Grizzl

Checkout my album "POPE&YOUNG" 3 are P&Y. If you hunt Quantico regularly..you've seen me (Drive a red Trooper II w/ Bike or my best friend Barry (Drives a brown 1967 Dodge Dart with Mountain Bike on top). Both of us with Steve the PG Cop and a few others regularly score P&Y (125 +). I heard Steve got one in ETA mainside this year. Barry has passed on a few but no shooters

I mainly video now while waiting for a shooter.

I'll post a still of a video I took last year of a 115 that I passed on at 20 Yards. It usally takes me two -three years waiting for these things to get big enough. 50+% of the bucks I pass on are shot by someone else but SOME make it through to the next year to get bigger.

I moved out of Virginia in 1999 to Florida..then texas and now back to Florida. I take 3 weeks every fall to hunt Quantico in Achery season. This is the 1st year I've missed in 43 years.

I'll be back 2nd week in October next Year!


If you have the discipline to pass and let them grow..you'll set yourself up for the next year. Course, you have to pattern deer that are hard to get to and likely to evade hunters. Execpt you

Grizzl

This is one was was hoping to tag this year. Am on a bigger one in another area too but no video of him but the Area wasonly open 1 day the three weeks I was there. I know THAT one will be there next year...no pressure where he's at.

I travel 1400 miles one way just to hunt Quantico every year. Been hunting it since 1965

virginiashadow

Grizzl---I would really like to sit down with you and pick your brain about hunting Quantico. I have hunted it for 10 years now. I only bowhunt these days. I work hard and scout my tail off and my success has slowly risen. But I am still finding it challenging to get on even 100 inch bucks.

I have seen Barry and his unique car/bike...seems like a good guy. But for real, I would really like to buy you a cup of coffee next year, and sit down and talk about all that you have seen on Quantco over the years, and your general method of scouting/hunting techniques...I don't need to know your spots, just your mindset and such.....I have been passing more and more 2.5 year olds on Quantico the last few years and have slowly closed in on more 3.5 year old bucks or older, but have not taken a big boy off the base yet. I am determined to do so and will put in the work, just like I always have...I find it hard to pattern specific bucks as we are not allowed to put trail cams out and such.

You might have seen me as well as I drive a black Dodge Ram 1500 with a dented tail gate. I am there alot bowhunting.

BEST of luck to you and I really hope we have a chance to catch up one day. Take care.

Brett

HoytSpeed

I'm not sure who the PG cop is, however one gentlemen killed a monster non-typical on 6B a couple weeks ago. i dunno what it would score but def go over 125. With the amount of hunters growing each season, it gets harder and harder to get a pass. i mostly hunt east of 95, when i can.

virginiashadow

Did he kill it with a gun? Man I had a great encounter with a buck last year on 6B. I bet he was a 3.5 yr old 115-120 class buck. I have been hunting his area this year and finally thought I gathered some clues about his whereabouts 10 days ago. I really HOPE the buck he killed was not him. Did he have his picture up in the game check? Thanks.

Grizzl

Sure, we'll keep in touch on this forum. Like I said I'll be there Mid October for 3-4 weeks.

Just to relate my tactics a bit..its no secret. A deer that lives to 3.5-5 years knows how to avoid danger. He is the first to stop in his tracks and reverse field at a human scent trail. So;

1) Post season scout so you don't push BIG deer into other Hunters
2) Locate a hang area for a big buck. Just look for size of prints, scat, yes rubs but they don't really tell size, second best of all is BEDS..they tell body size..then you look for sheds. If you find the SET of sheds..that means its a hang area (antlers don't drop both at once)..that deer spends allot of time there. This is what I call the CORE. The DEER HANGS THERE ALLOT OF TIME
3) When you find a target buck...scout his approaches..trails in and out of the CORE. (DON'T SETUP in the CORE..you'll just move him out with your scent and push him into other hunters). Get a TOPO map and look for draws/funnels..then scout them

4) Set your ambushes up at several 3-4 spots based on trails/distance from core and at least the prevailing wind direction and another wind direction (all 4 if you have time and there are crossing trails) Try and get a backdrop of trees/cover to help breakup the setup..if none there..you have to go high..25' to 30 Ft (BTW practice shooting from that high!!!)

5) Don't have setups closer thatm 150 Yards from the CORE

6) Plan your entry so as to NOT CROSS MAJOR trails. Come in from the angle least likely the deer will aproach

7) Come in CLEAN. I wear a set of cloths while walking in and 150 yards from my tree I change out into a set of cloths sealed in zip lock bags (I use scent lock too)...I do an alchohol wipe down and change out. Sometimes I wear rubber medical gloves until I get up in my tree if the DEER is BIG and I want NO SCENT AT ALL.

8) VERY IMPORTANT- DON"T REPEADEDLY HUNT THE SAME SPOT. Move around to the other abush spots. I rarely hunt the same tree 2X in a week (unless it rains and I see the target buck). Just remember..your scent stays there after you leave and too many visits will alert that deer. Too many is greater than 2 IMHO

9) and MOST important..LET LESSER DEER WALK!!! WAIT for a shooter


There is allot more..how to position stand..when to call/rattle..when to move off of CORE and setup on Doe Trails during the rut. When to Hunt scrapes..when to abandon scrapes and hunt Doe Core areas....how to use hunting pressure to your advantage at Quantico

You are on the right track if you are passing on 2.5 yr olds! If you see Barry..ask him some advice...he won't tell spots but will confirm tactics. He always stays late after checkin after dark to pickup cross-talk and talk with other trophy hunters.

Listen to cross talk about BIG ones..area/location..what they were doing..etc...then BE CAREFUL about YOUR crosstalk...

WE ARE LISTENING

HoytSpeed

I hope that the picture was up there. it def was a monster, he killed it with a gun.

I stayed for a min to catch a glimpse of the buck on the scale, not sure if there is a pic, I'm pretty sure there is tho. Had real thick base, mass, and alot of non-typical points.

virginiashadow

Man Grizzl, that is some fantastic information. I am going to print it off and bring it with me when I am scouting in the off-season. I have slowly but surely learned that more and more intelligent scouting=more chances at bigger bucks. I am slowly getting there, but need to fine tune my techniques. I have gotten into topo maps the last two years and benefitted greatly from the information gleaned from them this year. I have also gotten a lot better at using the wind and my entry/exit to stands. I have not hunted the same tree twice this year and keep my scent to a minimum. I have also realized that every little thing I can turn in my favor increases my odds of bagging a big buck. I saw 3, 3.5 year old bucks or older this year and got into range of 2 of them. I killed one of them. I am still struggling to consistenly get onto them but I will put in the work.

I need to literally find the big buck beds/tracks.....and I have not shed hunted. That is something I am going to do this year to verify bucks that are still alive. What size deer tracks are your looking for Grizzl....5-6 inch tracks? The 3.5 year old, 115 inch buck I arrowed this year had about 5 inch tracks.

I love talking about this stuff and I can tell you do too. I look forward to your advice in the upcoming months, and I would surely like to meet up with you come October next year. Thanks again...

Brett

o2bebowhunting

check out this link. scroll down to a hunter named sc mercer. that is a nice quantico buck

http://forums.bowsite.com/tf/regiona...ES=64&state=VA

Grizzl

Thats Steve the Cop. He just went from a compount to a recurve!
He got a MONSTER last year on mainside the blows this one away!
Wonder if he got it mounted yet...Maybe a B&C!!

It was a 26 Point...I took a PIC of the Braggin Board pic..I'll have to find it