

Try these strategies to get the big boy

9:04 PM, Nov. 14, 2013  |  Comments
There are some tactics that will increase your chances of getting a big buck.
  • Filed Under

In the last article featuring buck hunting, I stressed where to hunt and when to hunt. If you can, hunt good productive habitat with ample older bucks in the population. Catch them off guard before they are pressured, and hunt them during the rut when they are vulnerable.

In this article, I go into some other tactics on how a hunter can up his or her odds of getting a big buck.

The younger the deer and the less they are hunted the less wary they are.

Fawns born this year and even year and half old bucks just kind of wander around, not worrying about hunters.

But bucks that have survived to old age obviously learned how to do that.

They concentrate on the basics of life: eating enough to get by; mostly at night with hunting pressure; avoiding predation - that would be you, the predator; but also, sex, a basic of the life of any species that survives.

So with that situation, how can you turn the odds of intercepting an old buck somewhat in your favor?

? Get in their nest, so to speak. Food plots with fertilized plants are attractive to deer. But deer determine early on who is hunted and who is not.

With hunting pressure, bucks just hang out in the thickets until dark when they can saunter into the plots or visit your feeder without fear of flying arrows or zinging bullets. So after the first few days of hunting, the plots or clearcuts where you can see a long ways, take your self climbing stand and put it on a big tree in a thicket near deer trails off the food plot. You won't see the number of young deer you could see in the openings. But you up your odds big time of intercepting a big boy in his sanctuary.

? Rotate stands. If you have the luxury of several stands, rotate stands based on hunting pressure and wind direction.

You up your odds of catching him off guard.

? Weather. It seems that the worst are those real windy days. Deer depend on their nose and hearing a lot. Swirling wind makes them skittish. And hot sticky days are about as bad.

Mosquitos buzzing usually doesn't mean good fall deer hunting. It doesn't feel like fall, and the deer don't move much.

The best time is after a front when it's cooler, and after the windy conditions associated with the front die a bit. That's a good time to hunt, they are on the move.

? Persistence. But even though there are places and times when your hunting odds are better, persistence is a very important trait of successful hunters. Successful hunters just stick with it.

They are comfortable in the woods, and they are thinking about that big buck - where he might be, when he might let his guard down, and how they could intercept him.

So I hope these suggestions help hunters enjoy the best game mammal in the world. We have them and can hunt them right here - the white-tailed deer.

Get Adobe Flash player

Things To Do


Photo Galleries

Real Deals




Sign up for home delivery today