Darkknight54 wrote:Man I dont want to bother ya w questions. But w that much history and great buck... Id like to hear anything you can talk about for historical data similarities he had season to season. Was he in select places every year at the same time period?
Its no bother at all
This buck over the last three years had his preferred bedding areas. He had preferred travel routes. We would get his pictures almost down to the day on the same camera within the same proximity year to year. If I were to go back through the hundreds of pictures of this buck and compare, not only was he at certain cameras from year to year, on the same day, the time of day was also very similar. He was so routine that I killed this deer almost in the exact same spot that I missed him in last year (within 20 yards)
It was almost the same weather pattern, and wind direction that kept him out late getting back to bed on the morning I killed him.
He had particular bucks he would be with. One particular buck especially, I have their pictures together in 2015, 2016 and this fall. This fall they were practically always on cam together. He would be no later than a few minutes behind the other buck through this October
This buck had a lot of pressure on him. Two neighboring properties were after him. Talking about patterns from year to year... one particular neighbor pressured this deer so much, that by the time Halloween was here over the last three years, this deer was almost down to a single travel route through our property. Bad thing was the pressure kept this buck nocturnal. It was our patience, and waiting for the time to go in after him that allowed us to be the fortunate ones to take him.
The "community" scrapes and sign post rubs really belonged to this deer (within the parcel of land we hunt) There are other mature bucks on the property, that were are trying to get still yet. Each of the bucks have their own personalities if you will... It takes me a lot of time to actually figure a certain buck out. That is one of the things that separates me from good hunters. Good hunters can figure out a buck really fast in comparison to me. By the time I get a general idea of a bucks habits, the season is almost over with. The intel I gather year from year is kind of like collecting more pieces of the puzzle.
So many small details went into killing this buck. Chasing after a particular buck can teach you a lot about how a mature buck survives. I have had the pleasure of learning from a couple mature bucks that took years to kill. I am by no means a "good" buck hunter, but I am learning more each season. Putting together what I have learned from the BEAST and what I have picked up from hunting bucks rather than hunting deer, seems to be making the difference. TIME...I think it is the TIME required to invest chasing mature bucks that seems to make the difference for me.
Sorry for the rambling, I know that's more than you asked about