ORIGINAL: GregH

For those of you with a limited amount of vacation, here's a strategy for hunting a mature buck. Actually, it's what I do and I have a lot of time off for hunting. [:-]

Note: This is from my experiences hunting farm land.

Depending upon how much time that you can devote to scouting and hunting, here is what I do to increase my chances of bagging a mature buck. You can take a mature buck at almost any time. I have taken them anywhere from opening day in late September to late December.

Lets say that you only have a weeks vacation or a long weekend to "get-er-done", but you can put in some weekends as well.

The first thing you want to do is locate the does and their prefered bedding areas. (I have to mention that if you are lucky enough to come accross a big buck and find his bedding area, you've struck gold, but that's another story.) If you can, starting in late summer through early fall, set up from a distance in observation stands and locate the does. Usually there are two or more groups and notice where they are entering the fields from in the evenings when they come out to feed.

Once you have a good idea where they are coming from, get out your topo maps and aerial photos. Look for features that indicate thick, safe bedding areas along with features that make for good travel zones for them to get from bedding to feeding.

Now, look for funnels and travel corridors that connect the doe bedding areas. Your job is to sneak in between two doe bedding areas without getting busted! Only do so when the time is right. We'll get to that later.

The idea is that the doe bedding areas are the bars where all the hot chicks hang out. You want to be on the best road leading to these bars for when the boys start showing up. Remember, there are two types of roads connecting these bars. There are the highways and there are the back roads. The highways will get you there quicker but the back roads are safer. Depending on the bucks demeanor, he may or may not be in a hurry. That's up to you to find out by checking on the action and how much competition for the girls there is.

In other words, a buck may want to rush to check on the does in one spot then rush off to another. A lot of the time these are your over anxious 3 1/2's. They'll take the path of least resistance (highways)and in the process, expose themselves. On the other hand, some of the older, wiser and larger bucks, just won't risk it. They'll take a route that affords them the best cover (back roads).

Through scouting and looking at your maps, try to find a couple of spots on these highways and back roads that will allow you to hunt several different wind directions. Remember to use your previously gained knowlege of the does trails so you can get in there undetected.

I like to look for creek crossings, creek bottoms that connect larger tracts of woods, edges, where pines meet hardwoods, fingers of brush leading out into fields and inside corners.

Timing: When is the best time to hunt these stands?

I have found that there are two distinct time periods for a flurry of big buck activity. The first one is around Oct. 27th through Nov. 4th. and the second one is from Nov. 7th through Nov. 12th. Plenty of bucks are taken on the 5th and 6th but in recent years I have seen the most action around Nov. 2nd and again around Nov. 11th.

Remember, you don't want to get in there too early and chance burning out your best spot. Start from the outside and work your way in when you see that the time is right. I set up at least 8 stands in a couple of different locations so that I can hunt any wind at one spot or another. It may take a couple o fyears to learn a new spot good enough to fine tune these stand locations. Be patient and cautious

Good luck!