Endless Debate: How far off am I?

[DwampSonkey]

Some people may be tired of the conjecture, but I need to hear some opinions.
I’ve found an apple tree 50 yds off of a back road. It’s got a vast amount have apple that have started dropping at an increased rate over the last week and a half. 15 yards to the left of it, there is an impressive oak that has the widest acorns Ive seen. (I’m not sure how palatable these acorns are to the deer yet.)

A young 6 point comes in for the last hour of light most nights. Does hit it randomly throughout the day. But this guy.. he started coming at 2:30.. then 3:30… now he’s lost velvet and is lingering at 4:30…which is 40 minutes before legal.

This is public land and I expect everything to be “ruined” with a few weeks.

Should I:
1. Go shoot a young deer in the afternoon because that’s an easy set up.

2. Try to set up some distance off the apple tree in the morning and potentially risk him hearing me at the truck?

3. Risk giving it more time and hope he starts staying later and make a move from there.

If I try to make a move in the morning, how far off the x am I with this big nut fellow?

 

[GeoFish]

Not sure about #2.
But I hunt a spot 20 yards off a back road.
I parked 1/3 of a mile down the road across from a house.
Because it is normal for cars/trucks to be heard there in the early morning. Parking closer to the spot would not be normal and alert the deer.

 

[NMSbowhunter]

Should I:
1. Go shoot a young deer in the afternoon because that’s an easy set up. Only you can answer this question. Do you want a young deer? Will this spot get ruined or could it go overlooked? If you do kill a young deer there will the question nag at you "should I have waited?"

2. Try to set up some distance off the apple tree in the morning and potentially risk him hearing me at the truck? If I knew exactly where he was coming from and it was a spot that he had no choice to move through, then maybe. If not and he could be anywhere, then for me, no.

3. Risk giving it more time and hope he starts staying later and make a move from there. If you really want the bigger deer, that may be the only option. John Eberhart has several videos on hunting big bucks at apple tree locations on his youtube. It might be worth a watch. The short version is the big bucks tend to come in after the other deer do, approach the apple tree from the back, from cover, take a few bites and leave.

If I try to make a move in the morning, how far off the x am I with this big nut fellow? From the look of the picture, he is there at 4:30...gets light about 6ish I'm guessing. That gives him an hour and a half. A deer can move a long way in an hour and a half. He could be a quarter of a mile away or bedded down 40 yards out.

I have a couple of spots I check early season. I know other people know about them and if the spot is hot I know I better hit it early and hit it hard. I don't pressure myself about how to hunt these spots. If I don't go it and go for broke, I know with a high degree of certainty someone else will hunt that spot out. I hunt these spots early, aggressively, and either kill something or run the deer out of that spot. Since I can't control who goes in there, the pressure is off me.

 

[Jammintree]

What’s that old saying?

A Buck in the Truck is worth 1000 on the trail cam.

How many tags do you have? Can you make a plan to hunt him on his current pattern and later in the season when rut behavior changes everything return to catch another coming back to the same draw?

 

[DwampSonkey]

Not sure about #2.
But I hunt a spot 20 yards off a back road.
I parked 1/3 of a mile down the road across from a house.
Because it is normal for cars/trucks to be heard there in the early morning. Parking closer to the spot would not be normal and alert the deer.

I’m also not pumped about the idea but I don’t think Im close to his afternoon bed?
I am willing to go to extreme measures as well because this is a quite a character for my area.
No houses close by, but that’s a great tip I’ll be keeping in the arsenal.

 

[DwampSonkey]

What’s that old saying?

A Buck in the Truck is worth 1000 on the trail cam.

How many tags do you have? Can you make a plan to hunt him on his current pattern and later in the season when rut behavior changes everything return to catch another coming back to the same draw?

A lesson I thought I learned last year… but perhaps not…
This is our expanded archery season coming up so it’s really my bonus buck.
This area specifically gets pushed hard during gun and poached hard with lights and crossbows.. so if I want a crack at this guy I’m realizing it’s gotta be sooner rather than later

 

[DwampSonkey]

Should I:
1. Go shoot a young deer in the afternoon because that’s an easy set up. Only you can answer this question. Do you want a young deer? Will this spot get ruined or could it go overlooked? If you do kill a young deer there will the question nag at you "should I have waited?"

2. Try to set up some distance off the apple tree in the morning and potentially risk him hearing me at the truck? If I knew exactly where he was coming from and it was a spot that he had no choice to move through, then maybe. If not and he could be anywhere, then for me, no.

3. Risk giving it more time and hope he starts staying later and make a move from there. If you really want the bigger deer, that may be the only option. John Eberhart has several videos on hunting big bucks at apple tree locations on his youtube. It might be worth a watch. The short version is the big bucks tend to come in after the other deer do, approach the apple tree from the back, from cover, take a few bites and leave.

If I try to make a move in the morning, how far off the x am I with this big nut fellow? From the look of the picture, he is there at 4:30...gets light about 6ish I'm guessing. That gives him an hour and a half. A deer can move a long way in an hour and a half. He could be a quarter of a mile away or bedded down 40 yards out.

I have a couple of spots I check early season. I know other people know about them and if the spot is hot I know I better hit it early and hit it hard. I don't pressure myself about how to hunt these spots. If I don't go it and go for broke, I know with a high degree of certainty someone else will hunt that spot out. I hunt these spots early, aggressively, and either kill something or run the deer out of that spot. Since I can't control who goes in there, the pressure is of

A very informative response with the references to bucks on apple trees.

I could hang my hat on that 6 pointer being my first bow buck and be very content. But knowing what’s out there and the type of pressure it receives I might go for broke.

This worked well for me last year. A dozen or so spots with big deer in them, going for broke, got me within 40 yds of the biggest deer I’ve seen, just couldn’t get a shot off.

I have heard that the distance these mature bucks travel in the morning before bed is much longer than there bed to food in the evening. I have no hard funnels prescouted that I could leverage. Just a few ideas of where a guy like him might be able to hide and live.

Another situation update: I thought this split g2 buck was the one I’ve seen in velvet. It’s not, the big 8 was there 10 minutes prior and moved out when this g2 buck came in, so it’s the first time I’ve seen him specifically.

I wonder if this buck will now cue into these apple that are dropping like crazy now. Pic of velvet 8 attached.

 

[Jammintree]

What part of the country are we talking about?

 

[DwampSonkey]

What part of the country are we talking about?

I’m in Maine

 

[NMSbowhunter]

I’m in Maine

Northern Wisconsin Big woods hunter but I'm thinking the principal would be the same. I use this technique around here. This is really a more post season approach, but I use it in season as well. You might try the tactic of setting up for the buck at the destination location, if you don't get him, and he starts coming only late at night due to pressure, then backtrack him as far as you can to try to find him in daylight. I'd also not freak out if you bump him. I'd much rather bump a buck than hunt a spot without a buck.

I look at it like this. If there is a big buck around and he is going to most likely get pressured, it might as well be me who does it. Otherwise, I'm not in the game. Someone else is. This is speaking about public land. If it were private, I'd treat it differently.

 

[PoorMansWrangler]

I’m taking option 1 everyday and twice on Sunday. Go wax that fool if you want, who cares when his birthday is.

 

[GeoFish]

I’m also not pumped about the idea but I don’t think Im close to his afternoon bed?
I am willing to go to extreme measures as well because this is a quite a character for my area.
No houses close by, but that’s a great tip I’ll be keeping in the arsenal.

I now live on 18 acres on the river surrounded by crop fields. I have learned alot more about deer in the last 5 years.

Making predictions about deer movement is easy, unless it involves the future.

 

[DwampSonkey]

Update: apple induced chaos. They started dropping heavily. Deer have been there all hours of the day. Some days the bucks came in at 4am, sometimes 7:30-8:30 pm, a few times at 1-2pm. This morning just munching at 6:30 am.

The apples have probably peaked already and just some stragglers intermittently. I’m hoping they stay localized and hit that massive oak trees.

They are not patern-able and with how close they are to the road I think morning is out for opening day.

The wind sets up right, so midday and sitting a few hours should set me up for a decent shot and observation of the area. (In future years a camera will be set up on avenues to this tree rather than seeing just who’s there at the tree)

 

[OSUTodd]

Shoot one of the does.

 

[DwampSonkey]

Shoot one of the does.