My Early Season Plans
Posted By
Bill Winke
at
9/26/2011 12:00:00 AM
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Here is quite a trail cam photo of Big and G5 Buck squaring off. We have learned a lot about Big from the photos - where he comes from in the evening (where he beds), his dominance (he is the man!) and the size of his range (small right now). It may be enough to permit me to get the deer this season. |
I am hunting most of the same bucks this year that I hunted last year. My success with those deer in 2010 was dismal. I never even saw the biggest two. Obviously, the strategy I used then didn't work. When that happens, the best thing a person can do is learn from the past, look at any new information and make a new, and hopefully better, strategy. In this blog I am going to focus on the buck I named "Big".
He's a 6 1/2 year old buck. I have spent a fair bit of time documenting my experiences with this deer in past episodes of the show, but for a quick recap: he is primarily nocturnal. We rarely see him in daylight. In fact, we saw him twice as 4 1/2 year old in 2009 (once in early November and once in early January). That is not many sightings given that I spent nearly 60 days (at the least some part of 60 days) hunting within his range. To make things even more bleak, I never saw him at all during the 2010 season, again after spending the same amout of time in those areas.
Here is what I am going to do differently this year.
BEING MORE CONSERVATIVE
I believe I made two mistakes in the past when hunting this buck. First, I hunted him without regard for the timing of his movements. I figured as long as he was there, I had some chance that he would move during the day and I needed to be there as often as possible to take advantage of that one day when he did. That reasoning is flawed in one key way: by putting that much pressure on the buck's core, I am certain that he knew I was hunting him.
Deer are very good at knowing what is happening in their living rooms. They are better it than we think, being able to detect ground scent easily even when we think we have done everything possible to eliminate it. They also hear us, see us and sometimes even smell us when we are heading to and from our stands. They also rely on the body language of other deer - that screams just as loudly as a fire siren. Educate a few does in the area and the buck will pick up on their tense and cautious body language and will also display caution in the same area.
I was hunting the buck at a time when he wasn't moving during the day. In so doing, I all but guaranteed he never would. I was hunting carefully but it still added up to a fair bit of intrusion that a 5 1/2 year old buck just coudn't overlook. Now fast forward to this year.
DAYLIGHT TRAIL CAM PHOTOS
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As far as I can tell, this buck spends most of his time in this samll valley and approaches the corn pile in front of the camera from the same direction each evening, suggesting he is bedding on one of two ridges in that direction. |
I think his range has shrunk, but it is still pretty early in the fall. He may stretch it back out as the rut nears. The other interesting development is the number of daylight photos I am getting of this buck. He is offering daylight photos nearly every day we have had that camera in place. He seems to be less cautious this year than in years past, at least less nocturnal. We'll see if that pattern holds form as we get into October, as well.
Just today I went in and set a stand in a spot where I think I can kill this buck. He is living in a little valley, same as last year. However, last year I often went right down into that valley to hunt him. I am not going to do that this year. The stand I set was on an oak ridge with a heavy trail cutting across it. There are acorns everywhere! And because it is up on the ridge, the wind will be more stable and I don't have to wade through the brush and bedded deer as far to get to the stand, thus, hopefully reducing my profile. We'll see if it works, but on the surface I feel very, very good about this stand. Even though it only about 75 yards from the stand I hunted last year, I think that little move will greatly improve my odds for success. By staying out of the buck's valley (I may have to name it Big's Valley in honor of how much time he spends there) I really feel that I can kill him now. Everytime the wind is from the east, that is where I will be sitting.
I hope you learned something from my multi-year quest for this big deer. I know I definitely have. It is fun to have a buck that has been here that long and has tested my thought processes (even helped to hone them). I am definitely a better deer hunter for the lessons this buck has taught me. I am thinking this will be the year that Big makes his first mistake.
