Early season feeding pattern.

Do your homework and find a big buck during the summer and early fall. Find a prefered food source where the big buck comes to eat. Watch him until season opens to make sure he's still using the food source and set up a stand(s) for wind direction. When the conditions are right hunt the evening and kill him. Some states open later than others and are not conducive to this method because batchlor groups break up and return to their home ranges while they prepare for the rut.

This is a great way to get a mature buck. However, one thing that I have noticed is that the older, top end bucks tend to stick to themselves and go to feed usually after dark, by themselves. For these guys, see next method.


Locate a big bucks bedding area.

Through scouting, finding tracks and/or observation stands, locate a big bucks bedding area and wait until around Oct. 20th (give or take a few days) and when the wind is right, hang a stand about 100 yards from his bedding spot and kill him when he comes out.

I've found that mature bucks stay quite nocturnal once they've dispersed from their bachelor groups. I've noticed that around Oct. 20th, they seem to get antsy and get out of their beds earlier then normal and head to the fields in search of does. Usually they show up 5-15 minutes before dark. As the action starts heating up towards the very end of the month and the start of Nov.,They'll start roaming earlier and soon, they'll bed wherever they ended up from the night before. They don't even know where they'll end up. that's when you switch t funnel hunting. (See above).