So I got some videos of trailcam of different bucks, does, different places, different times, the problem is when sitting in the stand sometimes nothing shows up, had this happened last season a few times until one day an 8 pointer showed up and hands down I made a bad shot, or the broadhead opened up mid flight. I blamed my self for not stoping the animal first. Live and learn. That's another conversation, some days it is a hit or miss. How do you guys pattern some of the deer, what do you do, I hunt in private for the most part but there are a lot of hunters in the area. What would you consider a pattern to be besides deer on cam? what questions and answers is what you want to find about a certain buck that you got on cam to pattern that target? Thank you guys, your input will be appreciated. Sent from my iPhone using Bowhunting.com Forums
Bucks patterns change. I have learned it is a lot less frustrating to pattern the does and wait for the rut.
Deer on cam on regular basis. Doesn't have to be everyday at a time down to the minute. If you get pics of a buck on his way to a field in evenings or to bedding in morning every few days or so then that's a good lead. Nothing's guaranteed. Also the tools you use when you are actively "patterning" the deer do not take into consideration one drastic condition when you hunt. Your presence. If they know you might be there that pattern will change for awhile if not for good Sent from my iPhone using Bowhunting.com Forums
unless you are hunting 500 acres of private land and can control hunting pressure and other intrusions into the area you really can't control the deer movement. You can get a good idea about when and where but it can change at a moments notice due to other people pressuring the area. Use your cameras to take inventory of the deer in your area, balance your ratios (if possible) and be in the stand when you should be. Place your stands 20-30 yards off major travel (fee to bed, bed to feed) paths, use the dominate wind direction in your area to setup down wind of the path. Don't go into your core area until the time is right. Stay on the fringes early. If you bump a deer on the way in or out, let the stand cool down for 4-5 days before hunting it again.
This could be a book or probably a series of books but just picking one topic to touch on I'd say it's where you hunt and how "clean" your approach to your stand is. As someone else mentioned you should focus on not being too intrusive prior to pre rut. Hunt the fringes and IMO never ever hunt mornings prior to prerut. If you try to hunt deer on a pattern in the mornings you will more than likely just blow the whole thing up and now you've messed up the afternoons too. So I'm hunting afternoons only prior to 10/25 or so and I'm looking for spots where my scouting or cameras tell me I have a chance to have an encounter with a target buck but I'm not pushing in on him too hard. The next thing is you simply can't show yourself to a bunch of deer on your way to the stand. There are a lot of ways to go about having a clean stand approach. Some are simply taking advantage of terrain (like ditches, creeks, fencrerows, etc) and others you can possibly make for yourself by creating berms, leaving rows of corn, planting some tall vegetation or sunflowers, etc. Point is if deer are seeing you walk to your stand you are screwed from the onset in most cases. So while you are trying to pattern deer they are patterning you. If the cameras are telling you that they are doing certain things and then when you show up to hunt (even with the wind right) they don't show up then this could be what is happening to you. Anytime you are choosing a stand site the first 2 things you should consider are How am I going to get here? and Where is my scent going to WANT to go with falling thermals in the afternoon? To me these things are more important than any other aspect of the stand location especially when I'm trying to pattern deer (I.e. Prior to prerut). Also you should spend some time thinking about what the deer might be doing to react away from the surrounding hunting pressure not provided by you. Maybe you can figure out something that they are doing to dodge around other hunters and then move on them in stealth mode. Or just stay out altogether until the rut and then move in and hunt where you are getting the most pictures of does.
^^ All good stuff. I would also add: Be careful how -and how often- you check your cams. If you're only getting night pics of your target(s), you're the one who has been patterned. Regardless, I don't put any stock into patterns in my area yet. In my experience, once the velvet sheds and the acorns drop, everything changes. Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk
I don't put a whole lot of stock into the term "patterning". If you have a mature buck show up every single day at the same time on the same trail, then you most likely know how to kill him. The way that I ago about trying to figure out how to kill my bucks on camera comes long before I start getting pics of them in the summer time. You need to put boots on the ground in the offseason. Once you have scouted an area, you should have an idea how the buck is using it if you start getting pics of a buck later on. If you haven't had a chance to scout the area ahead of season, use topo and aerial maps. This should give you an idea of how the deer are using the property that you hunt. To take it a step further, think about entry, exit, other hunter pressure, changing thermals, wind direction, distance from bed to feed, the list goes on. There are a multitude of reasons that you may not see anything from your stand at a given time. On ground that I do not have sole access to, I believe in a mobile stand setup. I personally use a Lone Wolf Assault and 4 sticks, all wrapped in moleskin and paracord. I love it and you can be unbelievably quiet and get in tight to bedding.
