Establishing Patterns

[Redman232]

In 2012, the second week of November I observed a whopper on the same trail at the same time on the 1st and 3rd day of a 5 day hunt. On the 5th day I had a gun in my hand and was ready for him. A neighbor girl shot him about 300 yds before he made it to the property I was hunting, traveling in the same direction he did on the 1st and 3rd day. I'm pretty confident this was his rut "circuit" as I was saw him right around 9:30 both days and I heard the shot shortly after 9:00am. It's the only time I can recall seeing a mature buck do the same thing twice during the rut. Too inconsistent to depend on as a tactic in my opinion.

In 2017 I observed a buck head to the same bed 3 times (1st week of October, 3rd week of October and 2nd week of November), all on a wind with a N in it. The buck came from a different direction all 3 times until he was 50 or 60 yards from the bed. He crossed a creek at the same location all 3 times. 3rd time I shot him just after crossing the creek 40 yards or so from the bed. Access/Exit from a wind based bedding area is the only pattern I've observed with any consistency. Without this place I don't know that I would have ever figured that out.