Advise

[Stew]

I am on year two of chasing a PandY buck on our 200 acre property. A couple months ago I discovered this more detailed understanding of buck beds and bed hunting. I have not been able to scout beds on this property yet. Just to keep from boogering it up for this season

So...

Up until Thursday the last picture of this buck was on Dec 27 2014. Finally he showed up (which is what I expected. First pic of him last year was 10/9/14). I pulled that card walking into a fixed stand that sits at the corner of a wood line and a fence row woodline. At dark my buck walked out of the woodline in a little cove/jut in area 90 yards in front of me and fed there under a lone oak in the field for 45 minutes. Wind was south at my back blowing straight to him. Saturday night I took the LW in and setup downwind (north wind) from the trail he walked out of about 30 yards in the woods. Unfortunately when I got set I did not have a shot at that oak through the thick (lesson learned). He showed up 40 minutes before dark but must have used another trail to come out. When I spotted him he was walking the woodline to the oak upwind/ toward me and fed for a while then continued across the field as he did Thursday. Tonight I had a south wind like Thurs and setup downwind on the other side of the trail but closer to the wood line with a shot at the oak. He was a no show tonight.

I left the LW in that tree and am planning on hunting it again tomorrow evening. Tomorrow I get the south wind again.

Help me think through this. What would you do?

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[mauser06]

I wouldn't keep pressuring him.


He came out somewhere different because of the different wind he bedded somewhere else and/or he is onto you already...


Deer get wise quick...especially mature bucks..

Hunting how many of us do..in close to their bedrooms means we don't get to hunt that area but once or twice a season most times...

Hunting the same buck can be done...but IMO it takes a LOT of land or a lot of luck...


Personally I'd sit way back and glass him a night or 2 if possible..sounds like the tree is in a field? So should be possible...

I'd try to figure him out..then execute one more hunt based on that Intel. You have 2-3 weeks before he may disappear due to the rut...but at the same time he may get a little stupid during the rut too...

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[headgear]

Probably time to back off, he is onto you. You could maybe try one more sit but I think the jig is up, if you can monitor from a distance and see if you can't pick him up again or just give it time until he feels safe again.

[Stew]

Thanks!

Yes the oak is in the field. The "field" is basically scattered with trees but mowed.

BTW I would rate our deer as low pressure to medium during gun. I had a few run ins with this deer last year. Finally got a shot on him in December at 40 yds and my arrow dinged a limb and sailed over his rear.



I assumed he came from a different route because of the change to a north wind.

I had thought about observing him too. I know his acorn pattern fairly well. He exibited the same last year. I just wasn't sure where he was starting that nightly round. Which is what I now know as most likely this oak.

Here is a map to better understand what I am looking at.


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[Wlog]

Go with your plan. Hunt him one more time. You have to go back for your stand anyway. If he is a no show again then he may have moved or isn't making it out until after dark. Either way it's not gonna hurt to give it one more try IMO.

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[Debo03]

I don't think you quite understood what the others above were saying. They are saying that YOU have pressured him now that you've hunted the same general area 3 of the last 4 or 5 days and likely have alerted him.

There recommendations are based on the experience that most mature bucks know they are being hunted in an area after 1 sit. 2 to 3 sits in less than a week with different winds likely has your scent ALL OVER THAT AREA and has alerted him that you are after him.

As the other guys have already stated your best bet is to back off that area and observe from a distance until you see him start to use that area again during daylight hours.

Unless like Wlog said you have to go back for your stand anyway, it may be worth 1 more sit.

[Stew]

I don't think you quite understood what the others above were saying. They are saying that YOU have pressured him now that you've hunted the same general area 3 of the last 4 or 5 days and likely have alerted him.

There recommendations are based on the experience that most mature bucks know they are being hunted in an area after 1 sit. 2 to 3 sits in less than a week with different winds likely has your scent ALL OVER THAT AREA and has alerted him that you are after him.

As the other guys have already stated your best bet is to back off that area and observe from a distance until you see him start to use that area again during daylight hours.

Unless like Wlog said you have to go back for your stand anyway, it may be worth 1 more sit.

I completely understood. Just generalizing the hunting pressure in my area.

Thank guys for the help. I went in and he no showed me. Got the stand out and I'm gonna let the spot rest for a while.

I noticed tonight how long other deer were grazing under this oak. I realized the first night I saw him from a distance he grazed for 45 and meandered accross the field. Saturday night when I took the LW in he was quick to move on.

No doubt he will be around. I pulled two camera cards on the other side of the prop before I went in and he was on both.

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[iowa whitetail]

I would say if he's a day walker go hunt the wind right and you will be fine. If I have one I want to kill I stay after him.

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[Stew]

I would say if he's a day walker go hunt the wind right and you will be fine. If I have one I want to kill I stay after him.

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Im for sure gonna stay after him. Just restrategize and giving that oak a break. I think I'm gonna try to work from the outside in to where I think he is bedding.

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[Bucky]

I agree with Iowa... I keep chasing em until I run outta ground or time! If he been there past few years... he gonna stay until u kill em, wound em, or really scare the crap outta him!

I just relocated the old 8pt I boogered up back in late Sept.... he moved about 500 yards away as crow flies in a thick marsh

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[Stew]

Last week I was fortunate enough to harvest my target buck. After a couple of weeks of cat and mouse. The temps dropped 20 degrees over night so I went in for a morning hunt where I was 80% sure he was bedding most of the time, the thicket at the north on the aerial. My other stand is actually just out of the aerial pic but on the northeast side of the picture. The wind was perfect,NE.

At about 45 minutes past light I figured I was done that he didn't stay out late feeding. Just a few minutes after that I spotted a doe walking through the tall grass that dotted the field I could see like islands. When I glassed her he was directly behind her. For the next 15 minutes they zig zagged though the grass to the creek in front of me. He stayed back behind her 15 to 20 yards. It was obvious he was flanking her to push her to where he wanted her. He wasn't bird dogging her though. My stand is set on the edge of a large bulldozer pile of trees from long ago. So it creates a natural funnel once the creek is crossed. It played out perfect. She crossed,turned right and walked 18 yards under my stand and he followed 20 yards behind her. I dropped him in his tracks with the Hoyt. The most bitter sweet harvest I have had yet. A lot of respect for this buck. Thanks for the advise.

Sorry for the blurred face. Just precaution. We have to stay quite in the area I hunt.





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[Stanley]

Dandy buck for sure. I was going to post up and say give the area a little rest then go after him again. I kind of am less aggressive than most hunters. But you killed him and that is good news.