Welcome to TheOhioOutdoors
Wanting to join the rest of our members? Login or sign up today!
Login / Join

When do you finalize your game plan?

Kujo

Junior Member
157
0
Maumee, OH
I know that most of you will wait to check the wind opening morning, but do you have an idea? I am going to be pulling a few trail cam cards Thursday morning to get a better idea of where to sit, and what is still using the area. I have an idea that I will sit the torn out railroad tracks in the morning, and the flood plain in the evening. I guess it depends what the pic's have to say. Sit where I have daylight pic's. When do all of you pull the camera cards for the last time before opening day?
 

bowhunter1023

Owner/Operator
Staff member
48,879
274
Appalachia
I am not worried about what my cams are going to tell me this year in all honesty as I don't have a buck on a definitive pattern, and don't expect that to change with the next check. My plan all along has been to hunt my newest stand on my oldest stomping grounds and that would only change with an easterly wind. The call right now is for a N wind on Saturday morning and that is the best wind for the spot I have in mind, but it is also a great wind for perhaps my two best stands, both of which have cameras monitoring the best trails close to those stands. My plan is to check them this evening if we do indeed have a rain on the way in, or tomorrow if the rain stays over. If, and only if those cameras shows daytime activity from one of my target bucks, will I change my original plan.

My goal opening morning was to harvest one of two mature does frequenting my parents place. Both have twin button buck fawns and both are nice and fat! With the acorns dropping in the area all around my stand and the great vantage point it provides, I really want to sit here Saturday. But if I have a target buck crazy enough to move during the early morning hours around one of my two best stands, I'll head there and make an attempt to fill my buck tag early!!!
 

bigten05

*Supporting Member*
3,675
151
knox county ohio
ive got my spot picked out already its in a valley on the inner L of the woods and too corn fields and the wind is never an issue there,always blows right in my face. i checked cams last week and will leave them alone until im hunting close to one of them then ill check it.
 

rgecko23

*Supporting Member*
7,466
0
Massillon, Ohio
If I can get out I am planning on getting a mature doe sat. evening. I'm set up on a oak flat by a pond that gets used very frequently. Wind is always pretty good for this stand as I am high enough it blows my scent away from the trail and out above the ridge behind me. Tricky part is sneakin in without getting busted, thats the only reason I might not go because it may be late enough in the afternoon they might be on their feet.
 

jagermeister

Dignitary Member
Supporting Member
18,060
223
Ohio
My food plots are kicking ass and the acorns are dropping in a few select areas at the property I hunt in Carroll County... so my plan of attack for opening day is pretty much already set. I'll be in a transition area between acorns and a bedding area on opening morning. And then in the evening, I'll be sitting over one of my plots. I'm hoping to shoot a doe in the morning and then another in the afternoon. I know that's a pretty high expectation, but hell, I gotta have a goal don't I? lol
 

JOHNROHIO

Participation Trophy Winner
2,824
136
I will be going out Saturday afternoon with my daughter, we set up a blind in a fence row full of oaks that are dropping and corn in the field. With ya Jim got to have goals. Ours is to double that night it's a high one but gonna shoot for it. She obviously gets first choice, just looking for a pair to come in.
 

brock ratcliff

Dignitary Member
Supporting Member
24,834
247
I don't think I've ever finalized a plan. Maybe that's what I do wrong. Half the time I don't know what stand I'll hunt until I get there. But, if I get a stand up in the next couple of days, I know where I'll be Saturday morning just because I haven't hunted this particular funnel before.
 

Boone

*Supporting Member*
833
96
N.E. O-H-I-O
This has been a wierd year for me so far. I have 8 cameras out at four different spots and haven't seen any buck over 120". Also, I think we lost a lot of deer at two spots I hunt due to EHD. I've run cameras and hunted each place over 10 years so I think I have enough history to go on. In view of this my early season sits will be in observation stands where I have relatively good views and can see what is left, any different movement patterns, and food sources hot at my spots. The wind will be my deciding factor as to which observation stand I sit in.
 

finelyshedded

You know what!!!
Supporting Member
31,855
260
SW Ohio
I don't even start hunting mornings till mid October. I have no clue on where the mature bucks are on my hunting land. Just gonna hunt hard and smart in the afternoon till dark and hope a good buck comes thru.
 

hickslawns

Dignitary Member
Supporting Member
39,720
248
Ohio
Winds will dictate for me. Last I checked they were calling for ESE wind. That kills my plans on where I want to kill a buck. Probably won't be doe hunting quite yet. At the rate of my work schedule, I might not even be hunting quite yet. lmao
 

LonewolfNopack

Junior Member
1,503
127
The woods
Seeing as I have almost virtually no deer on my cam and hardly any sign to go off of, I'm just going to go into the woods, find a pretty spot to sit and enjoy a beautiful day. Getting back to the basics of why I started hunting. If a silly buck happens to wonder by and I feel so inclined to shoot him, so be it. If a doe comes by, she will keep on walking. I try to play the wind, but in so many of the spots I hunt it is a gamble of which way the deer may come from, so I just play the odds that he will not come from down wind. And if he does, that is why I stay as clean and scent free as I can. I really don't remember getting scented last year at all. Being spotted is a completely different story.

For you guys sitting from dark to dark on the first day of season, I appreciate your dedication.
 
Last edited:

Dannmann801

Dignitary Member
Supporting Member
10,640
191
Springboro
I don't even start hunting mornings till mid October. I have no clue on where the mature bucks are on my hunting land. Just gonna hunt hard and smart in the afternoon till dark and hope a good buck comes thru.

I've only been hunting since 2008, and mostly hunt all day.
I recently realized that every deer I've ever shot has been a morning kill.
Weird.
 

finelyshedded

You know what!!!
Supporting Member
31,855
260
SW Ohio
I've only been hunting since 2008, and mostly hunt all day.
I recently realized that every deer I've ever shot has been a morning kill.
Weird.

I basically hunt near fields where deer are feeding in the early morning during the first 2-3 weeks. I try to avoid bumping them on my way to my sets by just not hunting in the morning early season. I do like slipping in around 2 in the afternoon so's I'm well settled in and relaxed come prime time. Once the bucks start roaming and hitting the scrapes good is when mornings find me in my tree. Usually around mid October.
 

Gordo

Senior Member
5,515
121
Athens County
I have a couple plans as to what I'm going to do with my dad from Sunday to Thursday. Most of it is riding on the wind and what this last cam check tells me at the end of the week.

I haven't found a buck to really get after yet, but have plenty for him. My moms coming down also so I'll probably spend a good amount of time with her when I'm not working and the old man is already set in the woods.

I'll prob head out for at least one evening hunt just to kick things off and soak it all in.

I also still have a couple sets of sticks I want to get in place before the big boys starting showing up.

But, you never know, this last set of cam checks could kick me in to full hunt mode in no time. We'll see what happens
 

jagermeister

Dignitary Member
Supporting Member
18,060
223
Ohio
I basically hunt near fields where deer are feeding in the early morning during the first 2-3 weeks. I try to avoid bumping them on my way to my sets by just not hunting in the morning early season. I do like slipping in around 2 in the afternoon so's I'm well settled in and relaxed come prime time. Once the bucks start roaming and hitting the scrapes good is when mornings find me in my tree. Usually around mid October.

I totally agree with you, Ric. I don't hunt mornings during the early season unless it's a spot that I know the deer won't be anywhere near when I walk in. But during late October and early November, mornings are definitely my favorite.
 

Mao

Member
1,695
109
Coshocton, OH
My plan is to take my younger cousin out and try to get him a shot at a deer opening morning. This would be his first deer period, let alone with a compound. I have a blind set up in the weeds next to wooded area that leads to a corn field. There is a 40x40 yard opening where the woods runs into the corn. To me, it looks like a perfect spot to kill a deer coming back out of the big corn field back to the woods to bed. I am also confident we can get to the spot without spooking deer.

In the afternoon, I am going with a big group of friends to Dresden to do some bow drives. This is a ton of fun and actually tends to be successful. Last year I had a 130" come through right past me and stop in front of a buddy 10 yards away. He elected to pass on him. He did shoot a nice doe however. Two years ago, in the same spot a buddy killed a 153" ten point where I stood and had the 130" come through. It is a good time.

In the evening, my plan is to be either on the edge of a bean field or on the edge of a corn/alph alpha field....... After a lot of thinking I decided I am gonna pass on the tall 8 in hopes of a bigger deer and hopefully my dad or cousin can get a crack at him.
 
Last edited: