ahhh!!

[mauser06]

so tonight on the way home from coon hunting....guess who jumped in the middle of the road??



the big 10 i was hunting the last 2 seasons....


he is now a 5pt...shed his right side....



all i can do is hope that i wake up and the snow is still on the ground...im gunna put on my boots and jump on those tracks and hope i can figure out where he is hiding...the chances of having enough snow to track him down is slim to none...its sparse already and still 40 out and rain coming...id like atleast enough snow to see his tracks so the next snowfall i know what i am looking for...will measure and photograph and document...


i am out of ideas on where he beds...through our drives we taught him everywhere he shouldnt bed...im drawing blanks on coming up with somewhere we overlook...my guess is he beds where we hunt but has bullet proof beds and gives us the slip...archery season the past 2 years ive seen him on the same small field..i did find a buck bed and big tracks just off that field edge but im not sure if its him or not..i need to go back and investigate it too...


i cant even wrap my little brain around how big he will be next year...not a 200" slob...but for my neck of the woods hes already a heck of a buck...

maybe i will find his sheds...theyve been hammering 2 standing corn fields...might be worth walking every row of it..good place to knock off antlers..and really wouldnt take me but an hour or 2...might wait a few more weeks for that though...heck i know 1 side is on the ground already...i might do that tomorrow or this week just to see if i can find it...

[Jay]

Good luck, hope you figure him out.

[Milk Weed Seed]

With the snow melting use the fresh mud to cut his tracks.

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[JAB]

That sounds like a fun challenge, good luck figuring him out and looking for his sheds.

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[mauser06]

Thanx guys! I will keep you updated on my "hunt". Woke up and the 3-4" of snow is GONE...I was coon hunting last night..there isn't mud...the ground is still frozen...and its already back to freezing so it won't thaw...

I have an idea of where to start looking...there is a small patch tight against an old farm house...he was seen there spotting and earlier when a farmer was bailing hay...when I saw him it was already the rut so he may or may not regularly bed where I saw him...even last year...seems like he ends up on that farm during the rut...I just can't nail down a good rut stand....

Last year that field was corn and was MUCH better for daylight deer hunting..this year it was beans and it was a let down...they felt safe cruising the edge of the corn...I saw so many deer it was silly....hopefully its corn next year again....

I need snow! But while I don't have it this week I will walk out those corn fields...I don't wanna try to find his bed till I have snow again...his sheds could be in or near the bed...if I jump him and he takes his other side I may never find it....

I'm excited to get after him...if he is living behind that house I can hunt his bed and feel confident about killing him next year...its a odd piece...swamp grass..creek bottom..multi flora rose...young cherry stand and then a small pine stand...we've never went through it in rifle season....it very well may be where he lives...

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[hunter_mike]

Thats exciting good luck!

[mauser06]

Its exciting knowing he made it....tonke that's huge in itself...2.5yo bucks are still "good bucks" here...3.5yos are talk of the town and "monsters". Just heavily hunted... things are changing fast...I don't know how it'll affect the future hunting...a decent chunk was heavily logged and left a mess...a new tracking operation is going in...

Just knowing my "ghost" is still out there is awesome...it gives me something to look for...

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[mauser06]

So thinking on my feet...I realized the banks of the road would still have snow....sure enough the tracks where still there!

He is crossing there regularly going both ways....that continues to confirm the area he is living,,,,

WIDE footed sucked...3 fingers wide...a lot of our deer get longer feet...but we don't see mature bucks regularly....his feet are burned in my head...nothing around looked like his...

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[mauser06]

So there is a snow fall on its way tonight into tomorrow....so I went and walked around the cornfield closest to where I think he is bedding...his tracks..and lots of deer and critter tracks everywhere in what snow is left...

No antlers...

The closer I got to where I think he is bedding the more I seen his tracks...and I think I nailed down his exit trail...I'm going to give him until the new snow is fixing to melt and then go in and try to nail down his bed...that way I have a good bed and good tracks to go on...

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[dreaming bucks]

Very cool.... I love the stories leading up to a big buck kill.... good luck finding his bed!

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[mauser06]

i kept telling myself as i was walking around "this is when im gunna KILL this buck...not in the fall..."


it wasnt "fun" out..the areas i focused on still had snow..but it was the 2" of heavily crusted snow and your boot breaks through and then gets stuck under kinda snow...and i underestimated the cold and wind..i wasnt dressed right..lol so i had to keep my focus and keep up my spirits..i spent an hour and a half or so poking around....


we got the snow they are calling for...and it'll last a while looking at the forecast...



one BIG hurdle...i may or may not be here in the fall...but thats not going to stop me from gathering my intel...its easy to say "ahhh i might get a job and not even be around" and never put in the time to scout...actually i know theres a fair chance i wont be around...but, on the chance that i AM...i wanna let the air out of a beast..and i know if i wanna do that i need to pound the ground NOW


actually planning a few day trip to camp to gather intel up there too in a few weeks...


now, i wont have TONS of beds all over this side of the state pinned down...but i am in the woods scouting..and now looking for more than just a deer trail...so although i might not pin down a bunch of beds i WILL lock down better stand locations..and with my new beast knowledge i can narrow down the playing field..especially up north in the hill country..instead of walking all day to narrow things down i already know where to head from looking at maps..



i do wanna find THIS bucks bedroom though....and i REALLY wanna find his sheds....i forgot the corn fields arent my buddies..they are another farmers that doesnt take good care of his fields..they are choked with weeds..thats good and bad..good the deer pretty much stay OUT of the rows..but bad because some random places they do go in to the rows and finding a shed in there will be luck..like id have to trip on it...hopefully i find his bed and core area and they are right there somewhere...i am disappointed that he shed half...be nice to find them laying side by side lol....

[wmahunter]

sounds like this buck has you patterned and he is watching you. Good luck

[mauser06]

You're right on....IF he is bedding in a 2nd spot that I found a buck bed in this season...

If its the same buck...

I saw him there this year and last...but only in the rut....but...issue was now that I found that bed...that buck DID have me patterned and watched me drive or walk in...there's no way around it....well...there is a NASTY ditch...and a few crappy trees on the edge of the field I've seen him in both years....I can sneak into that ditch and probably get a lock on in one of those nasty trees...I need to go clear brush now for a quiet entrance...I MIGHT be able to pull that off...if I can I think I can catch him feeding there before dark...

If he is bedding where I think he is....he doesn't have me patterened...I don't hunt that farm...too many other guys do...but they don't hunt the patch I think he is in...

I could have 2 different bucks...or he uses both farms...which is very possible...they aren't far apart...

A couple days and I will be ground pounding...

[mauser06]

Walked right ton his bed today! Right where I thought it was




Can see the rub behind the bed...


Tough spot...he can see pretty much everything...especially right now...


Problem...he's bedding somewhere else right now....I don't know why...or where...and this snow is horrible for tracking...

Will post more pics and maps later maybe tonight....

Snow coming tonight so he may never know I was there...hopefully his sheds are there under the snow and I can find them!

There was a 2nd bed a few feet away..couldn't tell if it was also his or another deer...his bed was a fair bit bigger...couldn't really read tracks in either bed...



Went to the other spot and found doe beds...6...then another 5 on the next knob over...so maybe I give up on that spot till the rut....let the does feel safe and keep them there till the rut...3 seasons in a row now I've seen "the biggest buck around here" running around that spot...always in the rut...I just can't ring a funnelor perfect stand...will post maps of that too...


I'm loving this....there isn't another hunter in the wooden right now....this is what it takes to get over the hurdle...I can deer hunt...I can see and kill does and young bucks...I need to graduate...and when its 8 degrees and the snow absolutely sucks to walk through and I have the time...I gotta hit it...

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[yungbuck]

Keep updating us

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