Mature Bucks

[buckman4c]

Thanks NFA

[G-Man]

First. You cannot kill a mature buck in a spot it does not exist. You need to have seen it or trust a person who has seen it. ( trail.cams do a,lot of this now. ) 

Second . Long range scouting of the area to learn a pattern ( a mature deer may have an attention,bubble of 1/2 To 1 mile. Where they keep track of every sound.). so driving up to an area may be enough to spook them let alone hearing a car or truck door slam.

Third. Your use of topo  and Ariel photos are a great help. You need to find an access route into and out of the area you plan to set up.

Fourth. You need to set up in an area to give yourself ample legal shooting light.. 

Fifth. Once you find the spot the 18 yard spot to hang your stand will be by wind direction.. not how straight the tree is for your stand. And only hunt said stand when conditions are right

. It is far better to be in the right tree to kill a deer that you might see than to see a deer that you might kill. 

I have a chance at a mature buck about every other year where I hunt. And have taken a few. Do not waste your time holding out for a 140 plus if the area your in does not have one. You will just become frustrated an make mistakes as well as become bitter and generally be a Pita to your friends and hunting partners

[nyslowhand]

^^^ you almost forgot #6- During the rut anything goes. You'll see BBs you've never gotten photos of all summer/fall and for sure never see the ones you'd been tracking for months. Granted, it does improve your chances on a BB you've seen for months or even semi-located his core home-base. BUT when the rut is on, a certain amount of this predictability or patterning vanishes. Hell, if it was easy, it wouldn't be fun anymore!

[G-Man]

1 hour ago, nyslowhand said:

^^^ you almost forgot #6- During the rut anything goes. You'll see BBs you've never gotten photos of all summer/fall and for sure never see the ones you'd been tracking for months. Granted, it does improve your chances on a BB you've seen for months or even semi-located his core home-base. BUT when the rut is on, a certain amount of this predictability or patterning vanishes. Hell, if it was easy, it wouldn't be fun anymore!

Personally I hate hunting the rut. And I do believe some of the largest bucks do not.participate in such foolishness. One or two doe will search them out.and they do not have to move to find more

[landtracdeerhunter]

On 2/24/2017 at 3:19 PM, buckman4c said:

  Let me start by saying I completely understand hunting for mature bucks isn't for everyone. This topic is intended to get feedback from hunters who have consistently killed mature bucks on public land or private land which is hunted heavily. I'm from Pennsylvania but have hunted other states as well. I have hunted deer in New York, Virginia and Mississippi. I have been hunting for 36 years and although well seasoned have only killed one mature buck. I have "played" the waiting game off and on since 1992. What I mean by this is, I have passed on immature bucks for the most part since that time but on occasion for whatever reason I have killed bucks since that time. Here's the idea: 1993 until 1996 when I killed a buck, 1997-2004 when I killed (2) bucks, 2005-2009, 2010 to 2012 and 2013 to current day. As you can see I have been fairly patient in my quest to kill a mature buck. The year I shot (2) bucks is when I killed my only mature buck and it happened to be in Virginia. All of the Pa bucks were 2.5 year old eight pointers. I have had a few opportunities at mature bucks but just haven't been able to close the deal.

  With winter scouting in full swing I'm looking for ideas on tactics used by you savvy big buck killers to possibly improve my ability to see more of the mature bucks and to put a few on the ground. I will share with you some of the approaches and tactics I'm currently using. 2017 will be my fifth year of trying to put it all together. Any feedback is appreciated and let me add so it doesn't become the topic of discussion, there ARE mature bucks in the area I'm hunting.

  To further assist the process, the area I hunt is public land and what would be described as "Ridge and Valley". Imagine a tall ridge line with valleys to either side. The valley to the south has agriculture while the valley to the north has clear cuts and creek bottom thicket. The area is 5k acres in size. I do NOT have access to the south valley agriculture which is all private and owners who hunt themselves do not allow access. I can hunt the ridge top and to the north. I generally concentrate my efforts along the ridge top, essentially between the clear cuts in the north valley and the agriculture in the south valley. The ridge top is heavily forested with mature timber, acorn producing oaks etc.. There are also areas of rhododendron and pine stands.

  So, what tactics work for you on mature bucks??

  

We have a lot of fun deer hunting. I can't think of any other sport that is enjoyed more by our family; well maybe turkey hunting, LOL

I keep it simple to answer your question   . Luck, Luck, Patients, Time, Food, Food ( for both you and the deer) and more food. But above all, enjoy nature for what it has to offer. 

[cbyzerman]

11 hours ago, G-Man said:

Personally I hate hunting the rut. And I do believe some of the largest bucks do not.participate in such foolishness. One or two doe will search them out.and they do not have to move to find more

Right on the money-----  couldnt agree more.

 

 

[wolc123]

Sometimes, you can make your own "Luck".  Last fall, I "accidentally" fooled one (just a 3.5 year old, which is "mature" in my book) using a sneaky trick.  Almost every evening, from mid-summer through pre-rut period, that particular buck would feed in a foodplot, usually entering well before legal sunset.   I had a nice, natural ground-blind overlooking this plot, but he never showed up on the days I was in it.  Somehow, he always knew when it was safe to feed there.  It was almost as if he had some type of magical sixth sense which allowed him to survive his first two antlered seasons.  I don't often have a "hit-list", but this buck was on mine from the first time I saw him on the day I planted that foodplot.

His luck ran out on the Friday before Veteran's day last fall.   I had forgot the adjustable-height chair that I normally use in that ground blind.   I went to it anyhow, using an upturned 5-gallon bucket to sit on.   I soon realized that the bucket was not high enough to allow a shot over the trimmed branches, which formed the blind.   About 1/2 hour before sunrise, I decided to make a move to a two-story blind that was about 100 yards into the adjacent woods.   I would not have moved, had I been in that tall, comfortable chair.

The wind and weather were almost perfect, so I climbed up to the upper, open deck of the blind.  The blind overlooked a spot, back by an old gas well, where every year there was a big buck scrape.  I had passed a few small bucks from it, over the three years it was there, but never killed one from it.  It was my first time up there that fall, and I was initially disappointed by all the leaves that had collected inside the three walls that formed the shooting rests.  

Then I decided to try and sound like a buck clearing leaves from a scrape, as I cleaned out those leaves.  Using my hands like hoofs, I scraped them all out and down and out over the open side.   Then I placed my crossbow up on the rails and got comfortable in the plastic swivel chair that was up there.  

The buck had entered the foodplot about 10 minutes after I left according to witnesses.   He fed on clover just like he always did until something got his attention.   His head came up and he stared towards my direction, then bee-lined it into the woods.   I caught the motion about 15 minutes before legal sundown.   My crossbow was already up and pointed in the right direction.  When he reached an opening I squeezed the trigger.   He bolted back towards the plot, but I soon heard a crash.   I said a quick prayer, for an easy recovery, got down, and reloaded.  

Hearing the crash, and wanting to use some remaining sunlight, made me decide to only wait about 5 minutes before following his trail.   As soon as I made the first turn, I saw the big carcass piled up near the center of the thin strip of woods, the white patches of the throat and stomach still visible in the fading light.                  

       

 

 

Edited March 18, 2018 by wolc123

[KMurph332]

Loving this topic so much to read and learn wish i could add a little but im still very green lol

[Steve D]

7 minutes ago, KMurph332 said:

Loving this topic so much to read and learn

Don't suck it all up.....you need some high boots to wade through some of it.

[Four Season Whitetail's]

2 hours ago, Steve D said:

Don't suck it all up.....you need some high boots to wade through some of it.

Yeah like guys like Wolc trying to help another hunter  kill big mature bucks....One has to do said killing in order to give any kind of advice.  

[nyslowhand]

When there's so many opposing opinions put forth by the so called experts (whitetail biologist) and even more from hunters experiences, it makes it difficult to state "this is what BBs do during the rut!". Can't call these deer different sub-species, but everyone should agree there's a difference in hunting for strictly BBs from LI, the ADKs, to WNY in the S-Tier or the Catskills. JMO, it's mainly habitat or food source driven behavior. Also these different hunting regions or even specific local pockets produce different definitions of a mature buck. Finally, whitetail deer are animals and behave differently from one another, just like humans. So there's no rule of thumb saying this is how to harvest a big mature buck per your own definition in the area you hunt. Lot of generalized "rules of engagement" that can make your success rate increase, but you really need to hunt in a way that makes your luck improve. Then there's patience...!!!

[LET EM GROW]

On 3/17/2018 at 8:56 PM, G-Man said:

Personally I hate hunting the rut. And I do believe some of the largest bucks do not.participate in such foolishness. One or two doe will search them out.and they do not have to move to find more

I agree with this, when it comes to fully matured bucks.. In my area anyways where we manage anyways.. Bucks like the 5.5yr+.. They breed the local does in and around their core area and not any further.   

[reeltime]

kind of late to the party and not sure I can add much worth to what has already been said here by some of the folks that have posted.

my take on hunting mature bucks is basically a combination of certain points of a number of the notes posted here.

I use trail cams very little and in my experience I generally get maybe 1 cam pic of a certain mature buck and then never again and I don't check cams more than once a month.

I do far more long range scouting preseason, I am a firm believer in holding your cards close to your chest.  I have said many times that once a buck reaches 4.5 yo you are hunting a totally different creature than a 1.5 or 2.5 yo buck.  many times you only get 1 or maybe 2 chances at him and if you get sloppy in your approach of the hunt you may likely not see that buck again or you may never see him if he busts you before you get to actually put eyes on him.  what I mean by a sloppy approach is poor stand placement, not paying attention to the wind and thermals, how you approach and exit your stands, how many times you hunt a stand, clearing shooting lanes, hunting too open of an area, scent control, use of scents.  All these things in combination can and or will help or hinder your success rate.

once you are on a mature buck the first thing you must do is keep your mouth shut, hate to be blunt but with the antler craze of today and the technology of today its easy for internet scouter and even "friends" to find out where you are hunting. this means don't tell anyone no matter how innocent the person may seem, that person could just innocently tell someone and it can snowball from there.   your chance of success increases dramatically if YOU are the only one hunting a particular buck.  Hiding your vehicle, getting dropped off, hunting dark to dark after being dropped off.  some may scoff at this statement but when you are known to kill mature bucks and or turkeys other hunters WILL watch for your vehicle.

Patience, not only patience in the stand but more importantly patience to wait until the conditions are RIGHT to hunt that particular buck.  believe me I used to be "that" guy that hunted every available minute of every single archery season and spent hours and hours in the woods scouting. still killed bucks but not mature bucks.  the last 10 years I have become far more patient, far more days not hunted....I am not gonna lie its tough to set out days but the rewards for me have been far greater in my patience. As has been said your first set in a stand is often times your best chance to connect. 

As far as stands go,  I have very few in open hardwoods or along field edges, if you can not get in or out without getting busted your finished before you begin.  if you want to see great distances in open hardwoods well the deer can see you as well.  use terrain and cover to enter and exit.  I love hemlock trees for stands, if not available I pick multi trunk trees, if neither is available then a tree suitable to get up 30-40 feet. 

I do NOT clear shooting lanes, most of my stands are 10 yards or less shots, remember you are in THEIR home, if I came in your house and moved your kitchen table how soon would you realize it was moved? It blows me away to see a stand in the woods and for 30 yards around it the person has cut down every single piece of brush.  If I notice it as a passer by don't you think the deer that live there will notice it?

scent control, some people scoff at it but its in my opinion one of the bigger factors in success or lack of, while true we will never ever be 100% scent free we can do things to help minimize our scent. while scent control practices is a whole long note in itself I will just say that in correlation with first time success at a stand has a lot to do with scent saturation. human scent lingers LONG after we exit the woods no matter how well we think we do on scent control, the more times you visit a stand the more scent you leave behind to tip off the deer.

 

 

 

[NonTypical]

I couldn't have said it better myself. Great post reeltime. Those are words to live by.