You Can't Kill Deer From the Couch — or Can You?

The old cliché, “You can’t kill ‘em from the couch,” is one that has infiltrated the mind of the hunting masses for decades, and it’s dead wrong. I hear it quoted dozens of times each season, and though not sure of its origin, I am sure of this: if we could travel back in time and stop it at the source, a lot of hunters would be more successful.

Why? Because this motto being passed down through generations of hunters has kept many bucks alive by promoting uninformed hunting and overhunting — the death knells of harvesting whitetail.

The fact is, you can and should do most of your killing from the couch; and if you want to become a high-IQ hunter that consistently does it, you need to flip this saying on its head.

Couch Defined

First let’s define “the couch” so we’re on the same page. For our purposes, we’ll say it means “not in the woods, not actively hunting and at home.” Preparing for a strategic strike is the way the most efficient buck slayers garner success, spending much more time in this “couch” phase than actual hunting. Accounting for all the ins and outs of a hunt allows hunters to get a leg up on a buck before even entering the field, and also to determine when and if they even should try.

The more you’re guessing, the less success you will have, and so thinking about it like a planned Navy SEAL strike on a high-profile target is the mentality that’s needed. But what exactly happens “on the couch” to produce the outcome of tagging that monster buck you’ve been seeing?

Couch Habits

Gear Prep: This is not a glamorous part of the hunt, but nevertheless it is vital. I’ve noticed top deer hunters are very organized and have systems in place that work for them. Making sure clothes are scent-free and ready to pull out for the hunt; that backpacks have all essential gear and are packed in the order gear will be needed; and that your vehicle is organized with precisely what you’ll need to grab and go are all part of important prep work.

This is not only pre-season work; these prep regimens should happen before each hunt. I routinely spend half an hour to one hour before each hunt going through all my clothes, washing what is needed, reorganizing my backpack, ozoning outer layers and reorganizing my truck, so the next time I hunt everything is set. Any little failure here can definitely make or break a hunt, and I’m sure we all have stories about an overlooked detail coming back to haunt us.

Painstaking Research: This past winter, I decided to go on an out-of-state hunt where I had never scouted or hunted before. I had a little time off after Christmas, and I found a state that fit my criteria. It had to be better hunting than my home state of Michigan, have a reasonable tag price, have camping options and be no further than one day’s drive. Once I narrowed it down, I began an intensive “couch scouting” focus that took several weeks.

First, I perused my onX app for an area with a lot of public land options, so I could plan out multiple areas to try if my A, B and even C options turned sour. Once an area stood out to me that accomplished this, I reached out to the local DNR and asked the key questions I needed to know, getting valuable intel on current food sources, hunting pressure, possible overlooked areas, potential access points and what the terrain was actually like. This helped me cross out a few areas on the map and get one step closer on where to focus.

Next, I took this information, downloaded DNR maps of the area, and used these along with onX to begin the process of identifying my best options. I spent dozens of hours doing this, dropping roughly 50 pins for potential bedding areas, current food sources, best access points and exact spots I thought I could ambush deer both in the morning and the evening. Once this was done, I began to theorize exact entry and exit routes to these locations, and I made an ordered list of my top choices. Also during this time, I called a handful of campgrounds nearby to see if any were open, and of the few that were, I accidentally struck gold. A campground bordering public land had a host who claimed to be seeing a good buck regularly. With all this data, I then planned exactly when I would leave, so I would arrive about an hour before dawn, take a nap and then immediately begin glassing morning food sources the first morning I arrived. E-scouting, talking to locals, pouring over maps and formulating plans are vital parts to killing ‘em from the couch.

Intel Processing: When and how do you take data from scouting and trail cameras and process it? Do you even do this, or just wing it based on those last pictures that hit your inbox? Many hunters miss the power of having the broad knowledge of scouting and trail camera pictures over multiple seasons, which is unlocked when you take the time to sit down, analyze it, organize it and allow it to drive your decision making. It takes a lot of couch time, but strategic, high-odds strikes always do.

A phrase I think should be banned from your vocabulary is “going with your gut,” which basically says, “I don’t know why I hunt where or when I do, I’m just guessing.” This is a low-odds approach. Remember, SEAL Team Six doesn’t do random missions, so you shouldn’t either. Pouring over past and current trail camera photos, identifying trends, reviewing foot-scouting intel, and putting the pieces together to reveal when you should hunt and under what conditions is a habit of successful hunters, all done from the couch!

Intel Ranking: I like to rank intel on a scale from one to five, to determine which intel is useful and how it should play into my decision making. This takes the emotion, or “going with your gut,” out of the equation and boils the intel down to what you should actually do in an objective way.

Action should only be taken in the form of hunting when you hit a four or five on the scale with all data considered. For example, if I have information on a particular buck that’s showing up in the middle of the night on my trail camera, this is a two on my scale, if it was taken at a stand I can hunt. It would be a one if it’s where I can’t feasibly hunt. If that buck shows up in daylight, where I can hunt him, that turns into a four or possibly five, and I treat this as the deer telling me “It’s time to hunt!” This should be the goal of every hunt, having four- or five-level data which allows you to make an educated, strategic strike.

Calling the Strike: When I arrived at my predetermined glassing location on the morning of December 26th, I knew exactly where I would start gathering further intel. From my couch work I had locations that could be good (a three on the scale), but I needed further data to tell me what was actually good (to move those to a four or five).

As the first rays of sun poked through morning darkness, it became evident that my first guess was bad, as the food source was nothing but plowed dirt. So, because I had planned my A, B, C and D spots to scout from the couch, I quickly drove to my second glassing pin, which happened to be close to where I would be camping.

Almost as if scripted, a mature buck stood in the golden rays of morning sun feeding in a privately owned field of rye. After a minute of watching, my staring made him nervous, and he and some does bounded back into the woods on public ground exactly where I had dropped a pin weeks earlier. This fresh intel coupled with what the campground host had told me about a good buck pushed that location to a four, and it was clear where I should hunt that evening. After just an hour in my chosen tree on my first hunt, a good buck that met my predetermined standards walked by at 30 yards, and all those hours of “couch work” quickly paid off.

Oct. 8, 2023, was the date of another couch-kill moment. I’d been observing a pile of good bucks in Michigan at one public land location via road glassing and trail cameras I placed early in the summer. The problem was the difficulty accessing this spot, and I knew I would probably get only one or two cracks at it before the deer got wise.

The key would be hanging back until the right buck told me it was the right time to hunt him. On October 5th, a good 10-point informed me it was time to hunt when I received a trail camera picture of him near dusk hitting a perennial scrape I could access. The kill shot came three days later under the exact same conditions. I’m confident following the philosophy of “you can’t kill ‘em from the couch” would have likely ruined this fragile opportunity at a Michigan buck.

So the next time you hear that old, worn-out phrase, don’t get in an argument, just sit back and smile. Then, get busy on the work that produces results, and circle back later with a story of how you killed ‘em from the couch!

About the Author

Adam Lewis has over 30 years of experience hunting whitetails successfully on both private and public lands around the country. He’s an award-winning writer, and creator of Deer IQ — aimed at educating and equipping hunters through podcast, blog and services found at deeriq.com.

---