I have to say I am frustrated. I have had nothing but small bucks come in for the last three morning hunts and 4 night hunts with the exception of a big 8 that busted me walking in and a 10 that never passed into my shooting lane. Tonight again I had the same 85" 8 pointer and 105" 8 pointers, I also saw them this morning and last night. I know last year that at least 3 100-120" 8's were never shot. I have camera photos of two nice 10's, an 11, a 9 and several 8's but these two seem to have taken over the property. To top is odd I got busted coming down the tree tonight and whatever buck it was decided to stomp and close in on me. I stayed in the tree holding onto pegs for 10 minutes until I heard it walk out of sight only to bump another deer 40 yards from my stand I know in the past that I usually see the big guys cruising in early November but what has a guy got to do to get a shooter before then? I am frustrated and need a break, hahaha. P.S. Peakrut I am starting to feel your pain!!
I'd rather see one 160" buck than 20 105" bucks, hahahaha. I go through this every year and get myself all worked up. I'm sure we will start seeing some better bone soon Andy!!
It's all about location - location - location. If you want to kill big bucks in October you either have to have a really good food source and hit them early, or hunt them right where they bed. If you don't have either of those factors, it becomes nearly impossible to kill them early season with any sort of consistancy or predictability. You're hunting a rather small piece of ground, and sharing it with a few other guys to boot. Pressure is most likely higher than the surrounding ground, so your bigger bucks are probably spending the vast majority of their time in those spots, and not on yours. Once next week hits they'll be out cruising more and you'll have a better shot at them. Until you get a spot that is condusive to good October and early-season hunting it doesn't matter what you do, you probably won't see or kill big bucks. You can be the best hunter in the world but if the bucks aren't living where you're hunting you are SOL.
Tell me about it, I hunt on about a 1500 acre lease and we never see any good bucks until our does start coming in. I've found a few big beds but no consistent, what I would call a true buck bedding area. Of course there's lots of competition here so they may just stay underground until that scent hits the air. My area is really starting to come into it's own. I can't believe how our herd is improving buck wise. Getting to be some big ones killed every year with busted up horns and stuff and it seems to be gettin better every year. I had a small oppurtunity at a 160 class buck last year and waited for a better shot and didn't get it but just the chance at a deer like that was kinda overwhelming, don't think I slept at all that night, I was so pumped. That magical time is approaching and I'm gettin excited just thinking about it. First week in November on through better be ready. I live in the center of Eastern OK. I was looking around a little Sunday afternoon and haven't seen scrapes where I usually do so maybe that time is approaching! Had a friend that killed a big 9 pt. Sat eve. It came out almost too late but he had a scoped ML. Does were snorting at his decoy and Mr. Buck came to investigate. And okcaveman called in two with horns Sat. so it's a coming.
