Hunting "Mature Whitetails" in Ohio.

[Jackalope]

I agree with a lot of what’s already been posted in this thread. One common theme that keeps coming up is the impact of pressure on mature deer. But if you’ll notice, the context it’s presented in keeps referring to pressure from other hunters. No one here (unless I missed it) has put the spotlight on the hunting pressure from OURSELVES. This is a huge point in my opinion. So often I hear guys talk about someone else’s hunting strategies being the cause of their own misfortunes. Yes this happens all the time. However don’t be so focused on others that you fail to see your own impact as well.

I’m a big proponent of “observation” sets... That is, hanging back in low-impact setups, gathering crucial intel, until you have enough data to formulate an ambush with the highest probability of success. People I know that consistently kill big deer are really good at getting in close to a buck’s core or bedding area. And you simply can’t do that effectively unless you 1) know EXACTLY where that is and 2) you have a good idea of how a buck comes and goes through there. Without gathering superior intel before making your move, you’re literally just throwing a dart at the board. And taking a big risk because the mature deer usually don’t offer second chances.

Pressure from others is one thing. But deer don’t usually leave an area completely. They find somewhere that they still feel secure, despite the hunting pressure around them. The trick is hunting smart enough OURSELVES to identify these areas and know when the time is right to make our move.

Oh absolutely! This is the main dynamic behind the Baiting Mature Whitetails strategy. It's about a person purposefully creating a narrative in the animals mind and using his ability to pattern you to his disadvantage. Show him one consistent pattern so that he adapts his to one that gives him a sense of security, and then covertly altering your pattern to kill him while he believes he's safe.

 

[xbowguy]

I have killed several NEAR the bait vs what was killed in the bait. Seen A few good bucks walk close to bait, (and right on past it) but not necessarily right up to it.

 

[giles]

I agree with a lot of what’s already been posted in this thread. One common theme that keeps coming up is the impact of pressure on mature deer. But if you’ll notice, the context it’s presented in keeps referring to pressure from other hunters. No one here (unless I missed it) has put the spotlight on the hunting pressure from OURSELVES. This is a huge point in my opinion. So often I hear guys talk about someone else’s hunting strategies being the cause of their own misfortunes. Yes this happens all the time. However don’t be so focused on others that you fail to see your own impact as well.

I’m a big proponent of “observation” sets... That is, hanging back in low-impact setups, gathering crucial intel, until you have enough data to formulate an ambush with the highest probability of success. People I know that consistently kill big deer are really good at getting in close to a buck’s core or bedding area. And you simply can’t do that effectively unless you 1) know EXACTLY where that is and 2) you have a good idea of how a buck comes and goes through there. Without gathering superior intel before making your move, you’re literally just throwing a dart at the board. And taking a big risk because the mature deer usually don’t offer second chances.

Pressure from others is one thing. But deer don’t usually leave an area completely. They find somewhere that they still feel secure, despite the hunting pressure around them. The trick is hunting smart enough OURSELVES to identify these areas and know when the time is right to make our move.

This is what I was trying to say. This is how we hunt the property. We gained 2 very important access points this year that opened up many more options for us. We literally sat in a driveway with lights on and the truck running multiple mornings. I told Michael if I had a strobe light, it would be on. The deer paid zero attention to us or the truck. Low impact observation sits. With heat and comfortable seats.

 

[Dustinb80]

This is what I was trying to say. This is how we hunt the property. We gained 2 very important access points this year that opened up many more options for us. We literally sat in a driveway with lights on and the truck running multiple mornings. I told Michael if I had a strobe light, it would be on. The deer paid zero attention to us or the truck. Low impact observation sits. With heat and comfortable seats.

And cold beverages?

 

[giles]

And cold beverages?

The times I am thinking of were all morning sits. I believe Michael had his hot beverage and I had my trusty hi-ball. We blending in like utility workers. It worked perfect to see how they were using the place to head to bed.

 

[Jackalope]

I have killed several NEAR the bait vs what was killed in the bait. Seen A few good bucks walk close to bait, (and right on past it) but not necessarily right up to it.

They will eat if they feel safe because they're positive they have you patterned and know you're not there. That's how the trick works. Dump bait on a consistent schedule from an ATV and leave it running. Once he has your pattern do the same thing but have someone else drive off after you climb up in your stand. To him it sounds exactly the same as it did all the other times when he was safe eating.

 

[mrex]

Great post!

I agree that a “big buck” is relative to where it was killed and a “mature buck” is a lot easier to find in areas with light hunting pressure.

I consider a buck 5.5 or older to be mature in the areas I hunt. That can be hard to determine if you don’t have history with the deer.

Just like people, they’re all different.

A few observations I’ve made pursuing mature bucks...

Some are a lot more tolerant of human intrusion. That tolerance seems to be a lot more common with inferior genetic bucks. It’s way more common to get consistent daytime trail cam pics of these deer. I assume that’s because there’s more of them and they’re more likely to survive “mistakes” in a one buck a year state.

I believe when they get uncommonly old, (>7.5), they become almost unkillable at pinch points, funnels or any place that forces their movement. This is especially true in areas with moderate to high hunting pressure...regardless of antler size.

I know of 2 bucks that we’ve pursued that made it to at least 10.5...both in the same bad neighborhood. One of the bucks lived for 5 years with only 1 eye. We had several trail cam pics but only 2 physical encounters. My son observed him at a distance on a late season hunt. He said it took him 30 minutes to move 50 yards. He’d take step and throw his nose in the air, then look around for a minute or two...then take another step. Both bucks were killed on neighboring properties to the one we hunted at the receiving end of deer drives in consecutive years during the bonus December gun weekend.


I believe some bucks know when their being pursued. So much so that they sometimes vacate an area for weeks, months or even years. Several times we wrote them off for dead...when they weren’t.


Trail cams have proven to me that nothing kills daytime deer activity like hunting pressure!


I have trail cam photos of a good buck that was a regular in an area for 2 years. The 3rd year (5.5) he became “predictably sporadic.”




I had one encounter with him in late November. I could see him coming from a long way out in an open hardwoods. I moved to get into position when he was about 80 yards out...and spooked a doe that I’d lost track of behind me. He froze in his tracks and scanned the horizon for several minutes. I’m pretty sure he spotted me in the tree and slowly backed out in the direction he came from. I got one more trail cam pic of him at that location about 3 weeks later in the middle of the night. A few weeks after that, a friend of mine started getting pics of him 3/4 miles away.

All things equal - genetics, age, hunting pressure etc... I believe there are two variables that stand out...experience (learning from your mistakes) and time! Almost every hunter I know who has consistent success in the area they hunt (and doesn’t have 1000’s of acres to hunt exclusively or somebody else putting them on good bucks)...hunt and scout a lot! Or have a flexible enough schedule to only hunt certain areas when conditions are right. The experience comes in having the discipline to not hunt an area when conditions are wrong.

 

[giles]

I have another entry for this thread. Sitting around today watching Whitetail Cribs I'm hearing something I've said for years. Most of my mature deer were killed mid day. Between 10-4. Biggest deer we got on cam so far this year was also mid day.

I've posted on TOO every year about "this is the time of year to hunt. Even if you only have an hour, HUNT!" I've killed deer many times by going in while other were going out for lunch. I also generally kill a doe walking in every year. From the tail end of October until the Tuesday of gun season, take that hour and hunt! If I have to take an hour or two of daylight time for something else besides hunting, I would do that during first light over mid day.

Go read @Sgt Fury thread from this year. Often during his dreadfully slow days, he would see a doe and fawn mid day. With that being the only thing he would see.

This also holds true during late season if it gets cold COLD for consecutive days in a row.

I'm ready for all you morning killers to bash me now. GO!

 

[Sgt Fury]

I

I have another entry for this thread. Sitting around today watching Whitetail Cribs I'm hearing something I've said for years. Most of my mature deer were killed mid day. Between 10-4. Biggest deer we got on cam so far this year was also mid day.

I've posted on TOO every year about "this is the time of year to hunt. Even if you only have an hour, HUNT!" I've killed deer many times by going in while other were going out for lunch. I also generally kill a doe walking in every year. From the tail end of October until the Tuesday of gun season, take that hour and hunt! If I have to take an hour or two of daylight time for something else besides hunting, I would do that during first light over mid day.

Go read @Sgt Fury thread from this year. Often during his dreadfully slow days, he would see a doe and fawn mid day. With that being the only thing he would see.

This also holds true during late season if it gets cold COLD for consecutive days in a row.

I'm ready for all you morning killers to bash me now. GO!

I’d say about 30% of my good buck kills were between 10 & 2. 25% mornings and 45% evenings...usually the last half hour. I typically see more bucks at mid day than morning hunts. Years ago I’d kill about 50% of my good ones between 10 & 2 but that was when I hunted Canada a lot.

 

[giles]

I

I’d say about 30% of my good buck kills were between 10 & 2. 25% mornings and 45% evenings...usually the last half hour. I typically see more bucks at mid day than morning hunts. Years ago I’d kill about 50% of my good ones between 10 & 2 but that was when I hunted Canada a lot.

Yup, I'd pass up a morning hunt before a mid day hunt if I was you.

 

[Bighoun52]

Great thread love hearing others people’s opinions on how to get this big boys on the ground

 

[finelyshedded]

Since coming back onto day shift back around 2015 there’s one thing I’ve really noticed that worked against me and played a huge negative factor towards getting more shot opportunities on mature deer and that was spending much less TIME in the woods. Dang, I remember hating the time I missed with my family in the evenings but I sure enjoyed the great stretch of success I had from ‘09-‘14! The next negative factor I’d have to say is the lack of quality mature deer close to home where I spent most of my time hunting. Not sure if it was due to high hunter numbers or disease in my area but my cameras info and shed hunting finds told me a lot the past 5 years as well.
I know the title of the thread is how to hunt mature bucks successfully but I just wanted to point out if you don’t have many quality deer to hunt for starters you better move onto another area/spot and if you don’t have much time to hunt just prepare yourself for not as much tags being filled. Lol

 

[giles]

Since coming back onto day shift back around 2015 there’s one thing I’ve really noticed that worked against me and played a huge negative factor towards getting more shot opportunities on mature deer and that was spending much less TIME in the woods. Dang, I remember hating the time I missed with my family in the evenings but I sure enjoyed the great stretch of success I had from ‘09-‘14! The next negative factor I’d have to say is the lack of quality mature deer close to home where I spent most of my time hunting. Not sure if it was due to high hunter numbers or disease in my area but my cameras info and shed hunting finds told me a lot the past 5 years as well.
I know the title of the thread is how to hunt mature bucks successfully but I just wanted to point out if you don’t have many quality deer to hunt for starters you better move onto another area/spot and if you don’t have much time to hunt just prepare yourself for not as much tags being filled. Lol

Is it a quality issue or lack of mature deer?

 

[Jackalope]

Since coming back onto day shift back around 2015 there’s one thing I’ve really noticed that worked against me and played a huge negative factor towards getting more shot opportunities on mature deer and that was spending much less TIME in the woods. Dang, I remember hating the time I missed with my family in the evenings but I sure enjoyed the great stretch of success I had from ‘09-‘14! The next negative factor I’d have to say is the lack of quality mature deer close to home where I spent most of my time hunting. Not sure if it was due to high hunter numbers or disease in my area but my cameras info and shed hunting finds told me a lot the past 5 years as well.
I know the title of the thread is how to hunt mature bucks successfully but I just wanted to point out if you don’t have many quality deer to hunt for starters you better move onto another area/spot and if you don’t have much time to hunt just prepare yourself for not as much tags being filled. Lol

You're absolutely right. That's 2 of the three mentioned in the OP.

 

[finelyshedded]

Is it a quality issue or lack of mature deer?

Both actually. By most hunters standards a truly mature deer is 5.5 and older so in my area around my home there’s less and less farmland and woodland due to urban sprawl also with that there’s not near enough security to help deer evade hunters. If more and more hunter get tired of passing the 2.5-4.5 year olds waiting for that one and only 5.5 year old to come around they start lowering their standards to those younger up and comers and I think that’s where the area I hunt falls into at this moment. When bored and unsuccessful hunters get tired of it and stop hunting then I think that those that stick it out might start seeing better deer or at least the number of quality deer start to pick back up. At least that’s what I’m hoping.

 

[giles]

Both actually. By most hunters standards a truly mature deer is 5.5 and older so in my area around my home there’s less and less farmland and woodland due to urban sprawl also with that there’s not near enough security to help deer evade hunters. If more and more hunter get tired of passing the 2.5-4.5 year olds waiting for that one and only 5.5 year old to come around they start lowering their standards to those younger up and comers and I think that’s where the area I hunt falls into at this moment. When bored and unsuccessful hunters get tired of it and stop hunting those that stick it out might start seeing better deer or at least the number of quality deer start to pick back up. At least that’s what I’m hoping.

For conversation and courioutisy sakes, I'm going to throw some argument out.

Deer hunter participation is down, majorly. How does that work?

Is it a bow hunting problem or gun problem in your area?

Funny, I go to urban areas to see mature deer. Lots of people do because that is where deer can grow old.

There is truth in what I have asked and said. Just looking for another view, I personally see the popularity of bow hunting being a bigger cause in this.

What does anyone see?

 

[giles]

BTW, I agree with the "both" statement. I'm seeing the same in most areas.

 

[Fletch]

For conversation and courioutisy sakes, I'm going to throw some argument out.

Deer hunter participation is down, majorly. How does that work?

Is it a bow hunting problem or gun problem in your area?

Funny, I go to urban areas to see mature deer. Lots of people do because that is where deer can grow old.

There is truth in what I have asked and said. Just looking for another view, I personally see the popularity of bow hunting being a bigger cause in this.

What does anyone see?

First off where is our resident spell checker????

IMO and it's just My Opinion whether or not the amount of hunters is increasing or decreasing the problem of a deer not reaching full maturity is the fact that way TOO many guys JUST GOTTA FILL THEIR TAGS.... Hunters are their own worst
enemy.... Learn to go out and enjoy the hunt and eat a tag or two.... Everyone gets pissed at outfitters, well guess what they are probably one of the best things to improve a deer herd in an area... Reason being they have antler restrictions and therefore deer get to get a little older... Look at our resident spell checker George (aka Sgt. Fury) he spends hours driving to Vinton County from New Jersey and spends countless amounts of money..... Yet he never shoots a single doe and holds out for a good buck.... We need more deer hunters like him....

 

[finelyshedded]

For conversation and courioutisy sakes, I'm going to throw some argument out.

Deer hunter participation is down, majorly. How does that work?

Is it a bow hunting problem or gun problem in your area?

Funny, I go to urban areas to see mature deer. Lots of people do because that is where deer can grow old.

There is truth in what I have asked and said. Just looking for another view, I personally see the popularity of bow hunting being a bigger cause in this.

What does anyone see?

I honestly don’t know Dave? My area is really hard to compare to other areas. I’ve often told myself that I need to start a journal on my travels to and from work and count deer and make note of any bucks I see and what times. This was way back when I was even on nights starting in ‘09. The numbers were so few and far between that I even said, why bother?!? Lol I’d go 1.5-2 months without seeing a deer let alone a buck that I could just count them up on one hand. Then while on my shed hunting walks on the couple thousand acres I used to have permission on I’d see tree stands with salt blocks or feeders everywhere, even on the less than 1-2 acre properties that bordered the big fields or farms I would walk. It’s also amazing how many hunter leave blinds out all year to become trashy eyesores. I mean what the heck?!?! They paid good money and carried it out there why not take it back when you’re done so you can use it next season
There just might be lack of hunter participation in Ohio area wide but not in my area. The trail cameras show it and the lack of sheds show it. Now does and bb’s in my area just around my subdivision have bumped up. I had 11 of them around me last weekend and I just didn’t get the perfect shot op that I wanted but I planning on taking one this weekend if it pans out. As for bucks, only an occasional dink passing through at night is all I’ve seen on my camera since the rut. I did have one shooter buck show up this season which happened to be the day or two into my vacation which I drove back home to hunt with Ron on our farm. He showed up chasing does mid day and was never seen again. When we first moved here we had several shooters visiting throughout the season but that was 15 years ago when we had very little pressure and hardly anyone baited back then. Maybe those are the two variables that got my area to where it’s at now. DK

 

[finelyshedded]

I do think we have plenty of antlerless deer within our community but antlered bucks are like 1:8-10 or more, IMO.