Top 20 Tips For bagging that big buck
09-07-2006, 08:53 AM
#1
Giant Nontypical
Thread Starter
Join Date: Feb 2003
Location: Nekoosa Wi USA
Posts: 6,066
Top 20 Tips For bagging that big buck
Tip 1
Human odor spooks deer. Shower with a scent-free soap before every hunting trip, and try not to contaminate your hunting clothes on the way to the field. Keep them in a plastic bag until you arrive at your hunting location.
Tip 2
Use buck urine during the early season to take advantage of a buck’s territorial instincts. The scent of an estrous doe during early October simply doesn’t make sense to a buck, but buck scent is always worth checking out.
Tip 3
Try a drag rag soaked in doe estrous urine during the rut. Often a buck will follow the trail right to your stand.
Tip 4
Take an odor eliminator with you to the treestand. After the walk to the stand, apply an odor eliminator to your body, paying special attention to your hat and hair.
Tip 5
When muzzleloader hunting in wet weather, a piece of electrical tape over the end of the barrel will keep out moisture. You simply shoot through the tape when it’s time to harvest that buck.
Tip 6
One of the deadliest scent set-ups defies the accepted rule of playing the wind. Locate a long strip of timber or cover with the wind blowing along the length of it (blowing from one end to the other). At the windy end, pour some Code Blue at several areas, then set up high in a treestand just on the edge of the timber. If you’re set up high enough, your human odor should flow above the deer.
Tip 7
Practice setting up and taking down your treestand before the season, and do so low on the tree.
Tip 8
You don’t have to own your own plane, or even by an airline ticket, to check out aerial photos of your hunting area, and there are no better scouting aids than aerial photos. Just type “aerial photos” into a search engine and you’ll be surprised!
Tip 9
Avoid trimming shooting lanes and otherwise disturbing your hunting area during the season. The time to clear shooting lanes is during summer.
Tip 10
Those pop-up blinds are saviors for hunters who prefer to keep their feet on terra firma. Surprisingly enough, most deer don’t give ground blinds a second look as long as they’re not standing out in the open.
Tip 11
You’ve got a buck on adjacent land patterned, but it doesn’t cross over to your hunting area until after shooting time is over. What to do? Try tempting the buck to come over to your side with a deer decoy or by calling.
Tip 12
Be sure to douse yourself with tick repellant when scouting during summer and early fall. Tick-borne diseases can shut down your hunting season, and you don’t want it to be over before it’s begun!
Tip 13
Don’t underestimate the importance of being able to get to your treestand undetected, and don’t think that going in under the cover of darkness will help. Make sure to use a creek or curtain of forest to cover your entry.
Tip 14
Wash all hunting clothes in a non-scented detergent each time you’re heading to the woods. Keep them in a plastic bag until arriving at your hunting area.
Tip 15
Try making a mock scrape. First, put on surgical gloves to prevent human odor contamination. Using a stick, scuff the leaves off of an area about the size of a hubcap. Pour some deer droppings (from Code Blue Real Scrape) onto the area, then pour some Code Blue Doe Estrous over it.
Tip 16
During the late season, scout for reopened scrapes in deep cover. Surviving bucks are reluctant to get in the open country, but still look for the last hot does in cover.
Tip 17
When there’s snow on the ground, look for leaves strewn across an area where deer have pawed for mast. If there’s still some mast around, that might be a good spot to set up and wait for the deer’s return.
Tip 18
When the weather is too cold for your liquid odor eliminator, try Knight & Hale’s Stealth Dust, a dry, powdery scent eliminator.
Tip 19
You’ve taken the shot, now what? If you find brown hair and pink or red blood with bubbles in it, most likely you got a heart or lung hit. Brown hair and thick, dark-red blood indicates a hit too far back, possibly a liver shot. White hair and watery blood with stomach matter indicate a bad hit.
Tip 20
Always wear a full-body safety harness when hunting from a treestand. Summit Specialties’ Seat of the Pants harness is the best.
Human odor spooks deer. Shower with a scent-free soap before every hunting trip, and try not to contaminate your hunting clothes on the way to the field. Keep them in a plastic bag until you arrive at your hunting location.
Tip 2
Use buck urine during the early season to take advantage of a buck’s territorial instincts. The scent of an estrous doe during early October simply doesn’t make sense to a buck, but buck scent is always worth checking out.
Tip 3
Try a drag rag soaked in doe estrous urine during the rut. Often a buck will follow the trail right to your stand.
Tip 4
Take an odor eliminator with you to the treestand. After the walk to the stand, apply an odor eliminator to your body, paying special attention to your hat and hair.
Tip 5
When muzzleloader hunting in wet weather, a piece of electrical tape over the end of the barrel will keep out moisture. You simply shoot through the tape when it’s time to harvest that buck.
Tip 6
One of the deadliest scent set-ups defies the accepted rule of playing the wind. Locate a long strip of timber or cover with the wind blowing along the length of it (blowing from one end to the other). At the windy end, pour some Code Blue at several areas, then set up high in a treestand just on the edge of the timber. If you’re set up high enough, your human odor should flow above the deer.
Tip 7
Practice setting up and taking down your treestand before the season, and do so low on the tree.
Tip 8
You don’t have to own your own plane, or even by an airline ticket, to check out aerial photos of your hunting area, and there are no better scouting aids than aerial photos. Just type “aerial photos” into a search engine and you’ll be surprised!
Tip 9
Avoid trimming shooting lanes and otherwise disturbing your hunting area during the season. The time to clear shooting lanes is during summer.
Tip 10
Those pop-up blinds are saviors for hunters who prefer to keep their feet on terra firma. Surprisingly enough, most deer don’t give ground blinds a second look as long as they’re not standing out in the open.
Tip 11
You’ve got a buck on adjacent land patterned, but it doesn’t cross over to your hunting area until after shooting time is over. What to do? Try tempting the buck to come over to your side with a deer decoy or by calling.
Tip 12
Be sure to douse yourself with tick repellant when scouting during summer and early fall. Tick-borne diseases can shut down your hunting season, and you don’t want it to be over before it’s begun!
Tip 13
Don’t underestimate the importance of being able to get to your treestand undetected, and don’t think that going in under the cover of darkness will help. Make sure to use a creek or curtain of forest to cover your entry.
Tip 14
Wash all hunting clothes in a non-scented detergent each time you’re heading to the woods. Keep them in a plastic bag until arriving at your hunting area.
Tip 15
Try making a mock scrape. First, put on surgical gloves to prevent human odor contamination. Using a stick, scuff the leaves off of an area about the size of a hubcap. Pour some deer droppings (from Code Blue Real Scrape) onto the area, then pour some Code Blue Doe Estrous over it.
Tip 16
During the late season, scout for reopened scrapes in deep cover. Surviving bucks are reluctant to get in the open country, but still look for the last hot does in cover.
Tip 17
When there’s snow on the ground, look for leaves strewn across an area where deer have pawed for mast. If there’s still some mast around, that might be a good spot to set up and wait for the deer’s return.
Tip 18
When the weather is too cold for your liquid odor eliminator, try Knight & Hale’s Stealth Dust, a dry, powdery scent eliminator.
Tip 19
You’ve taken the shot, now what? If you find brown hair and pink or red blood with bubbles in it, most likely you got a heart or lung hit. Brown hair and thick, dark-red blood indicates a hit too far back, possibly a liver shot. White hair and watery blood with stomach matter indicate a bad hit.
Tip 20
Always wear a full-body safety harness when hunting from a treestand. Summit Specialties’ Seat of the Pants harness is the best.
09-07-2006, 09:10 AM
#3
Join Date: Sep 2005
Location: TX Panhandle
Posts: 620
RE: Top 20 Tips For bagging that big buck
Alot of good tips there, here are a couple more.
21. Do not overhunt a prime area, mature bucks are super sensitive to intrusion. The best chance you have at him will be the first time you hunt a particular location.
22. Stay all day if you can, midday is a great time to get that big buck.
21. Do not overhunt a prime area, mature bucks are super sensitive to intrusion. The best chance you have at him will be the first time you hunt a particular location.
22. Stay all day if you can, midday is a great time to get that big buck.
09-07-2006, 09:22 AM
#8
Spike
Join Date: Feb 2003
Location:
Posts: 37
RE: Top 20 Tips For bagging that big buck
Practice until you can hit at your range from an awkward angle, while stiff with cold, in bad light, while the adreniline surges, in bad light in the wind, after holding at full draw for a long time without a second thought.
09-07-2006, 09:22 AM
#9
Typical Buck
Join Date: Sep 2006
Location: NH
Posts: 854
RE: Top 20 Tips For bagging that big buck
23. scout, scout, and scout some more. Find the travel corridor from bedding to feeding areas. Set up within 15 yards of that corridor on a pinch point or natural funnel. DO NOT set up in his bedding area or he will be long gone.
24. during the rut, find the does. You find the does, and the big boys will be there.
24. during the rut, find the does. You find the does, and the big boys will be there.
