Big Buck Bow Hunters
 

What clicked all of a sudden for you to start enjoying success? What was the one thing that started to put you in better odds on shooting a nice mature buck or at least seeing these big guys?

RE: Big Buck Bow Hunters
 

I'm still waiting for the "click.";)

RE: Big Buck Bow Hunters
 

When I started to focus on the way I walk to and from my stands, or float;)

RE: Big Buck Bow Hunters
 

HUNTINGNET.COM!!!! Figured someone was going to say it, might as well be me.

I dont think for me it was one thing. Its a combo of several things (Knowledge) Learning to cover your scent right, wind, location, moon, rut, etc etc etc.

o yea and that special thing called LUCK!!!!!!

RE: Big Buck Bow Hunters
 

Pabuckbuster did you get that buck in your Avatar in PA?

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I would say patience - letting smaller bucks and does walk

Worked in 06 took my biggest buck with a bow 9 pointer and also took a mature 8 pointer with a rifle

RE: Big Buck Bow Hunters
 

Good Morning Steve,
I would say that realizing that a mature buck is really a different animal then other deer. They have to be hunted different if you want to kill them.

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When I started letting 2.5 year olds walk, I started killing mature bucks on a yearly basis.

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Good morning old man!!![8D]

RE: Big Buck Bow Hunters
 

I'm just curious as to why you think this is true.

We have guys who "most" every year hunt the does and end up killing bucks. They are seemingly hunting these bucks the same way they hunt every other "deer".....and sometimes not hunting the bucks, at all.

If we're talking times other than the rut......then I wholeheartedly agree with you. I think they are "different animals" in that regard.

Rob/PA is a perfect example of what I mention, above. He's shot almost every one of his bucks from the same food plot stands.

RE: Big Buck Bow Hunters
 

While I am still newer to the game than most here, and certainly not an expert by any means, the biggest jump in my mature buck sightings occurred as a result of a combination of things. And looking back on them, they are all rather basic, and things most would laugh at for not doing in the first place, but at the time I was killing deer & having fun so I didn’t think anything of it.

All these factors I feel contributed to me even being able to catch a glimpse of a mature buck from stand, let alone get a shot at him

1. Don’t over hunt my hunting spot.
2. Don’t push the issue in a bad wind
3. Actually be in the woods during the pre-rut/rut (which more importantly translates into don’t shoot a small buck early in the season)
4. Don’t skip the details on scent control
5. Don’t shoot small/immature bucks(yea I listed this one twice because it was my toughest to overcome)

I kind of made all these changes in a short period of time, so things clicked in a hurry for me. That said, even if you follow all the “rules” and put the time in the stand, it is far from a guarantee of getting a shot at a mature buck.

RE: Big Buck Bow Hunters
 

Well, I've only killed 1 buck, so I'm not entirely sure anything has "clicked" yet, but I will say that when I learned how to read topos and arials, and how deer relate to that terrain......Yeah, I suddenly became a much better deer hunter.

RE: Big Buck Bow Hunters
 

Great point Rybo;)

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Thats a big one Germ! I think allot of people screw this up. I was guilty of it to many times.

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I think it all "clicked" for me when i killed my first mature buck. I just got lucky and caught him chasing does late one November morning. From that day on i started spending as much time as possible in the woods and reading every magazine and talking to everyone i know about hunting trying to learn as much as i could about these mature deer, and i found that it is possible to harvest one of these bruisers every year. Nothing tops experience though in my opinion. Over the few following years i hunted hard and hunted smart and learned so much! Hell, im sure i have a lot to learn still. I basically was addicted from the moment i killed my frist big one!

RE: Big Buck Bow Hunters
 

GERM I did. Montgomery County. I took a bigger one then it last year as well in Montgomery County MD. Just havent made a pic small enough to fit on avatar.

Obviously I am a fan of Montgomery Counties anywhere and have a few good leads this year as well ;)

RE: Big Buck Bow Hunters
 

The one big thing that started to show results for me was stay the heck out of the woods on my land until the pre rut started to show signs of life (Mid October or so). Since then my sightings and success have improved allot.

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Damn that buck must have been tired after that long walk from Ohio[8D], hell that is right next to Bucks County.

You will now be know as "The King" to me:D

RE: Big Buck Bow Hunters
 

For me the first thing that helped was getting access to quality ground. I don't care how good of a hunter you are, if you are not hunting quality ground, your chances are greatly reduced. Once I able to started hunting ground that had quality bucks, you begin to concentrate on hunting those big boys, which includes letting smaller bucks walk.

RE: Big Buck Bow Hunters
 

A lil creative photography however he was 24" wide had 12 scorable points. actually had to sticklers that almost developed into drops if given another year he might have. However, that wasnt in his cards. I'm gonna put huntingbry on a few good ones this year in Montco MD. Yea he was so tired from his walk from Ohio, he just fell dead under my tree....but shhhh don't tell anyone haha

RE: Big Buck Bow Hunters
 

Once I dedicated my time to finding big bucks and then I learned from mistakes howto scout them without them ever knowing I was there, the patterning started taking place, finally never compromising or cutting any corners in regards to human odor while scouting, setting up ambush sites whether it be stands or natural ground blindsandlast while hunting.Like Gary says, "how" you chose to enter and exitin and out to get a crack at a big buck is paramount. If he knows your hunting him, he will almost always win, except for during the rut sometimes, they will tolerate more, not always but sometimes. It really becomes individual to a bucks demeanor then imo. I have hunted very shy mature bucks and then the big aggressive macho mature bucks. The macho ones showed themselves more in late Nov than the mature yet more shy bucks. Anyone can kill and will continue to kill big bucks duirng the rut. Its a big mature bucks weakness, outside of the rut, its a delicate game of cat and mouse because your hunting him in or very close tois bedding area... But he's much more predictable than during the rut ..so its a give and take scenario..

Call me crazy but if I had to make a choice RUT hunting versus outside of the rut hunting, I would pick outside of the rut as long as I could scout spend time scouting the buck.. Traveling to another state, I'll take rut hunting first since I have limited time to scout..

RE: Big Buck Bow Hunters
 

What's with this old stuff?
Bythe way, The older the buck, the stiffer the horn.

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That's a great snippet, Troy. Thanks.

Like I said....I'm an "opportunist".

RE: Big Buck Bow Hunters
 

Your older then me so you know....

Valid point you have though!!

Anyone going to argue that one??!!

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If you can hunt in Septemeber[:@] I hate you guys:D

RE: Big Buck Bow Hunters
 

Awesome post Troy!! Yes I was surprised to see you stating that you would rather hunt a buck outside the rut. For me that would be much more challenging I would think. But then again your Shed and you know your stuff!!;) I've always wanted to shoot a big buck early in the year while they still have there summer coat. They have so much more detail to there face then. I haven't stepped into the big part of the woods where I hunt till Mid October for probably 8 years now. Its worked for me but I wouldn't mind trying to change that up some and learn a different style of buck hunting early in the season some year. A person usually sticks with what works but its always nice to know a different way to skin a cat!!

Good post bud.:)

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Sept is cool whitetail huntin' especially when ya got elk fugging it up all the time! :Dlol in all seriousness, great time to pattern a buck, the biggest obstacle is the heat, scent control .. real tough to get up on these mountains without sweating and stinking the area up in 90+ temps. No complaints though, I love my August 30th opener!!!!!!!

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My early season hunting changes this year, Germ/Troy. I have BEANS!:)

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Three things helped me a lot.

1. Passing smaller bucks and having patience.

2. Not touching anything with my bare skin enroute to my stands.

3. Hunting funnels between doe bedding areas.

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Ya know Jeff, now that I think of it I may be hunting beans too.. that farmland Iget tohunt for the first timethat isabout 3 hours south of me.. They grow garbonzo (sp?)beans, lentils, peas.. etc.. I am headed down to scout that in late July/early August.. gonna spend a week down there..

Good luck with those beans, from everyone I have talked to like TJF..(big farmer knows his crops! :D)..andon the phone including the land owner down there, he said the bucks absolutely love the garbonzos.. and he doesnt harvest them until after my opener..

RE: Big Buck Bow Hunters
 

" 3. Hunting funnels between doe bedding areas. "

Greg, do you have a specific time of the day/year to hunt these areas?

RE: Big Buck Bow Hunters
 

2 things, being in the woods and scouting constantly during the season and being willing to get out of a tree and hunt from the ground if it fits the spot better.

I scout constantly during the season. There are so many things that are changing during the season that one must stay on top of. A hot acorn or apple tree, newly developed rub or scrape lines, fields that are suddenly "hot," amongst other things. My last two bucks, both 3.5+ andP&Y, were taken because I was on the move and scouting during the season. THe first I found a hot trail running into a cornfield where there wasnt one before and it had new rubs on it that werent there before. I set up a ground blind in some thick sumac one afternoon and tagged my buck 45 minutes later. THe second, I found a subtle funnel that had developed a heavy rub line in it. In the afternoon I built a ground blind, came back the next morning and killed my buck.

I also know way too many people who find a good spot to hunt, but dont, because there isnt a tree suitable for a treestand. Who cares! Grab a handsaw and build yourself a small ground blind. You dont need a treestand or even a pop up to kill deer.

RE: Big Buck Bow Hunters
 

Idon't know what it was in particular but about the time I turned 30 all of my hunting and fishing started to "click". I have always hunted and fished a lot since I was a little kid and I have always been pretty successful at it, but I would havegood years anddecent years hunting and good days and bad days fishing etc. But about that time I just started hunting and fishing smarter and my instincts got sharper and I started to expect to kill a good deer everytime I walked in the woods. I started hunting funnels during the rut even if they didn't have sign and I started hunting little patches of woods that other overlooked and little things like that, that I wouldn't have done before. I always wanted to be on the heaviest trail and hunt the area with the most sign etc. Instead of hunting an area with good buck sign but less overall deer sign. I started to realize that deer are much more likely to pattern us than we are them. I learned this lesson by walking out to the parking area at one of the public ground areas that I hunt. Everyone would come in and park and walk to the back, including me, and one day after walking out a doe crossed the road right in front of me when I was 50 yards from the truck. I watched her scurry across the road and down into a thick draw less than 100 yards from the parking area. I got my binos out and started watching her and there were 6 more does bedded or feeding in this thicket. I got in the truck and slammed the door (to see what there reaction would be) and they didn't react at all. I started up the truck and turned around and started to drive off and got the binos out and they were still down there not paying any attention to me. The next day I got there early and climbed a tree 70 yards from my truck and watched the trucks come in and park and the guys get out and walk to the back and I watched the deer sneak up to the road and look to see if anyone was around and then run across the road and then slow down and feed right on down to this thicket. Well, I killed a nice 8pt and and a doe that morning andit dawned on me that day that deer pattern us just like we try to do them and I have hunted accordingly every since then. I also figured out that the more hours than I spend in the woods the woods during the season the more encounters I have with good deer. Must be present to win!

RE: Big Buck Bow Hunters
 

Yes, the tail end of October and November. At first, mornings and evenings are best, then when the rut progresses any time of day will work. Late Nov and Dec, evenings are best when the deer are coming out to a food source.

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This statement is one that I have to agree with the most! If you don't have the ground or have to share ground with other hunters, you've just decreased your odds BIG TIME! There are many that get it done and have a good amount of luck, but it's tough I feel.

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When I started really focusing on my scent control. I started seeing a lot more deer then I wanted to start see bigger deer and so on.

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Patience, time in the woods and the wind for me.

RE: Big Buck Bow Hunters
 

I forgot one that I feel is very important also.....

4. If you see a lot of concentrated deer sign or movement from your stand, especially during the rut, move your stand over there imediately. Let the deer tell you where they like to be. DON'T KEEP SITTING IN YOUR STAND HOPING THEY WILL COME BY SOONER OR LATER.

RE: Big Buck Bow Hunters
 

I totally agree with that last one. Don't try to make the deer come somewhere they don't really want to be. That is why I love hunting out of my climber. Very mobile and versitile. The other three aren't bad either.;)

And I am kinda like Hunsucker. What did it for me was killing my first big buck. I kinda liked it and wanted to it again. So I did everything I could to learn how to make it happen again. But it ain't easy.

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I intend to be a lot more mobile during the season and setting up on hot sign immediately.In my area I think it is especially important with our low deer densities and with it being as mountainous as it is.There are a lot of things that can change where they were last year.