SparrowHawk

Good Luck!! I am looking forward to hearing the story of success!!

shed33

Scot, here in these woods and you know them like I do since you hunt out here so much.. A buck and I have had them do this to me before can really get lost in these forests during daylight hours. This buck case in point. My brother shot over him and I missed him a week later when he was, what to believe as a 3.5.. I really think those scares..especially mine which was very close in his face.. type scare from a ground blind.. may have really pushed him to be extra careful. I shot at him in the early season just at last light..

I really think if this is him that hes moved up on the mountain even higher than from where I was hunting him when he was younger, a little more naive back then..

It doesnt take much here in this country for a buck to be safe, simply move at night and move up on the mountain a bit in elevation where most wont and cant hike into without bumping them.. I have several dozen pix of this buck and its funny how he only comes to this (lower ground) water hole between 12 am and 2:30 am in all my pix.. Very careful and calculated imo. hes on about a 3 day cycle too according to my pix dates.. I have several pix of him just nosing into the picture and it gives me a very good idea of the course he is coming from... a big timbered thick wooded draw.. every pix of him indicates this.. this big draw leads up to the top a ridgeline and has an nice saddle in it and on the backside of the mountain is a nasty thick northern full of blowdowns and what not.. I MAYgo in and back track this deerif I can pick up his lone track at the water hole it should be pretty distinct in size compared to the lesser deer .. its really dusty right now on the trails and I should be able to if I take my time.. I believe hes coming a decent distance to this water since hes not showing up till after midnight.. If I can get the direction hes coming from I will be able to move well back into the woods to try to intercept him. I think the mountain top saddle that leads directly down to this water may be wereI search for evidence of him first. Its always a longshot at first in these mountains but a guy has to start somewhere, hes got my interest and between he and 4 other bucks I really like I will to put some time into him now.

oh one more thing on this edit, I am pleasantly surprised as he doesnt seemed to be bothered by this infared camera.. unlike other bucks ... I really believe with all deer, its individual as to what they will tolerate..some will, some wont..

shed33

Jeff, I didnt catch the show, I bet Gregorys splitter was quite a bit larger than this ole mountain deer.. I like Jay and will have to look for it. WILD OUTDOORS? right..

Even if this buck isnt that buck I shot (even thoughI strongly feel its him) I am going to really enjoy hunting this guy. Researching himto pinpoint his movements etc is what I really love about hunting out here. I have too or would never see these guys during hunting hours.

If it is him, and I could get a shot at him, it would be a very rewarding to know he made it couple years after I messed it up. On a sidenote I know this area like the back of my hand he uses the same water hole as "stretch" did.. My buck from last year.. Hes about the same caliber of buck imo.. little better g-4s might push him up around 150 Like Mike H. said. I really dont care what he scores, just discuss it to see what others think.. I was hopeing Buckeye would chime in and tell me what he thinks..they always look bigger in the velvet but often at "night" the trail cams imo make them look smaller.. so I go back an forth on this guy.. 145 ish.. 150 ish...

stretch below for those new to here this year.. last year same area he went 144 andits a good pic of him

GMMAT

Yeah....Wild Outdoors. And it was a hoss.....but I won't get into comparisons.....lol. Both great deer....but hardly the point (don't take that wrong) for me wishing you'd seen the show. It was a buck he'd been after for multiple seasons. He went through the exact emotions on camera....that I KNOW () you've felt a time or two....when he had his hands on him. He was kinda saying he was a bit melancholy....which I too, totally understand.

If you get a chance to see it....do so. it was a good episode.

If you don't mind, Troy....something you said in your post intrigues me. Could you expound on the 3 day cycle? I've heard one other hunter whom I respect mention "cycle" in lieu of "pattern". I'd liketo hear more. If you'd make a thread on it.....I'd be MUCH obliged.

shed33

Jeff,

I can't speak for anyone else or their ground, but here, mature bucks almost always cycle around to different areas of feed and or water. I have never had an old buck come day to day to day to the same destination.At mosta couple days in a row but then its like they will vanish for a few days. Years ago I started noticing this so I started lookingon other sides of the mountains, other wateringareas etc and started seeing a patternthe old bucks were using.Because I had summers off always I could spend countless evenings all summer long simply glassing huge country and pinpointing a bucks preferred feeding/watering area and were he liked to cycle around too.

I believe its an engrained behavior old bucks here pick up due to all the predation the face. Elk do it to. If they dont cycle they are sitting ducks. They cycle around in their feeding movements here and its usually patternable if a guy spends enough time observing. It can be difficult at times but with trail cameras now, I can really keep track without haveing to always glass them. Almost every old buck I have killed that I got to know wellbefore I killed him has done this. Its their way of avoiding predation IMO.I believe it keeps the wolves, lions, coyotes, bears etc from being able to pinpoint a bucks exact movements. He will almost always do in a core living area.. which here can be big.. 2 to 300 acres easy..

Basically heestablished comfortableoptions for feed/waterand he uses them. If one goes bad he stays away and isnt held to it.

I can almost gaurantee where this buck for example gets his water on the North side of the mountain. Only because I have dissected that entire mountain via shed hunting and have found a very secluded natural spring. Without knowing this I would have no idea where he is on his 3 day cycle to this water hole. I had 1500 pictures on my trail cam(469 were cattle) but the rest (many were multiples of one animal of course) really showed how this buck specifically was there right at every 3rd date.

My next move will be to put cameras in the saddle and where I believe he gets water on the other side of the mountain and then one on the same food source Stretched liked the most, an old clear cut. If I can get one more piece of his cycle in a big area it will really help. Hes a buck that doesnt seem to mind these cameras so I will be pretty aggressive with him. I plan on putting 2 in today after work I am out of her in 1 hour!

Funny though, I have another buck I am hunting right now that I wouldnt dare put a trail camera in on ..I believe I would run him out of the country due to his demeanor.. He dwarfs this buck by the way!

BigDaddy12t

You simply amaze me Troy. Every year you seam to come up with these huge whitetails. Goodluck on your quest at bagging him this year. I bet this time you will make sure that your grunt tube is out of the way.

GMMAT

Troy:

When you are learning his "cycle"....are you actually trying to pinpoint him (to a degree)....or find the "common denominator" of his travel pattern?

If its the latter.....I see great promise in that. Would that not define a "core"?

I mean....he could use parts of many "areas" on any given "cycle".....but if there were a portion of these "areas" that overlapped.....bingo? Hang, there?

TRoy....here's a map a fellow HNI'er sent me where we were talking about this very thing. He knew the buc he was after could be in any of the outlying areas at any time....but he also knew he was using the smaller area a lot. Does my question make sense, now?

Thanks.

DoePeeSteve

How about instead of shooting him you tranq him and bring him over here for us?

Goodluck with him!

tsoc

Troy,informative as always! Something for the folks here to bear in mind is that from a relative perspective I would expect that this buck does not receive that much pressure,especially so this time of year.So this buck is being this reclusive in the late summer when he has had the longest period of true safe time from hunting pressure.To pattern and kill a buck of this nature is a significant accomplishment.

jmbuckhunter

I suspect the next pic we see of that buck will be with you sitting behind him with a big old grin on your face.

Hope round 2 goes better for you Troy!