tree_ghost
Well-Known Member
Dang I wouldn't have guessed that. Early bow season is a PITA sometimes with the heat and bugs though
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Help Support TNDeer:
For those who have harvested mature bucks with a bow
- Thread starter Bushape
- Start date
easy45
Well-Known Member
I only hunt out of ladder stands during bow season, leave them up year round, hunt the wind and they work just fine.
I refuse to comment on this thread because I have never killed a mature buck with a bow.
It's not too late to turn your life around
I've shot several from ladder stands. Most of these stands were in place before the deer I killed were even born, so it is a part of their normal environment. As others have said, it is hunter's pressure that alerts the deer. I also think you leave a lot more scent in the area when you hang a new stand.
CliffordN
Well-Known Member
Looks like everyone has mentioned most of the issues, but I would add that how you access any stand is a key factor in how long it will work for you. Find a way to get in and out without letting them know you have been in there, hunt only on the right wind, and a ladder stand will work great. A lot of this depends on picking the right location to begin with, not only where you can kill a deer, but making how you access it a priority.
I've Killed a couple. These are a few from my trophy room.
Here is the nuts and bolts and a few how to's!
WIND.
APPROACH!
FRESH STANDS!
SILENCE on entrance, exit, and while on stand.
And for goodness sakes, hunt the RUT.
There are TWO times when big mature bucks are most vulnerable.
1-EARLY bow season when they are patternable and observable from a long distance.
2-RUT! And you better know what time of year FOR THE AREA YOU ARE HUNTING, is PEAK chasing time for daylight active MATURE BUCKS!
I have killed mature bucks in ladder stands but prefer not to. I do not like the way they make really loud cracking sounds when they get left out in the rain and then the water freezes that's inside the stands.
Here is the nuts and bolts and a few how to's!
WIND.
APPROACH!
FRESH STANDS!
SILENCE on entrance, exit, and while on stand.
And for goodness sakes, hunt the RUT.
There are TWO times when big mature bucks are most vulnerable.
1-EARLY bow season when they are patternable and observable from a long distance.
2-RUT! And you better know what time of year FOR THE AREA YOU ARE HUNTING, is PEAK chasing time for daylight active MATURE BUCKS!
I have killed mature bucks in ladder stands but prefer not to. I do not like the way they make really loud cracking sounds when they get left out in the rain and then the water freezes that's inside the stands.
And another thing.
If you want to be able to kill a deer with a bow...ESPECIALLY a RARE mature, large antlered buck, YOU BETTER practice. AND NOT ON TARGETS!!!!
You need to practice on LIVE, breathing, living, moving, jumpy deer. ANY LEGAL DEER!
Kill them, donate to HFTH or whatever but people need to practice killing DEER to get really good!
Because when those GIANTS show up, you're gonna need all the experience you can get!
If you want to be able to kill a deer with a bow...ESPECIALLY a RARE mature, large antlered buck, YOU BETTER practice. AND NOT ON TARGETS!!!!
You need to practice on LIVE, breathing, living, moving, jumpy deer. ANY LEGAL DEER!
Kill them, donate to HFTH or whatever but people need to practice killing DEER to get really good!
Because when those GIANTS show up, you're gonna need all the experience you can get!
Just out of curiosity, when you are formulating your plan do you utilize cameras to select a single buck or do you look for travel corridors and shoot the first mature deer that comes through? Obviously your trophy wall speaks for itself but would you say those trophies are a result of year(s) of planning your assault on that deer or rather finding locations that others avoid? Not meaning for any of this to sound like an insult as I find myself trying to get to a point where I know where a deer is going to be. I bowhunt on a lease with rifle hunters and can pretty much count on them to pressure the normal deer traffic areas. My plans have to go deeper.
Try to find a lot of different areas in different counties if not different states.
STACK UP LOTS OF SPOTS!
Terrain features!
And set realistic goals for the area you're hunting. Don't go for B/C bucks where they simply don't exist in hunt able numbers.
If you are holding out for a B/C, or even P/Y buck in certain parts of Tennessee, Ga., Al.,etc, then you may as well hunt for MULE DEER...in that same area. You'll probably see about as many.
I hunt areas with expectations of killing a big bodied mature looking representative of a good buck for THAT area!
I hunt food sources for does. Bucks will follow.
I figure wind for that area. Watch thermals and fronts carefully. And try to put myself at the right stand with the right wind at the right time.
Fallen trees, rock bluffs, water (my favorite but all too often too obvious).
I do the vast majority of my scouting and prep work from now through green up (late March).
I do use cameras but only in the last couple years. And I truly believe that they hurt as much as they help.
I killed my 300th whitetail by bow last season in an area where I went in to PULL a camera that wasn't even showing doe activity. There was virtually NOTHING on camera for TWO weeks.
I was running late when I got to the parking spot so I took my stand the 270 yards back into the thicket.
I was AMAZED at the amount of sign BEHIND the camera.
I pulled the camera and set up 20' up off a well used trail.
The camera was obviously pointed the wrong direction.
I left my stand and called in (grunt) a mature (for that area) public land P/Y (gross) to 10 yards.
He's on the wall (not in pics).
I've said this many times. Killing MATURE bucks OR does is a whole lot more about THEM screwing up and making a mistake that you capitalize on, than you being a great hunter.
But TARGETING a SPECIFIC buck, patterning and holding out for that ONE buck, is a recipe for a divorce! Or a long single life.
IT IS TOUGH!
Opportunity meeting preparation.
Leases and clubs are some of the hardest places there are to hunt. Word travels fast and people know too much about what others are doing, seeing, killing.
I was involved in leasing from'89-2005?
Some of the highest pressured whitetails EVER!
Public hunting ain't got nothing on some clubs as far as pressure.
My style of hunting is for numbers!
Target ops.
FUN!
I rarely pass a shot on a doe. It IS the best practice possible.
I only pass does when I am hunting an area where I know I may have an opportunity at a big mature buck because of sign, and RUT timing.
And I RARELY target a specific buck!
STACK UP LOTS OF SPOTS!
Terrain features!
And set realistic goals for the area you're hunting. Don't go for B/C bucks where they simply don't exist in hunt able numbers.
If you are holding out for a B/C, or even P/Y buck in certain parts of Tennessee, Ga., Al.,etc, then you may as well hunt for MULE DEER...in that same area. You'll probably see about as many.
I hunt areas with expectations of killing a big bodied mature looking representative of a good buck for THAT area!
I hunt food sources for does. Bucks will follow.
I figure wind for that area. Watch thermals and fronts carefully. And try to put myself at the right stand with the right wind at the right time.
Fallen trees, rock bluffs, water (my favorite but all too often too obvious).
I do the vast majority of my scouting and prep work from now through green up (late March).
I do use cameras but only in the last couple years. And I truly believe that they hurt as much as they help.
I killed my 300th whitetail by bow last season in an area where I went in to PULL a camera that wasn't even showing doe activity. There was virtually NOTHING on camera for TWO weeks.
I was running late when I got to the parking spot so I took my stand the 270 yards back into the thicket.
I was AMAZED at the amount of sign BEHIND the camera.
I pulled the camera and set up 20' up off a well used trail.
The camera was obviously pointed the wrong direction.
I left my stand and called in (grunt) a mature (for that area) public land P/Y (gross) to 10 yards.
He's on the wall (not in pics).
I've said this many times. Killing MATURE bucks OR does is a whole lot more about THEM screwing up and making a mistake that you capitalize on, than you being a great hunter.
But TARGETING a SPECIFIC buck, patterning and holding out for that ONE buck, is a recipe for a divorce! Or a long single life.
IT IS TOUGH!
Opportunity meeting preparation.
Leases and clubs are some of the hardest places there are to hunt. Word travels fast and people know too much about what others are doing, seeing, killing.
I was involved in leasing from'89-2005?
Some of the highest pressured whitetails EVER!
Public hunting ain't got nothing on some clubs as far as pressure.
My style of hunting is for numbers!
Target ops.
FUN!
I rarely pass a shot on a doe. It IS the best practice possible.
I only pass does when I am hunting an area where I know I may have an opportunity at a big mature buck because of sign, and RUT timing.
And I RARELY target a specific buck!
That's an interesting approach. Just by sheer odds you are encountering mature bucks. If you could figure, how many spots on average do you hunt and kill a doe at before encountering & killing a mature buck? Basically, what is the ratio of mature bucks killed to the spots you hunt, and ratio of mature bucks killed to does killed? Is it one mature buck killed every 10 spots, 20, more? Do you kill a doe at most of the spots?
I find your style fascinating. Aside from killing lots of does, your style doesn't seem much different than an Eberhart or Infalt type hunter. I'm a little different in that I really enjoy the rabbit hole of focusing on a single buck until either I kill him or he otherwise dies or disappears. The excitement for me is putting together the puzzle and tightening the noose until I fill the tag. My brother is more like you and he also has a load of horns. He kills a lot of big deer but more often than not it's surprise bucks that he's never seen before the moment he shot them. It's interesting to me the vastly different approaches.
The only decent bucks I've killed have been during muzzleloader (had my very first opportunity at a mature buck during last day of bow season this year and I couldn't get a shot). So the hardest part for me is cycling through my doe killing spots during bow season while trying to pay attention not impacting these spots so much that the does change their pattern and thus pull the bucks into spots I am now unfamiliar with. How do you ride this thin line so you get the freezer meat, but not muck up your spots too much to effect the movement?
Longbow2240
Well-Known Member
98% of our hunting is from ladder stands the rest is ground or lock on. Father, son & myself have killed a pile of deer through our years. Hunt them at the right time and you'll see as much as you will from any other setup. Play the wind and be still.
Ski,
Eberhart IS the BEST big buck bowhunter alive today that I am aware of. But what he does is not possible for me. I do not frequent those states. And I refuse to worry that much about scent.
But in my opinion Dan Infalt is no big deal at all. I do not consider him a "big buck hunter". I do not care for killing deer with ladders in swamps on deer drives and rifles.
He is probably the WORST shot with a bow on YouTube.
But I do LOVE his t shirts and humor.
I honestly think he is FULL of himself!
Just my opinion.
Phil,
I generally have doe killing areas and buck expected areas.
I hammer doe killing areas and not buck killing areas after Seasonal Range shift!
Eberhart IS the BEST big buck bowhunter alive today that I am aware of. But what he does is not possible for me. I do not frequent those states. And I refuse to worry that much about scent.
But in my opinion Dan Infalt is no big deal at all. I do not consider him a "big buck hunter". I do not care for killing deer with ladders in swamps on deer drives and rifles.
He is probably the WORST shot with a bow on YouTube.
But I do LOVE his t shirts and humor.
I honestly think he is FULL of himself!
Just my opinion.
Phil,
I generally have doe killing areas and buck expected areas.
I hammer doe killing areas and not buck killing areas after Seasonal Range shift!
I can't disagree, except to say all those guys are full of themselves. If you want to know how good Eberhart is, just ask him! He'll tell you all about it lol
But to be fair, he actually is that good. I enjoy hearing all those guys' perspective. When you get through the personalities there's some truly interesting insight.
Headhunter
Well-Known Member
Great deer.
Only problem with your post is that in over 30 years of hunting, many of those years some portion of every single day of any open season in Tennessee, I have never seen a second rut, not one time. I hunt in places where I can see a long ways and in places where the longest shot even with a gun is about 30 yards. Never seen a second rut. Once the first week of December is over in Middle Tennessee, just seeing a deer can become tough much less a mature buck.
I think RUT just happened to be his 2nd point. don't think he was saying second rut or at least I didn't take it that way. I also have never seen any second rut action. wish I did.
Headhunter
Well-Known Member
My bad, I though he meant 2nd rut.
