ok for all you trophy hunters out there. this year i am gonna focus on getting a nice buck. i am consectively killing deer but only smallbucks and does. i live in central florida and the deer here dont grow HUGE however there is nice bucks killed every year here. i can only hunt state management areas, so no food plots or baiting aloud. the area is mostly swamps, grass plains, planted pines andscattered oaks. the deer here are now in velvet and still growing. does are now starting to show up with the little fawns. there is no hills or major terraine deviations in this area. a few fences and ditches though. any one have any ideas on when and how to start scouting and setting up for the biggerbucks. i will mostly be archery hunting. season starts in september.
thanks for any and all info.

hunt by them swamps, botton land usually has better growth for deer to brouse. Find areas with trails intersecting, that you know the does are using, then look 50 to 100 yds deeper in the cover for the bucks trail. Hunt thick areas be paitent, still and quiet. Good luck

You are really going to have to put in some time scouting. IF ATV's are not allowed, be willing to go where no man has gone before so to speak, (deeper into the timber) to avoid hunting pressure. Good Luck!

Get in the thick stuff and work for'em!

Is this ground you are somewhat familar with at all. Hopefully you can rely on past hunting experiences and post season scouting. Get away from the "lesser" deer and into the thick isolated stuff and hunt hard. The ONE true rule to trophy hunting..... DON'T SHOOT A SMALLBUCK if you want to take a mature buck! Good luck and good hunting

Well as far as when to start scouting, no time like the present, try to learn as much as you can aobu the deer in the area and the area the deer are in, the swamps would be a good place to look, the big bucks will look for a secluded place to hide, especially when people are in the woods, look wherever you dont think other people will go, like back in the swamps, try to find dry ground or islands within the swamps, and last but no least, if you want to kill a good buck, dont shoot the small bucks, set yourself a minimum standard and stick to it. Good luck!

The Miami ZOO ??

Find a good funnel and place a stand there. I've killed alot of good deer in them moving from feeding to bedding areas. Another good stand site is a staging area. The big bucks usually hang out a few hundred yards back out of afeeding area until after dark. I've had success in both places.

I will look for the food source...possibly those scattered oaks you mentioned or maybe something in the grasslands. Scope them out from afar while they are feeding and try to determine where they are entering the food source from. Then, backtrack about 150 yards and look for a likely ambush location.