Big buck problems

B

Bwillsonhunter4

New member
i am having troubles with a big buck (160+). i am sittin on top of a hill on the edge of a woods overlooking a few acres of small cedar and pine trees roughly 200 yards away. i do a doe call, grunt, rattle, spay dominant buck urine, doe in estrus urine, but nothing will get him to come in any ideas? i see him down there often, i think it might be were he beds down on a regular basis.
 
trophy buck

If it were easy to take a 160 pt class buck, we'd all have one. Since you have another post re bowhunting, I'm guessing your bowhunting this deer also? Otherwise, you'd have shot him at 200?

Rather than try and get this buck to come to you, can you go to him?
In other words, can you change spots and cut him off BEFORE he gets to the area you describe?

Don't rule out a ground blind, if you brush it in, and leave it for awhile. I've not had much luck with ground blinds for deer, but I've not tried it much either. It's an option if there are no trees to climb. Pay attention to the wind, hunt the deer only when wind is in your favor. I'd give him a rest anyhow, as he's bound to have detected you"re on him, and more than a bit wary.

Good luck, a 160 class buck with a bow would be the deer of a lifetime.
 
I watched a similar sized buck traipsing through and around a 3 acre brush patch a few years ago. I saw him probably 5-6 times over a 2 day period but didn't get a shot. Other bucks would enter the little thicket only to be chased away but big boy only came out while chasing does back into the thicket. I finally shot a lesser buck leaving big boy for another season.
 
Ground blinds aren't ideal for smart bucks.... Unless you leave the blind out all year... But if you put one up and he notices it, he may well never pass that way again... Ever.

They don't get big by being stupid.

This ole boy busted me on the ground back in September... And hasn't left his bedding area since... Its on another property, a mere 200 yards away, but no hunting there... By anyone... And I reckon he knows that.

I have cameras on all trails in and out... He hasn't left that 5 acres not a single time... Has everything he needs in there, food, water, and does... I had him coming to a mineral lick on my property, took 2 years to get him on it... And 2 days for it all to go down the drain when he busted me on day 2 of archery season.

 
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Everytime you use a deer stand, you "contaminate" it. Regardless of how careful you are, you'll leave a bit of scent at the stand, and leading to and from it. You'll make a tad of noise when there also. So the more you use the same stand, the more contamination you leave behind and the fewer deer that will pass by it. Use the same stand over and over again during the course of the season and you'll burn it out(as I call it). While not so much during a short gun season, during a long bow season, many times if one hunts the same spot all season, by the time rut rolls around and big bucks are vulnerable, they have learned to avoid the area. If you are 200 yards from a big buck's bedding area and have been rattling horns, and spraying scents around all season, believe me, the buck knows you're there. The only hope you might have is that while chasing a doe in estrus, he blindly walks by you. While attractant scents work, they usually only work once in a spot. Spraying them on the ground or on surrounding vegetation leaves them there and attracts deer while you are not there. Refreshing that scent on another day, in the same spot, may alert a deer more than attract it.

You already know where the buck sleeps, that is half the battle. The other half is finding more than one entrance and exit to this spot that you can get to without contaminating it, and using it only when the wind is right. Rotate spots to keep the deer from patterning you and rattle/use attractant scents sparingly and only when deer are really attracted to them. Place your attractant scents in bottles you can cover or pads/cotton balls you can remove and take with you when you leave and only avoid contaminating them with your scent when using them.
 
I use the opposite approach, I stay on the land year round. I use it heavily. I shoot very few deer there. The deer don't pay me any attention. I recently had to stop the tractor because 7 does did not want to get out of the way. Most of the deer will let me walk within 20 feet of them. They associate me with food, not with danger.
 
Change locations to where you can intercept him going to the thicket. Find an area that’ll give you one or two shot angles on that trail. Set up on him early and quietly. Quit with the calls, rattling and scents. He’s big and old, he knows every buck and doe in the area for miles around which means he knows their scents as well. Play the wind at all times and never hunt the stand if it’s even marginal. Stick with it, no matter how frustrating, he’ll slip up one day. Taking him the first week of the season will be easier than later for sure.

Good luck, I got one like that. Even put a hole in his ear two years ago but, that’s another story.
 
I have a place I hunt in the Panhandle of Texas that has some big bucks on it and around it.I hunt it twice a year.......Thanksgiving weekend and after Christmas before New Years.I slip in in the middle of the night and get in the stand 140 yards off the creek.I hunt it all day then I slip out after dark if I passed on all offerings.I usually tag here every other year.These bucks are old and smart,150+ class,they didn't get that way by being stupid.I could stick around for another day but I've been made by all the shooters and don't feel like recounting those young'uns that keep passing by.I meat hunt locally,deer and pigs,and reserve the panhandle place for bragging rights.My point is big bucks don't respond well to pressure at all........no calling,no rattling,only complete and total silence leaving as small of an imprint on the land as possible.
 
On the other hand, you could just leave him be and consider him as prime breeding stock to upgrade the deer herd for the future. If he outsmarts you, just salute him and congratulate him for his victory. Remember that the game you play with him is life or death to him, but you have no skin in the game. It's OK if he wins. Take a lesser animal for your meat.
 
Depends upon hunting pressure ..... the video that I've seen from some high fence operations show a lot of ignorant deer with massive headgear ....
Click to expand...
were not talking about shopping at the high fence zoo. Nothing about zoo hunts is realistic.
 
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