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Suggestions to see more bucks

Chance
chancehutcheson said:
I feel like I'm stuck in a rut only seeing little bucks and mainly does. Hunting state ground. Any suggestions?
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Thinking more about your OP I will mention that even on my own land I have places I choose not to hunt because of difficulty to access and or to remove harvested deer from.

Two of the areas I know hold mature bucks but I leave them alone because I can't afford to break bones or have a heart attack dragging steep uphill for extended distances. I wait for the rut to bring them out but if my knees were better I would take it to them with trad bow or crossbow.

You might find a ravine or other obstacles that would discourage most people especially near access points.

Stay safe, enjoy it, good luck...
 
RockMcL said:
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.
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Sounds like an interesting fellow! There's no substitute for oral history from those who lived it.

As for the poacher I spoke of, if I recall correctly the racks were supposedly stored in the barn to dry??? The meat was entirely wasted. Landowners reporting headless carcasses is what spurred the investigation. My neighbor was one of them, and the reason I was able to see it first hand. Of the four men involved in the poaching ring, 2 of them received prison sentences. As I recall there were drug and burglary troubles as well. It was quite the drama for our tiny community.
 
In the community where I used to live, there was a buck with several seasons of experience eluding the locals- myself included. He would be seen at night crossing roads but not in daylight. Near my home on the same dead end road was a Masonic lodge. East of the lodge was a railroad cut with a fairly steep embankment. East of the railroad was the highway. South of the lodge hall was my little country road. South of that was a trailer and a small hay field. North of the lodge was a 1/2-2/3 acre of woods that were kind of thick in a few spots. North of the little patch of woods was a small cemetery that sat at the head of a hollow. West of the lodge was a large hay field. West of that field was a thin strip of woods and a medium sized hay field.

It struck me, late in the season, that the buck just might be bedded in that little patch of woods hard by the lodge. It was within easy walking distance from my house. One particularly gloomy day with a howling northwest wind I set out to test my theory. While a southbound train covered my footfalls, I eased into the southeast corner of the woodlot. A few yards in I spotted him standing opposite a blowdown. He was looking the opposite direction and had no idea I was there. Just enough brush obscured a positive shot and fear of detection kept me riveted to the spot where I stood. The train had passed and now only the noise of the gusty winds aided in maintaining stealth. He laid down and was completely out of sight. Brambles and briars blocked any advancement on all sides. I lobbed a couple of sticks to no avail. He held tight. In the next big bluster of wind I plowed into the rose brambles. That did it! He sprung forth and made for the little graveyard. The 94 thundered and fortunately he tumbled when a silvertip bullet broke his neck. His rack was wide and thick with 10 points. His body was thick, blocky, and muscular as a gladiator. The venison was surprisingly sweet and tender for a buck of his years.

Sometimes those small overlooked spots hold big, reclusive bucks!
 
348Winchester said:
In the community where I used to live, there was a buck with several seasons of experience eluding the locals- myself included. He would be seen at night crossing roads but not in daylight. Near my home on the same dead end road was a Masonic lodge. East of the lodge was a railroad cut with a fairly steep embankment. East of the railroad was the highway. South of the lodge hall was my little country road. South of that was a trailer and a small hay field. North of the lodge was a 1/2-2/3 acre of woods that were kind of thick in a few spots. North of the little patch of woods was a small cemetery that sat at the head of a hollow. West of the lodge was a large hay field. West of that field was a thin strip of woods and a medium sized hay field.

It struck me, late in the season, that the buck just might be bedded in that little patch of woods hard by the lodge. It was within easy walking distance from my house. One particularly gloomy day with a howling northwest wind I set out to test my theory. While a southbound train covered my footfalls, I eased into the southeast corner of the woodlot. A few yards in I spotted him standing opposite a blowdown. He was looking the opposite direction and had no idea I was there. Just enough brush obscured a positive shot and fear of detection kept me riveted to the spot where I stood. The train had passed and now only the noise of the gusty winds aided in maintaining stealth. He laid down and was completely out of sight. Brambles and briars blocked any advancement on all sides. I lobbed a couple of sticks to no avail. He held tight. In the next big bluster of wind I plowed into the rose brambles. That did it! He sprung forth and made for the little graveyard. The 94 thundered and fortunately he tumbled when a silvertip bullet broke his neck. His rack was wide and thick with 10 points. His body was thick, blocky, and muscular as a gladiator. The venison was surprisingly sweet and tender for a buck of his years.

Sometimes those small overlooked spots hold big, reclusive bucks!
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What a cool story 348Winchester.....and well written.....thanks for sharing.
 
Shed Hunter said:
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.
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Better advice than "hunt deep" is hunt wherever others don't.

Oh, and pack snacks. Some for staying power, some for dragging power.
 
BSK said:
If I let bucks go until they were 5 years old, I would never kill another buck! Not that bucks that age don't exist, just that I'm not a good enough hunter to kill them!
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If you have enough of them you can do it! We do it nearly each year! I took a 7.5 year Giant last year, I'm serious when I say we do it each year.
 
wobblegobble said:
If you have enough of them you can do it! We do it nearly each year! I took a 7.5 year Giant last year, I'm serious when I say we do it each year.
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I have them every year and have for almost 20 years. We still don't kill them. They are ghosts. And we don't have 7 1/2 year-old bucks in the hill country. They don't live that long. Rut is too hard on them.
 
Hunt during storm breaks. If you can find an opening (clear area moving through) of 1 hour or two on a radar during heavy storms, it is golden. I have seen some real nice bucks doing this.
 
Ski said:
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.
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I don't agree, there are many deer that never show up on camera. Every single year how often do you hear we never had a picture of that deer, no one had a picture of that deer, etc. Big bucks are also pretty good avoiding cameras.
 
Ski said:
How would you know?
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You are right, I only personally know of a few hunters like me that not only do not use cameras but have never used them. The only time I attempted to was a failure. My daughter was not seeing deer on a farm we used to hunt, there were deer there, but late season they had "disappeared". I thought I will boost her confidence, got a camera and borrowed one to get some pics. I had hunted this farm for over 30 years, killed a pile of deer off of it. I thought I should know where to put a camera. I got pics of many animals, but not one deer. No deer at all. She did end up killing 3 deer after I put the cameras out and got no pics, that almost ruined her wanting to hunt and she even killed a nice buck, but the cameras never had a deer pic. Yeah I really need those.

I like your question, but just because I don't like them or care to use them doesn't mean I don't know anything about them. And as to how would I know, most every one I talk to uses trail cameras and it was actually an outfitter, a good one, his clients kill many great bucks every season in fair chase hunts, zero fences, that outfitter is who first told me about deer avoiding cameras, especially mature bucks, He told me a couple years ago. He said at first he didn't believe it, but he told me how, I don't remember all he said or exactly what he did, but he proved to himself and his guides that mature bucks avoid cameras, and he said that meant any camera. In his opinion, basically no one gets every deer on camera and mature bucks are the best at avoiding them. And I hear from other hunters and read posts of "we never had that deer on camera, don't know where he came from, no one had pics of that deer on camera", etc, and my favorite, "we don't have any pics of bucks or good bucks, so we are not hunting that area or at all". It amazes me how many hunt by what they see or don't see on camera. If cameras are what you like, have at it, other than to catch trespassers, thieves etc. I have no use for cameras, I prefer to hunt and be in the woods and even if I screw up, I let my knowledge and what I see in while hunting make my decisions, not what I see on camera. Again, I have nothing against them, actually I enjoy seeing pics of all the animals and the crazy things people get on trail cameras, but I don't care to use them and most likely never will.
 

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