Help on a smart buck please!
 

Hello all. Well, I caught a very big 8 point on cam 2 days before season. As luck would have it, opening day evening, he showed up. He came in from the field, 60 yards out, circled a forked tree and needed down behind it. This was an hour before dark. He constantly looked around as I could see the rack constantly turning. About 5 minutes before shooting hours ended, he then got up and wondered off. I stayed till well after dark to keep from spooking him. He has been seen by the landowner several times and frequents my area. He's obviously very smart. Any ideas on setups and tactics are appreciated. Its a strip woods of maybe 100 yards wide with the Wabash river bordering one side. Southern Illinois.

hunt smart, hunt the wind and storm fronts' sooner or later he will slip up

all deer IMO are given too much credit for being SMART< all there doing is surviving, some are just better at it than others I think

they all revolve around the basic's
food water cover/safety and mating!
your job is finding a way to get in between them things and get a shot?

Thanks for the rely mrbb. Pretty sure he has a smaller range than other places as often as he's seen. Got food in the field, water in the creek behind me and the river, and thickets to the west and north. Wind can be troublesome as its a small woods and it tends to swirl down there at times. Just happened to be in my favor yesterday, lol

So just to be clear, you have only access to the woods where he beds, not to the adjacent field where he feeds, correct?
I'd be curious if he beds there the rest of the day, too. You perhaps could set up an easily-accessible stand within range of his bedding area and wait until the wind is perfect---but then the issue is when do you have time to set it up while he's out of sight and your scent has time to wear off?
In the interim, I suppose you could just hunt the same stand in the morning and pattern him.
Otherwise, wait until the rut.

you can also maybe have someone walk thru and boot him out and try to get him as he returns back in!

Hunters think about lots of things.
Deer only think about one thing.If your only thought was making it till tomorrow what would you do.
Thats where you will find your shot.

He probably "stages" in that treeline before last light.

Try to get in there early and get quite.

Thanks all. I'll try and answer everyone here.
Younggun308, yes. I only have permission in the woods. I ha e permission to coyote hunt the field, not deer. I have 2 stands in there. One towards the field edge for early season, and one in the middle for more towards beginning thru rut.

Sheridan,yes, I believe your correct by his actions. While he bedded he kept letting out short, muffled blows. He was very alert and looking around. But not spooked.

The primary bedding areas are to the southwest and again about 200 yards north. No permission to the north either, but its so brushy you'd only be able to hunt it with a bulldozer anyway. I really want this guy as its my last year hunting Illinois, then I'm off to Tennessee. Just trying to be calm and patient, at least for now, lol

The last time I harvested a canny Buck in roughly the same situation, I caught him between where he bedded and a rub line he visited pretty regularly. I actually set up in a direct line between his bed and the rub. Maybe 125 yards from his bed and 25 from the rub. I set up behind a fallen tree.

Maybe the fourth time I set up there, he got up early to visit his rub in the evening ( an hour or more before last light) before going to feed.

Sounds like he is pretty territorial and likely has a rub line within a hundred yards of where he sleeps.

That's a good point Mudderchuck. I haven't found it yet, as I don't want to trample all over the place. If I get time on a day before a good rain, I've planned on checking it out more. Found a few small rubs, but not his. Very small and low to the ground. He'd just break these off and move on, lol. I killed a 200+# 6 point, old guy last year. He utterly destroyed that place. Shredded and broke everything he touched. Took 3/4 of the season to nail him. He came in on me at 15 yards and bedded in thicket. Couldn't see any of him. 2nd round with a grunt and here he came. 8 yards and done.