today i went "out back" squirrel hunting...really scouting for deer behind the new house...ive hunted the woods and walked them for years now...just never did any serious hunting...pressure was always heavy...bow season seemed to be the worst actually..

its a pretty decint sized tract of land, but at my end its houses, houses and a shopping center and isnt HUGE..its like 500yds or so from my house to the shopping center and if i walked the creek to the shopping center id have houses behind me and to my right(to give you an idea..)

the land is 2 big flat hilltops and 2 creeks that make a T with decint sized hillsides(100yds or so..)

alot of thickets..was timbered a long time ago and for some reason they put in some new logging roads this spring or summer(heard walmart is coming[:@])

annnnnyways...i have a rubline i can see out the back door...typical rubs..small trees less than 2-3" thick...but right behind the neighbors is a massive rub i didnt notice till today..6-8" thick..cant get both hands around it...

walking the hillsides and such looking for squirrels i found atleast 5 more rubs that size...all trees i cant get both hands around..rubbed hard and tine marks all around the backside...alot of the rubs were in kinda thick stuff...but i couldnt put a pattern to them at all...werent in a line..were just scattered...sure i missed a bunch...sure some smaller rubs were his...but all i know is he had alot of them on the hillside i walked..

assuming he makes it through rifle season, i just might have to pour my heart into figuring him out...i just have no idea where to begin...im thinking about waiting till the snow and late winter and trying to locate the trails he is using...locate his core area..i got some ideas on where to look, but the way things just seemed scattered, i couldnt nail anything down today...

i need advice from you big buck hunters...guys that know how to hunt pressured, smart deer...

if i only found 1 rub that size id brush it off as a dink, but im already obsessing lol..its been a while since a rub got my blood pumping...finding a bunch of them just ruined me...hes gotta be a good buck...i just need to wise up, scout smart, and figure him out...

how would you guys go about that??? i dont know where to start

Hey Mauser... Hunting these Allegheny County bucks can be frustrating. There are alot of good bucks out there, but it's been my experience that hunter pressure makes it difficult to target and go after a single buck IMHO.

I'd scout it out real good both on foot and using some aerial photos and find yourself some pinch points that force the deer to move past you. If you can locate apinch point in heavy cover, that's even better. Be there in late October and on into November when the bucks are vulnerable.

That's what I look for anyway.

actually Beaver co...i think its harder to hunt Beaver because the land is slightly bigger and more accessible and more guys hunt it...allegheny, the hard part is getting permission alot of times...here, you can get permission no problem in alot of areas...but so does everyone else..

i hope they leave the logging operation alone....i really cannot figure out why they put in some new logging roads and thats it...the deer sure like them right now though...and they pushed back stump piles into some of the thickets that are really nice...thickets that otherwise werent accessible...

i think the new logging scarred everyone out of there this season...i checked a few times and didnt see anyones vehicles...did cut 2 boot tracks yesterday but they were clearly scouting for rifle season..id be surprised if they even seen 1 of them large rubs...

if that buck is killed, its going to be from sheer luck...the guys yesterday never got off the quad paths(cant see much from it lol) and the 1 stand i came across is in that same spot yearly...i think with the right work, i might beable to find this buck. id really love to see hime before he drops his rack...

i will not devote a season to killing him. but i will scout the area hard and i just might hunt in the area...where as the past 2 years i did not...judging by the rubs id say hes gotta be a nice one

I'd beg to differ with you about more guys hunting Beaver County.. lol Guys are everywhere over here in Allegheny.

I'd still findthe pinch points and hunt that way. Pressure or not, that's where I'd be looking when the bucks start cruising.

I don't want to down you out or anything but that buck could have been there tending some does for a few days. It is possible that he could live in the area too. If you can't hunt the area immediately (filled tag?), you'll want to put out a camera and/or take up shed hunting very seriously.

The one thing that I'm still trying to figure out is why sometimes I'll see a big buck several times during the season then have him disappear off of the face of the earth. I know that they're not all being shot by hunters but 50% of the big (5 1/2 +) bucks I see during a season will not be sighted the following year. I'm also waiting for one of these bucks to reappear after an absence like this. They can be a mystery.

One theory I have is that the season I saw them, they may have left their home area for various reasons such as no does were ready or they were whupped by a bigger foe. The following year things may have changed for their liking and they remained!!??

Were the rubs fresh or old ones? I haven't seen many fresh rubs in my woods since the bucks started chasing does around. If they were not fresh, he might be long gone already in search of does. But if they are fresh, he might have just set up shop in your woods and is looking for a honey. If there is a concentration of rubs in there you might be in his safety zone, where he feels comfortable. Hunt it smart for a few days and see if he shows.

because you said the rubs wernt in a pattern maybe you have like a group of bucks in like a staging area kind of thing and you didnt even know it, i would put up some trail cams and see what you get.