you need to put the time in the woods before the season. walking in where there is some tracks and scrapes, only tells you where they've been. you need to figure out where they will be next. that's not always as hard as it seems either.
its called patterning so many think that it was good a year ago so should be fine again or hey my cam shows deer there! You are correct true time in the woods is the only real way to have 100% success.
you need to put the time in the woods before the season. walking in where there is some tracks and scrapes, only tells you where they've been. you need to figure out where they will be next. that's not always as hard as it seems either.
by the time gun season rolls around Scout n hunt is your best bet. our deer are very nomadic and weather sensitive also the archery and muzzleloader season has them edgey and layin low.
Im gonna add to this. Up in the area I hunt acorns normaly dont start to fall untill early october and by early november theres none left on the trees. this year they started falling in early september and theyre still falling. the rut always falls dureing the first week of archery. theres normaly 30 hunters in the woods dureing the gun season this year there were 15 includeing us. deer bed in the scrub oaks where the acorns grow,so they dont need to travel very far especialy this year. nobody in the woods pushing them up. high winds? on the coast its not a unidirectional wind but a swirling wind so they stay sheltered because of the confusion. we only get 30 cold days ayear at the very most so temp drops have a more negative affect than it does in the north where they are more used to it . none of this means that its impossible to kill a deer it just means youve got a hard road ahead of you especialy when your in a wma with the lowest deer population in the state.
One thing I have learned over the years too is on real cold mornings the deer don't move till the sun gets up and the frost melts. Usually if the frost is on the ground, it is best to hunt an open area about 8:00. They will come out there to warm up and start feeding. Also on a frosty morning the bucks won't chase till it warms a little. Last year on the ML hunt in our club it was 19deg on opening morning with a super heavy frost. Noone saw a deer till 9, and it was on like donkey kong after that.
Opening w/e of gun 2 weeks ago I had three does walk across the hammock I was in and stand in one spot of sunshine for 10 minutes trying to warm up. It was only 35 at the time, but they made a bee line to that one spot of sunshine
