RSB,
I know that you are have the opportunity to spend a great deal of time in the outdoors, and talking with other sportsmen. So I thought you may have a couple suggestions.

To get a mature buck do you feel that a person is better off hunting a thicket closer to areas known to have hunting pressure, escape routes, leading to protective cover, or to hunt a thick or rough area as far away from the other hunters as possible? Basically I'm lookingto hear your suggestions on where the chances are good to harvest a mature buck in the regular rifle season.

Another question are you familliar with what mast crops are dooing well this year?

Thanks,

Your first question is a very difficult one to answer due to so many variables coming in to play from area to area or from one year to another.

Some of those variables are other hunter pressures or influence and of course the variables of the food supply between areas and years.

I think every area is different in the most successful methods to hunt it and even that probably changes with any changes in the other affects occurring within that area. But, I will offer what I can as far as my opinions and what has worked for me, at least once in a while.

For the areas I hunt I generally try to hunt the travel routs between the bedding and feeding areas during the archery season. The hardest part of that is figuring out what the most likely feeding areas are going to be on any given evening or night. When you have a good mast crop figuring out the most likely feeding areas can be a real challenge.

If I were hunting areas with more hunting pressure, during archery season, I might change my tactics to hunting more in the thicker cover areas. I am lucky to have a lot of very remote areas, which I can access by bicycle, that have very little hunting pressure.

During the limited time I get to hunt in the rifle season I am most likely to hunt the thick areas a way from the other hunters while trying to catch a deer that is doing it’s best to avoid the normal travel lanes other hunters us. I avoid the normal hunter trails and stay very careful about the wind direction and do a lot of still hunting when the conditions allow a hunter to move quietly. I try to work the edges of the laurel patches, clear-cuts and ridge points where deer can see a hunter coming from a safe distance yet drop over the edge and out of sight quickly.

I wish I could give you a better answer of what I would think was some great advice on how to improve your odds for a good harvest but that is a tall order to fill. We can all pass on what we have learned over the years but when it all comes right down to it; a successful hunt is just a good plan with a lot of caution and a bunch of good luck. I suspect that most of my successful hunts have been more the result of the good luck and persistence then anything else.

Now for the second part of the question; there are at least some red oak and chestnut oak acorns this year, at least in this area of the state. I am also seeing a few places with some beechnuts though I haven’t checked to see if they have any meat in them. As far as soft mast, the apple crop is good and it seems there are grapes in some areas though scarce in other areas. The amount of regeneration of quality browse is better then I have seen it in at least the past fifteen years and perhaps during my entire career. That increase in high quality browse might make it harder to pattern deer in some areas over the next few years though.

One thing a hunter can count on though is that when you find a place with a good acorn crop the deer are going to work them and it is a good place to be hunting during the feeding hours in the morning and evening.

Good luck.

Dick Bodenhorn

Thanks for the help. I agree that in any successfull hunt, luck plays a major role. All we can do is try to improve our luck. I also appreciate how every area is different and even these areas can change from year to year. Thats part of what makes hunting so intriguing, every time is different.
When hunting each year I typically have a coupe opportunities to harvest smaller bucks 2 1/2 years is usually as old as they get. This year I have decided that I want to harvest a more mature buck one at least 3 1/2 years. I am just trying to learn as much as I can that will help me to increase my chances of this.

Thanks again,