Let’s hear your parking lot buck stories...

[Lockdown]

I was telling a buddy about parking lot and overlooked bedding. It seemed to get his wheels turning!

What I want are stories about encounters (doesn’t have to be a kill) with parking lot deer, or those “dating the fat chick” deer. Bucks, does, whatever... let’s hear your story!

[Moose]

Not a parking lot story. I was able to go with a farmer for 1 day and bowhunt his ground with him. This farm constently produces big bucks. I believe the last one he shot was in the 180s. Anyway i knew there was potential so of course i went. Got to his preset stand about 30mins before daylight. About 45mins later i heard some thrashing and something huge was coming my way. My heart was pounding so hard. This has to be the biggest deer ever kept going throught my mind. About 10mins later i seen 3 cows that got out from the neighbors!! I never did see a deer. I was so disappointed! Its funny now though. Could of been the best tasting deer ever lol.

[greenhorndave]

The rut, 2019. Pull in at gray light. Saw three bodies a few fields over on my way but it was too dark to see any headgear. The doe ran toward where I was going then doubled back the opposite way. So I expected nothing.

I get out of the truck and open the back door and start putting on my muck boots.

Hear rustling in the cut corn field where the deer were on private. Had to stop and listen to know if it was my imagination or not.

So I'm looking over with my back door open and out comes a doe getting dogged by a BIG buck. Bruiser of a body and a 10 -- dark, white-tipped antlers and serious mass. 160 at minimum. Biggest buck I've ever seen in the wild. They pop out of the field cutting to the right of me, cross the corner of the property I was on, then run across the road into some yards and were gone.

Then about a 130 8 pointer that was hanging behind those two (because he didn't want a beatdown from the big buck) comes straight at the back of my truck, sees me and cuts around my left side, trots in front of my truck and across the road the way the others went... Then doubles back to head where I going in the first place.

This whole episode happened literally just after my feet hit the ground out of the truck and lasted about 30 seconds.

If I had my bow in hand I might have had a shot at the smaller one, but I erroneously thought he was out of bounds. He wasn't, but the bow was in the truck bed and they were on me before I could get to it. The big boy? He was too close to the road for a legal shot. I found his tracks by the parking lot (from a day or two before) though as evidenced by my size 12 Alphaburly Pro just behind it...

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[crankn101]

I found a bedded 150+" eight point buck that you could see from a parking area if you looked very closely through binos or a spotter. Hopefully I get another shot at him next season.

[jkelley1487]

I pulled up early one morning hunt to two plus size humans going at it in a Toyota Camry. The rut must have been on or something.

[cbigbear]

Found a well used buck bed 50 yds from the house. Does that count? Only down side it’s a 4” spike using it.

[Smitty]

My biggest buck encounter to date happened 11-4-2017 didn’t know exactly where he was bedded at the time, but by accident I was probably 60 yards from his bed you can actually see this bed from the main road if you know it’s there and in the other direction is a parking lot mountain bikers use a lot. So there I was listening to the mountain bikers talk loudly shortly before dark wondering to myself what I was doing in that spot (which cost me a shot at this buck) when I heard a slight rustle glance over to my left and there stood the definitely the biggest buck I ever saw alive anyway behind a pine tree had I been looking that way instead of being distracted by bikers I would have had a shot! After he walked away from me he stood at the edge of the woods and open area waited until the bikers cars just started rolling and walked slowly out of my life.

[mag1]

Couple years back, I went into on spot, no parking area, just the side of a road, corn field across the road. On the public side, there is a small drainage ditch, pretty wet for the 1t 60 yds in. I had to leave at noon. On my way out, I jumped a big deer bedded under some willow brush 25’ or so from my car. Only seen it’s tail, but it was a single and there where some good rubs near by.

This year, opening day, jumped a really good deer beded 50 yds from my car on the way in, and found a couple other spots for next year that are from 50-300yds from the road.

[brkissl82]

Man I really gotta find me some of these road/parkin lot bucks!!

[ButtonBuckFever]

I used to hunt heavy pressure state land. The gun opener was nuts. I'd set up about 50-100 yards off the road, all the pumpkins marching in would push the deer up and the road generally contained them. Dan talks about this.

[NorthStar]

2 years ago I was chasing an 11 pointer that would frequent 2 small public properties that were about 1 1/2 miles apart but connected by a drainage ditch. Me and a buddy would spilt up and hunt each property during the rut. We saw him almost every night but he never got close enough for a shot.

One evening I decided to take the smaller of the two properties and as I pulled into the parking lot (40ft x 40ft lot) he was just standing there. He let me pull in and park as he casually just walked away. The strangest part is that there was a small car loaded with stoner high schoolers that was already been parked there. I decided to hunt the property that night even though I thought my chances now were not great. But before I started my walk, I went over to the car and asked the kids what they thought about that nice buck and not one of them had any idea what I was talking about! The deer couldn’t have been 5 yards from them!

I never saw that deer again and I have no idea if he was even bedded on one of these properties but i don’t think I will forget this hunting experience.

[Hawthorne]

The evening I shot my biggest buck I watch the neighbors park 4 wheelers right in the corner right on the property line. They do it all the time and deer bed within 100yds of them on my side. I’ve watched them stand up and watch the hunters walk further back into their land. The hunters talk loud band come in late and leave early. The deer have them patterned . I use it to my advantage

[Jdw]

We have a hunting camp about 4.5 hours away from home.
Dad and I drove up after work and got there a bit before midnight. When we drove up there was a young buck in the yard. We went to bed without unloading the 4 wheeler or generator.

The next morning I set up 65yds above the camp.

A bit after daylight a small buck walked by at five yards.

A little after 8:00 I looked towards the camp and saw a nice 8 walking into the corner of the yard. He stopped for a minute looking at smoke coming out of the chimney then he skirted the yard on my side. I killed him at about 30yds.

The best part is all I had to do was pull him off of one tree and he slid into the yard.

[The_Real_Jmill]

Early in my hunting career and before I heard of Dan etc. hunting to me was just finding swamp edge and hunting there as that is what my dad always taught me. I pulled up to a parking spot on a piece of public I normally had hunted access running path running east/west. There was a little hill that drops down into a thicket to the direct North of the parking area. Wind was out of the Southwest there were a few other trucks in the area ( I was a little late to the party) so I was on my way but cautiously as I don't like to walk up on other hunters. I was always under the impression you had to go deep to get away from pressure so I was about 1/2 - 3/4 of a mile in when I came up on a guy that was hunting pretty close to were I intended to go. Without any real back up plans on were to hunt I headed back to the truck. While walking down the access I could see the thicket to the North of the parking area and figured I could at least ground hunt it as there was some swampy area/tall grass in the bottom. So I was approaching from the East I started my way into the thicket looking for a spot to sit and not 40 yards from the truck I bust out two really good sized bucks racks out to the ears or just past and tall.

There have been many, but that was a definite ah ha moment for me.

Oddly enough I ended up taking my largest body/racked archery buck just to the south of the same parking spot but within eye sight of my truck since all the leaves had dropped.

[Hambone79]

Not a parking lot but similar. I hunt a lot off an airboat, I have a particular spot I always sit as its more an observation stand but still a good set. Well I have witnessed deer feeding in my general direction when an airboat will be headed down the trail. These deer will simply lay down until the boat goes by and then stand back up like nothing was happening. What's also interesting there is a camp not terribly far from this area that is always in use during hunting season. You can hear the guys waking up and starting boats up deer just don’t care about them.