When you are "hunting" a big buck or trying to pin point his movement patterns, what is your process when starting from "ground zero", meaning you have found a large shed, spotted massive rubs, or have actually seen the buck for the first time. How do you go about creating a specific plan on getting to found out what makes that buck tick or zeroing in on his patterns? Some of you must have some general thoughts on what makes you succesful in terms of starting from scratch with a buck. Thank you all for any suggestions.
If you can (dealing with terrain,cover, etc...) I would sit back on a high hill with a spotting scope on a Sun. afternoon and watch that sucker. See where he goes afte he gets up. Where he eats, drinks. Then pick a time where he is away from the general area and set up your stand. Then it just is a matter of hours in the stand. But what do I know I didnt kill a buck this past season.
1. Don't telll anyone (except when I move to Northern Va this summer). 2. Hopefully, you would know something about the area beforehand. 3. If not, I would start in the off-season by walking every foot of his suspected territory in hopes of finding additional sign/rubs/old scrapes/antler(s). I would try to fit the shed find into the context of what brought him to this area at the end of the season. I would suspect that he would re-use this safe zone when the pressure re-appears next fall. 4. Then, I would select a few rut oriented stand sites with plans to save these stands for the right time. 5. I would prepare the lanes, climbing trees etc in the off season. And, try to forget about him until Halloween.
I don’t have the luxury of usually targeting a specific buck.. and I don’t believe many hunters do have the luxury either. Some do.. most don’t.. simply because of amount of land that one can hunt. So for me.. I don’t target specific bucks.. rather specific age classes. And I do this by starting from “ground zero”.. as you call it.. on the timing of a particular piece of ground I am hunting.. whether that is 10 acres or 100 acres. Because lets face it.. it makes NO SENSE hunting a piece of ground for a certain buck.. if he ain't there. I don’t hunt bucks.. but rather the property. And more specifically the timing of the piece to give me the best odds of taking a solid buck (3 yrs of age or more) down within a short time frame. As sometimes I will only have time to hunt a piece for 1 or 2 days. This is the “right time.. right buck” philosophy. So if I’m ONLY hunting 90 acres of what a whitetail buck calls home sometimes.. and lets say he needs 1,000 acres to survive throughout the year. I need to figure out when he is using this 90 acres right here.. cause that is what I am hunting. So.. I’ll look at the food sources and water sources first. Knowing they need both to survive. Then follow this back to suitable bedding.. separating likely buck bedrooms from doe group bedding. Then I’ll target specific areas where funnels and topography will pinch whitetail using topo maps and aerial photos. Then the ground scouting begins. I will walk every inch of the piece until I know where all the GOOD rubs and GOOD scrapes are located. And I keep these in my head. It’s important to understand that sign like rubs and scrapes are not about size or numbers.. but rather location of sign. Then at home.. I pull up the BIG picture.. and look at all the land that surrounds my piece.. looking for possible pinches and funnels (even up to ½ mile away).. and bedding areas that will cause whitetail bucks to possibly steer onto my lands if they are not bedded there already. Then the game plan basically comes together. And I hunt my land only when I believe a buck should be using it.. all depending on the total timing of the year and the boundaries by which I can hunt. And of course.. within that 90 acres.. I will have developed YET another plan. But I think we get the point.:d
Thank you all very much for your responses. Duke, I do not have the luxury of targetting certain bucks because of where I hunt. I hunt the property as well. But I must be missing the small details as I consistently close the gap on 2.5 year olds but rarely get into the 3.5 year old and above world of whitetails. That is why this stuff is so much fun, the challenge of it all. Kevin, I have learned to lay off the big boys until around Halloween as well, especially around where I hunt. I had the utmost discipline this year and only attacked 3-4 of my hotspots during the peak times. I was rewarded with two close encounters with two different mature bucks within range. I just couldn't close the deal. This year I am more determined that ever. Great advice about trimming the lanes and doing the small things before the season. Zach, I hunt on a military base with no crop fields and open, rolling hardwoods. It is very hard to scout during the summer as the foliage is so thick and the deer don't really have any predetermined places to eat.
I've never specifically hunted a single buck because 1. I rarely find one ahead of time in order to do so. 2. I am not good enough, nor do I have the time to limit myself to trying to kill one specific deer. That said...IF I did run into this situation, my approach would be real close to what kwilson wrote. In my experiences I have next to no chance of killing a mature buck until he has does on his brain. They are way too nocturnal.
If the shed buck dies for some unknown reason during the year, I believe his legacy sign is still relevant. The time and place will be attractive to his brethern in follwing years even if you're not lucky enough to live in an area where the age structure permits targeting individuals.
Shadow I feel you. I scouted a piece of land yesterday that is a suburban deer heaven. I alway have luck there but only recently have I been scouting a lot "post season". All I can say is what an eye opener. There is a small buck I passed 2 seasons ago as a basket rack 7 that I watched come out of a thick block of cover that butts up to a neighborhood road. It is very close to two houses and just a weird place for a buck to be coming from(at face value). But as I scouted the perimeter of it and where it met the big woods and ditch line I found the area littered with buck tracks(or very large deer tracks) and some old/new rubs. And after putting those two pieces together it now looks like such an obvious buck honeyhole. Tucked between houses and a road in a nice sized thicket he has probably been using this area his whole life with minimal disturbance. The key is his travel corridor out of there is relatively small and that is what I hope to use against him in Oct. I plan on getting a trail cam out there at some point soon.
Good luck NEW. I am still learning about travel corridors and timing certain hunts each year. But I think I am improving and that is important. I will do even more homework and study this year in my attempts to arrow a mature buck. Just the sight of those two mature bucks I saw this year had me pumped like when I had my first deer within range. I have been succesful on getting close to bucks and sometimes occasionally mature bucks, but with no consistency on the big boys. I believe one of my strengths is hunting the land and finding spots where bucks cruise at specific times, in a general sense. One of my weaknesses is not being able to take large chunks of land and breaking them down to small sections where I can isolate my hunts and increase my chances.
bowhunhter546, I hear you on trying to trail cam a buck. The problem is trail cams are not allowed on the military base I hunt. Good old fashioned boots to the earth is all I can do, and even that is limited sometimes because of the base being on lockdown. I have to become more precise in my methods and that is why I started this thread, to learn from a lot of people.
I assume the terrain is fairly steep...? In another words, are there draws, valleys and saddles that have enough relief to influence movement?
Great post!Interesting and helpful responses! Always lots to attempt to figure out with so many variables to take in to consideration. One of the biggest obstacles for me is attempting to determine if there is a mature buck in the woods that I am hunting.Our deer densities are not great and in a big woods environment it can be difficult to pin down older age class bucks.I do the same type of scouting as everyone else in attempting to identify bedding area's,in the woods feeding area's,feeding area's that may be out side the woods such as fields that deer may travel a distance to.I will attempt to see how bucks will use structure to wind checks area's where there are concentrations of doe's.I have walked my tail off trying to determine whether buck sign such as rubs were random or whether there is a pattern that I am missing or not understanding.Couple all of this with over lapping doe group area's,unpredictable winds in the mountains and thermal shift considerations.I smile as I type this because it can be so darn challenging,but that's the juice,the excitement,it is sweet when you have put it all together and realize success! No doubt there are times when you just want to say the heck with it,I am just throwing up a tree stand right here! Fortunately my temperment wont allow that.
Sheds- They mean nothing to me In my yarded up area's when It comes to hunting, the only time I get excited about a shed Is when It's been a mellow winter and my deer have stayed In my/there home woods. Massive rubs- I do like big rubs but If I don't find them In time before the big chase kicks In to me there pretty much worthless to hunt by. My dad has shot 2 P&Y bucks by hunting rub lines a couple weeks before the chase starts, there a good tool If used right. So far I've not shot a decent buck on a rub line, just hasn't worked out yet but I know It will. I think a person can also use them big rubs for the next years hunt sometimes. Certain area's and rubs seem to draw big bucks every year In the same place. 1st sighting of a big buck- He was there for a reason, figure out why and run with It!! I'm far from being successful but the biggest thing for me Is If I can find out where the general area Is that he's bedding In, my chances Increase Immensely!! That's my problem though, I have Issues with finding a bucks bedding area. Whenever I'm successful In finding his bedding area, I usually have sightings and or close opportunities. One other thing too that I'd like to mention that's already been said. Certain bucks or just deer In general will travel an area only when It's that certain wind, I've seen that hold true a ton of times In my woods. For example, I have a certain area that's usually hot In the pre rut/pre chase every year but It's worthless to hunt when It's a south wind there. Always remember what the wind direction was when you see that big buck. Just my .02 cents anyway.
Thanks for your response Jeff. I hear you on trying to stay a step "ahead" of the buck and hunting him where he is at that moment. That for me is a real challenge as sometimes areas I want to hunt are closed down due to base training and the likes. I have to know many areas just to have a chance in case my plans blow up in smoke with not being able to hunt a certain area. For example, I wanted to get into a spot last year real early because I thought I had a good chance at seeing the buck I was after real early in the season..the base had the area closed and only opened it two days in October. I got in there and the first day I sat in the stand at the crossroads of the sign is when I got that mature brute within range, but then they closed the area down again for two weeks! Never really had a chance at him again. Your thoughts on the wind are well noted as well. That is something I have really worked on the last 4-5 years and I am slowly coming along with trying to understand how it affects deer movement. Kevin, yes the terrain can be very hilly and has many draws and saddles. I have found the saddles where I hunt produce like none other in terms of increasing my odds. I almost exclusively hunted tight saddles for about 10 days in early November and saw more bucks than I have ever seen in the last 6-7 years or so. Schultzy, I also have trouble finding a distinct bedding area so as to help me zero in on a buck. In fact I think I am pretty dang awful at finding where big bucks hang out. On the other hand, I am pretty good at finding where the does are bedding.
