Pattering A Mature Buck
 

Can a mature buck be pattern in a high pressure state like MI, PA, NY and others?

IMO I say no, there are just to many varibles one cannot account for.

RE: Pattering A Mature Buck
 

Summer pattern yes.

But there is no way you could pattern a mature buck in my neck of the woods. I have more luck finding the funnles and playing the waiting game rather then making a season long project out of one particular buck. Even during bow season in NY there is probably more hunting pressure than most other states during the heat of gun season. Also, up here during fall it can be 60 one day, then 30 the next, andthat ceertainlyaffects deer movement.

Were just damned good hunters!;):D

RE: Pattering A Mature Buck
 

I don't look at pressure in a statewide sense. One area, say 2 sq. miles, can be heavily pressured, while just a few more miles away the pressure can be MUCH less heavy. This is my experience at least in Central IL. It seems that around here there are a lot of small(relatively) properties with hunters on all of them, with every once in a while a large, secluded tract with very low pressure that becomes a 'local' deer hunting utopia.

This is how it is with myself and a friend of mine. We scout together, hang stands together, and have very similar hunting styles. I hunt small pressured grounds with other people/neighbors nearby, he has a lot to himself. These 2 areas are roughly 15 miles away, as a crow flies. He sees the same large deer throughout the season, I rarely see the same bucks twice. We're in our mid 20's, he has 5 deer between 125-150", I have 1.

RE: Pattering A Mature Buck
 

I feel that you can pattern a buck in the summer months and early season, but when the velvet comes off and the bachelor groups break up there is no telling where that buck might claim his territory. I agree with NY/AL in saying that hunting funnels in your particular woods is going to give you the best bet at seeing your buck along with many other deer. I have shot a few deer that dont neccessarily have a pattern, but i saw him go out of the woods at night, and moved my stand to ambush him coming in at daybreak. Each deer is different in behaviors but in the big picture all deer are the same when it comes to habbit and instinct....cover, food/water,cover

RE: Pattering A Mature Buck
 

I can't even pattern a YOUNG buck let alone a mature one where I hunt. Patterning is not even an option for does.

A few places that stay unpressured I think you may be able to, but the vast majority that I see, not a chance.

RE: Pattering A Mature Buck
 

Well said ilcoyote. State has nothing to do with pressure. An area within a state is closer to the truth.

As far as the Q Gary..

I think a mature deer can be patterned in any state. But it has to be the right mature deer. Some bucks are extremely hard to pinpoint any pattern from while others are much easier.. it's just the way it is. Different personalities.

Good luck with Mr mass.;)

RE: Pattering A Mature Buck
 

Well duke you and I hunt differnet worlds. Example

Sunday night I have a good idea he is in2 spots. My dad cut down a tree right over spot A8. Farmer started combine the beans near spot B as I was looking at it:D The new nighbors across the river like to ride 4 wheelers during primetime up and down the river[&:]

RE: Pattering A Mature Buck
 

Well Germ.. I'll give you an example.

I had a loose donkey on my land my second to last hunt that was being chased by the dude who owned it.. they were on the land I was hunting. This took place at about 7:30-8:00 am that morning.[&:] And as usual the neighbor next door had his german shepherd running around his 40 acres barking up a storm.. sometimes the dog even has the fancy to come visit me.. sometimes.

Shall I talk about my saturday eve hunt. Where dudes were literally walking within 50 yards of me in the tree chasing crows.. I think. Whatever they were hunting.. they were definately shooting at something.[&:]


I get ATVers.. trespassers.. kids looking to build a fort.. loose dogs.. donkeys.. snowmobilers.. even the occasional paintballers.. and of course other hunters. It's common place.. really anywhere I've ever hunted.

I'm not saying MI doesn't have its woes. But Illinois has lots of pressure too. Not everywhere.. as I bet there are areas of MI that have less as well.

Illinois certainly has much more mature deer.. but pressure is about area one hunts within a state.. not whole state. C'mon Germ.. I still love you though.

RE: Pattering A Mature Buck
 

You got me on the Donkeys:D I had a guy on a Jet Sky come down the river once[:-]

Yes I agree about pressure, I am trying to win the lotto so I can buy 2 sq miles;)


EDIT

Mr. Mass is getting to me[:-]

RE: Pattering A Mature Buck
 

Then just kill him, so he wont bother you anymore....worked on my neighbors dog.....[8D]:D




Just kiddin....

RE: Pattering A Mature Buck
 

was funny till the just kidding part




just kiddin....

RE: Pattering A Mature Buck
 

Don't see why not, it has to be doing something.

RE: Pattering A Mature Buck
 

Early season maybe coming to a crop field. After that I don't think he has a pattern you can figure out.

RE: Pattering A Mature Buck
 

Too many people where i hunt. No chance i'm going to pattern a buck here in PA. I have enough trouble with the guys on dirtbikes and quads running trails through bedding areas!

RE: Pattering A Mature Buck
 

Germ, as you know, i thought i had a chance at a biggun unpressured...but was slightly surprised when another hunter walked under my stand this evening...and then he tells me of him and his buddy hunting there atleast once before....


cant account for stuff like that...period. with climbing stands being so popular, and small woodlots being common, its VERY hard to tell who is hunting where and when...they can enter anywhere and still be hunting the same deer your hunting....

bow hunting is also gaining huge popularity around my area...gas prices went up so spotting isnt as popular, but now they are just baiting and putting cameras in every woodlot all summer long....these guys have the hunting screwed before it starts going in and checking cameras and bringing bait...these woodlots are just too small to be sloppy going in sweating and stinking the place up in the summer to drag in bait and check the cameras, moving cameras, hanging stands, moving stands etc etc....(atleast most of mine are small...and many guys doing the same thing...)

guy tonite had cologn on i could smell STRONG 15ft away talking to him....

cant account for things like that...mature bucks arent mature coz they are dumb...we know that.

just gotta hunt smarter than the average hunters...alot of it comes back to learning the other hunters as much as your learning the deer....find the best looking places with the most sign and absolutely avoid them like the plauge is always my rule of thumb lol...fields, areas easy to get to and close to the road etc all get scratched off the list...nice open hard woods too....i gotta take these steps to see DEER...let alone mature bucks lol.....

guys that have never hunted states like this just cant understand what its like to have somewhere around 1 million hunters in a state...not complaining...just stating its different...ive never hunted anywhere else, but i know its different just by reading posts on here...even our REAL private land is different from the land i currently hunt....i know that from talking to buddies and stuff...

RE: Pattering A Mature Buck
 

i hunt private land but i never try to pattern one particular deer, i just work on the standard that big bucks think about three things-food, sleep, and sex ;)so i find a bedding area,andplant food plots which have the added benefit of drawing in lots of does. then i play the waiting game. usually every year i see a couple shooter bucks, i just don't always get a decent shot.

RE: Pattering A Mature Buck
 

Patterning a mature buck is easier without other hunters around, thats for sure. For example I have a much harder time today than in the past, mainly because I have hunted basically the same areas for many seasons but I now share those general areas with other hunters, whereas in the past I mainly had those areas to myself.

RE: Pattering A Mature Buck
 

Yes, mature bucks can be patterned in highly pressured areas. I get it done every year until Sept. 15th. LOL:D

I hear what Duke and Cougar and some others are saying, but I feel there is a big difference between hunting pressure, and people pressure. A lot of the areas I hunt are frequented by motorcycle riders, joggers, dog walkers, horseback riders, mountain bikers, and hunters. I see how the deer react to the people pressure and that is they are attentive to it, avoid the people, but then go about their business. They react much differently to hunting pressure. People pressure will alter the deers' movement in the woods, hunting pressure puts them on lock down.

I've seen it every year over the last 8 years since I moved back up here. There is a difference. That doesn't mean those bucks can't be hunted, but I have found a tried and true method yet.

RE: Pattering A Mature Buck
 

cosign this. Once a buck gets the breeding impulse your better off hunting funnels between bedding areas and catch him checking does. If you find the buck sign early in the season I think thats your best bet on taking him on his summer pattern. After that I'd hunt where the does are.

RE: Pattering A Mature Buck
 

I have one really good one patterned. He walks by my camera every 2 to 3 days at 3:51am[&:]

RE: Pattering A Mature Buck
 

Only one I have been able to pattern is the one hanging on my wall. He's there every single time I walk by. [8D]

RE: Pattering A Mature Buck
 

I am from southern NJ cape may county(all the way down at the foot) Nj is one of the most densely populated states in the US. We have very little woods and what woods we do have is swamp and thick underbrush. ITs hard to even see deer on a regular basis. Even the private land i hunt isnt very private. People just don't have respect for one another anymore. I have only been hunting for 9 years and im only 19 but i still have noticed a huge difference in the number of hunters in my area. And worse next year the state is bringing in crossbows to the regular archery season which will bring every gun hunter into the woods from october till january. I have never seen a deer over 100" unless it was in a different county. I gotta get outta here [:@][&:]

RE: Pattering A Mature Buck
 

any deer any where can be patterned and killed it just takes alot of time and patents

RE: Pattering A Mature Buck
 

While several self-invented gadgets may help in patterning a deer, There are far too many variables across the continent to be able to make this blanket statement.

Terrain, urbanization, pressure, natural predators, property boundries, fellow/neighboring hunters, etc. sometimes make patterning a deer almost if not entirely impossible. Add to that work schedules, family, and other commitments, it's really no surprise to me at all that such a large number of the bucks that are killed are done so on the first or second time that the hunter even sees it.

And there's a lot more to a 'pattern' than seeing a deer a few times or getting a couple pic's of it at 3 AM, IMO.

RE: Pattering A Mature Buck
 

Yes, thank you coyote. That was meant as a joke. :eek:

RE: Pattering A Mature Buck
 

Germ I say yes but with ?? I have done it and it works but not in all Michigan woods. I patterned this buck from late july right up to when I killed him in late Oct. But I was hunting stateland that didn't see muchhunting at all seeing I had to wear waiders and cross two feeder creeks and the main branch of the PM river to get to the island I killed him on. So yes they can but not all over in just any woods.. Walt

RE: Pattering A Mature Buck
 

I can tell you that deer have a route and will follow it. The older they get the smaller the range. A sox or seven year old deer may only travel a quarter mile in the summer making his pattern very small. After the second week of october the groups split and the pattern is out the window. However his range will get larger making it easier to find ambush points. once the rut hits the bucks are after does so does is what you want to hunt. A buck will also have his favorite fields or weed patches to check for does and will frequent them more than other places. I have killed5 P&Y bucks in the last 3 years 1 in the high 120's 1 in the high 130's a 145 and a 169 The 130 was killed in the rut the others were killed before nov 1 in Indiana and Illinois. You can take all of this for what it is worth because I am still learning myself but every deer has a week spot in their pattern and every deer has a pattern. It is up to you to figure it out.

RE: Pattering A Mature Buck
 

While agree with your tactics, waiting for him at his favorite spot is not "pattering", it's guessing he will be there. A pattern buck one should "know" where he is at, where he has been, and where he's going.

For example I know all of Mr. Mass spots. I know where he beds, where he eats, hell I even know where he drinks. If I truly knew his "pattern" I would know why and when he visits these areas.

Does anyone know the why and when of a mature buck? If so you should be able to call your shot;)

RE: Pattering A Mature Buck
 

Germ, many bucks get patterned, in late summer and stay predictable into the season. They are known as Jerky. A buck of Mr. Mass's caliber is not staying alive and dominant by being predictable. I don't care where a big buck is, be it private land or public forest if more than 1 person has seen him he is being pursued by more than 1 person. (Example: take that Utube video of the Giant in Wisconsin, every idiot with an email account and a bow or gun has seen him, heck from what I hear the area is now patroled 24/7 for poachers).

Rather than us patterning them, alot of times THEY pattern us!

You approach from a river, via boat correct? I wouldn't be surprised if he is able to see you coming and knows what that means (HUNTER IN MY HOMELAND!!), he's smelled your arrival and departure. Mix it up come in on foot, different access points, see if you can fool him at his own game.

RE: Pattering A Mature Buck
 

Sound advice;) I am thinking very hard about getting a traditional bow, so I can crawl through the CRP and get him.

RE: Pattering A Mature Buck
 

My feelings is that it is difficult to pattern a mature buck anywhere, but it would be worse in high pressure areas. Three others and me hunt a 550 acre lease next to a 13,000 acre management area. Last year I got pics of 5 different very nice mature deer. All the pics except one was taken at night. One was a darn good 10pt. I hunted hard, but wisely for one of those bucks with no luck. I saw one of them in a thicket one afternoon, there were several does and smaller bucks in a food plot but he would not step out enough to offer me a shot. I ended up taking a mature 8 pt but he was a buck that I had no pics of. It is difficult pattern a single deer the one thing that is needed most and people dont have is TIME Most of us hunt weekends and vacation time but usually thats not enough time to really pattern and big buck in my opinion. The best advice i can give is to hunt hard and smart, watch your wind currents, and take what the land gives you.

RE: Pattering A Mature Buck
 

What? Am I the only one that thinks thats funny???