our hunting grounds, and to be able to hunt and see mature deer. I had a side goal of killing Ranger. And, I had a side goal of Amy getting her first archery buck.
I used to have (what I consider now as goofy) goals like to shoot a 150. Or to shoot a mature buck. Or maybe to shoot a buck bigger than my previous. But I have since learned that setting a goal that settles around a harvest, and only a harvest gives you only one chance of success. Instead, have multiple goals that make your hunting season more fun, and forces yourself to be challenged so you grow and learn during the season. Our season would have been a success in some ways had we not killed a single deer. My main goal is to hunt and enjoy the outdoors as much as I can…that’s an easy one!
2. We hunted hard this year. But, we kept our spots mostly unpressured because we had a whole bunch of stands and blinds to hunt from, always hunted correct winds, always used our best entrance and exits, didn’t abuse the use of our utv, and used basic good woodsmanship skills to not spook deer. I think maybe 12 times this season I got into staring contests or see who moves first contests with deer, and I won. I waited them out. Moving around and hunting the wind, keeping areas fresh is always key to good season long hunting.
3. Game cameras NEVER lie, BUT, they don’t tell the whole story either. I learned this a long time ago and most years it just keeps reinforcing itself. I could tell stories….
What you get on a game camera is truth, to be sure. But you never know what you’re not getting. I could tell story after story of how I saw bucks that I’ve had a history with from previous years and yet never got a single picture during a current season. Too often, all too often, hunters assume that what they are getting on their cameras is what is out there. Or, no activity on cameras means the deer “aren’t on their feet”. NUTS! Example after example this isn’t true. To be sure, if I had assumed camera data was the end all, Ranger would still be alive today. Don’t make this mistake. And never think the rut isn’t on because of camera data. Cameras do not tell the whole story!
4. Habitat and hunting methods are king! With the failed green plots I had this year, some would all but give up. So many hunters have become nothing more than sitting over food source hunters that that’s all they have. Some of my absolute best hunting is in and around farms that have no “food plots’ on them, but the habitat is phenomenal. Having great habitat that consists of cover and woody browse, and hunting in a way that the deer don’t know they are being hunted, is the best way to have better hunting.
5. I saved the most important thing for last. Gadgets and high priced equipment, high priced food plot seed, high dollar no-till drills, tractors, big dollar camo, (the list is fricken endless) does very little to nothing in helping most hunters. In fact, if you are spending a ton of money and time on this stuff, it is likely taking away from other things (like better access to better land, or making your own land better) or forcing you to work more or sign up for more overtime to pay for this crap. With a $200 chain saw, a few days of work, and a few dollars in gas, I can make more better habitat and hunting than spending thousands on all the gadgets. The marketing pushed on hunters is relentless. The more a hunter wants to learn about ways to hunt better, the more they are bombarded with crappy information aimed at getting you to buy some crap that only makes others have better hunting. It’s an endless cycle that separates you from your money, and makes it so that others have more and more great hunting at your expense. Don’t fall for the scam!
