Nocturnal Buck

Joined
Oct 3, 2017
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Too far east
I have a big buck on my cams. 100% nocturnal. Big 10. Next season, he'll be even bigger. Not sure how to get him.
This past rut, he was only active during day time just once!! He's careful as ever. 11pm-1am about 3 nights a week is when he's in my area. He's smart. He came into my call twice, but never got close. His nose goes up in the air, and he starts sniffing around before committing.

Some of them are just smarter than others.......
 

LandYacht

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Jan 25, 2014
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Frisco
Maybe deploy some elk hunting strategy? If you have an idea of where he comes from and it sounds like you have has success with him coming to your calls on a couple of occasions, then get a buddy to call for you while you setup on his path to intercept him before he hangs up.


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Joined
Aug 20, 2016
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What path is your camera on? Is he headed to bedding areas or to a food source? Might be able to use a decoy to lure him away sooner and more into shooting light.

Just my 2 cents and worth the price charged.
 
Joined
Feb 17, 2017
Messages
649
I have a big buck on my cams. 100% nocturnal. Big 10. Next season, he'll be even bigger. Not sure how to get him.
This past rut, he was only active during day time just once!! He's careful as ever. 11pm-1am about 3 nights a week is when he's in my area. He's smart. He came into my call twice, but never got close. His nose goes up in the air, and he starts sniffing around before committing.

Some of them are just smarter than others.......

No whitetail is 100% nocturnal. and this buck is an example. You had him on camera once and you called him in twice...I am guessing you do not hunt at night... Just because you are not getting pictures of him does not mean he is not on his feet. I've killed three 5yr plus bucks that I only had one or two pictures of but they were moving through the properties daily. My cameras are no where near an area they spend the majority of their time for obvious reasons.

What I would do is pull all your pictures of him and then pull up historical wind/weather from those days or your log books.
Then compare what winds were prevailing when you got him on camera...and what direction he was headed.
If you find correlation then you should be able to narrow down his bedding area.

You may lose him for the summer but he should be back into fall patterns soon enough and bedding I the same area.
Wait for the wind to be good for him to move and sneak in on him and setup.

Don't know anything about your area but mature bucks rarely come into blind calling (grunts and/or bleats)
Blind calling just puts deer on edge and they are looking and sniffing for the deer that made the sound...
The majority of the time a mature buck will get downwind of those sounds...and pick your scent signature and move out...with you never seeing or hearing him. You may kill 2 or 3yr old bucks doing this but mature deer got that old for a reason.
I would prefer to get in close to where he is bedding and just be silent and shoot him when he gets on his feet at some point and moves.
 

go4thegusto

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Fargo ND
Bill Winke has documented several bucks on his property that were nocturnal and completely flipped to daylight activity as they got older...maybe 4 1/2 or 5 1/2. Good Luck.
 
Joined
May 14, 2015
Messages
94
No whitetail is 100% nocturnal. and this buck is an example. You had him on camera once and you called him in twice...I am guessing you do not hunt at night... Just because you are not getting pictures of him does not mean he is not on his feet. I've killed three 5yr plus bucks that I only had one or two pictures of but they were moving through the properties daily. My cameras are no where near an area they spend the majority of their time for obvious reasons.

What I would do is pull all your pictures of him and then pull up historical wind/weather from those days or your log books.
Then compare what winds were prevailing when you got him on camera...and what direction he was headed.
If you find correlation then you should be able to narrow down his bedding area.

You may lose him for the summer but he should be back into fall patterns soon enough and bedding I the same area.
Wait for the wind to be good for him to move and sneak in on him and setup.

Don't know anything about your area but mature bucks rarely come into blind calling (grunts and/or bleats)
Blind calling just puts deer on edge and they are looking and sniffing for the deer that made the sound...
The majority of the time a mature buck will get downwind of those sounds...and pick your scent signature and move out...with you never seeing or hearing him. You may kill 2 or 3yr old bucks doing this but mature deer got that old for a reason.
I would prefer to get in close to where he is bedding and just be silent and shoot him when he gets on his feet at some point and moves.

X2. Google/YouTube Dan infalt and start reading and listening. You need to find his primary bedding locations and hunt those. Mature deer like the one you describe aren’t going to move more than a couple hundred yards from their bed in daylight. You simply need to figure out where those beds are and hunt the wind. If you’re not seeing him in daylight you aren’t close enough to his bed.
 
Joined
Jul 11, 2017
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WV
X2. Google/YouTube Dan infalt and start reading and listening. You need to find his primary bedding locations and hunt those. Mature deer like the one you describe aren’t going to move more than a couple hundred yards from their bed in daylight. You simply need to figure out where those beds are and hunt the wind. If you’re not seeing him in daylight you aren’t close enough to his bed.

Exactly this. When I started following Dan and employing those tactics in my area my success on bucks just like theOP is talking about easily tripled. If you can find his primary bedding you can kill him! The last three mature bucks I have killed I’ve been within 75 yards of them bedded, watched them get up and killed them right at last light. They simply don’t move far from bedding before dark.


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Exactly this. When I started following Dan and employing those tactics in my area my success on bucks just like theOP is talking about easily tripled. If you can find his primary bedding you can kill him! The last three mature bucks I have killed I’ve been within 75 yards of them bedded, watched them get up and killed them right at last light. They simply don’t move far from bedding before dark.


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You hit on another good point. Dan hunts afternoons/evenings almost exclusively. Most mature bucks are in bed well before daylight. The exception being the rut.
 
Joined
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WV
You hit on another good point. Dan hunts afternoons/evenings almost exclusively. Most mature bucks are in bed well before daylight. The exception being the rut.

I've started doing the same. My morning hunts are either focused on does or saved for the rut. I save my high percentage bed hunts for the evenings early season. I've only killed one mature buck coming back to bedding in the morning (buck in my avatar). What I did this year was sit the morning out and spend time with the family then head in for the afternoon hunt around 1pm and take my time going super slow so I didn't bump deer. It worked out very well!
 

Hall256

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Nov 12, 2016
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Virginia
What I did this year was sit the morning out and spend time with the family then head in for the afternoon hunt around 1pm and take my time going super slow so I didn't bump deer. It worked out very well!

Man, I tried this at the end of November through December. This was the first season in over 20 years that I skipped the morning hunt, it seemed like i was cheating myself and was being lazy. It was nice not bumping the deer in the dark, but on slow days I could not help but feel that I "missed" some hunting time.

Going to try it again next year, hopefully it works out better.


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Joined
Aug 21, 2016
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Midwest
Not to oversimplify things but try to figure out where he beds the majority of the time and hunt as close to that tangled spot as you dare when the wind is right. ONLY hunt that spot when the wind is right and NEVER hunt it in the morning you'll never beat that buck in there and will likely just prevent him from bedding there at all if you continually bump him or leave your scent around in the morning. I think going in at like 6-7 hours before sundown is best. I am typically in my stands at 1100 or 1200 when the sun is going down at 6ish.

The buck I killed this year was in a spot I have on the southern end of heavy, impenetrable bedding cover. We finally had a strong north wind and I snuck in dead south of the spot right through the middle of a cornfield that bumped up within 50 yards of the cover. I took 40 minutes to cover that last 50 yards to my stand which i climbed up into without a sound. He came slinking out of the cover directly North of me with literally 10 minutes of legal light and I am certain he was bedded in there not more than 50 yards away from me but being the wind was always in my face and i snuck in super quiet he never knew i was there.

Last thing, dont make your stand higher than the cover either or they will skyline you from their beds and avoid you, best of luck.
 

Stilpr

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Dec 2, 2016
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Deforest, WI
Another vote for checking out Dan Infalt’s advice here. He has a guest spot on the Wired to Hunt podcast where he goes in detail on how he locates and identifies mature buck bedding areas. Good luck!
 
Joined
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My favorite thing to do is go in mid morning (about 9am) and hunt the rest of the day. You can hunt your way to your spot, have less chance of bumping deer because you can see them. It also makes it easier to sit all day because you cut a few hours off in the morning. I have killed several big bucks this way. Midday is my favorite time. All the big ones I have mounted were shot from 11-1pm.

As mentioned earlier, no deer is 100% nocturnal. They are just nocturnal in your specific spot. Deer by nature get up and move every few hours. They may not move far, but they do move. You need to figure out where the big boy is bedded and then hunt as close as you can without bumping him.
 

Btaylor

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Arkansas
You didn't mention anything about what the area is like or what type of property you are dealing with so it is hard to be more specific than some of the advice already given. If you are in broken ag country you will have more readily identifiable options than say hunting solid big timber. If direction of travel is pretty consistent on the cam where you are getting pics then you may want to move cams to some different locations and try to determine normal travel patterns outside of the rut. You may find there there is a place where he is moving more consistently during shooting time and that spot may provide more or better wind and access options. I much prefer to try to zero in on the spots away from bedding where I will be the least detectable until peak or late rut and then get tight to his bedroom.

If you can get him on cam in a different location then look for pinch points or edges either hard or soft that might indicate the highest odds of travel. The buck I killed this past fall was a 5y/o that I have 2 daytime pics of in the last three years. Stay patient and hunt him smart and you can kill him.
 

7mmremmag

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Dec 26, 2017
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Youngsville, PA
X2. Google/YouTube Dan infalt and start reading and listening. You need to find his primary bedding locations and hunt those. Mature deer like the one you describe aren’t going to move more than a couple hundred yards from their bed in daylight. You simply need to figure out where those beds are and hunt the wind. If you’re not seeing him in daylight you aren’t close enough to his bed.

Couldn't agree more.
 

mcseal2

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I've seen far more mature bucks moving on foggy overcast mornings than on any other type morning. I have taken a few good ones on those days and had other encounters that didn't go my way. If you get the right conditions I'd try to take advantage of them. It can pay off.
 

mag1

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Jun 14, 2016
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NE Wis.
Like Flinginarrows stated above, check out Dan Infalts info. Go to: Thehuntingbeast.com get some of his video's. Not sure of the country you are in, hill country or more marsh like area's, but his tactics and strategies do work. You need to find his bedding areas', sneak in to 75-100 yds away, and work him down. you will be amazed at what you will start to see.
 

FLAK

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Gulf Coast
We call our little piece of Whitetail ground we hunt the "NightClub".
15 different bucks on camera, all at night, all year long.
 
Joined
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Georgia
Another great source for the ins and outs of hunting whitetail is Jeff Sturgis- "Whitetail Habitat Solutions." You can find him on his website or on youtube. The dude has killed some studs! Good luck.
 

7mmremmag

Lil-Rokslider
Joined
Dec 26, 2017
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Youngsville, PA
Another great source for the ins and outs of hunting whitetail is Jeff Sturgis- "Whitetail Habitat Solutions." You can find him on his website or on youtube. The dude has killed some studs! Good luck.

Yep, Jeff is the man. His books are well written and easy to understand as well. Definitely a great resource.
 
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