Ode to Stanley

[Jdaukontas]

Years ago, when I first started my hunting venture and taking it serious, I reached out to Stanley. We had a private conversation through messenger here on the beast. This year I killed a late season, mature NY buck. It was my second big buck of the year (the first coming opening day of rifle). I wanted to share the conversation with everyone, with hopes that you can gain something, as I have.

The Conversation...

Stanley,

I guess I just wanted to say that I am a huge fan of yours and just don't understand how you do it so well year in and out!

So how do you do it? What tips and advise could you give me? Are there certain things you look for in a setup?

Any advise you could throw my way is greatly appreciated!

Justin



Justin..... Thanks for the great compliment. I think a couple things come to mind that work for me. I hunt on the side of caution (low impact) rather than being aggressive. Lot of the hunters are way more dynamic than I am. I like to ease into an area and pick it apart at a slow pace. This works for me.

I also look for an area that has a great access I believe this is key. If I'm hunting an area that is really good but I have no good access I look for away to change that. For me I like to access an area from the food source towards the bedding area. This means if the bucks are bedding on the west side of a property I like to access that property from the East. And vice versa.

I don't hunt areas that are not set up good for my style. I don't hunt junkie spots. I try and learn an area very well. This helps me figure out what to do next year or the next year after that. I also like areas that have good doe populations I think this is very key. Does are your buck producers. I don't shoot does anymore and never recommend shooting does where you are buck hunting for sure.

To become a successful BBK takes time, so experience is another key factor. I have been after big bucks for decades so I kind of know what to do in a lot of different situations. A friend of mine asked me 25 years ago, "you always kill a big buck, how do you do it"? I simply told him I shoot big bucks. He didn't get the tip I had just given him. He always shot small bucks. He had walls full of 1.5 year old bucks.

I really haven't given you any big secrets, but I hope I have given you some direction. Have a good one Justin.

Stan



Stanley,

You make a great point about entry and I don't think it is something I am taking into account enough. You say you know where the buck is bedding...how do you find them? Is this in the spring and what exactly are you looking for? Also, how do you get inventory (shine, camera, glassing)?

I hope you don't mind the questions and if answering them is a pain, I understand completely.

Again, thanks for the help. I really want to learn and like you said you have a lot of experience which is why I am always reading what you have to say on the forum.

Justin



Justin.......I don't do any shining. I do a lot of glassing and observation stands. I don't like to shine it gives me intel for night time. I want intel from daytime. If you want to find where the bucks are bedding you gotta look and look hard and often.
If I'm turkey hunting I always keep an eye open for sign. If I'm squirrel hunting same thing. If I'm looking for mushrooms same thing. looking for drops lets you cover every inch of the properties you hunt. I think you get the idea.

I do run cameras I like the anticipation and the intel cameras provide. I did not have the buck I killed on any of my cameras. I might have some pictures later on though as I have not checked my cameras for a month now.

If your having trouble locating where the bucks are bedding. Start by eliminating where the bucks are not bedding. This cuts your looking area down to size better. Open fields you can eliminate. Deep water areas, things like this. Summer beds are often different than fall beds. Summer beds are almost always in the shade.

Look for thick bedding areas where a buck see in front of him and smell in back of him. Look for rubs of different ages in an area. A good used bed has no leaves in it and lots of hair. The older the buck the more he uses the same bed. Once you get on to it finding the beds is much easier.

Bedding areas have a good escape route attached to it. A buck wont bed where he has no escape route. This is key. Look for rubs that follow a line through the timber. This will often connect bedding to feeding. Bucks do a lot of rubbing from bed to feed.

Just because you find a bed doesn't mean it is a permanent bed. The buck that used the bed may have been killed. Not all beds are used by different bucks but some are. Those are the ones that pay off.

An area with tons of bedding options will be much harder to locate permanent beds, than say an area with very limited bedding options. I hope I have given you some ideas on how to look for and what to look for.
Stan



Stanley,

This makes perfect sense! I have found a few beds but none are ever worn to the dirt and have hair in them. I think some of the areas I hunt are hard to pin because they are old farms that are only about 10 years out of circulation so the area is a sea of shoulder high golden rods and that woods that have started are full of saplings 2 inch diameter and impossible to enter without making too much noise.

Will bucks in these situations bed in the heart of a place like this and rely on sound, or bed on the edges still with wind to back and sight to the front?

I went hunting this morning but once I get to my set I lose faith in the spot after an hour or two, and either get down or blind call which I know it foolish but can't seem to help doing it.

How much do you call, if ever? I think I need to go into the woods without calls from now own.

What is your favorite rut set up if you don't mind me asking? Are you a funnel guy, bedding guy?

Your advice has been awesome so far and I hope one day I am to a point in my hunting career where I too can pay it forward!

Justin



Justin.......I don't think bucks bed and rely on sound very often. In my thought process I don't think you are giving a set enough time. Patience plays a big part in killing big bucks. I do some blind calling if like you said no action. Not much maybe a grunt sequence an hr. You have to give it time to work. I like funnels but close to bedding whether it be does or bucks.

I am firm believer in sitting one spot from 10:00 to dark during the peak rut. The next day I go to a different spot. You cant kill a big buck if your walking around looking. When in doubt get into the thick stuff. Open field are good for seeing but the thick stuff is good for seeing bucks. Hope this helps you out.
Stan



Last questions I promise!

Where in the thick stuff do you set up, at the heart or on the edge? What are you looking for, how does the wind come into play for that?

How do you know what thick stuff is good? Proximity to doe bedding/buck bedding? Sign leading into or out of thick stuff?

Lastly, how do you handle noise when setting up in the thick? It find it very hard to get into a place really thick without sounding like a stampede in the woods.

I can't that you enough for the help. I think you have given me some great pointers and I will definitely start implementing them.

Justin



Justin..... In the thick stuff I often look for an opening that I can set up on. Those to me are gold mines. You may have to kind of make an entrance path to get to the spot. I do this all the time. A good pre set helps in some situations. I use pre sets whenever possible.

Thick stuff is almost always good where there are deer. If the area you're hunting has does and thick stuff you'll be wise to hunt there. It's not always about the bucks to kill bucks. Does are the main focal point during the peak rut for me. Look for rubs and scrape, licking branches things like this. These things all let you know bucks use the area.

I always look at the big picture and then break it down into smaller pictures. You can eliminate some sand, it's easier to find the gold.

Stan








The buck I shot late season was taken in a place Stanley describes and what I now seek out to hunt. When I shot this buck, I hit it far back and went in the next day to find it after letting it go the night. Unfortunately the coyotes found him first. Still an amazing hunt I will never forget, and I am going to get it mounted when I harvest another buck for its cape. This buck will always be known to me as the Stanley Buck!

Buck 2a.jpg

Buck 2b.jpg

Buck 2c.jpg

Buck 2d.jpg

Again, I wanted to say thank you to Stanley! This community truly misses his advice and presence! I hope you killed a big one up there this year!!!

Justin

[Dewey]

Good post. I had so many similar conversations by PM with Stanley. Can’t stress enough how much he’s missed around here.

[Bio1]

Good read! Man the coyotes did a number on him! Geez

[DGF]

Great conversation to read with a lot of good takeaways. Thanks for sharing.

-Dan

[oldrank]

Very good. Thanks for sharing.

[backstraps]

Thanks for sharing. Still like reading the words from Stanley. He had a way of making things understandable and sound simple

Its nice to look back through the inbox and re-read conversations had through the year's with some of the sites greats

[Bogle]

Great post! I always enjoyedreading his posts. He always had a diiferent way of looking at things which I really enjoyed,

[Hawthorne]

He said he wasn’t overly aggressive and you won’t kill one walking around. Seems different than the mainstream nowadays. I like his style

[WisBowhunter]

I'm relatively new to this site and unfortunately had never heard of Stanley. Your conversation with him has a lot of
good information in it. His 'style' of hunting fit him well, and it seems he was very successful at it. Some great insight here, Thanks for sharing it.

[Edcyclopedia]

A true helping /hunting sportsman!

[Kokes]

Stan was the man, learned a ton from him

[stash59]

[Brokenarrow1980]

I never had the pleasure to talk with him but he sounded like a stand up dude.

[justdirtyfun]

I do know this about Stanley.

He knew how to kill the big ones.
And he wasn't able to grip and grin very well.

He has some screen time in Dan's videos but I can't recall which one/ones at the moment.

[KRONIIK]

If anybody can find and post any pics of him (and kills?) I, for one, would sure like to see 'em...