Found a huge buck for the area. Need advice.

[TRUSAVAGE]

Well how should I Start?
I live in Southern California in and unincorporated part of Los Angeles County. I've been hunting my local hills for 30+ years. I probably spend close to a 100+ days a year in theses hills, usually watching the small bodied ,dark antlered mule deer that inhabit the area.
I feel like I know the terrain and animals in this unasuming area better than most locals. it's dry mostly small hills type of terrain with tall grass and patches of oak brush with red clay and rock bluffs where hills have begun to slide.
It's public land but often over looked in one of the worst zones in California. Most bucks that make it to their
second year are rarely seen within a mile or two of any roads. An 18" wide forkhorn with eye guards is considered a trophy buck and never passed on by any hunters I've seen around here. "So anyway"

A few days ago I hiked deep into a canyon where I usually see plenty of deer. I made my Way to a favorite vantage points and began to glass. From here I can cover a large area of shaded ridges and secondary canyons. After a couple hours the biting flies were killing me. So I decided to hike up to the peak in hopes of catching a light wind to keep the flies away. On the back side of this rocky peak there is what I can describe as a deep rocky bowl With steep walls and washed out ruts. It's not very large and I have never seen deer in there but I always glass the shade pockets. I followed a washed out rut to the shaded base of a rocky cliff
When I noticed what looked like a bedded deer with a comically wide rack . I thought to myself, "that bush looks exactly like nice rocky mountain mulie"
An impossibility in this area. I ignored it and continued to scan the area.
Before returning to glass the large basin on th other side I looked at the deer bush one last time and was surprised to see what now looks like a buck with its head turned, still a comically wide rack but now a wide fork exposed...... then an ear flick followed by his head turning to face me. HOLY CRAP! I BACKED OFF SLOWLY and attempted to get some photos holding my cellphone zoomed in through the lens of my El's.. The photos are CRAP but I'm heading back up tomorrow with a camera and a long lens. If anyone can give me some advice on how often I should scout this buck? Also want to note that when the sun shifted the buck got up and moved about 15' to the shade side of the same wash out . Is this his hiding hole? The area is pretty isolated and far enough away from roads that I don't anticipate other hunters visiting this small canyon. Again, the photo is horrible but hopefully I can get some better results soon.

 

[Rich M]

Best you can do is stop posting stuff online w descriptions of where he is. Less you say more likely you will get the deer.

And watch him until the season opens. Then shoot him.

Now you know how mature deer hide in your neighborhood...

 

[HuntHarder]

Believe it or not, I CAN actually make out the buck in that picture you took with a potato. Lots of variables go into watching big deer. I would try and maintain a distance away that the odds of him ever picking you up are slim to none. I would try and get in there every couple weeks and try and locate him. The bad news is, this is his summer grounds and deer tend to move quite a bit right before and during their velvet shed. Locate a water source near him and set up some cameras on the trails going into it. Good luck and I look forward to better pictures.

 

[Azone]

Keep tabs on him as much as possible without spooking him. Once he goes nocturnal it will be tough, try to develop some sense of his movements so you don’t waste much time in the season trying to locate him and hopefully kill him. The deer in my area generally don’t travel too far or really at all when they lose their velvet. Be careful of additional pictures containing a lot of country in the background, don’t need no one else figuring out where is hole is at. I can sort of make the picture out but it’s tough. Reminds me of a average bigfoot picture. Good luck and hopefully a tag ends up him.

 

[JNDEER]

No idea about southern cal, but I can tell you my experiences in NorCal A zone. Similar to you hunting specific areas year after year ... the scouting... etc, etc..

The three times I found very large mature deer... I found them just the one time I laid eyes on them- lol... in fact each of the three times I found them I never saw them again in the future years. Not to say this big boy cannot be found again but the large deer on heavily hunted public OTC tags don’t get that big by being dumb.

Little story- one year we found a decent 3x3 but was not able to connect (July archery). Never seen him before and only seen him 2 out of the 3 days we hunted. Fast forward about 10 years my bro posting random pic on IG... he is into that... and a guy sends him a message asking where we seen that buck- it was a pic he posted of him. Long story the guy killed that same buck that same year during rifle season about 5 miles away. No reason for the buck to leave where he was during archery season- but he did. My conclusion was that although over the years I had seen 90% of the same deer and bucks year after year.... those random big buck sightings were just that- random and even though my spot are home to decent bucks- the three big boys did not consider that home.

Now you know big bucks are “around”... you just need to change where you look cause your normal spot is probably not where the big boys want to be- but.... you could get lucky and this nice buck May be making this area his new home. Good luck!

 

[180splitg3]

I apologize for the ignorant question but when do these California mule deer shed their antlers? Or, has this buck already grown enough bone this season for you to tell he's a great deer? Here in MN the racks are just starting...

 

[Bubblehide]

The buck will have several bedding areas over it's range. I would do attempt to do 2 things. Identify as many of his bedding places as you can; easy to say, but very difficult to do (use cameras). While you are looking to identify his bedding areas, trim up a trail to within shooting distance of every bed you identify him using, while he isn't around. You may want 2 or more approaches to account for different wind directions.

If he busts you, and you can't find him, he is still in his home range. Thus is where those cameras may pay off.

 

[Gunnersdad49]

Is this an area you can hang out in? Can you stay in there quiet and low, downwind, and wait to see where he goes when he gets up out of his bed?

 

[TRUSAVAGE]

I apologize for the ignorant question but when do these California mule deer shed their antlers? Or, has this buck already grown enough bone this season for you to tell he's a great deer? Here in MN the racks are just starting...

Not ignorant, I seen several hard horned bucks as late as mid January, not sure if younger bucks shed later and rarely see velvet later than mid August. As far as this buck, what I seen was a real wide/heavy/tall frame in thick velvet. Not epic by rocky mountain mule deer standards, but for an area populated by mulies slightly larger than coyotes. . It definitely stands out.

I really appreciate the input guys, thank you .


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[TRUSAVAGE]

Is this an area you can hang out in? Can you stay in there quiet and low, downwind, and wait to see where he goes when he gets up out of his bed?

Yes it is, I watched him get up around noon to only go about 15feet lower to feed and eventually bed down again in the same area.

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[KClark]

Hmmmm... I'm in N. CA and our bucks horns are only a few inches tall right now.

 

[CApighunter]

Hmmmm... I'm in N. CA and our bucks horns are only a few inches tall right now.

Park buck today, Sonoma county. Walked up on him sleeping. He’s got a nice 2x3 frame, should be a good blacktail after he’s done growing.

 

[KClark]

I'm amazed. Didn't realize it varied so much, I'm at 2000ft in the Mother Lode.

 

[TRUSAVAGE]

I'm not sure why that is. Maybe larger antlers shed much sooner and that combined with diet could be the reason ?

 

[Bubblehide]

I apologize for the ignorant question but when do these California mule deer shed their antlers? Or, has this buck already grown enough bone this season for you to tell he's a great deer? Here in MN the racks are just starting...

In So Cal, it depends on the specific type of deer/location.

 

[Travistroop]

When does your season start? I would just put up some trail cams and check the once a month or once every two months. I've pushed bucks out of the area from the human pressure.

 

[Laramie]

Keep in mind, mule deer are very nomadic. You may never see him again but he is for sure worth additional scouting effort. Hopefully you have found his summer range and he stays there until opening day. Stay as low impact as possible but I would try to keep tabs on him and learn his routines, if there are any.

 

[Huntindog45]

I would just plan on spending mornings and evenings on a ridgetop near there for awhile. hopefully you see him again and you can start to develop a pattern. FYI, He will switch to night time moving around at some point this summer. But the best thing you can do is find a location to watch from where you are not pushing him

 

[Bubblehide]

Keep in mind, mule deer are very nomadic. ...

Southern Ca mule deer do not migrate, so they are not nomadic at all. But then, neither are migrating deer. So Cal deer have territories of normally a few square miles, as in single digits. They do however have winter range that may be outside their normal, non-winter territory. But that winter range is not anywhere close to migration distances.

IMNSHO, this buck will remain within his home territory throughout the General Season.

 

[Laramie]

Southern Ca mule deer do not migrate, so they are not nomadic at all. But then, neither are migrating deer. So Cal deer have territories of normally a few square miles, as in single digits. They do however have winter range that may be outside their normal, non-winter territory. But that winter range is not anywhere close to migration distances.

IMNSHO, this buck will remain within his home territory throughout the General Season.

While there are some animals that choose not to be nomadic or migrate, this behavior happens everywhere mule deer exist. It has been studied at length. Here is one study specifically dealing with southern California mule deer;

https://academic.oup.com/jmammal/article-pdf/78/2/483/2697271/78-2-483.pdf

I will agree that mule deer do often develop a summer range that can be quite small. When they choose to leave that area can be anyone's guess though. There are a lot of factors that vary by region that cause them to move.