Great Q&A About Big Buck Hunting

[Fluteman]

I saw this posted over on Archerytalk and figured I would share it over here. IMO, this is a great Article featuring Andrae D'Acquisto, owner of Lone Wolf Stands, talking about hunting and killing big bucks.

http://www.grandviewoutdoors.com/de...tent/6/2009/1618/Going-All-Out-On-Public-Land

I think back to when I had the most big buck encounters and success (despite the lack of a trophy wall), and I was using many of these techniques, only I hadn't put it all together in my head as he had. I have been using trail cameras for three years now, and I find myself using them as a crutch, which has in turn made me a lazy hunter. In 2012, I plan on getting back to my roots, getting out there to do more scouting, and stop hunting the same spots over and over just because I got one good picture of a buck. This article opened my eyes again to what I've been missing the last few years, and I figured I would pass it on in hopes it might do the same for others. There isn't a ton of in-depth information, but it might just help get a few of you back on track.

 

[RedCloud]

Great article right there. Thanks for posting it up Fluteman. I think this may help a few guys around here including myself.

 

[ohio mossy oak]

Thanks for posting the link Greg..

 

[Curran]

Good read for sure!!

 

[mrex]

I agree with most of what he says in the interview but not everything, although it's sure hard to argue with his success. His remark about trail cameras, "done right, you can pretty much get a picture of just about every deer that’s out there." My experience has been very different...or I'm not doing it right. I see dead bucks every year that come from areas where I run cameras and never get a photo of.

 

[brock ratcliff]

One thing about trail cams; they have taught me how nomadic certain deer are! Sean's farm is an excellent example. Obviously he uses a pile of BEC's on his place. There is hardly an area a deer, tresspasser, squirrel, or occasional feral hog can slip by without being noticed. There are resident deer throughout the season. During different phases of the year (particularly the rut) different bucks will show up. He has a 160-170 buck that has shown up the third week of November for the last two or three years. This deer is only around for a week or so, and is again gone until the following November. No reason for him not to stay, plenty of food, cover, not bothered much by human intrusion...he just leaves. And there have been several like him. Another example; there was a buck that spent his first three years of life on the property. He was not at all camera shy. By 3 1/2, he was a good 130+ 8, and huge bodied. The deer disappeared in the summer of 08...just gone. In October of 10 he just reappeared, without having grown an inch of antler. We called him the wrap around buck due to the shape of his antlers...no doubt it was the same deer! Sean's son killed him on Halloween morning of 10. Sometimes deer just come and go with no obvious reason. They are where you find them, so you have to keep looking.

Mike, Sean gets pics of two set of deer generally. His property is not that big...a couple hundred acres. The bucks he gets pics of on the West side of the property he never gets pics of on the East side, etc. There is a big ravine seperating the property. Its almost as if the bucks refuse to cross from one side to the other. Sounds like bunk, but it's the truth! Even when one of the transient bucks moves in, it seems they will only get their pics taken on wide side or the other. Deer are strange...

 

[Mountaineer]

Mike,
I would guess the reason he can acheive seeing just about every buck in his area with a cam would be the fact that he's hunting large properties or areas that recieve very light pressure. They just arent quite as cautious. On the flip side, I would guess your properties are smaller with a higher degree of pressure in the surroundings areas in which would put the squeeze on bucks. This squeeze sends them either on your property or through it for the first time.

His success is impressive but im sure he's hunting the best properties he can find with the lightest hunting pressure.

 

[hickslawns]

Mike,
I would guess the reason he can acheive seeing just about every buck in his area with a cam would be the fact that he's hunting large properties or areas that recieve very light pressure. They just arent quite as cautious. On the flip side, I would guess your properties are smaller with a higher degree of pressure in the surroundings areas in which would put the squeeze on bucks. This squeeze sends them either on your property or through it for the first time.

His success is impressive but im sure he's hunting the best properties he can find with the lightest hunting pressure.

I won't try to give Mrex any advice. He has a pretty good track record on his own. However, your last line probably sums it up well. We are talking about a guy in the industry pretty high up there. I am sure he has the money and connections we cannot even fathom.

 

[brock ratcliff]

I agree with you Phil, but I think the tactics and suggestions are applicable to those of us that are happy with 150's. Personally, I think the "trophy" is relative. I know a fella in Buffalo Co WI that owns a huge piece of ground that is absolutely loaded with what most of us would consider "bucks of a lifetime". He wants 200"ers too. His best is only 194... I hunted with him a couple of years back, and passed up half a dozen bucks I'd have shot here without a second thought. I killed a 160. Of the 5 deer killed that season, it was the smallest. The point being, I think there are suggestions mentioned in the QA that could help folks kill the top end deer available to them in their area. A guy really needs a lot of luck and patience to kill top end deer, but those deer don't spend a great deal of their time just everywhere, you have to be where the one you want lives. That WI buck is a good example. I had seen him twice in the same area. I knew he was good enough for me. I moved a stand 150 yds, and killed him the next morning. I had jumped him from a bed the day before...bump and dump as they say. He came in before sunrise and bedded. I killed him at 10:45 when he got up to stretch his legs and get a sip from a pond. Andrae's technique was the first thing I thought of when I bumped that deer from his bed. He had been bedded in the very same log pile as he had been the day before.

 

[Fluteman]

I agree with you Phil, but I think the tactics and suggestions are applicable to those of us that are happy with 150's. Personally, I think the "trophy" is relative. I know a fella in Buffalo Co WI that owns a huge piece of ground that is absolutely loaded with what most of us would consider "bucks of a lifetime". He wants 200"ers too. His best is only 194... I hunted with him a couple of years back, and passed up half a dozen bucks I'd have shot here without a second thought. I killed a 160. Of the 5 deer killed that season, it was the smallest. The point being, I think there are suggestions mentioned in the QA that could help folks kill the top end deer available to them in their area. A guy really needs a lot of luck and patience to kill top end deer, but those deer don't spend a great deal of their time just everywhere, you have to be where the one you want lives. That WI buck is a good example. I had seen him twice in the same area. I knew he was good enough for me. I moved a stand 150 yds, and killed him the next morning. I had jumped him from a bed the day before...bump and dump as they say. He came in before sunrise and bedded. I killed him at 10:45 when he got up to stretch his legs and get a sip from a pond. Andrae's technique was the first thing I thought of when I bumped that deer from his bed. He had been bedded in the very same log pile as he had been the day before.

This is along the same lines as what I was going to say. The whole point of what he was getting at is if there isn't a "trophy" buck in the area you are hunting, you aren't gonna kill it. If you don't adapt with hunting pressure and be bold once in a while, you aren't gonna kill big deer. I for one have screwed myself out of chances at a few nice deer by not being aggressive at the right times. I have also struggled with patterning a good buck, only to have others come in and pressure the deer right out of the area.

The main reason I was sharing this, is I felt it could be applied to every single hunter's scenario on this forum. Yes, he has access to prime land, so his chances of killing good bucks year in and year out are greater, but the same tactics can be used by you and I also. Take it for what it's worth, but reading this article really caused me to take a step back and think about things a little more.

 

[jagermeister]

A great read. Thanks for sharing, Greg. I definitely need to apply some of the techniques that he mentioned in the article. I plan on scouting HARD here in the next month or two...

 

[hickslawns]

I cannot disagree with Flutey or Brock. Well stated. While his advice might not land us a 200" or even 160 or 180" if the area won't hold them, I do agree the advice will put you into the larger (if not largest) deer the area will hold. Thanks for adding to what I said. Excellent points I agree with.

 

[finelyshedded]

I cannot disagree with Flutey or Brock. Well stated. While his advice might not land us a 200" or even 160 or 180" if the area won't hold them, I do agree the advice will put you into the larger (if not largest) deer the area will hold. Thanks for adding to what I said. Excellent points I agree with.

Thanks for the link Greg, I too agree with Phil here. It's hard to go against any of his hunting philosophy after looking at his collection but he's in the same boat many of the TV personalities are when it comes to access,time and money. He puts out a great product for which I am grateful though. He does have some great tips though, especially when sign is hot get right on it. I've personally witnessed this alot of times over the years.

Thanks again Greg for the link, it was a good read.

 

[Hoytmania]

Very good read. Thanks for sharing. I am in agreement that when you find the sign you need to hunt it. He also hit the nail on the head about most bowhunters not having the time needed because of work and life.

 

[Gern186]

I wonder how many guys can go scouting around through the woods during the season and not piss off 2 or 3 other guys that are hunting the same property. My guess is not very many. Some of the things he talks about are good in theory and in a perfect world where you have 500 acres to yourself, but to guys like us, these things don't realistically apply.

 

[brock ratcliff]

I wonder how many guys can go scouting around through the woods during the season and not piss off 2 or 3 other guys that are hunting the same property. My guess is not very many. Some of the things he talks about are good in theory and in a perfect world where you have 500 acres to yourself, but to guys like us, these things don't realistically apply.

Chad, you are dead-nuts on the money with that statement! One farm I have sorta got split over the years between me and another guy. I respected him more than he did me. I actually left the back part of the farm to him because he moved a stand right on top of one of mine after I told him I'd seen a good one use the same trail twice. I pulled out, hoping he'd get the point and leave me alone on the other side of the farm - he did for a time but eventually started crowding in. He went through a divorce last year, and basically quit hunting. My hunting improved, and I moved a stand back to where he had pushed me out (killed my buck from it this year, and Sean shot a whopper from it last year). In most cases, I'd guess we all share property and it is difficult to just do as we choose due to others hunting.

 

[Gern186]

I do respect Andre for what he has accomplished through the years, let me be clear on that regard. I have watched his shows and he seems like a real good guy. He is doing what many of us only dream about. Put me on the farms he is hunting and I will kill big bucks too, no doubt about it.

 

[mrex]

I do respect Andre for what he has accomplished through the years, let me be clear on that regard. I have watched his shows and he seems like a real good guy. He is doing what many of us only dream about. Put me on the farms he is hunting and I will kill big bucks too, no doubt about it.

I don't know him personally but I have a couple good friends who do, (one who used to work for him), and the one word always mentioned in the same sentence with Andrae D'Acquisto is "fanatic." Do you know anything about the farms he hunts? I think a few of his Wisconsin B&C's came from suburban Milwaukee but that's only hearsay. We really don't know where he hunts and I think most consistently successful hunters like to keep it that way. I get a kick out of my critics who think they know where I hunt.

 

[Gern186]

No I don't know where he hunts, but he mentioned in his article that he hunts large farms with many contiguous acres. Are you saying that you don't believe I could kill big bucks given the ground he hunts? I consider myself a consistently successful hunter and have a track record to prove it, and at the same time my deer have all came from a county or 2 that has only produced less than a handful of trophy deer.

Like I said before, I respect Andre more than most outdoor celebrities because he seems like an honest guy, and his results speak for themselves. I am positive he puts more effort into his work than 98% of the other guys, and that is what it takes as you already know.

 

[mrex]

No I don't know where he hunts, but he mentioned in his article that he hunts large farms with many contiguous acres. Are you saying that you don't believe I could kill big bucks given the ground he hunts? I consider myself a consistently successful hunter and have a track record to prove it, and at the same time my deer have all came from a county or 2 that has only produced less than a handful of trophy deer.

I believe given the same opportunities, many guys could accomplish the same.

No...what I'm saying is, you're making a lot of assumptions.

Example, Jesse made a statement in another thread about my resources to gain access to prime ground. He doesn't have a clue what I do or do not have access to. But the assumption is, Rex's success is a direct result of access to the best ground. The truth is, I own 30 acres around my house and I lease another 50...and none of the bucks me or my boys killed this year came from those 80 acres. Contrary to popular belief, the ground we hunt gets LOTS, and I mean LOTS of hunting pressure.