Bike man

Attached is my article Bike your ceer out

bushanic

Thanks for posting that Bikeman.
I hope I get a chance to try that this year. Looks like the first time could be real funny. I might have to have someone video it for me.

bushanic

Bikmen and Grizzl both of you have been hunting base for years. I would think it was a little easier years ago to get on nice bucks then it is now. Right? Do you archery hunt all season on base? Also if you broke the season down to Months what rating would you give each month for best chance to see mature Bucks. October -November-December.

I know most hunter will say November but I have been out in mid December and seen some really nice bucks just not has many (2 in about 6hr sit)

Bike man

30 to 40 years ago I did not know enough to get on the big bucks. About 20 years ago they opened up 6C and it had a lot of good bucks for a couple of years. then 6C went down hill some. Then a few years later they opened up mainside and at the same time the woods was cut down on the other side of the cemetery near 6C to make room for a golf course. Every one went to mainside and I had 6C all to myself and 6C went ballistic due to the golf course displacing deer. Then about 3 years later the police shot deer at night on the golf course. The police shot about 140 deer per year. My sighting went from 24 per day at the peak of the rut down to about one deer every other day. And then they went to unlimited does (3 per day) in archery only areas and the does got hammered. 6C has been very hard to hunt ever since. And there was the hemorrhagic disease that wiped out 40% of the deer and it took 3 years to recover. And the mast crop varies year to year and this affects many things. I do very poorly when there is not a mast crop.
Big buck opportunities go in rolls. You can go two ways. You can recognize changing opportunities and adjust your game plan or you can just stay with an area until you learn it good enough so that you can get on bucks there.

Bike man

Bushanic

I just realized that I failed to answer all of your question. I hunt 6 weeks to 8 weeks with bow. That’s 30 to 35 days straight. I hunt in the gun areas during the gun season with a bow. Have not hunted with a gun for about 13 years. You want to hunt the rut if you want big bucks.

November is the best month.

The rut varies from year to year. The rut was in full swing by mid October last year and this is extremely rare and it caught me off guard. Other years the rut does not happen until Thanksgiving week. Most of the time the rut will happen in the first two weeks of
November and this is when you want to be out there. The timing of the rut has a lot to do with acorns and the health of the does. I know this goes against what everyone knows about the moon and the rut. I would rate October as the second best month. But October can be iffy. Sometimes the first week of October is good and then things shut down for 3 weeks. More often the last week of October is as good as November. I have not done well in December, but I must admit that I have not put in as much time in December. For December you can try for the second rut that happens 28 day after the first rut or you can look for the bucks to be feeding as they have run down their fat reserves.

And after the rut is much better than before the rut. Before the rut the bucks are not out much. After the rut the bucks keep looking and they need to eat to recover from the rut. But I would never take December over the other two months.

bushanic

Bike man,I found the same thing last year well a least up in NoVa the rut was on big time mid Oct. I walked into three bucks tending 1 poor Doe and if the big 8 that was telling me to leave had not lost is right side I would have put him to bed. I found last season to a little weird. Didn't see deer on the side of the roads or in fields that they normally would have been. Also the road kill on 95 was way down. I drive from fredericksburg to DC. I have talked to other hunter about last year and none seem to think the rut was early or the deer movement was off, They think the rut was so and most deer went nocturnal.
I am trying to convince myself that I need to stay out of the woods this year and wait till the last 2weeks in October and the fist haft of November and after that I cant really mess anything up.

Bike man

The deer were not on the side of the road or in the fields because there was a very good mast (acorns) crop. There are hunters that hunt field and there are hunters that hunt deep in the woods. The field hunters hate a good mast crop and the deep woods hunters love a mast crop. I can not do well when the mast crop fails.

About time in the woods. You need to get your leads. You need to know what is happening before the rut so that when things heat up, then you will know where to go. If you know what sign to read then you should be able to do one walk through and chose your spots and prep your spots. Save as much time as possible for the end of October and November.


If you have extra time in early October then scout out and or hunt new woods. Try not to disturb your best areas too much.

QuanticoKidd

I agree I hunted last two weeks of Oct thru Nov and I saw alot of deer in November which is normally the case I shot a 150" 9 pointer on Oct 20th which I felt was very strange but he was chasing a doe on private land and I hunted Quantico (Gun Area) all through November and I saw alot bucks and does but no chasing I know that a good mast crop is good for hunting deepr woods but I find it hard to pin point the deer locations becuase it seems they are feeding all over in the woods to take advantage of the mast crop.

I Hunt Mainside with a Bow and I also Hunt Gun Areas with a Gun on Quantico and my best year was 2009 I saw 3 Trophy Deer in a week and a half span 135" 8 pointer a 125" 9 pointer and I killed a 125" 11 pointer in 10A honestly my luck with big bucks has been very simple either I see them during the rut which is most likely first two weeks of November or I kill a big buck on opening day of gun season other then that I have never saw a big buck on quantico past about the third week of November on Quantico.

I beleive they get smart quick you have to harvest them either late Oct or Nov I find December hunting for a big buck on Quantico to be basically a "I'm Lucky" situation basically if he walks by me I'm lucky by that time there has been so much human pressure and gun shots I would bow hunt all season but I gun hunt with my family so I hold that time prescious

Bike man

I must revise what I said. I would not want to hunt a spot that I do not think is good. I have enough good spots so that I do need to burn up my best spots. In October, hunt the buck sign and hunt over good producing white oaks.

A bumper crop of acorns seems to make it difficult to locate deer. If there are a lot of acorns then somewhere there will be lot of feeding going on and there will be lots of droppings and the bucks will leave a lot of sign over where the good food is in combination where the does are feeding. You have to look at a lot of oaks before you find that special place. And normally the deer run the same pattern every year that there is a good mast crop. Around November 1st most of the leaves have dropped. This can make it very difficult to locate the deer. As I said before . Locate the deer early before the rut.

QuanticoKidd

I was curious how high do you go in your treestand Bike Man, and what is the biggest Body and Antler Buck you have taken on Quantico just was curious always like to know that kinda stuff I have killed three big bucks on Quantico and only one dressed out 108 the others where 88 and 92 my 150" 9 pointer on private property dressed out 160" which I already no why not pressure and plenty of food