4 days to kill a buck on public ground

[Jammintree]

G

So far it seems a majority like the tried and true lead up to peak breeding in the normal locations, a few prefer the late season for good reason. I love @OspreyZB scenario choice of hot/dry early season water hole setup and was hoping there would be some examples like that mixed in. @Jammintree mentioned general location and I almost asked for that but it wasnt entirely relevant to where I wanted this discussion to go. We all, or at least most of us, want an opportunity to kill a mature buck. A lot of us have decently long to really long seasons if we include archery but the majority have the same or close to the same preference for when and where we want to try to kill a buck. There are lots of accurate reasons for why we choose that window but there is one significant hurdle or challenge that comes with it and that is pressure. In a lot of places there is little to no pressure outside of that "rut" window but we continually save time off and focus most of our energy on being prepared to hunt one little window of time. Why is that when we have relatively significant amounts of time season wise to hunt? I have been 100% guilty of it myself. I cant help but think that there is a pretty solid argument for 2 alternate approaches. One would be, as has been mentioned in this thread, to focus on either early or late season and really refine why and where we hunt those windows. The other, prolly for just us total deer nerds, would be to continually focus on increasing our understanding of what deer are doing for the entirety of the season so that time frame and location almost become irrelevant. In both of those scenarios there is the added benefit of deer feeling less pressure and acting more like deer normally would but with the counter of potentially less than ideal weather conditions and shorter range of movement. A third option tying back to the rut window would be to identify all the different regional breeding dates and chase the rut. For example here in AR we have for sure 2 different peaks depending on where you are in the state. Alabama, GA and others have multiple peak breeding dates depending on location. I guess the point here is if you are frustrated with dealing with hunting pressure or not happy with your results, maybe its time for a paradigm shift.

great points.

personally I learn a lot more from others if I have some context to apply the information to. 4 day hunt tactics vary tremendously based on location. Big woods, swamps, agricultural, woodlots surrounded by ag, tropical, snow, mountains, river bottoms, high or low deer density, heavy pressure or no pressure, etc etc are like different universes. So a small amount of background about the conditions really grounds a statement like:I like scrapes in funnels the last week of October.

 

[BTaylor]

G

great points.

personally I learn a lot more from others if I have some context to apply the information to. 4 day hunt tactics vary tremendously based on location. Big woods, swamps, agricultural, woodlots surrounded by ag, tropical, snow, mountains, river bottoms, high or low deer density, heavy pressure or no pressure, etc etc are like different universes. So a small amount of background about the conditions really grounds a statement like:I like scrapes in funnels the last week of October.

Before this last year I would have 100% agreed. Now I am not so sure and have a strong gut feeling I have been looking at it, not wrong but from an inefficient view point. Let me ask this question, what about any of the locations you mentioned changes what is important about killing a buck deer at any point in the season?

 

[woodsdog2]

My assumptions were based on only the criteria you provided…. 4 days in public land…. So trying to up the probability of success on a nice buck as much as possible. In my mind they only really act completely stupid leading up to and during the rut which adds tremendously to factor out (somewhat) pressure and other movement suppressors. I agree about extreme heat or cold but from a planning aspect….. are you going to try to manage the factors you can or cannot control??? I’m looking at it from the standpoint of trying to control as many variables as possible.

 

[BTaylor]

My assumptions were based on only the criteria you provided…. 4 days in public land…. So trying to up the probability of success on a nice buck as much as possible. In my mind they only really act completely stupid leading up to and during the rut which adds tremendously to factor out (somewhat) pressure and other movement suppressors. I agree about extreme heat or cold but from a planning aspect….. are you going to try to manage the factors you can or cannot control??? I’m looking at it from the standpoint of trying to control as many variables as possible.

For the most part I have to schedule time off for the year by the last week of March / first week of April so in my scenario the only controllable related to a hunt would be location, esp if we are taking an out of state hunt into consideration. I'm really thinking about this more from a perspective of regardless of where or when being prepared and confident in creating an opportunity on a buck as opposed to scenario based hunting like solely keying on the hottest food source or putting the majority of the focus on rut setups. How many more opportunities might we create for ourselves approaching the season if we shelve our tendencies and attack the season on a week by week basis with the only regard to location being time to map scout before you arrive?

 

[kyler1945]

For the most part I have to schedule time off for the year by the last week of March / first week of April so in my scenario the only controllable related to a hunt would be location, esp if we are taking an out of state hunt into consideration. I'm really thinking about this more from a perspective of regardless of where or when being prepared and confident in creating an opportunity on a buck as opposed to scenario based hunting like solely keying on the hottest food source or putting the majority of the focus on rut setups. How many more opportunities might we create for ourselves approaching the season if we shelve our tendencies and attack the season on a week by week basis with the only regard to location being time to map scout before you arrive?

Play macro based on deer density, hunter density, weather patterns, daytime deer movement odds, target deer density, family, work, etc.

Play micro based on deer in the flesh.

You’re trying to make the strategies for two games boil down to 1. You can’t.

Short answer, don’t play macro game, if forced to choose. Micro is more universal with less variables.

 

[BTaylor]

Play macro based on deer density, hunter density, weather patterns, daytime deer movement odds, target deer density, family, work, etc.

Play micro based on deer in the flesh.

You’re trying to make the strategies for two games boil down to 1. You can’t.

Short answer, don’t play macro game, if forced to choose. Micro is more universal with less variables.

I may not be expressing it clearly but I am very much looking at this from a micro perspective, just one that transitions progressionally through the season matching deer behavior but doing so proactively rather than reactively.

 

[woodsdog2]

Play macro based on deer density, hunter density, weather patterns, daytime deer movement odds, target deer density, family, work, etc.

Play micro based on deer in the flesh.

You’re trying to make the strategies for two games boil down to 1. You can’t.

Short answer, don’t play macro game, if forced to choose. Micro is more universal with less variables.

This I totally agree with; however, it may be a strategy too aggressive for some situations depending on the time of the season. Early and late season(s) when Bucks are snugged up to feed patterns and concentrating on survival, a totally micro approach may blow them out. As the haze of estrous permeates the air however this approach is dynamite!

 

[woodsdog2]

For the most part I have to schedule time off for the year by the last week of March / first week of April so in my scenario the only controllable related to a hunt would be location, esp if we are taking an out of state hunt into consideration. I'm really thinking about this more from a perspective of regardless of where or when being prepared and confident in creating an opportunity on a buck as opposed to scenario based hunting like solely keying on the hottest food source or putting the majority of the focus on rut setups. How many more opportunities might we create for ourselves approaching the season if we shelve our tendencies and attack the season on a week by week basis with the only regard to location being time to map scout before you arrive?

I would go with terrain based hunting then backed up with sign. Looking for thick transitions and scouting for he hottest sign in it. Targeting the bigger ones makes the terrain much more relevant but again you risk bumping.

 

[BTaylor]

it may be a strategy too aggressive for some situations depending on the time of the season.

That is why I phrased the question the way I did, to think and hunt aggressively, proactively. For the most part, every week to 10 days patterns are changing throughout the season. Most folks dont get to take off all of deer season and just hunt. Completely agree with the terrain based approach you mentioned in your next post. Esp. keeping in mind the pattern shift progression.

 

[elk yinzer]

Any buck strategy (all very much doable):

Option 1: Opening day of gun season, scout the day before. Find an area with a good deer population and enough hunters to poke the deer around, but not too many that you see orange every hour. Figure out where the deer are gonna want to go when they get bumped, pack a lunch, and post up. 10-2 is peak time for this strategy, you need the impatient folks to start driving for you. If you've done it right, pretty much guarantee you'll kill something with antlers.

Option 2: Opening week of bow, scout until you find a bachelor group still on summer pattern, move in for the kill.

Option 3: Pick 4 days of cool weather in the rut and sit dark to dark over doe bedding

I feel like if you know what you are doing 4 days is plenty to kill any ole buck with these strategies. A "decent" representative buck, you got a chance. Maybe 25% at best, but you got a chance. A "big" buck, buy a lotto ticket. 4 weeks or 4 months or hell maybe even 4 years would be more appropriate timeframes to find and hunt down a big buck.

 

[OspreyZB]

[/QUOTE]
I feel like if you know what you are doing 4 days is plenty to kill any ole buck with these strategies. A "decent" representative buck, you got a chance. Maybe 25% at best, but you got a chance. A "big" buck, buy a lotto ticket. 4 weeks or 4 months or hell maybe even 4 years would be more appropriate timeframes to find and hunt down a big buck.
[/QUOTE]

Unless you're @kyler1945... Dude claims his odds are 50/50 for killing a top 0.1% type of buck on a 4 day hunt...

 

[kyler1945]

I feel like if you know what you are doing 4 days is plenty to kill any ole buck with these strategies. A "decent" representative buck, you got a chance. Maybe 25% at best, but you got a chance. A "big" buck, buy a lotto ticket. 4 weeks or 4 months or hell maybe even 4 years would be more appropriate timeframes to find and hunt down a big buck.
[/QUOTE]

Unless you're @kyler1945... Dude claims his odds are 50/50 for killing a top 0.1% type of buck on a 4 day hunt...
[/QUOTE]

1/1000 for where I hunt. Not where everyone else hunts. That might be a 100” deer on some properties. After reflection reading your comment, I’ll revise. And stop at 1/100 with any maths. Put the .1% deer with the lifetime deer. Most places they’ll be the same ghosts.

I just don’t let many deer walk, unless forced To by antler restrictions. One of these days I’m going to try this “mature deer” thing everyone raves about.

 

[kbetts]

Deer hunting is waaaaay easier than many of you make it.
First thing, stop thinking so much.
Second thing, hunt them where they are, not where you WANT them to be.....so don't sit in the woods when you've been watching them mosey around without a care in standing corn.

 

[BTaylor]

Deer hunting is waaaaay easier than many of you make it.
First thing, stop thinking so much.
Second thing, hunt them where they are, not where you WANT them to be.....so don't sit in the woods when you've been watching them mosey around without a care in standing corn.

No argument, killing deer is not hard at all, esp if you use something that goes bang. Last time I saw standing corn on public was the last time I was up in north MO and that's been a good long minute. Public here may or may not get planted with some wheat on the .5 to maybe 2 acre plots. We mostly just have a lot of big woods.

 

[Gator]

Best odds of killing a buck is during the prerut or early rut just because they are on their feet more and acting stupid. Sit a funnel between multiple bedding areas normally works well.

Trying to kill a specific buck, early or late season they are more predictable IME. Like someone else mentioned, during the rut they could be anywhere including miles away from where they were the day before.

 

[raisins]

For any buck on unfamiliar ground, I’m picking late October/early November, mid week and hitting travel corridors around fresh sign. Map scout prior to, first day hunt scout pre marked areas till I find what I’m looking for then pick a spot based on wind and sit it. May get 3 1/2 days to hunt, may be only one. Depends on how fast I find fresh sign.

Good call. In hill country, I like travel corridors on a bench where there are many smaller trails that cross that bench.

Also, trails going in and out of bedding cover.

 

[Weldabeast]

How can we set some sort of standard for what "bedding cover" constitutes?..... That is 1 of the most common catch phrases used on this site and I am not really sure what we are even talking about

 

[Horn]

Second defining bedding cover

 

[neonomad]

Three years ago we did four days on Ohio public first week of Nov, most of us myself included mixed sits and scouting. One guy found a clearing in a giant clear cut over the summer, thickest stuff imaginable, went up a tree in his Summit and just parked there, no wind strategy whatsoever; believe it was day 3 dropped a 140”. Maybe 150 yards from the road. Many good approaches but good sign, like scrapes, near very thick areas late Oct / early Nov is as good a bet as any.

 

[Jammintree]

Second defining bedding cover

I could only speak to what I know about my region. But bedding cover here varies greatly; different kinds of cover are used at different times depending on the conditions.