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How to hunt nocturnal bucks?

fairchaser

fairchaser

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My cameras reveal that 99.9% of mature buck activity is after dark. I hunt a highly pressured property and these bucks know the game is afoot very early.

My strategy is to wait and hope for that rare occurrence where a hot doe gets him moving in daylight past my stand. I know you will say studies have shown that no buck is completely nocturnal and you have to penetrate his inner sanctum to see his daylight movement. Good luck with that too.

My strategy requires a lot of time and luck and therefore very limited, I'm talking very, very limited, ok NO success!

Any other strategies out there?
 
How big is the property and are there any sizable areas where nobody ever steps foot? It sounds like the older bucks likely stay on other properties during the day and if that's the case the only thing you could do is stop everyone from hunting the property or get lucky during the rut.
 
What's worked for me is to target super thick areas that doe groups frequent, and be very careful about approach routes to those spots. The wind on those approaches has to be as right as can be, or it's useless to try. I can't over emphasize that enough. And, I won't shoot a doe in those areas, and do everything that I can to keep those doe groups from busting me.

I'll wait til November, and believe it or not, even better sometimes is late December when the does are grouped back up and usually way more predictable. I'll do my utmost to hang with those groups in hopes that an Old Guy can't resist one.

This has worked okay for me, and I've been lucky enough to have killed three 4.5+ bucks for the last three years by sticking to my rules. They aren't genetically superior specimens rack-wise, ( my area just doesn't produce great racks regularly regardless of age) but some of the better ones my area has to offer.

I'm gonna stick with it til a better idea comes along, or my usual tactic, blind luck.
 
Honestly?
Don't!
Wait until the rut next year.
Unless you know exactly what thicket they spend the bulk of their daytime in, and hunt right next to it between the thicket and closest food source, and have the right wind, a make a perfect undetected approach, forget it.

I'm saving you extreme frustration.

But agin, it depends where you hunt.

And if you do get lucky and kill it, don't grab the antlers.
 
catman529 said:
How big is the property and are there any sizable areas where nobody ever steps foot? It sounds like the older bucks likely stay on other properties during the day and if that's the case the only thing you could do is stop everyone from hunting the property or get lucky during the rut.
Click to expand...
Catman, the property is 18000 acres of Ames Plantation and the only areas where there is little to no pressure are safety zones that only employees may hunt near homes, etc. We've all targeted next to these areas too. Almost every square inch of this 18000 has been penetrated including hard to reach swamps. Occasionally, there are areas that just get overlooked but anyone can suddenly show up and hunt. So, the deer have learned to just move after dark. The deer grapevine is alive and well.

I've targeted one buck the last two years and gotten pics in several locations all after dark. When a camera never catches him in daylight, my odds are much much lower if ever that I will see him.

These mature bucks have double PhD's in human avoidance.
 
Snake said:
Gotta couple of friends that hunt where you do ? Do a deer drive brother . When their nocturnal and no does in about your only choice in Tennessee.
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We've considered this near season end but it's hard to organize and the property is so vast, it would take at least 10 hunters to make something work. I'm afraid management would frown on such an undertaking for safety sake. Good idea though.
 
sounds like you need a different property to hunt, don't want to be rude. generally a mature buck will know if you have been in his house after one hunt, i have killed my best bucks on the first sit of the year for a particular area. i wait till all elements line up perfectly for that spot. cameras on video mode will teach you alot how deer respond to human scent. i had a mature buck respond to my scent on camera 9 days after i was present he freaked out on my scent trail. approach, noise, scent, wind: act like a sniper instead of a burglar . if this property will not allow you to do that find one that will. and ditch the 4 wheeler method be silent down to the car door!
 
Sounds tough. Been there. Until we started creating good cover and not just solely hardwoods, our daylight movement vastly improved. We used to only get pics of good deer during the night time. We are the only property around with acorns and food plots. Everywhere around us are pines and clear cuts. They would simply wait until dark to come to us to feed, then head back to cover before light. We didn't kill many bucks at all for years! Now that we have established sanctuaries and just good cover scattered out in general, we are killing target deer fairly consistently.

I know you're in a different situation. I would focus on the thickest areas you can during the seeking phase. That's your best bet IMO
 
I think you are doing all that you can do given the situation. The challenge that I see are your uncontrollable factors. A mature buck as you know 4.5 or older didn't get that way from being a frequent day walker. It's hard enough to harvest mature bucks under ideal situations. You can't control hunting pressure which makes it a monumental task. The only thing I would possibly try would be to focus on staging areas in cover prior to them moving to a preferred food source in early or late season. Sounds like tough hunting no matter what you try.
 
fairchaser said:
Catman, the property is 18000 acres of Ames Plantation and the only areas where there is little to no pressure are safety zones that only employees may hunt near homes, etc. We've all targeted next to these areas too. Almost every square inch of this 18000 has been penetrated including hard to reach swamps. Occasionally, there are areas that just get overlooked but anyone can suddenly show up and hunt. So, the deer have learned to just move after dark. The deer grapevine is alive and well.

I've targeted one buck the last two years and gotten pics in several locations all after dark. When a camera never catches him in daylight, my odds are much much lower if ever that I will see him.

These mature bucks have double PhD's in human avoidance.
Click to expand...
How many people hunt those acres?
 
Get you one of those thermal imaging scopes or NV scopes. If you want to save the coin you can get a good spotlight at any outdoors store. That last one is an old south tradition, that has been tested by time and stood up to the challenge. 😂

In all honesty IDK the answer. I think you are doing it right and that is what I do most of the time. I hunt a small property that is not the core area of any of the bucks in the area and I just have to see what shows up in November and then hope a hot doe brings him by. There isn't much else I can do.

If I had a larger property where big bucks actually bedded from time to time, I would probably try to hunt the edge of the bedding area.
 

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