hunting VS. OVER hunting a specific deer

[regulat0r]

hi all,

i am hoping to hear some perspectives although this topic has been discussed before...long story short, there is a huge buck on my property that I was surprised to see make it through last season. I have been watching him from afar all summer as I know his habitat (my property) very well. I am familiar with the bedding areas, feeding areas, travel corridors etc. I have been watching him in the field each night and he seems to be pretty consistent in his movement. I was talking with a group of my hunting buddies last night and there seemed to be 2 schools of thought. the first was, dont leave that area until that deer is down...and the others said, only hunt the piece sporadically as to avoid spooking and pushing the deer away. it seemed to be the old timers who said hunt him hard until you get him and some of the younger guys were more concerned about wind direction, scent control etc. what do you all think would be my best strategy for harvesting this deer? thanks!

[Jeremy K]

Half the battle is already won, you know his travel route . I would set up on his travel route and wait until the wind is in your favor .

[Buckmaster7600]

If you have him patterned I would set up a couple stands for various wind conditions and only hunt them when the wind is perfect! Patience is key but your best chance to kill him is the first time you hunt the spot. He didn't survive to become the buck he is by being stupid! NY's season is too long to say he's been lucky.


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[Bowguy 1]

Rest your in other words sparingly go after him. Set up asap but make sure wind is perfect even for your entry and exit if you don't get him. Hunting him hard will only move him or make em nocturnal imo

[growalot]

All summer watch huh...when did you see him last year? Was it during hunting season or just before? How big is your hunting property?

I ask the above because deer patterns can change a lot from summer to fall. They can also take up a territorial route of a few miles. We have deer here that take a 3 mile loop and 3 days to do it. Others completely disappear. Listen about scent...for if it's an area of low human impact.he will nail the activity in the air. When in close to the rut his brain starts to turn off a little and instead of thinking survival he's engulfed in procreation, making things easier for you, if you have the doe.

Edited September 13, 2016 by growalot

[nyantler]

There is no way to "over hunt" a buck... there is however "over sitting" in the same stand, not paying attention to your scent, not doing your homework... or refusing to change strategies. You can never be certain when that buck will cross you path or you will cross his... the only thing you can be certain about is that every day you are not in the woods hunting that buck is a day you won't kill him.

[grampy]

Hunting mature bucks is a whole different game than hunting just any deer. The fact you have a mature buck on your property is exciting. As you can't kill one where none exist. But once they "know" they are being hunted, it makes killing him much harder, but not impossible. Another thing is, that though you have been watching him all summer his pattern is about to change! Available and preferred food sources are changing rapidly now. So try to be one step ahead, to be where he will be going to feed when you are hunting him! If you know his bedding area, make it off limits! Hunt between bedding and feeding, only when the wind is perfectly in your favor. Change stands and set-ups like your socks, very often, never let him pattern YOU. Early season before the rut is an excellent time to kill a mature buck! Some good advice has already been posted above and I'm sure more will follow this post.  I'm no expert! Just a hunter that has had some success killing mature bucks in an area where they are far and few between. Wish you the very best of luck hunting the monarch of your hunting property!

[Bowguy 1]

NYantlye I gotta respectfully disagree. Least where I hunt you absolutley can over hunt a buck. You are correct in the moving the stand thing but keep at him n he'll smell you, see you, etc, once that buck becomes suspicious it's pretty well over for a bit. He leaves or turns nocturnal. Best way to kill him is by taking your best shot while he's still in his pattern and conditions are perfect. Remember it's a mature buck n he's seen this before. 

[DirtTime]

Actually to "over hunt" means to harvest to many deer, or other game. Never heard 'over sit', but when I think about it, I would say it means to over pressure the buck, to hunt him too hard.  As already mentioned, his patters will change soon. Try to have a few set ups depending on wind. Make sure you have more then one route to your spots so he doesn't pattern you as grampy mentioned.

Hunt him for a day, give a rest for a day or two. It may not take long for an older wiley buck to move or go nocturnal over night.

 

[dbHunterNY]

just hunt smart and don't cut corners on things like scent reduction, wind, and stand access.  hunt hard with that stuff and others in mind and you won't be over pressuring him into changing up his routine and going somewhere else.  more often than not harmless encounters are made before a big buck gets killed.  hunt with reasoning and a plan always, despite more often than not the plan won't go accordingly.

[dbHunterNY]

4 hours ago, grampy said:

Hunting mature bucks is a whole different game than hunting just any deer. The fact you have a mature buck on your property is exciting. As you can't kill one where none exist. But once they "know" they are being hunted, it makes killing him much harder, but not impossible. Another thing is, that though you have been watching him all summer his pattern is about to change! Available and preferred food sources are changing rapidly now. So try to be one step ahead, to be where he will be going to feed when you are hunting him! If you know his bedding area, make it off limits! Hunt between bedding and feeding, only when the wind is perfectly in your favor. Change stands and set-ups like your socks, very often, never let him pattern YOU. Early season before the rut is an excellent time to kill a mature buck! Some good advice has already been posted above and I'm sure more will follow this post.  I'm no expert! Just a hunter that has had some success killing mature bucks in an area where they are far and few between. Wish you the very best of luck hunting the monarch of your hunting property!

a little sanctuary can go a long ways.  try not to hangout that close and upwind of it too much either.

[Bowguy 1]

5 hours ago, dbHunterNY said:

a little sanctuary can go a long ways.  try not to hangout that close and upwind of it too much either.

Very good point

[nyantler]

On ‎9‎/‎13‎/‎2016 at 0:23 PM, Bowguy 1 said:

NYantlye I gotta respectfully disagree. Least where I hunt you absolutley can over hunt a buck. You are correct in the moving the stand thing but keep at him n he'll smell you, see you, etc, once that buck becomes suspicious it's pretty well over for a bit. He leaves or turns nocturnal. Best way to kill him is by taking your best shot while he's still in his pattern and conditions are perfect. Remember it's a mature buck n he's seen this before. 

Unless you are in the big woods a buck does not necessarily leave town just because he smells a hunter. Where most people hunt on this forum deer are plenty use to human scent and ,although they may keep their distance at that moment or for the remainder of the day, they will only "disappear" if they feel intense hunting pressure. A deer seldom has to worry about a single hunter's scent he can avoid the hunter simply by detouring around or away from the scent. If you're hunting correctly and being smart there is no way to over hunt a deer. I've hunted many big bucks, on the ground and on their ass all season in the southern tier (and northern tier) and have a pretty good record of bagging those buck late in the season. When a big buck changes his pattern you have to change yours as well... my main point though was that you can either keep hunting that buck, or resign yourself to the fact that you're going to give up hunting that buck which means you probably won't kill him which has the same results as a buck becoming nocturnal. You can always continue to hunt that buck smartly and guarantee a better chance. Going elsewhere and hunting ensures you won't kill that buck. I think some get the term "over hunting" confused with "not hunting smartly"

[Bowguy 1]

7 minutes ago, nyantler said:

Unless you are in the big woods a buck does not necessarily leave town just because he smells a hunter. Where most people hunt on this forum deer are plenty use to human scent and ,although they may keep their distance at that moment or for the remainder of the day, they will only "disappear" if they feel intense hunting pressure. A deer seldom has to worry about a single hunter's scent he can avoid the hunter simply by detouring around or away from the scent. If you're hunting correctly and being smart there is no way to over hunt a deer. I've hunted many big bucks, on the ground and on their ass all season in the southern tier (and northern tier) and have a pretty good record of bagging those buck late in the season. When a big buck changes his pattern you have to change yours as well... my main point though was that you can either keep hunting that buck, or resign yourself to the fact that you're going to give up hunting that buck which means you probably won't kill him which has the same results as a buck becoming nocturnal. You can always continue to hunt that buck smartly and guarantee a better chance. Going elsewhere and hunting ensures you won't kill that buck. I think some get the term "over hunting" confused with "not hunting smartly"

I agree you need to hunt them smartly n a little scent may not totally freak em out if done very occassionally. But hunt em n get em suspicious by even hunting clean, mistakes still happen. Wind shifts, etc the deer will get harder to hunt the moment it detects the slightest pressure. Think we're sorta saying similar things. If you hunt when things are only perfect youd not be hunting him all the time n imo not overhuntimg him. Prob not hunting him all that much considering everything I listed such as exit n entry wind and routes. Best shot is still first one imo

[nyantler]

5 hours ago, Bowguy 1 said:

I agree you need to hunt them smartly n a little scent may not totally freak em out if done very occassionally. But hunt em n get em suspicious by even hunting clean, mistakes still happen. Wind shifts, etc the deer will get harder to hunt the moment it detects the slightest pressure. Think we're sorta saying similar things. If you hunt when things are only perfect youd not be hunting him all the time n imo not overhuntimg him. Prob not hunting him all that much considering everything I listed such as exit n entry wind and routes. Best shot is still first one imo

I guess I'm just more about outsmarting a buck at his own game... the harder the animal is to hunt the greater the satisfaction of the kill for me. I don't stand hunt anymore for the very reason that it puts too much restriction on me... not knowing exactly where a buck is makes me want to hunt him all the harder... I can't be tied to a stationary position allowing him the advantage of dictating when he'll show up.. i'm gonna dog him into the deepest hiding place he can find. If he's going to win  he'll have to work just as hard as me to avoid me.

[Bowguy 1]

1 hour ago, nyantler said:

I guess I'm just more about outsmarting a buck at his own game... the harder the animal is to hunt the greater the satisfaction of the kill for me. I don't stand hunt anymore for the very reason that it puts too much restriction on me... not knowing exactly where a buck is makes me want to hunt him all the harder... I can't be tied to a stationary position allowing him the advantage of dictating when he'll show up.. i'm gonna dog him into the deepest hiding place he can find. If he's going to win  he'll have to work just as hard as me to avoid me.

Well hunting the ground you can adjust. Sounds like you have a great game plan but the op is asking a question he's not sure the answer n may not have the experience you do. Id still advise being careful but it's prob like telling guys to wait after the shot, back out when unsure or not hunting if the wind isn't right. Guess we all gotta learn. Op whatever you try hope you get em. nyantler no disrespect at all intended

[Geno C]

I just have that mentality where you try hunting him hard as often as you can and you shoot yourself in the foot. I've seen a lot of guys give that advise and pay no attention to hunting a different stand, play the wind or even try to put the months of field data into a solid set plan. The more your in the woods,the more you're going to tip that buck off. Remember, you're in his house, not the other way around no matter how much you'd like to think you are. Sometimes on these bigger buck, we have a smaller window to connect and see that deer moving in day light hours, they move somewhere but you have to be in the right place, at the right time. You can watch a deer all summer, once that velvet comes off, they're different animals. Patterns will change, hours of movement and right now these bucks are hashing out that pecking order. They're not the same deer we've watched for the last 2 months. There are many variables to make things change right now. I think a great sign here is, if you're still seeing this buck, now, that's a great indication he is living somewhere around there. That info alone is key. Pretty crap feeling going in after a deer who's dispersed. I wouldn't turn the pressure up on him hard, that's just me, especially if the skill set is less then stellar in comparison to some other members who have had great luck doing so. Always remember, these deer don't get big on accident, often. And sometimes the most obvious spots, are the most over looked and tend to have less human intrusion.

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[Buckmaster7600]

Homework homework homework, if your going to do it from a stand spend every minute you have studying this buck. You absolute best chance to kill him is the first time you hunt him.


I will warn you having done this once before I had a beautiful 8 on my property10-11 years ago before I had trail cams I scouted from the top of that field and watched him 6 or 7 nights a weeks for a month and a half. I shot him sept 27 at around 6 o'clock in the evening. Although he was the biggest deer I had shot at the time it sucked killing him. That was the day I realized I love hunting way more Than the killing. There was no challenge in killing that buck. It was like playing a football game against a team that you have the playbook on.


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[nyantler]

On ‎9‎/‎14‎/‎2016 at 8:47 PM, Bowguy 1 said:

Well hunting the ground you can adjust. Sounds like you have a great game plan but the op is asking a question he's not sure the answer n may not have the experience you do. Id still advise being careful but it's prob like telling guys to wait after the shot, back out when unsure or not hunting if the wind isn't right. Guess we all gotta learn. Op whatever you try hope you get em. nyantler no disrespect at all intended

none taken.. just different philosophies for hunting big bucks... I'm all for whatever makes it fun for the hunter.