Targeting Mature Bucks
01-16-2008, 11:55 AM
#21
Boone & Crockett
Join Date: Sep 2005
Location: Michigan/Ohio
Posts: 11,682
RE: Targeting Mature Bucks
ORIGINAL: Charlie P
So it would be safe to say a good place to Target a mature buck would be in are's where no one wants to go cause it's knarly.
The guy that owns a lot of riverproperty he owns a concrete company and garvel pits let's me put my rowboat in on his property. My son saw a huge buck that lives in a strip of Bamboo and thicket. His wife won't let anyone in there.
So it would be safe to say a good place to Target a mature buck would be in are's where no one wants to go cause it's knarly.
The guy that owns a lot of riverproperty he owns a concrete company and garvel pits let's me put my rowboat in on his property. My son saw a huge buck that lives in a strip of Bamboo and thicket. His wife won't let anyone in there.
I setup a spot in Dec for next year. It took me 3 hours to cut 3 little shooting lanes. In the summer and fall you cannot walk through it
Our new CRP field is just plain nasty
Just the way I want it. I let it go natural, the pickers ripped wolfskin Enigam suit. It's ready to hunt[8D]Can you hunt near that spot? Where he is leaving and entering?
01-16-2008, 12:12 PM
#23
Giant Nontypical
Join Date: Feb 2004
Location: Pittsburgh, PA
Posts: 7,208
RE: Targeting Mature Bucks
ORIGINAL: GregH
My main method for hunting mature bucks is setting up in a funnel between two doe bedding areas during the rut. The reason being that these locations (there's that word again) put the most mature buck traffic right in my lap. A good place to start is with a creek bottom.
I use other methods as well......
Early season feeding pattern.
Do your homework and find a big buck during the summer and early fall. Find a prefered food source where the big buck comes to eat. Watch him until season opens to make sure he's still using the food source and set up a stand(s) for wind direction. When the conditions are right hunt the evening and kill him. Some states open later than others and are not conducive to this method because batchlor groups break up and return to their home ranges while they prepare for the rut.
This is a great way to get a mature buck. However, one thing that I have noticed is that the older, top end bucks tend to stick to themselves and go to feed usually after dark, by themselves. For these guys, see next method.
Locate a big bucks bedding area.
Through scouting, finding tracks and/or observation stands, locate a big bucks bedding area and wait until around Oct. 20th (give or take a few days) and when the wind is right, hang a stand about 100 yards from his bedding spot and kill him when he comes out.
I've found that mature bucks stay quite nocturnal once they've dispersed from their bachelor groups. I've noticed that around Oct. 20th, they seem to get antsy and get out of their beds earlier then normal and head to the fields in search of does. Usually they show up 5-15 minutes before dark. As the action starts heating up towards the very end of the month and the start of Nov.,They'll start roaming earlier and soon, they'll bed wherever they ended up from the night before. They don't even know where they'll end up. that's when you switch t funnel hunting. (See above).
Late season big bucks
I see some of the biggest bucks of the year during the tail end of Nov. and the first two weeks of Dec. Things are tougher to hunt these days but a food source in the evening is key. Find one that attracts lots of does and fawns. Be careful so that all those sets of eyes , ears and noses don't bust you
ORIGINAL: Double Creek
We all know that mature bucks are a different breed... I thought a thread talking about specific ways to hunt mature bucks would be interesting...
Let's get specific.... Not looking for "set up in a funnel between bedding and food"....That's too general and will work for ALL age classes of deer and is more ofa waiting game vs actively seeking out mature bucks.
We all know that mature bucks are a different breed... I thought a thread talking about specific ways to hunt mature bucks would be interesting...
Let's get specific.... Not looking for "set up in a funnel between bedding and food"....That's too general and will work for ALL age classes of deer and is more ofa waiting game vs actively seeking out mature bucks.
I use other methods as well......
Early season feeding pattern.
Do your homework and find a big buck during the summer and early fall. Find a prefered food source where the big buck comes to eat. Watch him until season opens to make sure he's still using the food source and set up a stand(s) for wind direction. When the conditions are right hunt the evening and kill him. Some states open later than others and are not conducive to this method because batchlor groups break up and return to their home ranges while they prepare for the rut.
This is a great way to get a mature buck. However, one thing that I have noticed is that the older, top end bucks tend to stick to themselves and go to feed usually after dark, by themselves. For these guys, see next method.
Locate a big bucks bedding area.
Through scouting, finding tracks and/or observation stands, locate a big bucks bedding area and wait until around Oct. 20th (give or take a few days) and when the wind is right, hang a stand about 100 yards from his bedding spot and kill him when he comes out.
I've found that mature bucks stay quite nocturnal once they've dispersed from their bachelor groups. I've noticed that around Oct. 20th, they seem to get antsy and get out of their beds earlier then normal and head to the fields in search of does. Usually they show up 5-15 minutes before dark. As the action starts heating up towards the very end of the month and the start of Nov.,They'll start roaming earlier and soon, they'll bed wherever they ended up from the night before. They don't even know where they'll end up. that's when you switch t funnel hunting. (See above).
Late season big bucks
I see some of the biggest bucks of the year during the tail end of Nov. and the first two weeks of Dec. Things are tougher to hunt these days but a food source in the evening is key. Find one that attracts lots of does and fawns. Be careful so that all those sets of eyes , ears and noses don't bust you
Jeff,
I think I know where you are going with the idea that you can’t apply them, because you hunt real small segmented land that doesn’t contain everything mentioned in the methods. I face that same issue. What you (and I) have to do is work hard at gaining enough access to enough spots, or find spots big enough to encompass all the components. So to say that it doesn’t apply to you, is only half right. Because in terms of deer behavior to your area, it holds, but in regards to access to enough of the deer’s home range in order to carry out the plan, then it is tough to impossible.
That should save the both of ya’s about 3 pages of back and forth
01-16-2008, 12:33 PM
#24
Dominant Buck
Join Date: Oct 2005
Location:
Posts: 21,043
RE: Targeting Mature Bucks
I don't disagree with you Rybo....and I didn't say they didn't apply to me. I said....
That's all. I also said I wish I could hunt "that" way. Your assessment of the places I hunt are correct. Small woodlots (none bigger than 50 acres).
We all have to adjust to what we have, though.....and I have access to neither of these.
01-16-2008, 12:39 PM
#25
Site Buck Guru
Join Date: Dec 2005
Location: Racine, Wisconsin
Posts: 5,922
RE: Targeting Mature Bucks
Well that's what I was wondering. I never heard of deer summering and wintering down in a southern state. So I was asking if he meant that his area was small enough that it didn't contain any bedding or food sources. However, the deer are moving through there for a reason. I'd think going to bed in the mornings and going to feed in the evenings.
Rybo is right, looking for a more complete habitat for deer would help.
But being unwilling to move to a better area does not mean that my tactics will not work.If you are hunting a lone tree in the middle of a mall parking lot they won't work either.[:-]
Instead of telling us that my tactics won't work for you, why don't you tell us what tactics you used that were successful for you.
Rybo is right, looking for a more complete habitat for deer would help.
But being unwilling to move to a better area does not mean that my tactics will not work.If you are hunting a lone tree in the middle of a mall parking lot they won't work either.[:-]
Instead of telling us that my tactics won't work for you, why don't you tell us what tactics you used that were successful for you.
01-16-2008, 12:41 PM
#26
Typical Buck
Join Date: Nov 2007
Posts: 721
RE: Targeting Mature Bucks
ORIGINAL: GregH
My main method for hunting mature bucks is setting up in a funnel between two doe bedding areas during the rut. The reason being that these locations (there's that word again) put the most mature buck traffic right in my lap. A good place to start is with a creek bottom....
My main method for hunting mature bucks is setting up in a funnel between two doe bedding areas during the rut. The reason being that these locations (there's that word again) put the most mature buck traffic right in my lap. A good place to start is with a creek bottom....
01-16-2008, 12:43 PM
#27
Dominant Buck
Join Date: Oct 2005
Location:
Posts: 21,043
RE: Targeting Mature Bucks
Darn right those were my words, that's what I'm asking.... miles, feet, inches..... how far?
Do you only have one spot? Or for example is it like you have a 40 acre spot of all woods and they feed and bed outside of your spot?
In northern Wis. they yard up and can travel miles to do so. Just wondering what exactly you are talking about summering and wintering in different locations in a southerly state where the weather is much milder than up here.
Do you only have one spot? Or for example is it like you have a 40 acre spot of all woods and they feed and bed outside of your spot?
In northern Wis. they yard up and can travel miles to do so. Just wondering what exactly you are talking about summering and wintering in different locations in a southerly state where the weather is much milder than up here.
Do I only have one spot? No. I have several. But....they're ALL in the same vicinity....and none contain ag. fields or bedding areas. So....yes....they feed and bed outside of my spots.
Idon't claim to know a thing about where you hunt.....where the deer you hunt yard....or anything about them (other than I've seen your gamecam photos and you sure seem to have a BUNCH og bigguns up there
). What I'm saying is.......OK....you got 200 acres of land that can't be hunted, legally. The deer use that as their sanctuary. On 3 sides of this land....you have ag crops. On the fourth side....no ag crops. The deer use the ag crops for their summer feeding.....and use the mast crops on the fourth side for their winter feeding. Sure....you get the occasional groups that use the 4th side for browsing during summer months.....but for the most part....they don't "summer" in this area. Come winter time, the ag crops are harvested. This happens a little before the rut....and their transition to the "winter" feeding areas coincides "fairly" nicely with the rut. So.....i got the food and the girls when the rut kicks in. Prior to that time, though.....it would be like selling brussel sprouts at the high school football game on the visitor's side......while the home team's giving away steak Kabobs. Where would you hang out?
When I tell you I know where the deer ARE, here.....just understand I don't make this stuff up. I know where they're eating and what they're eating. I just don't have access to them when they're on the side where the food is in the summer.
01-16-2008, 12:52 PM
#28
Dominant Buck
Join Date: Oct 2005
Location:
Posts: 21,043
RE: Targeting Mature Bucks
But being unwilling to move to a better area does not mean that my tactics will not work.
I wish you'd stop trying to make this controversial.
why don't you tell us what tactics you used that were successful for you.
01-16-2008, 12:56 PM
#29
Giant Nontypical
Join Date: Sep 2007
Location: Central Minnesota
Posts: 9,445
RE: Targeting Mature Bucks
ORIGINAL: Germ
Best advice I can give you is this
If you can create a sanctuary for the mature buck, don't hunt there until the Rut
Find a way to enter and exit your stands with out him knowing. For me witha doubt thisis what has made me more succesful.
Take the path less traveled, meaning it may not look like a great deer spot, but it might be a great mature buck spot.
WATER, often over looked, but he is going to be close to water access.
Other hunters, he is going to aviod them, use this to your advantage
Best advice I can give you is this
If you can create a sanctuary for the mature buck, don't hunt there until the Rut
Find a way to enter and exit your stands with out him knowing. For me witha doubt thisis what has made me more succesful.
Take the path less traveled, meaning it may not look like a great deer spot, but it might be a great mature buck spot.
WATER, often over looked, but he is going to be close to water access.
Other hunters, he is going to aviod them, use this to your advantage
01-16-2008, 12:58 PM
#30
Giant Nontypical
Join Date: Feb 2003
Location: North Lima Ohio & Clarion Pa
Posts: 6,453
RE: Targeting Mature Bucks
Jeff, But are you targeting mature bucks..and bare with me here..I'm not being slanderous. Or are you merely taking the best of what's being offered in your woods. Suppose there are no "mature" bucks in your forty acre woods next year. What changes will you make in your efforts?
I think thats the bread and butter of this discussion. ??
I think thats the bread and butter of this discussion. ??