The Hunting Beast

Every year I notice one common thread between all [glow=red]CONSISTENT[/glow] big buck killers.

• They know a big buck is where they are hunting!

I have to remind myself of this while I am hunting to be sure I'm not just sitting "good" spots that probably don't have a big buck using them.

This is a big statement I was guilty of in my younger years.

Don't hunt where you think or hope they are , hunt them where they are.

Sounds simple but a lot of guys miss this or hunt sign that is only made at night.

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What is the determining factor to know you are hunting a spot a buck is using. I struggle with this on a couple places. Most people can get big buck pictures but never see the deer, don't see them on stand but sign is present in the way of scrapes, rubs and tracks but what if it's small property hunting.. They may not live there but travel it at time..

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hunter10 wrote:What is the determining factor to know you are hunting a spot a buck is using. I struggle with this on a couple places. Most people can get big buck pictures but never see the deer, don't see them on stand but sign is present in the way of scrapes, rubs and tracks but what if it's small property hunting.. They may not live there but travel it at time..

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As far as small properties go , you're basically at the mercy of the boundaries . If a big deer is not bedding or feeding there , you have to rely on does to bring him to you in the rut . That's a tough game to play and lost that game to the buck in my avatar. It's reality for a lot of people . That's also why I hunt a lot more public land these days .... More options to find a good deer and hunted less than my private spots.

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If you look at the live from the stand thread we all struggle with this, if we didn't we would be having a lot more buck encounters. Anyone can find sign or beds and hunt it, the hard part is picking the right location at the right time. We all aren't hunting the same land either so confirming there is a buck in the area isn't always easy. I can't glass or shine and running cams on 20 different pieced of public seems expensive. Sometimes we make the best guesses we can with the intel we have. I try and have 2-3 options for every hunt, that way if I'm not finding some kind of sign I can move on. Other times by the time I reach my location I am kind of committed to hunting it because of time and distance so I setup and see what happens. Even when I find good sign it doesn't really mean the bucks is there and I am sitting good, if just means that a buck was there and I hope he is still around and in the bed I am setup on. I work in as much in season scouting as I can but it's not always easy with a young family. You just do your best and try and have a blast along the way.

I have the problem where I can't shine the 500 acres I have permission on. Its really difficult to even have the time to scout it in the winter because of work and family time. I run a few cameras in the summer and have some really good bucks on camera but can't ever seen to find them. I find very good sign late in the year and I've seen a few good beds last winter. Its so difficult for me for some reason. I always see deer there but mostly doe or small buck. Nobody really hunts the property except me and my dad so its not real pressured. I want to put a map up her so some guys can see it and try to point me in the right direction.

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I think it's more important to know when NOT to hunt, than when to hunt.And I'm not saying don't hunt, I'm saying choose your best odds of things going in your favor. Don't set your heart on a spot and ruin it before its time. And this is a case by case basis. Forcing a hunt that isn't ready is a bad idea. That is why you have to have a huge inventory of places to go, and ideas on what to do. Don't have all your eggs in one basket...

Great topic. I set up opening day where I had been watching a mature buck come out in daylight up to 2 weeks prior. I go to check 2 days prior to opening day and talk to the farmer he observed the buck at a different spot about 50 yards from where I normally see the buck enter the field...game on! Opening day, 2 young girls walking right through suspected bedding area (neighborhood next to th woods)...hunt it anyways...buck comes out of a different woods about 300 yards away and not where I can hunt. The perils of urban and small property hunting...at least I know he is around

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Spysar wrote:I think it's more important to know when NOT to hunt, than when to hunt.And I'm not saying don't hunt, I'm saying choose your best odds of things going in your favor. Don't set your heart on a spot and ruin it before its time. And this is a case by case basis. Forcing a hunt that isn't ready is a bad idea. That is why you have to have a huge inventory of places to go, and ideas on what to do. Don't have all your eggs in one basket...

Bingo, determining absolute best conditions for each location/bed. I hunted my favorite bed opening night here, the Stars were aligned for me and I got skunked, but that was the 4th time hunting it in 4 years and was the first time I haven't at least seen a shooter buck.

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Spysar wrote:I think it's more important to know when NOT to hunt, than when to hunt.And I'm not saying don't hunt, I'm saying choose your best odds of things going in your favor. Don't set your heart on a spot and ruin it before its time. And this is a case by case basis. Forcing a hunt that isn't ready is a bad idea. That is why you have to have a huge inventory of places to go, and ideas on what to do. Don't have all your eggs in one basket...

Yep well said spy, I haven't touched my better spots because they aren't ready yet, however they are pretty darn close. Sometimes you do just have to hunt them and learn what works and what doesn't at different times of the year. My early season spots didn't produce much this year so I hit some new land recently. I didn't find anything great there either but at least I didn't burn up my prime rut beds before they were ready to produce.

A) Identify where a Big Buck lives or that you have one frequenting your land.
B) Set up a kill set.
C) Wait for conditions to be correct for the buck and yourself.

I think Spy hit the nail on the head where people identify and set up in the right spot,
but need to get in and hunt it right away or on the very next weekend. As has been
posted here on the Beast, waiting for the right moon time, weather variables and when
the buck is using the area are what stacks the odds in your favor...

The best hunters I know of, and having had a taxidermy business I've known a few, I would say to a T everyone of them would say their #1 thing that separates them is..........

1) attitude/passion - they keep a positive attitude, they believe it is going to happen each time they go out, no matter what happens and then #2
2) Persistence - they don't quit. I cannot tell you how many of them took some of their best animals on the last day, at the last hour......

3) Understanding animals, patterns, scouting, studying maps, finding food sources, bedding areas, glassing, etc.... that goes without saying for them

if it was "easy" everyone would be doing it and being successful at it. While it isn't necessarily hard (by that I mean finding a mature animal, climbing a tree, drawing a bow, and hitting them with an arrow), killing a mature buck anywhere is never easy and you better be able to adapt as things change. My guess is that even someone like Dan, spends many, many hours at many set ups for each buck he kills. When I listen to Andrea's video clips - I would say the thing that grabs me about him is sheer determination and persistence - he keeps at it and does what it takes. I mean, who would ever think to purposely bump a mature whitetail and then set up right then and there. Find whatever quality that is, bottle it and you'll be rich (and successful) quick.

Spysar wrote:I think it's more important to know when NOT to hunt, than when to hunt.And I'm not saying don't hunt, I'm saying choose your best odds of things going in your favor. Don't set your heart on a spot and ruin it before its time. And this is a case by case basis. Forcing a hunt that isn't ready is a bad idea. That is why you have to have a huge inventory of places to go, and ideas on what to do. Don't have all your eggs in one basket...

Couldn't agree more.

Picking the right time to sit a spot can be the difference between success and failure. Obviously if you are lucky enough to lay eyes on the buck it's best to hunt him right away. But if you are relying on your post season scouting it's tough to know exactly when the buck that made the sign you find in March was there. You have to make an educated guess most of the time and the only thing you have to go on is past experience.

A quick example; last year in September I went into a spot I found the previous spring. When I got there I found zero for buck sign. So I went for a walk to see what I could find instead of setting up. I eventually found just a little fresh buck sign in an area right up by the parking lot where I knew a group of does usually hung out but nothing to get too excited about. I left without hunting.

I came back a month and a half later at the end of October and found clusters of rubs outside of the doe bedding area. I setup on a funnel leaving the doe beds that went towards the private crop fields. I had a good buck come through following a doe just after legal shooting light. I went back to give it another shot the next day but nothing showed so I considered it burnt and got down to start scouting. I followed the trails back towards the doe bedding and found a bed right off the doe trails worn to the ground with huge rubs right in the bed.

Now I know that buck moved in there around mid October to start monitoring those does. At least that's my best guess. Now I have a plan for this year come about October 20th.

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It is hard to just sit back and keep spotting/scouting/trailcaming.... but if you want a big one you have to

The other thing not mentioned above is simply TIME.... it takes a lot of hours to do it every year

There is certainly a difference between DEER hunting and mature buck hunting.

I often gotta remind myself I've seen and killed a lot of deer...stick after the mature bucks I want...

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