Lots of discussion in the last couple days RE: hunting does v. bucks. Interesting to saythe least.

I wanted to ask the guys who kill bucks year in and year out.....

1. Do you see does in the places you've killed your bucks?

2. Are you trying to AVOID seeing does.....opting, instead, for more buck-friendly areas?

3. How do you determine said areas (if No. 2's answer is "yes")?

4. How do you determine #3 if you're not hunting "sign"?

5. If you do see does where you're killing your bucks...at what time of the year are you having your best luck seeing bucks?

6. How would you describe the area you're seeing the bucks? (i.e. trail/destination food source/funnel/bedding areas/etc...)

Thanks.

Jef alot variables to your your quetions but this is what I have experenced.
1.Yes because mostly I hunt food sources bean feilds/picked corn and funnels.
2.No becuase when I get real serious on big bucks it's usally about the time of the rut and the more does the better.
3.If early season it's all about the scouting where I have seen bucks entering a field or know where the are bedding while they are still grouped togather.
4.SCOUTING!!!!!
5.last week of Oct.-Nov20
6.food and funnels most of the time,Thendoe bedding areas.
I hope that helps answer some of your quetions, this has been my experence anyway.. Walt

Jeff, im not certain the area that you hunt, but from the sounds of it, we hunt similiar areas. Im normally hunting small residential developments. There arent any "destination" crop fields or food plots. The deer i hunt are typically feeding on acorns or in peoples back yards on their expensive shrubs. My best hunting area is a small funnel which is only about 40 yards wide. Its in between two larger wood lots so the deer naturally walk right by me. I see both does and bucks on about an even percentage in this area. The other areas that i hunt are alittle different. The properties are bigger, one being about 50 acres backing up to 200 county park acres and the other is about a 150 acre piece. The deer bed where ever they get tired, or so it seems, i cant put any reason to where they bed. I have noticed that the majority of bucks, and definetly the larger bucks that i have seen have all been by the creek bottoms of these properties. So to answer your questions:

1- Yes i normally see does and bucks in about a 1-1 ratio.

2- Im not trying to avoid them, but i hunt in alot different situation than most. There are only so many areas where the deer can go.

3- I do try to hunt the thickest most "remote" areas i can. That being said, one of my more "remote" areas i hunt, while in stand, i can see 4 houses, normally see kids playing in one back yard and a dog run in another. But to get to this stand i have to walk through 2 creeks and a swamp.

4- I dont hunt sign, i hunt funnels. The only time i waiver from this is if im seeing a field hot with activity. Often times here a field will go off for a week or so. If you wait to get on the activity, it will pass as quickly as you come and you will miss out.

5- Im seeing bucks in the crek bottoms all season, my best funnel area i see the better bucks during the rut.

6- Funnels between bedding areas.

First off let me start by saying I'm by no means an expert in killing big bucks but I'm getting there. I was just thinking about this the other day. Location is definitely the key. Low pressure also helps as well because big bucks are smart.

1. Do you see does in the places you've killed your bucks?
YES

2. Are you trying to AVOID seeing does.....opting, instead, for more buck-friendly areas?
NO, with the Does, come the bucks. But I don't shoot any doe out of this area because I want them in there come Rut.

3. How do you determine said areas (if No. 2's answer is "yes")?
NA

4. How do you determine #3 if you're not hunting "sign"?
#6 will answer...

5. If you do see does where you're killing your bucks...at what time of the year are you having your best luck seeing bucks?
Last week of October thru the end of the season.

6. How would you describe the area you're seeing the bucks? (i.e. trail/destination food source/funnel/bedding areas/etc...)
Funnel between Bedding/Food sources. I'm currently hunting the back of an Industrial park that is bordered by a road on the back side. I hunt a little pinch point no 60 yards from the road. The deer have 2 choices, run thru the parking lots and buildings or skirt the edges in the woods.

Last year, I hunted this woodlot on 3 occasions.
Hunt #1: 3rd week of October. 5 does, 1 coyote
Hunt #2: October 29th. 3 does, 1 coyote and 1 115" 8pt. Interesting note. I was in my stand and setup well before dark. Just before light, a truck turns off the road, drives up the access road and to the top of the woodlot and hunts for about an hour. Driving back down the road, stopping to look at me in the process and leave. 15 minutes later I rattle and grunt (which I've done a few times prior with no results.) From across the road in a small unhuntable swamp, comes the 8 pt. Coincidence? Don't think to.
Hunt #3: October 31st. 3 doe, 6 bucks and I scored on a fat 7 point after he fought with another buck under my stand.

If I were to look back over the last few years, all similar results. Early season, I see does cruising going to/from the bedding/food sources. Late October on, the Bucks cruise this woodlot.

Let's expound a little.....

"IF" I wanted to shoot does right up to the rut....and take my chances on a method that's proven itself (hutning does to get the bucks).....let's put the theory that's been discussed the last few days to the test.

I've been told, in the past, that I'm hurting my chances at a good buck by pounding the does leading up to the rut in 'their" (the does)area. If the bucks want bnothing to do with the does during this time.....how can this be occurring? How could hunting the does hurt my chances at a buck if they aren't even using the same area(s)?

Not saying Im going that route, this year.....just wondering.

A past post I wrote....

I personally do not subscribe to this tactic (hunt the does all season longfor bucks)..... I am not saying it is wrong to do so, only that I would never implement this strategy myself save the possibility ofthe major seeking phase of the rut. Even then it is sketchy for me.

I am certain that this tactic has brought an end to many fine whitetail, but I also feel it has allowed manymore to live.......

My thoughts are that while hunters are busy chasing the does all over the place throughout the early seasonthey are basically giving the does afine education on hunting pressure.... By the time the mature bucks would be spending time on the hoof during daylight hours in doe areas, the does will be extra cautious and moving under the radar..... Once the pressure has moved the does into daylight security cover until after dusk that will really hurt the hunters chances at eyeing up a good buck....

Basicallywhat I am saying is that the culmination of small mistakes over the early season can add up to enough pressure on the doesto alter their daily routine and cost one opportunities at bucks that would have been seeking does in easier locations to hunt than bedding and security cover.

1. Do you see does in the places you've killed your bucks? Yes.

2. Are you trying to AVOID seeing does.....opting, instead, for more buck-friendly areas? No and yes. What I mean is I'm not hunting necessarily for doe's. Put it this way I see allot less doe's where I am trying to set up on bucks then I would out in a field. I set up more on small buck trails that lead to a highway (doe trail).

3. How do you determine said areas (if No. 2's answer is "yes")? Terrain, past expierence in them areas. Buck trails, not the big highways.

4. How do you determine #3 if you're not hunting "sign"? Kind of an Instinct I guess with me. I'm either right or wrong. To many times its wrong! Experience has helped also and learning from things that didn't work previously.[8D]

5. If you do see does where you're killing your bucks...at what time of the year are you having your best luck seeing bucks? Mid to late October till the 3rd week of November.

6. How would you describe the area you're seeing the bucks? (i.e. trail/destination food source/funnel/bedding areas/etc...) Bedding, trail.

To add... In your situation you have a lot of does in your area.... Most guys don't hunt a herd as prolific as yours.... If and once you start hunting "normal" herds you will experience more of what a lot of the guys talk about on here....

It takes more pressure especially only coming from one hunter (you)to educate the amount of does you have in your area.... This isn't the case with smaller herds and sharing the woods with many other hunters like most of us experience.
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Even though they are (Doe areas) these bucks still poke there nose in there here and there IMO. It might be 2 in the morning but chances are they'll be around some time. We might not see them on the cameras but there around.

Jeff, I don't know if this helps with what you're asking, and I don't want to come off as a consistent "buck killer", because I'm not. At the same time, I will say I've killed 5 decent bucks (for my area) in the last 6 years.
When the season opens, and I want to kill a couple of doe, I don't hunt where I do my buck hunting for two reasons. One, I don't want to disturb the generalarea, and two, I want the does to remain in that area so the bucks have something to search for duringthe rut.
As a side note, I have no control over what OTHER hunters do, as it is public land that I hunt.