today i went "out back" squirrel hunting...really scouting for deer behind the new house...ive hunted the woods and walked them for years now...just never did any serious hunting...pressure was always heavy...bow season seemed to be the worst actually..

its a pretty decint sized tract of land, but at my end its houses, houses and a shopping center and isnt HUGE..its like 500yds or so from my house to the shopping center and if i walked the creek to the shopping center id have houses behind me and to my right(to give you an idea..)

the land is 2 big flat hilltops and 2 creeks that make a T with decint sized hillsides(100yds or so..)

alot of thickets..was timbered a long time ago and for some reason they put in some new logging roads this spring or summer(heard walmart is coming[:@])

annnnnyways...i have a rubline i can see out the back door...typical rubs..small trees less than 2-3" thick...but right behind the neighbors is a massive rub i didnt notice till today..6-8" thick..cant get both hands around it...

walking the hillsides and such looking for squirrels i found atleast 5 more rubs that size...all trees i cant get both hands around..rubbed hard and tine marks all around the backside...alot of the rubs were in kinda thick stuff...but i couldnt put a pattern to them at all...werent in a line..were just scattered...sure i missed a bunch...sure some smaller rubs were his...but all i know is he had alot of them on the hillside i walked..

assuming he makes it through rifle season, i just might have to pour my heart into figuring him out...i just have no idea where to begin...im thinking about waiting till the snow and late winter and trying to locate the trails he is using...locate his core area..i got some ideas on where to look, but the way things just seemed scattered, i couldnt nail anything down today...

i need advice from you big buck hunters...guys that know how to hunt pressured, smart deer...

if i only found 1 rub that size id brush it off as a dink, but im already obsessing lol..its been a while since a rub got my blood pumping...finding a bunch of them just ruined me...hes gotta be a good buck...i just need to wise up, scout smart, and figure him out...

how would you guys go about that??? i dont know where to start