Nocturnal White-tails... Bringing them out after sunrise!
12-28-2010, 02:18 PM
#21
Spike
Join Date: Nov 2010
Posts: 29
Some real interesting comments. I think just leaving the area totally for a while would help don't you guys. You have no element of surprise anymore. Move to a more strategic location and put up the blind or stand. You have to find where he goes and what route he uses to get there! Then you got him maybe! They don't get big by being stupid for sure.
12-28-2010, 03:15 PM
#22
Fork Horn
Join Date: Jul 2009
Location: Dixie County FL
Posts: 161
I know bucks are mostly nocturnal, but many times they will move in the middle of the day, when most hunters are back at their trucks eating lunch. Instead of hunting early morning & late evening, try a mid-morning thru mid-afternoon sit in your tree stand. I killed my last buck just before 11:00 am & in fact, a lot of hunters I know kill their bucks between 10:00 & 2:00. Yes, the majority of their activity is in the night-time, but they need a mid-day stretch just like us when we get up in the night to pee or get a snack. Think about it - sunrise to sunset is a long time to stay curled up in a ball in a palmetto patch. We all need to stretch once in a while...
12-28-2010, 03:45 PM
#23
Fork Horn
Join Date: Dec 2003
Location: Lee , New Hampshire
Posts: 312
Man up...get rid of the "stuff" and still hunt him till you find him. You will learn by doing this...mistakes and all. Each time you do this you will get better. When you shot a couple in their bed then your about half way to being a good hunter.
12-28-2010, 05:05 PM
#24
Spike
Thread Starter
Join Date: Dec 2010
Location: Maryland
Posts: 14
12-28-2010, 05:17 PM
#25
Spike
Join Date: Dec 2010
Location: Dayton OH
Posts: 3
Personally I would check the camera. Look for the direction he is usually coming from. Find his rub line. All mature bucks leave a rub line in the paths that they generally use. It won’t be a straight line and you may have to go several hundred yards before seeing another rub, but they do mark their routes. Set up a few rubs down catch him in an area he is not used to you being in. Also it will give you the time difference getting you either closer to his bedding area or feeding area. His pattern has changed to deal with your pressure now you have to change it up and surprise him. I didn’t read past the first page so if anyone said something similar....sorry for the repeat.
12-29-2010, 09:33 PM
#26
Fork Horn
Join Date: Jun 2008
Location: West Wisconsin
Posts: 126
You have the same issue I do.....I hunt in a valley though and bait only during the late season or when there is a large amount of snow, like this year. In one area I have several nice bucks coming in before dark when I am not hunting and when I do hunt they come in within an hour of me leaving. My guess is they are watching me or smelling me when I am in the stand. Hunting in the valley the wind always appears right but with swirling winds like in a valley who knows where the scent is going. Next year I will find a different area to put the bait but until then I will continue to monitor the trailcams in an attempt to obtain the sheds from these very smart bucks. I just keep in mind they will only be bigger next year...I don't think they are going anywhere.
12-30-2010, 04:03 PM
#27
Spike
Join Date: Nov 2010
Posts: 55
another thing that people can not even begin to fathom for some reason is the intelligence of the whitetail deer, sure some get hit on roads and what not, but they are survivors, they learn to adapt, in our area, it only takes one or two killed with a bow, or even just a couple shots with a high power, and they know that it is their time to hide. Even the smaller ones know this, i still hunted to within 7 yards of a 1.5 yr old doe this year that was standing and not planning on moving, and i just barely picked her out of the thick brush she was in and was able to take a white throat patch shot (my personal favorite). They know they are being hunted, if you think he is in the brush, get some friends together and push it out, just like bunny hunting without dogs. You have to get into where they hang out to throw them off their game.
01-03-2011, 05:45 PM
#28
Spike
Join Date: Feb 2005
Location: Marylands Eastern Shore
Posts: 15
Sounds to me like if you know he is bedding all day long in a certain area , you need to go in there and get him up on his feet then get in stand and stay all day waiting for him to sneak back to bed ...
