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This would be a good time for you to explain how it was that Ryan happened to get the first pic of the wide 8 he killed a year or two ago.
Great Q&A About Big Buck Hunting
- Thread starter Fluteman
- Start date
This would be a good time for you to explain how it was that Ryan happened to get the first pic of the wide 8 he killed a year or two ago.
Will do…Ryan set a trail camera up over this old log road on a piece of property that receives heavy hunting pressure from several locals and NR hunters from 2 different states.
The same property / same year where I was hunting this buck that was killed by another hunter the day before gun season.
After making a few stand adjustments, based on wind direction, he connected with the “wide 8” about a week later.
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Mike.. Didn't he go in there and kill that deer just a few days after a large group of NR hunters left that had hunted the ground for days?
I do see what Gern is saying though.. Property is the most important piece of the equation. The man himself said it in his article. If the deer isn't there you aren't going to kill it. Not only the deer being there, but also the property having the capability to produce such deer... And a property might only be able to produce for one week out of the season. While others may hold big deer consistently.. A piece that Alex hunts you can't buy a deer in there early season. But around the last week of October it comes alive and usually hold a big buck.
I do see what Gern is saying though.. Property is the most important piece of the equation. The man himself said it in his article. If the deer isn't there you aren't going to kill it. Not only the deer being there, but also the property having the capability to produce such deer... And a property might only be able to produce for one week out of the season. While others may hold big deer consistently.. A piece that Alex hunts you can't buy a deer in there early season. But around the last week of October it comes alive and usually hold a big buck.
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Will do…Ryan set a trail camera up over this old log road on a piece of property that receives heavy hunting pressure from several locals and NR hunters from 2 different states.
The same property / same year where I was hunting this buck that was killed by another hunter the day before gun season.
After making a few stand adjustments, based on wind direction, he connected with the “wide 8” about a week later.
I hunt a few heavily pressured properties. I've had success in first, identifying areas not to hunt, before figuring out where to hunt. I think a lot of hunters see an area getting hunted and immediately think that is where they need to be. I eliminate it immediately. Perhaps this is the approach that you and your boy took in hunting these deer.
You're a nicer guy than me. I would've told him I saw a nice one and got a few good pics on the front end of the farm so he left me alone.:smiley_bril:
The only assumptions I am making is that he is not hunting public ground, and private ground with little pressure from other hunters. I don't believe that is unreasonable.
I don't doubt the ground you hunt gets lots of pressure........almost every piece of ground worth hunting has guys on it these days. The truth of the matter is that some guys have the formula for harvesting mature deer, and some guys just don't.
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I was naive. I don't move in and try to kill a deer someone else has seen...just isn't in me. I suppose back then it hadn't occurred to me that I was a minority.
Yes Joe, 4 guys from Mississippi hunting 50 acres for 7 straight days. Another group of NR's hunted the property the first 2 weeks of November, making the buck I was hunting...
completely nocturnal. Every morning and evening I would see their flashlights walk around me in the distance. I really didn't worry about them killing him...they just made him unkillable for me. Had the buck survived that gun season, I really think my chances would have been good...oh' well, that's hunting!
I don't worry about the other guys cause they don't me...
Andre is dead nuts about his statements... Time is one of the main factors in my opinion. This time of year is always a bad time for us work wise so now is when I do the majority of my scouting. It's the best time to do it cause there isn't hardly anyone out this time of year.
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Should have given those Mississippi boys their rifles back lol or turned the heat up to 90 like it is for the month of Ms bow season. Lmao
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He ain't kidding. Jd will straight drive a track hoe and offroad dump truck right through a setup and dump 100 stumps Infeont of the best stand the week before the rut. Lmao. You know I kid buddy.
Funny thing is I saw my best bucks from those stands WHILE all that was going on, once with your dad in the track hoe yanking stumps not 200 yards behind me. The other with the you in the grain wagon driving back and forth in the field, and then a clean 150 class 8 walked around the mountain wall of stumps not a week after you put them there. Explain that lmao
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Mountaineer
Banned
I also beleive TIME is the main factor. Hunt the big bucks on their terms. We all know they are random, unpredictable, here one day gone the next type creatures. So.. If thats the case, Hunt them accordingly. And TIME(Continuous TIME on stand) is the only factor that gives a hunter consistent chances at these big bucks. I dont give a shit about anything else..I will sit 5 days strait in one Hill country funnel during the rut or gun season and out perform some guy that hunts randomly throughout the entire season. To kill these big bucks you need to hunt them according to their unpredictable nature.
Why dont some of you guys try it..You will see what im talking about.
Why dont some of you guys try it..You will see what im talking about.
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It is how I used to hunt. I do not take time off to hunt these days. I hunt when I can, and that is usually morning or afternoon, and daily, but rarely all day. Since I am in and out a lot, I like to move locations. I think it is detrimental to go to and from a stand too much. I also only hunt stands I can get to and from with very little intrusion...those are not necessarily the best stands, but I don't want to be tromping too deep for a short hunt. I still have a couple of stands I'd run to if I had an all day sit in mind...its effective!
Mountaineer
Banned
I agree...I think a fellow can hurt himself hunting a spot too much before the rut. I really dont step into the woods until about October 25th and on..For me to sit all day ..day after day before the rut would prove futile. It would be a disaster. Their minds have gotta be cluttered/fogged by the urge to breed or escaping from pressure from area to the next. There's gotta be some kind of distraction.
One thing i fear sitting all day..day after day in a treestand is blood clots forming...You read about this when people sit in one position too long...I take asperin and i stand and stretch alot.
One thing i fear sitting all day..day after day in a treestand is blood clots forming...You read about this when people sit in one position too long...I take asperin and i stand and stretch alot.
The longest I have ever sat in one stand is about 5 hours. I couldn't sit a stand all day. No way... I don't have that much patience...lol
It's called WORK is the reason I can't. I don't know what you do, but some people can't take off and hunt several days in a row. I personally don't enter my property to "hunt" until fall turkey season. I will go in opening weekend of fall turkey season and shoot a bird and get out. I won't enter again until halloween weekend. Due to my job (teacher) my time off during the hunting season is very limited, especially during November. I have three personal days I can use throughout the year and I usually use one of them during November and tag it on to a weekend giving me three straight days to hunt. That's the best I can do since I usually save one for gun opener and one for spring turkey opener. If I am lucky I will get out a total of 10-12 days with my bow. All of those days are during late october/early to mid november. Pretty tough getting it done in only a handful of days. This is why I have lowered my expectations. I would love to let 120- 130" deer walk, but then I think about my limited time in the woods and take what the Lord puts in front of me during my time off. If it's 120" or over it's fair game.
NO doubt in my mind if I could have 2 weeks off in early to mid November I could kill a solid 140"+ deer every year. I have proof on my trail cameras as they are walking by my stands during daylight hours. But only hunted a day here and there makes it really tough. Waterfowl hunting consumes my weekends from mid december through the end of January (except for ML season and the extra gun weekend)....... so if I don't get it done during November there's a good chance it's not going to happen unless someone spooks a nice one on me during the firearm seasons.
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