I try and keep them close to where I plan on hunting. Usually I scout hard and find heavy sign and set them up and see what direction they are coming from and what time. I slowly work backtrail until I have pics during shooting hours and set up there.
Somehow I don't have a hard time believing this! Blessings..........Pastorjim Sent from my SPH-D710 using Tapatalk 2
Bait where legal and if not like here. Licking branches in the summer months are great. And trails from bedding areas to food source. I will usually hang a camera on every trail I find. Wait 3-4 weeks and check them while I'm in there on my tablet. Then pull the cameras that didn't pick up any bucks and move them to a different location. That's how I found cactus jack s bedding area last year. Then I only go in once every 3-4 weeks usually in the rain. So it covers up any scent I leave and i can be sneaky. Tyler Rector BHOD prostaff
Had him in bowrange 7 times til November 7. Self filming couldn't seal the deal on video.wishing now I wouldve just shot him off screen. But hind sights 20/20. He disappeared nov 8. Never to be seen again and no sheds. Either he was poached or he died on neighbors from blue tongue. I found 2 bucks I passed when I was looking for sheds. Died of blue toungue in the winter. Hopefully he was just hiding and he shows up on trail cams this year. Hell be 8 yrs old this year so who knows? Tyler Rector BHOD prostaff
I will have to say, letting a trophy walk due to bad filming conditions is dedication. It shows a real respect for that animal. I think you did the right thing. You didn't get to take him the way you wanted so you passed. Have my respect!
In Illinois, I don't have the luxury of using minerals. Over the last couple of years I have relied on making mock scrapes and creating my own licking branches. I use products like buck fever synthetics, smoky's preorbital gland, and timber valley's fresh doe urine. Be extremely scent cautious and create the branches and scrapes in high traffic areas. I try to access from the back side of the scrape so to not leave scent in front where I would expect the deer to be. Only checking them periodically. Some scrapes stay active, some die off after a few weeks. The next pic is the buck I killed this year. The pic sequence just before this pic shows him working my licking branch. Unfortunately I don't have those pics on my phone.
