chancehutcheson
New Member
I feel like I'm stuck in a rut only seeing little bucks and mainly does. Hunting state ground. Any suggestions?
Suggestions to see more bucks
- Thread starter chancehutcheson
- Start date
Be willing to go a lot deeper than anyone else. Most folks on public will only go so far. Mature bucks feel that pressure.
Stay longer during the rut. I personally don't hunt as much as I used to but I'm very fortunate if I see a "shooter" once a year
MickThompson
Well-Known Member
Get out of your best spots until the rut starts kicking
RobDooley
Well-Known Member
Yep, especially if hunting private land. Pack a lunch and stay all day.
Unless a buck is on an estrous doe, don't expect to see him outside of heavy cover in daylight. Whether I'm hunting farm country or big woods, I don't generally encounter big boys until I'm in a place I can't walk through without getting burs, briars, stickers, and thorns. Other humans, coyotes, etc. don't venture into those places often, and even if they do they make so much noise the buck will have plenty time to slip out unnoticed. If you're not hunting spots like that, you're probably not seeing many mature bucks.
wobblegobble
Well-Known Member
First thing you got have is indeed better bucks! Only way to do that is let deer get to 5 years old
Shed Hunter
Well-Known Member
Do what other people aren't doing.
Go read as many public land advice posts you can find and the one thing you'll read over and over and over is "go deep into the woods" My biggest deer was killed 75 yards off a main trail. Every hunter thinks you have to go deep to kill deer and that's why there are just as many hunters deep into the woods as there are near the road. Another 4.5 year old buck I shot 30 yards off a main trail while walking down a hiking trail.
Move around. That's the one thing most hunters actually still aren't doing. Mature bucks on public land will take note of where you are hunting.
Shed Hunter
Well-Known Member
4.5 seems to be a peak in antler score for the deer I have photographed in TN on public land.
Easier said than done, especially on public grounds. One farm I hunt is 150acres and even there I have no control over which bucks survive. Neighbors kill whatever is legal. Time and time again I've let good up and comers live to see what they can become, only for them to fall to a neighbor. That's as much control as most of us have. On public ground, even that is gone.
fairchaser
Well-Known Member
Search for bigger bucks with multiple trail cams. Once you find an area where one lives, hunt it sparingly and only in favorable winds. Usually, you will kill him on 1-3 hunts if you hunt when you've got daylight pics. Don't give away your intentions until the time is right.
killingtime 41
Well-Known Member
The idea about going deep is not just for the sake of walking. It's because most hunters will not go deep. And if everyone went deep then the moto would be 100 yards off the road and no more. You can kill them not far from the road if your not surrounded by other hunters. Or find an unpressurized place. Just keep in mind where all the other hunters are and find a place they are not. Going deep is a much better idea knowing that most other public land hunters won't. In my opinion that is.
Excellent advice! If you blow em out early it will be hard to see them when they are most vulnerable.
The biggest problem with going deep on public land in Tennessee is that it's just not possible to get far away from a road or access point. Most wmas have roads all over them.
Imo, going deeper than other hunters is only effective if you find a buck. Whether pressured public or unhunted private, bucks do what bucks do. Older bucks spend their daylight in a spot where they can be alone, but with the ability to sense anything coming near. It always has a view and or scent cone that allows him to monitor doe movements. It also needs to have browse within feet of the bed(s). They'll chew cud, get up to browse, lay back down for a nap, etc. all day long. If you're not inside or near that bubble, you're never going to see him no matter how deep you hiked. When he ventures out at night it's usually right at or right after dark, so you've got to be close.
The only other way to get on a big buck, the way most folks get a shot, is the few times during rut when he puts himself outside his bubble during daylight. That's really when he is truly vulnerable.
The only other way to get on a big buck, the way most folks get a shot, is the few times during rut when he puts himself outside his bubble during daylight. That's really when he is truly vulnerable.
For everytime someone passes a 3-4 yr old, that buck has beat 20-50 other hunters (at least) at their game. You or I can give a buck a pass but for them to grow to full potential is on them. The truly paranoid ones make it longer many of them, even with today's technology, are rarely seen by till they day they are dropped.
With all that said I have harvested bucks at least 6 years old, with pictures each year of their unique racks/growth that barely would have scored over 120". Me personally, I am more interested in the deers history on my land than it's antler growth. And I also must say if the neighbors drop the deer I pass, more power to them. It is a shared resource.
Agreed on all points, especially the enjoyment of watching a buck grow year after year.
I once got to see inside a barn of a convicted poacher. Every wall from ceiling to floor was lined with skull plates of antlers .... big ones. That sight burned into my brain like it was yesterday. Aside from being sick to my stomach, I couldn't help but feel amazed at the sheer number of truly giant racks accumulated in one season in one area. It made me wonder just how many big bucks exist that we never see. This was before over the counter trail cams. Now days it's hard to imagine anything in the woods not getting its picture taken.
While I'm no expert, I don't think going deeper is always the answer. I think that going where others aren't is the ticket. Now, admittedly, I haven't killed any huge bucks on public…. But I've had some success finding deer when others are seeing none.
A few tips I've found that have worked well for me. Where ever you park, walk up hill. If you enter a WMA and the road goes way back, park at the entrance and scout around the edges close to where everyone drives past. Use squirrel season as a reason to cover ground and look for old bucks sign and then find the thickest cover near by for next year's hunt.
A few tips I've found that have worked well for me. Where ever you park, walk up hill. If you enter a WMA and the road goes way back, park at the entrance and scout around the edges close to where everyone drives past. Use squirrel season as a reason to cover ground and look for old bucks sign and then find the thickest cover near by for next year's hunt.
Interesting that a poacher kept the evidence
guess they were in it for the "trophy" only/mostly which makes me think a lot of meat was wasted too. No accounting for how some folks think.I recall listening as a kid along with my father to a reformed (in this case you can read that as born again) poacher, moonshiner, etc. He was a friend from church and helped teach me reading deer movement and predicting where it would be, shooting what I call "holes" in heavy brush.
This was in Pennsylvania and during/after the great depression he "market hunted" meat & trophy racks. The trophies went to big steel executives in Pittsburgh as well as the oil boom execs. The amount of meat he talked about being moved was commercial grade.
He did not glory in his story, a very unique and humble man. He actually probably is solely responsible for me being a beekeeper since we heard these stories sitting by his hives.
