BIG BUCK KILLERS, what are your top 5 contributing factors to your success?

1. Scouting to find a big buck's bedding area.
2. chosing the right entry and exit routes for the hunt.
3. hunt as close to the bedding area as you can but do it smart.
4. Hunt does in other spots... not where you are hunting mature bucks if possible.
5. hunt aggressive

Tim

 

In my limited experience it's all location. And I mean within a few hundred yards, not state lines. A property could be a gold mine while the neighboring property is lucky to produce 2 does a year.

After that having the time/flexibility available to hunt when you need to. Sheer hours in the stand can be over rated, being in the stand when the time of year, weather, wind, rut conditions, etc all line up is irreplaceable.

 

1. Scent control
2. Find a buck
3. Find and hunt his scrape
4. Low human pressure all year long.
5. Be prepared mentally to go along time without killing a deer.

 

I can tell you, as the opposite of what you are looking for, time on stand is NOT a deciding factor.

 

I hunt heavily pressured public land and my key to success has been persistance. I usually save 2 weeks of vacation time for the rut every year. At this time of the season i'm out in the woods from sun up to sun down. I scout all season long and during the summer to locate mature bucks. Just knowing a mature buck is in the area is half the challenge. You then have to be patient and persistant.

 

Time and Location are my two biggest factors, by a mile.

I can't even think of anything else that really factors into the equation. I'm convinced that, if you gave me a month on a big buck tract in the middle of Iowa from 10-25 thru 11-25, I could kill a 150+ in blue jeans, with a hand-me-down bow that didn't fit, and having never even stepped onto the property before.

 

- You have to hunt areas with mature deer
- Have to spend enough time hunting to be successful (I don't keep track anymore but when I use to keep a hunting journal, it took me an average of about 25 hunts before I had an opportunity at a deer I wanted to shoot). Especially during the 'right time' of the season - hunt all day.
- Don't be afraid to hang a random stand off a new sign or fresh trails and just hunt
- Need to know how the deer use your area
- You need to be proficient with your bow and be able to make the shot when it counts. If you have to move closer to the trail to get in your comfort zone, do it...

 

Thank you guys, I posted this topic because I am currently going through my last 10 years of bowhunting whitetails. I chose the past decade because it was at the turn of the century where and when I really started caring about and focusing on older mature bucks. 3.5s yes somewhat, but mostly the 4.5s and older bucks. Anyway with these buck kills laid out I am now listing the 5 most important contributing factors for my success on each individual buck. A lot of factors which you guys listed I too see on my lists, while a few things I am reading from you are really catching my attention and intriguing to say the least. I want to get to those specifics later, hopefully after some more guys chime in. I am compiling a list of everything you guys are stating and sorting it. I will share later as well.


The purpose of this thread is not to create a chest thumping thread.. which I figured some of you would look at this way, Instead, I want to pick all your brains, I want to hear and see if there is something I am overlooking or should be considering etc. the next time I go in the woods in search of an old mountain monarch, a river bottom hawg or a big farmland stud. While some contributing factors may not carry over in all applications or regions, I am aware. Nevertheless, my ultimate goal is to become the very best whitetail big mature buck hunter I can be. I've been been a jealous type or want to be someone else type. I just want to get the most out of my resources and self. I also like to share and help others when I can.

You guys that know me, know I hunt the majority of my whitetails in the mountains, vast expanses of big woods here in Northern Idaho, but there is NO doubt in my mind that my hunting forays across N.A. like the prairie ground of ND with Tim or in the River Bottoms of Montana with my buddy Brett, or the Farm Land of Iowa with my buddy Jay...Or the Ag ground of ALberta with Rocky....all those places and especially the HUNTERS themselves, the experts so to speak in their home fields... have all taught me or confirmed to me valuable lessons pertaining to getting on and killing big mature deer.

So why not pick the brains of some very accomplished big buck killers like yourselves? I see several quotes I need to follow up on already and will.

I will share my personal top contributing factors 5 once I get my last 10 years of buck kills broke down individually. I've got 11 bucks to work on, the majority of from Northern Idaho's mountains.... 3.5 year old to 10.5 year old bucks.. 120s to 180s....

thanks guys keep the info coming.

 

Greg, I hope to get more from you on this thread. You have killed some amazing bucks, I'd really like to see your top 5 contributing factors to all that success.

 

Agree'd we must have land that we can hunt that big mature bucks will use during daylight hours.

 

All 5 are location!

 

peakrut .....WTF are you just being a dumb azz?


Location - A place where big bucks exist being a given. I would say my top 5 factors are....

1) Studying the doe groups of the area and know where they bed.

2) Using observation stands to watch preferred movement patterns.

3) Move in for the kill only when the wind and the time is right.

4) Having the patience and confidence to pass on some pretty decent bucks and waiting on one of the top guns to show.

5) Being able to get to and from your stand undetected by all deer.

Knowing where a target buck beds is golden but a lot of times they don't bed on the small properties that I have permission to hunt. Then I wait for them to come to me using the above tactics.

 

Yes I is being a azz. lol

 

I'm not nearly on the level of some here, but I've been at it for a long time and put down some big bucks in my time. Now that is pretty much all I'm after and along the way have picked up on a few things that need to be done.

1. Very simple. They have to be there. If they aren't there obviously can't shoot them
2. Time on stand. With my career, I'm afforded the opportunity to hunt everyday during the season. Greatly increases your chances simply by being there to kill them as well as putting the pieces of the puzzle together and what you learn everyday.
3. Entry/ exit routes. I've really worked on this over recent years.
4. Wind, wind, wind
5. Be where they are during daylight. I'll creep closer and closer to his bedding area if I think I can catch him during shooting hours. Used to be terrified about invading his space in past years. But done with the proper precautions and perfect conditions can really pay off.

 

I'd hardly call myself a big buck killer, But since 05, I've killed what I believe to be 5 bucks (probably 6 that are 3.5 + and at least 2 of those, possibly 3, 4.5+) So maybe I can have something to contirbute, to the "lesser" hardcore crowd. I rarely know a specific buck is in my area, I don't run cams, I don't (usually) put on miles of scouting each year, but I do try and know the woods I am hunting and what's around them as far as food/terrain/cover/deer density.

Obviously there has to be big bucks in the area you are hunting. So given that there is...

The things that have worked for me are:
1. Hunt IN or very close to a bedding area.
2. Hunt a secure travel corridor connecting the "best" bedding areas you can access.
3. Spend as much time in a tree between mid Oct & mid Nov as you can.
4. Don't be afraid to in-season scout and jump on fresh sign
5. The 1st time hunting a spot is generally the best, as 5 of 6 of my best bucks came on 1st sit in that stand, the other was on the 2nd sit.

 

Wow guys. Great thread. Can't add anything, and seriously wouldn't try. It still amazes me the knowledge here and the willingness to share it. And to think I thought I was a good hunter.....

 

I already posted my 5 factors to success, but I have question for some of you that posted. When you say you hunt close to the bedding area, are you saying you think the mature buck you're after is bedded? One of my biggest changes I made to become a big buck killer is stop hunting trails, scrapes, and rubs lines and hunt the funnels/pinch points between bedding areas. During the rut, bucks are cruising the bedding looking for does. I personally don't think bucks bed much during the rut. If I put my time in the stand during the rut in these funnels, a bruiser will come by. It may be 7 A.M. or noon, but he's coming by.

 

I see alot of differn't senarios. perhaps someone shouls start a thread on killing Big bucks in the early season, one on Killing Big bucks in the rut, and another on killing big bucks in the late season. Just a thought!

 

Same here...

Fran and I are in the same boat... it's called Pennsylvania. (Although he gets to OH cause he's closer than I)

I saw a stat that noted that 1 in 3000 bucks in PA will make P&Y, and in IL that number is 1 in 300..

Take the bucks I've killed over that last 10 years and you can add 20plus inches of antler to them if that same buck was born and grown in the midwest and it's soil.

So,

1. Location
2. Location
3. learning said location
4. keeping deer on said location
5. Hunting said location when time is right.

 

In the last two archery seasons I have had 70 buck sightings spread over 4 counties. Some bucks were seen more than once but I don't hunt the same spots very much. I would say 3 of those bucks might have been 3.5yrs old and none of them would have been over 100-110"..........I try to do a lot of what has been posted but i think I need to move!