Hey fellas, anybody have any luck hunting overgrown clearcuts? I'm heading to my club this weekend to do some scouting, stand building, and shed hunting.
I know of a buck on one of my properties who will contend for the Md bow record, as a typical. Well into the 180's from the shed I found this past season from the year before, and he looked even bigger this past summer than he did the one before. I suspeect the shed I have is from 3.5 or 4.5, so I expect his rack to bee HUGE this year. Plenty of food, the clearcut he lives in is surrounded on the back by 25 years old hardwoods, very thick, and in front and to the right with huge bean/corn fields. I can spot him a couple times a summer, as he works his way out of the pines into a little dogleg of the field. The wind is directly in his face, or he doesn't come out. After the rut, all you'll see is tracks.
The clearcut is about 400 acres, with a low swampy area in the middle, and a stream seperating it from the hardwoods behind it. Plenty of water,does, and food. I doubt he ever leaves, except to feed in the field at night, and maybe chase a doe or two before his come into estrus.
Ho do I hunt this guy? I've tried hunting the woods behind it, with success, but not on him. You can't bowhunt the field with out him smelling you, and you'd have to crawl into there to hunt. The trees are only about 15' high, so no stands, and a ladder sticks out like a sore thimb. I'm thinking of making some lanes into the briars and branches for a couple ground blinds. Maybe try to chance walking back along the property line and crawling into it, and hope he's bedding far enough over not to smell me. Or maybe put one back on the downwind side, entering from the hardwoods, for a morning hunt, maybe catch him walking that back edge scent checking for does in the prerut? I could drive back down the middle of the field, which is what the guys do who hunt th field edge, and then loop around to the left and come in to the pines from the back?
Any suggestions? This is the biggest buck I've ever hunted. This is 400 acres of the thickest stuff imagineable, briars, weeds, ect. You'd have to trim any lanes you needed, your shot is only about 4 yards otherwise.

You could try to carefully clear some lanes where you could get in close to his core area and hunt very lightly. Basically, wait for conditions to be perfect and sneak in. Best time to find him moving will be from about the third week of Oct. to 2nd week of Nov. You might want to leave him alone, or just hunt the edges till then. If you can find lots of deer tracks, hunt those areas during the pre-rut.

Good luck!

If your can show me the area, maybe I can help you! <img src=icon_smile_wink.gif border=0 align=middle>

Thanks BBB, I don't even go near there until the last week of Oct. It's just such a huge, thick area, I don't know where to begin. I always hunted the woods behind it, and have killed bucks there, but nothing like him. I don't think the big boy ever leaves.
I'm going to walk every inch, and probably sacrifice every inch of skin to the briars..
Hopefully I'll see something that makes sense. I just wondered if anybody else has had success with an old buck who beds right behind a field, with the prevailing wind in his face. You'd be walking about a mile to come into the backside, and making a ton of noise. Plus, I don't know where he is in there.. If it wasn't so far, I'd cut a trail.
If you come in from the front, your walking into his nose. The sides aren't our property.
I guess that's why he's so old.

Hunt him in the early season. The rut isn't the only time to score on a monster. Do as much research as possible....don't miss an inch!<img src=icon_smile_wink.gif border=0 align=middle> Good luck!

NOW is the time to cut a trail in to his bedding area. Try to make it as cross-breezed as you can based on the prevailing winds. Then, hunt there ONLY when the wind is in your favor and don't overhunt it. Pick out the trees you want to use NOW and do your major pruning to cut shooting lanes. By doing all of this now, and then avoiding the area as much as possible, he will feel safe once again by the time the season opens. As soon as the wind favors you, go after him. The rut sometimes takes bucks out of their usual areas. Also, try to pattern him from a safe distance.

Put up a Texas tower tree stand somewhere that gives you a longer site distance, and I would try to bushhog a trail or two for a shooting lane and a dragging lane when you do get him.

Thanks for the tips guys.
I hear ya, Dave, that's why I'm doing this over this weekend and next.
I printed an ariel map last night and overlayed it with the tax map.
It looks like the pines thin a little in one area, so I expect the big guy swings around this clearing on his way to the field. I'm going to verify that Saturday. If I walk back down the tar road from the parking area, and cut a lane in right along the property ditch, I think I can sneak in there and hunt without clueing him in when there's a NNW wind. Not real common, but I'll be patient. I think I'm gonna take my saw and cut a nice comfy ground blind out of pine branches, and a couple lanes. I'm afraid getting off the ground would be a bad idea, as the pines are like christmas trees, and really thin at the top. Plus there's pleenty of other guys in my club who wouldn't mind me putting up a stand that they could use. Since I only hunt down there on weekends an days off, they'd have it all screwed up by then.
Here's a strange idea, what do you guys think about this... The clearcut is about 200yds across where he comes out to the field, and he always comes out here, from what I've seen. Obviously I won't hunt there, because he only actually makes it to the field before daylight a couple times a season. He can't be seen from the road, or the stands along the back wood edge. It widens to about 300yds right off the field. How about if I took some 100lb mono fishing line, and made a two strand &quot;fence&quot; inside the clearcut? Leave a 20ft hole where my blind is. Maybe it would condition him between now and then to take the easy way, and use the &quot;gate&quot;? Any thoughts?

Sika, While I’m in no way an expert at hunting the caliber buck you describe, I do hunt similar areas here on the Eastern Shore. The bucks get big in these locales do to the inherent difficulty in hunting them. Food, cover, and the ladies all within easy reach!!! You’ve been offered some great advice above. Advice I would seriously consider!

However, some points I would offer are these: 1) I wouldn’t cut trails for the purpose of “guiding” a big buck to a specific location. The trail will certainly be used by deer (and more than likely your fellow members!!) Actually, it’s a guarantee most of the deer will follow your created path of least resistance…but, not the big one! As you know, they aren’t the greatest followers except during the rut. Cutting trails for the deer’s use is a great way to kill does and yearling or even 2.5 year old bucks. Not the bruisers! I think they shy away from the rest of the herd for safety’s sake! 2) I wouldn’t cut obvious trails to a stand for the same reasons. Eventually, the deer will use it, determine you are hunting in the area, and avoid it during daylight hours. Or, perhaps worse, your buddies will find your stand and reap the rewards of your efforts. 3) Where you see the buck in the summer may not be where he will remain for the season. He may ONLY be there in the summer. One good thing is he will probably return there in the late winter (e.g. January). The fact you found his shed sort-of verifies this theory. As such, these are the times I would focus on getting him. First week of the season and all of January! You can assume his core area is small do to seasonal variations. You can guess where he’s bedded. You know where he feeds. Set up in between. BE VERY CAREFUL!!! If not possible, due to the pines height, focus on the edge! Early on, their guard is down!! They’ll show early and often. The best scenario (and I know more people prefer soybean fields) is if the fields are planted in corn. His tracks will show better and you’ll have a better chance at staging a critical set-up. A tripod in the corn can be phenomenal!!! They DO NOT look-up!!! Contrary to popular opinion, I hunt the standing cornfield edges in the morning as well! My findings are the bucks travel long enough distances to allow your entrance to a pre-set stand. They get to me about the time the sun’s rays hit the field edges! Go in early enough not to spook them. NORE: I assume they are about 100 yards away any given morning!! Play the wind and pay attention. Cornfields are noisy and they seem to sneak up on you in a heartbeat!!! One other thing, if the sun will be in their eyes, they'll be a little earlier!!

Late season is tough but the bucks are the most predictable they will be all season long. Same place, same time every day. Unfortunately, the time is usually after dark. Go before a front or after a snow, and you may get a chance!! 4) During the late pre-rut and rut (say October 25th to Thanksgiving), I would simply hunt the does. Concentrate now on locating where the ladies bed and establish downwind set-ups. More than likely, and even if his core area is some distance away, he will run a circular pattern and will occasionally cruise through the bedding areas checking for receptive does. 5) Some friends and I do real well rattling during the pre-rut. Actually, we start about October 15th. Make yourself a few set ups now (clear very inconspicuously), and sneak in during the season and beat them horn’s together!!! Start lightly in the earlier parts of this time period and get more aggressive as the days pass! 6) Contrary to Biologist’s beliefs, bucks do go through a chase phase. It occurs locally the first two weeks of November. I walk field edges, find FRESH running tracks (the bigger the better), and back trail to where they came from cover. Set up in the afternoon on these trails, and the buck that made them will often follow his girl friend right to you. If you have the capability to ID this bucks tracks, you have a good chance at knowing when and where he is traveling!!!

Good luck!!! Gotta love them clear cuts!!!

Well that's some great advice fellas, and I appreciate it.
I can't wait to get down there tomorrow and walk every square inch of that place. Sunday I'm gonna do the same to my sika property.
I know exactly what his tracks look like, I went over and checked them out the second time I saw him. Every single time I walk back into that dogleg of the field, they're right there. The little dogleg allows him to come out, and the only way you can see him is to walk back along the field line, and look around the corner. Nobody hunts there, because it's only about 100yds from the paved road.
Funny you should say that, DEBob, the only time I saw him hunting was after rattling. It was the first week in Nov, and he came to the edge of the clearcut, and stood there for a bit, saw nobody to fight, and turned around. I rattled again, and he came back, and did the same thing. If I had a decoy, he probably would have come out. I'm pretty sure he lives there all year round, the whole pc is surrounded by beans and corn. Then its winter wheat. He may leave for the late winter, but I'm pretty sure he spends June through Jan in there. There's usually 8-10 does coming out with their fawns every night, from one side or another. Usually 15-20 in the summer. Im not sure exactly how many does fit in there, but I suspect he runs the little bucks out, and stays right at home during the rut.
Oh well, I'll see what I can learn tomorrow.