RE: I always hear this story...
 

Jim:

Was this directed at me? If so.....my strategy THIS year has changed. Yes.

I NEED to thin does. It's not necessarily the way I WANT to hunt. It's far from it. I could approach my hunting a lot differently if I were trying to hunt 1 deer. If I killed one deer a year from now on.....and it was a deer I was happy with.....I'd feel like a successful hunter. I don't have that luxury.

All that being said.....I hunted the way "I" wanted to last year. I still put myself in position to take the only maturebucks I saw. Was some of this "luck"? Sure. But even if it was....it lends credence to the methodology I've been talking about all through this thread.

Don't think I'm in this to kill as many animals as I can. That woud be far from the truth. I'm doing what needs to be done.

RE: I always hear this story...
 

Jim I certainly understand the buck will circle downwind which is my point.
if The wind is coming off the field into the woods. This would allow the buck to scent check the field, and will probably be the entry side. By placing a stand there. You are polluting the "holding" woods with your scent. By getting 20 yards inside the woodline, you may create more of a scent free direct vicinity but you then sending your scent further in. Which in turn may keep him from coming to the field edge to check it at all.

I'm just playing devils advocate.. Because there are always circumstances that the more you think about it the harder it becomes.

RE: I always hear this story...
 

This is where rub lines and scrap locations can help you figure his travel directions hopefully you will get a shot before he gets down wind of you And another case where stands are left vacant until conditions are perfect .Your chances of killing a mature buck are at there highest on the very first day you hunt a stand.
If you are limited toa particulartree and its location is not right don't hesitateto drop another tree top across his travel route to force him closer to your location.

Of course then theres that big part that luck plays in all of this. [:o]

RE: I always hear this story...
 

So you're advocating going into his bedroom to look for these?

Different strokes. I haven't been in my deer woods since May....which was for one morning. This just shows how there are MANY strategies that we all employ. I guess the proof's only in what gets taken out of the woods as to who's doing things "right" for THEIR application.

RE: I always hear this story...
 

Go back several pages where I told you I did go in his bed room in the spring shed hunting. And of course you ripped me for that also. ;)

His rubs ,sheds & scrapes are in the same places as last year because this buck has lived here for more than one year. "Mature Buck"

I am in my woods closer to 300 days per year .Thats where the sanctuary and other off limit locations are for.

RE: I always hear this story...
 

Honest Question.....

When you see a rub.....(no generalities, here) How do you KNOW which buck (or what class) made that rub? Scrapes?? How do you know which buck(s) is making that scrape??

This is....assuming you don't see him doing it.

RE: I always hear this story...
 

Honest answer .....you don't.

But a mature buck has a huge foot when compared to a doe or 1.5 year old buck.

One thing I have found is a bucks bed is usually in multi flora rose or some other impenetrable cover. And every tree within ten to fifteen feet will be rubbed .I think a buck does this out of frustration and boredom while waiting for the cover of darkness before leaving his lair .
If you find his sheds here then you have an idea of what you are hunting.And you can follow this rub lines by what side of the tree they are on leading to the feeding area.

As for who makes rubs from what I have watched. A big buck will rub anything big trees, small trees ,willow or oak. But I have never seen a small buck rub a large diameter tree. If a rub is on a six inchdiameter tree or larger I'm interested.

RE: I always hear this story...
 

I learn something every day.

So you have to wait til the right season........have enough moisture on the ground to read hoof prints.....find a buck bedding area with 6" diam. (that's 1 foot across)or greater trees.....to know that there WAS a buck there of possible substantial size and age.....and hope he made it through to the hunting season?

I'm gonna tell ya.....KUDOS from me. I'm serious.

RE: I always hear this story...
 

I view this as flawed thinking. If the weather report says one thing and you get to your stand and find that the wind is not right for your stand, why on earth would you sit there anyway and alert the deer to your presence and stand location?? Makes no sense. If the wind is perfect for your stand and you can get to it undetected, you can get away with hunting it several times in a row. If you educate them to your presence, you will not have any luck trying for any deer much less a mature buck.

I prepare at least 8 stands for all wind directions and always have a back up plan. If plan B is no good, I'll go home and not hunt rather than alert the deer to my presence.

Alerting deer to your presence is the last thing that you would want to do. You might as well leave your bow at home and just go out for a leisurely stroll.

RE: I always hear this story...
 

So Greg....if they see you move......they're not alerted to your presence? In my eyes...there's as good a chance of this occurring as what you guys are putting out there (though neither scenario is absolute).

Seems to me it's a "catch-22".

I don't know if I'd go that far. If I haven't climbed the tree....I can still move. If I'm up there, though.....I'm there. Right or wrong.