How to hunt this particular mature buck??

Elite

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Sep 4, 2018
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Hello, this is my first post on here! Seems like a very informative group of people. So here is the story. I am looking for help from some more experienced hunters. I found this mature large buck on this property while scouting this summer. I was then given permission to bow hunt it only. So I set up 3 cameras in the area. I have attached a picture of the 160 acres he lives on. The blue dot is the ground blind I set up in mid August. And the red dot is a tree stand I set up near the end of August. The green path is were I have caught this buck moving on August 24 25 26 and 31. The west finger with the camera is the camera I have him on. I have seen him in the middle of August walk by where the ground blind is hence why I put it there. But the camera has only seen him there at 6:00am once. Where the blue tent Marker is there looks to be a licking branch that I have seen him at once around 6:00 pm while driving by the field. So I have sat in my stand for 4 evenings now and had some does feeding in front of me. But the smaller bucks are coming out in the east finger and then travelling down it and the. Catching my scent. Our prevailing winds are usually NW but have been from the West lately. I know that mature deer is behind the smaller deer. They are always around when the camera takes a picture. So my question is what wind or where should I love that stand to? I have not walked in the bush at all on this property . I have de scented myself and hung cameras along the edges. So I wouldn’t disturb him . I am assuming he is bedding in the bush some where. I would love to hang cameras in the bush but would spoke him while bedded. Any body have some suggestions or ways to kill this deer?

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bwlacy

WKR
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Feb 11, 2015
Messages
424
Location
West Michigan
How are you accessing those stand set ups? Do not hunt this deer in the morning yet. Evenings only, you really risk blowing him out in the dark in the morning and then your chances aren't good that he'll hang around. You need good access where your wind won't blow to where you think he his, also he can't see you getting in or out. Spook him a couple of times and he's gone. Might have already by putting stands and cameras in there and constantly checking them. No way I would have hunted with a west wind and chanced it.

I'd wait for an evening with the right wind, and sneak in there. For mature deer you really need to not be seen or smelled on the way in or out. You usually only get 1 or 2 chances at them. At least here in Michigan.
 

LostArra

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May 9, 2013
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Oklahoma
I think you have all the intel you need. I would not go near those cameras and avoid the stand and the blind until you have a reasonable chance to see him on his feet during daylight, like November.

+1 bwlacy on the afternoon hunting.
 

CX5Ranch

WKR
Joined
Mar 31, 2018
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397
That buck is easily hunted on that small patch of timber.
Rule 1: never go into the woods. Hunt the perimeter only.

Rule 2: always hunt the downwind perimeter. I don't care if you have to walk all the way around the farm. He will eventually slip by.

Rule 3: Those inside corners are the stand spots. The does will feed in the fields and he will slip the corner checking them.

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OP
Elite

Elite

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Sep 4, 2018
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How are you accessing those stand set ups? Do not hunt this deer in the morning yet. Evenings only, you really risk blowing him out in the dark in the morning and then your chances aren't good that he'll hang around. You need good access where your wind won't blow to where you think he his, also he can't see you getting in or out. Spook him a couple of times and he's gone. Might have already by putting stands and cameras in there and constantly checking them. No way I would have hunted with a west wind and chanced it.

I'd wait for an evening with the right wind, and sneak in there. For mature deer you really need to not be seen or smelled on the way in or out. You usually only get 1 or 2 chances at them. At least here in Michigan.

Which wind would you use? He is obviously going to scent check the field before he enters. I am accessing from the east side with the wind in my face.


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OP
Elite

Elite

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That buck is easily hunted on that small patch of timber.
Rule 1: never go into the woods. Hunt the perimeter only.

Rule 2: always hunt the downwind perimeter. I don't care if you have to walk all the way around the farm. He will eventually slip by.

Rule 3: Those inside corners are the stand spots. The does will feed in the fields and he will slip the corner checking them.

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How do I go about hunting the permitter only and get him close enough for a bow shot? With out him and the other deer scent checking the field first? I figured the best bet would be to go in the woods a few yards where he might be staging first and letting the smaller bucks go first


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OP
Elite

Elite

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Also if I hunt that stand with a east wind all the does feeding in the field will not stick around


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bwlacy

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Feb 11, 2015
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West Michigan
I would hunt that treestand with some sort of Northerly wind, NW, N, NE, maybe on an east wind if it was steady. Also can't tell if there is any terrain to cause the wind to swirl on your pic. Beware of evening thermals sinking and the wind swirling. Try and hunt when there is a good steady wind, 10mph or more. I would access from the dirt road to the south and head straight north to the stand. Get in as quiet and scent free as possible. Your exit route is just as important, wait for the deer to clear the area, or have someone pick you up and spook the deer with the truck.

For the blind I would do the opposite. Hunt a southerly wind, access from the north on that dirt lane. Get in early, quiet and clean. Only exit when the deer are gone.

When you have seen him what direction is he traveling in the evening? If you do get into the timber at all I wouldn't go more than 20 yards. It's too late in the year to be doing any trimming for fear of tipping him off. If I could pattern him on his summer pattern I would. I'd rather sit on the road and glass him for a week than run all over the timber checking the cameras now. Watch him for a few days if you can then go in and kill him.
 

Btaylor

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Arkansas
I agree with bwlacy. The only thing that I would consider is moving the stand to the west finger rather than that middle strip. Opinion might change looking at it in person but just from the pic that middle strip looks to potentially create more disturbance with entry and exit than the west strip likely would. West strip should also give a little more wind flexibility.
 

Yotekiller

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May 12, 2016
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131
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Idaho
View attachment 78926

I wouldn't pussyfoot around the edge. That deer is killable now. You wait until closer to the rut and that deer won't even be on the property most of the time. The reasons most guys think a whitetail vanished is rarely the case. Bachelor groups are breaking up now bucks often relocate from that. Food sources are changing. As soon as the beans start turning color they won't be in them for at least a month. If that deer is entering and exiting those fields near the corner along the south edge of the woods he is crossing the north west corner of the culdesac during daylight hours regularly. I drew what the trails should look like in the area. Go in the morning with a north west wind and set up at least an hour before daylight when he is out in the fields and he will pass within shooting distance of that corner. Park a long way away and go in quiet. Then you are not spooking deer off the food source or in their bedding area. Intercept him between the two and it will be easier to get in and out undetected. Don't expect a mature whitetail buck to enter a field before dark in the evening. They don't do it often and especially when they do they don't go far before its dark. It would take a miracle to be at the right place when he does. Likewise in the morning he should be back in the timber right at daylight and heading for his bedding area.
 
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mcseal2

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May 8, 2014
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I too would recommend some long range recon, glassing from a distance to hunt him this time of year. IF he is predictably moving during daylight in the evening pattern him and then make a move. Think through your approach and wind, you won't get many chances. Every time you go in there those chances diminish. I don't like to check cams regularly and only check during midday by driving as close as possible when I do. Deer around here at least are used to some activity from trucks or UTV's on the ranch ground so if you stay out of the timber they don't feel to pressured. I wouldn't be scared to go in after him, but wouldn't do it blind and hoping only if I had seen a pattern I could exploit.

I also like to hunt travel corridors or staging areas. Hunting either a bedding or feeding area increases chances of spooking deer. If you can hunt the travel path between them it improves your odds of getting in and out clean. Getting out undetected is very important, especially if you want to get multiple chances at hunting the same spot. Especially this time of year that path can be very very short.

I agree that deer often move off beans by mid September or before. Our blackpowder season starts then and the bucks I was watching in August have changed feed sources by the time season starts. They come back later, but aren't hitting the beans then. Yotekillers spot on on that and the bachelor groups breaking up.
 
OP
Elite

Elite

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Thanks for help guys but I got this deer on sept 4th came in front of the ground blind when I sat in it. He was old very little teeth left
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