ORIGINAL: GregH
ORIGINAL: rybohunter
I think a lot depends on what you feel is around and if you are actually hunting a specific buck.
My situation dictates that I do not feel there is a mature buck bedded on the property I hunt or at least using it as his primary bedding area. I do my best to still not intrude upon, or sit for long periods of time with winds blowing directly into the good bedding areas. BUT in a very shifty wind, which often is what I will get, I’ll stick it out to whack a doe as I am usually not in a very intrusive spot.
Once my focus shifts to bucks, I pick my stands according to winds, but its also that time of year where they are seeking/chasing and could come from anywhere. Rarely do I hunt in a spot where I have one overwhelming direction. If I was in one, and the wind went bad, then I would move. But for the most part, my hunting spots are multi-directional, and I’m not pin pointing a specific mature buck. I’m looking to catch ANY mature buck in his search for does.
Not trying to be an ass or anything, but I used to hunt like that. I never saw ANY mature bucks but there were a bunch of 1 1/2s and a few 2 1/2s around. I got to thinking one day, that if there are young bucks around it would make sense that there must be some old bucks around as well. I knew that there wouldn't be as many of them but they still had to be around somewhere. Finally, one day I saw one, a beautiful 10 pointer.
Once I knew that they did exist, I set about changing my tactics to try and see more of them. That's how I started hunting for mature bucks. A couple of the things that I changed was....
1) I stopped shooting does until late season because they are my "bait".
2) I started studying the does and learning their family units.
3) I started hunting funnels and trails that connected two or more doe bedding areas together.
4) I started buying more and more stands to have a stand to hunt for any given wind direction. (some of these stands may be only 20 -30 yards apart).
Over the years I have learned what I think the mature bucks like and what they'll be looking for. I try to set up accordingly and find that it is best to error on the side of caution. I always give them more credit than not enough. This is what I've found to work the best for me.