The deer just don't stay in a pattern like early season...for the most part. Tonight I chose one field stand.....nothing... I did see a big doe I have been hunting across the field by my other spot ...... I miss the early season when they are easier to pattern ......... thoughts?
This time of year gets the big boys on their feet, that's all I know... So I don't really mind if it's hard to pattern.... Just find a good travel/cruising route, sit back and enjoy the show.... Never know what's going to come along this time of year....
I can pattern both bucks and does .... not he last few weeks... sans this one big mamma that I have playin cat and mouse with.... as far as the comment on the big boys getting moving....they gotta be there first .... every now and then one will cruise onto th land I am hunting ..... but more likely when he is kicked up during gun season .... BTW, I have their escape routes patterned
I actually hate the big chase when It happens. My mature buck sightings usually fall off the table that time of year.
I like anything that gets bigger bucks on their feet during daylight hours and causes them to move more than 50 yards prior to sundown.
Normally I might agree with you, but I have as yet been unable to pattern a buck this season so I am looking forward to seeing something enter the woods I haven't seen, though it makes it tougher IMO.
I was able to pattern 3 seperate bucks that I got shots on .... I just blew it.... I had a 4th one patterned, a nice one, but he was on the neighboring property..... he did come over last Saturday dogging a doe.... he might give me a shot the next fedw days .... but things now are just wacked... Jeff, I have started on the does just recently...we'll see what happens
If it wasnt for gun season 1 week from Saturday, I would agree with you....but the locked down phase doesnt have the normal effect as all the hunters in the woods keep them moving
Our rut won't start for another 8-10 days but when it does, I hunt completely different set ups than I have up to now. I will hunt farther back into my properties into thicker stuff and closer to bedding grounds and hope to catch a buck traveling, wind checking, or chasing. The biggest problem I have when we get to the point in the season where you are now, is getting a shot off. The deer are moving so fast and are darn near impossible to get them to stop once the chasing begins. One of my fondest memories is from several years back on Thanksgiving morning. A nice shooter buck is chasing a doe and they are coming my way. The doe stops about 30 yards out and the buck stops about 20 yards farther out than her. I am feeling confident that I am about to take this guy. But once the doe starts again she runs directly under my stand with the buck in hot pursuit. It happened so fast.....I was literally waving my arms and bow and yelling at the buck and he never even stopped for a second or even acknowledged my antics.... All I could do was laugh at myself realizing how stupid I had to look if anyone could have seen me. Personally, I love the unpredictability of the rut, although I have more stories similar to the one above than trophhy shots. Good luck
i go to where i think the does will be or a route to food sources/ beds. i've found once pre rut, rut, post rut rolls around, whatever bucks were doing before is out the window, as you know. this is why even though i pay attention to scrapes and rubs, i focus alot more on where i think the does will be eating or moving to eat, and then leaving/returning to bed. now i don't have any trail cams, so i go on what i have seen and what i do see. when it's that time, and bucks are getting frisky, i focus on what they are after, the does.
