I believe this to be fact

[Bucky]

In regard to diminishing returns...to me the highest odds situation is have 7 different annual pattern setups and hunt each of them once over the course of a week, not one of them seven times, or two of them three or four times each. First hunt in tends to be the best.

This is why I run a TON of cameras on many different properties.... I'm looking for trophy deer to hunt and patterns. I hunt different areas and different patterns weekly to keep things fresh

When I don't have a good idea of a high odds hunt... I keep moving cameras to try and find something and spend more time with my family. If I find something on camera that looks right.... I hunt it ASAP or bank that intel for the following year.

When November hits... I hunt as much as I can period. But early season and pre-rut I'm really focused on trailcam info. This process can work during the rut too... if u re-read my 2nd bow kill last year, it was heavily related to trailcam data the few days prior to arrowing the buck.

[Dhurtubise]

I had to laugh when I heard a duck quacking in the background when Don Higgins lead into his belief of annual patterns (-51.30 minute)

Is there a podcast or a video that I missed? I reread the whole thread without finding one.
I thought the same thing!

In regard to diminishing returns...to me the highest odds situation is have 7 different annual pattern setups and hunt each of them once over the course of a week, not one of them seven times, or two of them three or four times each. First hunt in tends to be the best.

[ Post made via iPhone ]

[BassBoysLLP]

I had to laugh when I heard a duck quacking in the background when Don Higgins lead into his belief of annual patterns (-51.30 minute)

Is there a podcast or a video that I missed? I reread the whole thread without finding one.
I thought the same thing!

In regard to diminishing returns...to me the highest odds situation is have 7 different annual pattern setups and hunt each of them once over the course of a week, not one of them seven times, or two of them three or four times each. First hunt in tends to be the best.

[ Post made via iPhone ]

Check out the latest wired to hunt podcast with Don Higgins as a guest.

[ Post made via Android ]

[Dhurtubise]

I had to laugh when I heard a duck quacking in the background when Don Higgins lead into his belief of annual patterns (-51.30 minute)

Is there a podcast or a video that I missed? I reread the whole thread without finding one.
I thought the same thing!

In regard to diminishing returns...to me the highest odds situation is have 7 different annual pattern setups and hunt each of them once over the course of a week, not one of them seven times, or two of them three or four times each. First hunt in tends to be the best.

[ Post made via iPhone ]

Check out the latest wired to hunt podcast with Don Higgins as a guest.

[ Post made via Android ]

Thx

[ Post made via iPhone ]

[Stanley]

Good stuff Bucky. Be interested to see when he breaks pattern.

[hunter_mike]

Bump

[SplitG2]

I whole heartedly 100% believe in this and can prove it with many different bucks thru the years. It doesn't even have to be rut, this stands true for all phases of the season. I have actually found the late season to be the most highly accurate but again, I have seen this hold true in all phases of the season. And not that it helps us hunting but I have seen this hold true for night time photos as well. Not that my knowlege or experience means anything to you guys or is worth a crap anyways but the 2 things that I have noticed about this particular pattern is that time of the day in late season will more often than not be within 2 hours or less of the previous year and when it comes to the specific date, if you can find out what the wind direction was on the date of the previous years daylight/shooting light pics of a specific buck and then find the day in the current year closest to that date with the exact same wind, more often than not that buck will make an appearance.....given hes not dead, been pressured like crazy etc. etc.

I love this particularly subject. It's very interesting to me and oddly enough, despite knowing that it happens, I've never used it to my advantage but intend to use it this year on a buck that has eluded me for 4 years and it seems to be the only way hes killable. If I don't have him on the ground before December 16, throughout the rest of the season if I get a ENE wind around 4 particular dates between December16th and January 31 I will be in a particular tree.

[Crazy4bucks]

I have seen this as well. Biggest deer I have ever had pictures of has come from the neighbors across the road to the farm I hunt 2 years in a row last week of November. 3 years ago a 3 1/2 yo with extreme potential did the same thing but ended up getting killed the next week. I believe they have just run out of does and are looking for doe in estrous.

[whitetailassasin]

We actually talk about this all the time when we talk about patterning whitetails and learning our areas. It's all relative. Hot spots each year, food sources, areas, pressure, rut. I can confirm the same beliefs as Bucky has stated. Deer move through the same areas, during the same time, for multiple reasons we constantly discuss on here. It's habit out of nature and necessity and it's why mature bucks grow old and solving that puzzle is how we fill the walls up.

[Bucky]

The deer that was above in those pics is now dead

[mainebowhunter]

I apologize if this turns into a book I love this discussion.

Super interesting read. Historical data is something that truly fascinates me. Over the past few years I have been trying to keep track of the trends...problem is many times I don't get a lot of chances at the deer that made the trends. Some years...I will lose a whole generation of deer. 3 to 5yrs in some spots gone. Early season trends are definitely a bit more fickle than hormone based trends.

Food rotation is so varied here in the bigger woods. So many different combinations. This year is my favorite combo. Heavy apples. ...few acorns. With my second year on this urban property, I am seeing a completely different trend this year. Bucks are moving much more during daylight. Bucks that never once showed daylight are showing this year (a year older). Its why many times here it can take a few years to get an area down. With a sept 9 opener. ..those pics start to mean something. Plenty of scouting has been done to know where they move to throughout the season. There is one giant that I am chasing. 2016 he disappeared for 20 days after he shed velvet which was right around Sept 5. in 2016 out of all the cams I ran. Probably only got daylight pics of him 5-6x all season. From August to December. Lots of pics of him. Just not many daylight. 2017 1 daylight occurrence so far. There is another buck that showed up at Thanksgiving. 4.5yr+ came close to killing him in December. Should be interesting to see if he is back on the same ground scrape again.

Killed a buck in 2015 in one bedding area that is always good on an odd year when the apples produce. Pruning an apple tree made it produce 2yrs in a row. 2017 is another year that should show good bucks moving back into here. Post season showed up and comers made it. So far, none of them have showed up. Trends say, they should be here by now. So A. they are late B. they are dead. C. somehow I have missed them over the last month.

Bottom line, I have a LOT of trends that I am looking for this year. I have also seen a LOT of "hopeful" trends FAIL miserably. There are a LOT that I have tried to capitalize on the next season only to have it be a bust. The #1 reason is the deer die and many times, no other mature bucks move in to take their place. Gun season in certain areas is pretty ruthless.

I would LOVE to hear specific examples. I have killed rut bucks with these tactics but very few early season deer. (prior to Oct 15)

[MikePerry]

I've been seeing the same thing and have killed my last two mature bucks within two days of daytime photos of him from the previous year on the same trail leading to doe bedding areas, I should mention that the cameras were set the season before in a area I did not hunt all that fall, in both cases the were left out all season. The PA buck was killed on the first sit and the Ohio buck was the 4th sit. I had a killer approach up a feeder creek to that stand in Ohio and a perfect wind all for days so I was able to get away with 4 hunts there in 10 days. I saw that buck three out of four days Nov 7,9, and killed him the 14th. The previous year the only two daylight photos I had of him was November 6th and 12th. I did have to make a 70 yard adjustment down the trail the final day and that's when I killed him.

[Matty]

I absolutely agree with you.

I could cite many examples of getting the same buck in the same area at the same time, its something I keep an eye out for. Of course there are many exceptions as always too.

Somewhat related - I also think individual does come around the same time every year - meaning if a doe comes around early look for her there next year at that time.

Completely agree with this. I've noticed it for some time, especially in my yard...But it was hard for me to know how typical this is. And most guys act like this stuff is crazy when you mention these observations and theories. Knowing that others are witnessing the same thing, I am pretty confident it's accurate.

I think some, most or maybe even all does come into estrous around the same day every year (within a few days maybe) and because of this, bucks have a circuit that they follow.

"Sally should be ready today, I'll head on over and breed her....then go over and visit Wendy on Tuesday, breed her, walk a mile to go see Christine on Friday."

[Jonny]

bump

[mspaci]

Friend of mine killed a dandy in Ct this year next to our property. Buck showed up on camera one day & he killed it the next day. I had shined him a few times near by & hoped he would come our way. Mike