Last year, during post season scouting, I jumped a huge 10 pointer. He was wide, tall and heavy in the antler department. I can vividly recall seeing his long, white tines as he jumped.

He was bedded beneath a blown down tree in a lowland swamp area that is surrounded by heavy pressure and high deer density. He was only a few feet from the riverside but seperated from the adjoining high ground by a low area containing ankle deep water (waterfront area in Eastern North Carolina). On a previous scouting trip, I believe Ilocated his primary scraping area about 150 yards from this bed but I have specifically avoided the area since jumping him. I will wait until the pre-rut and then see if I can catch him at the scrapes. In the meantime, I will wait for season to start and focus on filling the freezer with his girlfriends occupying the surrounding countryside.

Anyone pursuing an individual buck this fall?

Anyone else been successful at this endeavor?

when the season opens go get him and show us some pics

Ive got a nice 10 pt on my trail cam from last year, he'll be real nice this year he's my goal. Last year i hunted a single deer but a buddy of mine killed him durin blackpowder season. I had him at 30 yrds full draw... just that he stopped behind a tree and i never got a shot. He was 22" wide inside and had a 3rd main beam.. It was a heartbreaking moment when i saw he was killed...

Which is the only problem w/ hunting one deer... you dont always get it.

I don't have one picked out this year yet, but I've done it six times before. Very satisfying.

Like Greg said, Its very satisfying. Its pretty much how I hunt whitetail bucks. I try to find a minimum of3 bucks a year that I want to target. Ilike to mix it up a bit by finding a couple, butthat again takes a lot of scouting in my neck of the woods anywayits nice to up the odds a bit by finding a couple. Dont get me wrong if I find an exceptional buck for my hunting area/regionlikeI did in 02 and then I killed in 03, well I prettymuch just hunted him until I killed him.

A specific buck is more predictable in his summer feeding phase and pre rut and post rut than when he is when rutting. You can still kill him during the rut, but you need to know what doe groups he targets and set up on those does. He could be a mile or two away from where he is feeding right now. Scouting cameras and snow later in theyear herefor backtrackingwork well to keep tabs on abucks routes for both feeding and rutting...

If hes an older buck he most likely will have certain areasand certain doe groupshe targets during the rut. I have "dated" specific bucks on specific doe groups, mind you my doe groups are spread out, low deer densities here..anyway and then the next year to the day the same danged buck showed up again and I killed him 100 yards from where I saw him a year earlier! Several bucks I have dated and they show up within a day or two the next year. Again I am hunting big woods bucks that travel to and from doe family groups that are fairly spread out. Thank you photoperiod and estrus cycle of the does.

Back to the feed. I don't know when your season opens, but my archery success of specific bucks that I have both found sheds(some several sets)too and spent a lot of time spying on is now at 6 bucks all mature.Four of the six I bowkilled outside of the rut/breeding phase of the rut. Several others that Inever killed..well they taughtmeas muchor more than those that I have killed.I put a lot of stock into feeding routes leaving bedding areas. Do everything you can to not let himknow your after him. in your set ups. All the common scents stuff..did I say "scent"? LOL

Good luck,
Troy

Below is a buck I shot this last Dec post rut. I watched him grow up for two years and killed him 400-500 yards from where I found his 2.5 year old shed. From shed to dead... He shoud have never left that clue behind ...

My dad and I had one singled out on our farms (we are neighbors too) for 3 years. We found his sheds every year and each year at least one of us had him at full draw and never got a shot. Finally, my dad shot him the first day of gun season (with his bow). He was a really nice 11 point that scored right at 155. It was amazing to line up the sheds and you could tell immediately it was the same deer. Usually though, I won't target a specific buck, and even when we were after that guy I wasn't going to pass on a different mature buck.

Yeah, I have the guy that made these pinned down as my primary target for next season on my property in PA. Somehow he has eluded my trail cam all last season, and no one saw him except for my father on the last day of PA's late season. I didn't manage to find his main rubline and bedding area until rifle season and by that time I had no vacation left to hunt him (except for 2 mornings). Dad saw him running does across the road in front of the house and said he was a solid 20" wide 10 that looked to be 4.5 years last season. He apparently had a swayed back already and large round belly. I know he survived the season and I have seen quite a few extremely large buck tracks there but I can't find sheds. If he survived the coyotes and poachers, he will be around next year. I am in the middle of putting in a foodplot about 100 yards downwind from his main bedding area that should hopefully be a magnet for does and hopefully him too.

I would also let the air out of this guy this year if given the opportunity this season. I passed him 2 times last season (once in bow, once in rifle season) because he was a 2 year old and not quite what I was looking for. I know he was not shot last year but also haven't found sheds for him either. If he survived the poachers and yotes, he will be 3.5 this year and should be a freak with that weird antler. I go down this weekend to PA and will be able to pull my trail cam memory card to see what is on there, I had a lot of pictures from April/May that showed bucks but there wasn't enough antler growth then to determine ages of what survived last season and the winter.

Here are his pics from last season....some of you may remember him from last year.

Both of these guys will be shooters this year too. They should both be 3.5 this year. I passed the first one last year on several occasions and the bottom one I passed during rifle season one time.

How do you identify a bucks main bedding area?

I've gotten permission to hunt a privately owned chunk of deer paradise here in Ohio amounting to around 500 acres of timber split in two pieces, one 200+ and the other 300+,seperated by a corn field, and surrounded on all sides by either beans or corn depending on the farmers crop rotation cycle. Last year during the first week of November while walking the property scouting for muzzleloader season, we bumped aGIANT, GIANT12pt typical, a deer with 12" brows and tines anywhere from 8-12". This is a once in a lifetime buck. It appears that nobody in the area has seen the deer besides my father in law and I or killed the deer last fall, but he's the one I'm targeting this year. I promise to post the pics if I get him on one of our trail cameras or if I'm lucky enough to score this HOG with my bow. Below is the link of the topographic map, and area where I'll be hunting. The two dark spots in the middle of the map are the woods, and last year we bumped this deer on the far right hand side , near the middle of the right block of timber. Any suggestions of where you guys would set up for this bruiser would be appreciated.

http://maps.yahoo.com/beta/#maxp=location&q1=+County+Highway+76,+Forest,+ Ohio&trf=0&mvt=h&lon=-83.444853&lat=40.724543&mag=3