I want to get better but I don't know how

[briar]

Hi folks. Kinda new here to hunting beast. I have been hunting for over 25 years with ok success, but its time that I want to get better. I have access to quite a bit of hunting ground of varying quality and varying pressure that I more or less rotate during the year based on wind direction. I have studied maps and google earth and spent time in the field as much as I can which isn't much.

What I am asking is this: How do I determine if a location even has big buck potential? What are the key ingredients that set apart one piece of property to another? I live in farm country to there is simply food everywhere. Every other field is corn and beans. Is it more or less big bucks are where you find them? This is my first year using a trail cam where can I set it up to evaluate potential?

Any help is appreciated. Ron

[Bucky]

Cover - marsh, red brush, willows, drainages, sloughs, CRP an area where landowner does not allow hunting

[Jeff G]

off season scouting, shining, cameras, walking in winter to find beds travel routes, glassing fields, etc.

[Bucky]

Access is important to.... which way u walk in and how u leave

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[Stanley]

To me the best way to know if an area has big buck potential is not so much the bucks you see but the does you see. If an area is loaded up with a good doe population there will be big bucks around. If your neighbors are slaughtering the does your buck population will be lower. I know the magazines and TV guys tell you to kill as many does as you want. I say take a doe if you need/want one. The does control the buck population it's just that simple. Keep this in mind if you are after a big buck.

[kenn1320]

Shine/glass in July, trail cam, tracks, rubs in that order. I have not found big bucks doing this and have not killed any either. Guys that are killing big ones find them with those tactics. Hope that's not confusing? I walked a farm with Dan and saw nothing on that farm that indicated big bucks were there, but he killed another one this year. This is why I placed tracks and rubs last.

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[Bucky]

Does, water (creek, pond, marsh, river bottom), thick cover.... if you have those you have bedding and will have bucks to hunt

[Brad]

I think there are more big bucks then people realize too, I know of some spots that I hunt that people always say there are no deer, yet I see some sign and still see some pretty good bucks each year regardless of the sign left. When you scout and are seeing 3 and 4 finger wide tracks with dew claws you know they are in the area, up to you to find them. Having the bucks around and killing them are two very different things though.

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[Bucky]

I think there are more big bucks then people realize too, I know of some spots that I hunt that people always say there are no deer, yet I see some sign and still see some pretty good bucks each year regardless of the sign left. When you scout and are seeing 3 and 4 finger wide tracks with dew claws you know they are in the area, up to you to find them. Having the bucks around and killing them are two very different things though.

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Yup!

[briar]

Thanks a lot guys I appreciate it. One thing we have is PLENTY of does. Our ground is very chunked up. You may have permission on 100 acres but not the 500 around it. I read a lot on here about Marshes but in my immediate area that just doesn't exist with any kind of regularity....but I do have a spot that is all dammed up by beavers providing a good standing water swamp..would this qualify??

[DEERSLAYER]

I think there are more big bucks then people realize too, I know of some spots that I hunt that people always say there are no deer, yet I see some sign and still see some pretty good bucks each year regardless of the sign left. When you scout and are seeing 3 and 4 finger wide tracks with dew claws you know they are in the area, up to you to find them. Having the bucks around and killing them are two very different things though.

[ Post made via Android ]

Yup, don't need to see the dew claws though.

Thanks a lot guys I appreciate it. One thing we have is PLENTY of does. Our ground is very chunked up. You may have permission on 100 acres but not the 500 around it. I read a lot on here about Marshes but in my immediate area that just doesn't exist with any kind of regularity....but I do have a spot that is all dammed up by beavers providing a good standing water swamp..would this qualify??

Probably. If there are high spots big enough for a buck to bed on.

A sighting is best to know he's there and how big he is, but those big tracks (look for unique markings from the hooves to identify each individual buck) is number two in my book. Actually, tracks are usually my #1. You can find big bucks just by cruising around looking for tracks.