RE: big buck tactics
I don't hunt him like I do other deer, especially younger bucks and does.
Treat him like he's a different animal because he is, that's why he avoided hunters for so long.
He's a big old buck andthat old expression is so true:" He didn't get that big by being stupid". He has learned how to avoid hunters, by knowing where hunters like to go. He doesn't only move at night, rather he's held up in areas that he has learned hunters will not visit. When he puts himself in "Safe Mode", he will locate places in his area where he has NEVER seen a hunter. If the situation changes and he discovers hunters are getting close, he will go to a number of other places that he has learned hunters have never been. Where's his favorite place...My experience tell me deep in the thickest, nasties, wettest, darkest swamp - or - bedding 2/3 on the side of a ridge, with a southern exposure, where he can see and smell danger. This is one of his favorite places. He will stay there most of the day.
He will pattern a hunter for fun. He knows from which direction you came, when you came and when you leave. He will smell you hours after you have left the woods, especially when hunters leave their scent behind by not wearing gloves when touching trees, branches etc. His sense of smell is legendary. It's his number one defense mechanism. You can never fool his nose if he smells you.
When he feels pressure or a direct threat, he knows when to stay put, when to slowly move out and when to crash away. He would much rather have you continue on by. Some younger deer, less "learned" may immediately run leaving them exposed to the sound of gunfire.
There's nothing mystical about these creature. Of course they get shot. Whether a hunter was just lucky that day, whether he was snifffing a hot doe that put himself in Harm's Way, whether he was hunted hard by a crafty, old vereran deer hunter, he does get shot. I'm just saying if I hunt him the way I hunt smaller, younger bucks with less "experience", I would be hard pressed to ever see him except during the rut.
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