Ok, so you guys that try and kill certain bucks, how much stock do you put into what a buck did last year? If he was 3 and now 4 does it change that much? I know from experience that the bucks on the place I hunt tend to do the same things year in and year out. That doesn't mean they are easy to kill of course, just gives me a starting point. I'd like to hear some specific cases where target bucks were killed from this.
While I wouldn't think it's gospel, I'd definitely put some stock in it. I chased Blade for 4 years, and every year I was able to add a little to what he was up to. In the end I had more than enough on him to get it done.
I've been hunting a buck for the past3 seasons. He's 5.5 now. I never have saw a specific pattern year after year but I definently have saw his personality traits stayed the same. I've saw him 9 times and all were in the evening, he always has been photogenic until he sheds his velvet and then I don't start getting pictures if him until early November, he has always came out of the crp to the north on the 9 days I've saw him. That's about all I have on him as far as a patteren goes. Good luck in your pursuit of your buck!
I think you can. So much depends on if the buck is the dominate one for the area though. He can get ran off and blow the pattern right out of the water We had a buck named Diamond that in year three we had patterned. He was almost shot twice, but was allowed to walk both times. In year four he was in the same woods during the same time period, and killed on the pattern we had seen from the year before.
I think deer will hold similar patterns year after year unless they have significant change in pressure or their environment. That's why people have permanent stands, if deer never kept to similar patterns the old shooting house would have to be moved every year.