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How to kill a ton of deer every year

R

Rg176bnc

Well-Known Member
Joined
Mar 23, 2014
Messages
353
Nutterbuster and others this is for you as requested. I may get long winded but thats probably what you were after anyways lol.

How did I get here? I started hunting in Kansas back in the day when you could shoot 2 deer. Initially that was a good deal because I wasnt a killer yet.
Killed my first buck at 16 on the ground at 15 yards while still hunting with my dad about 50 yds away.

Killed a few with a gun and really didnt care for it simply because most the deer I seen were running wild. I believe I was 20 when I killed the 1st deer of the season early and decided I was going to try for a big one. Low and behold I was driving by some public land that I had never taken the time to walk into and never really seen anyone else there either. My gut said stop so I did. Within 200 yds of the road I had found probably 100 rubs and a couple scrapes There might as well had been a neon sign on that tree that said "Hang stand here stupid". The next morning I connected on a 176" brute

I was really focused on antlers the next few years and to be honest it wasnt all that fun. Watched a lot of slick heads go by and told myself you know you are deer hunting, why aren't you shooting deer? The tags were starting to get more available and I also snagged my first private spot to hunt. Thats when it started.

THE COOKIE JAR: Like it or not your going to need one to kill a bunch of deer. Your going to need at least one killer spot or several good spots. The more the better and never ever give up on one until you are certain of its potential.

First and foremost look at your states regs. Where are the tags at? What and where can you kill them? In todays world urban areas are #1 and remote is probably #2 as far as deer killing in numbers. For me KS was both for awhile. The neighboring state of Missouri was getting pretty liberal on tags as well at that time. The mid 90's till about 2012 was really good for deer numbers.

One of the better spots I had was 7 acres. I could see 3 houses and smell dinner on the stove most evenings.

This next part is going to hurt some feelings but it needs to be said. If your one of those guys that always has an excuse as to why you dont have a place to hunt, big deer to go after, time to go, etc etc. Just stop reading because "know how " isnt your main issue, its you. Get it figured out, quit hunting or quit whining. I can here it now "Well in my state...." nope zip it don't want to hear it. No excuses.

Having and keeping spots is work and if you dont treat it as such you'll always be at the mercy of your buddies or your closest place because your too lazy to drive to the next one. Been several years my closest place was 1 to 1.5 hours away.

I do something EVERY day that is deer related, even if its just checking a spot on the way home to see if there are any deer out. Sometimes its just a shot or 2 thru the bow.

We'll get to the killing tomorrow but that should get your juices flowing anyway.
 
Rg176bnc said:
This next part is going to hurt some feelings but it needs to be said. If your one of those guys that always has an excuse as to why you dont have a place to hunt, big deer to go after, time to go, etc etc. Just stop reading because "know how " isnt your main issue, its you. Get it figured out, quit hunting or quit whining. I can here it now "Well in my state...." nope zip it don't want to hear it. No excuses.
Click to expand...

good stuff

If the land is the same, the #1 difference between people who kill deer and those who don't is time in the woods. I can put my buddies on good spots, but when they hunt 2-3 times a year they're not likely to kill anything. You need the reps with access routes, being quiet setting up, and just being able to see brown things walking through the woods before they see you. After putting in the time, I am a more efficient killer and can kill a deer almost every sit, but there is a backlog of years where I didn't see crap most of the time.

Gear is the last thing that would come on my list of importance. If I somebody had a gun to my head and said "go kill a deer or I'm killing you", I'd probably grab a crossbow and a camp chair.
 
Rg176bnc said:
Nutterbuster and others this is for you as requested. I may get long winded but thats probably what you were after anyways lol.

How did I get here? I started hunting in Kansas back in the day when you could shoot 2 deer. Initially that was a good deal because I wasnt a killer yet.
Killed my first buck at 16 on the ground at 15 yards while still hunting with my dad about 50 yds away.

Killed a few with a gun and really didnt care for it simply because most the deer I seen were running wild. I believe I was 20 when I killed the 1st deer of the season early and decided I was going to try for a big one. Low and behold I was driving by some public land that I had never taken the time to walk into and never really seen anyone else there either. My gut said stop so I did. Within 200 yds of the road I had found probably 100 rubs and a couple scrapes There might as well had been a neon sign on that tree that said "Hang stand here stupid". The next morning I connected on a 176" brute

I was really focused on antlers the next few years and to be honest it wasnt all that fun. Watched a lot of slick heads go by and told myself you know you are deer hunting, why aren't you shooting deer? The tags were starting to get more available and I also snagged my first private spot to hunt. Thats when it started.

THE COOKIE JAR: Like it or not your going to need one to kill a bunch of deer. Your going to need at least one killer spot or several good spots. The more the better and never ever give up on one until you are certain of its potential.

First and foremost look at your states regs. Where are the tags at? What and where can you kill them? In todays world urban areas are #1 and remote is probably #2 as far as deer killing in numbers. For me KS was both for awhile. The neighboring state of Missouri was getting pretty liberal on tags as well at that time. The mid 90's till about 2012 was really good for deer numbers.

One of the better spots I had was 7 acres. I could see 3 houses and smell dinner on the stove most evenings.

This next part is going to hurt some feelings but it needs to be said. If your one of those guys that always has an excuse as to why you dont have a place to hunt, big deer to go after, time to go, etc etc. Just stop reading because "know how " isnt your main issue, its you. Get it figured out, quit hunting or quit whining. I can here it now "Well in my state...." nope zip it don't want to hear it. No excuses.

Having and keeping spots is work and if you dont treat it as such you'll always be at the mercy of your buddies or your closest place because your too lazy to drive to the next one. Been several years my closest place was 1 to 1.5 hours away.

I do something EVERY day that is deer related, even if its just checking a spot on the way home to see if there are any deer out. Sometimes its just a shot or 2 thru the bow.

We'll get to the killing tomorrow but that should get your juices flowing anyway.
Click to expand...
Your not hurting my feelings. You speak the truth. Killing deer consistantly is work. Killing big deer is even more work. Most new guys think that it's the spot or the equipment that will allow you to be successful. While that's a part of it, mostly it's the EFFORT. If your not willing to put in the effort to be successful, then your most likely not going to be successful. Case in point. Several years ago we had EHD. The deer population was down. The biggest buck on the property was a decent 9. Now I wouldn't even pick my bow up for this guy but then he was the best we had so we were hunting him. Last weekend of the season was 14-. Wind chill was much colder. All day sit were impossible but a guy could hang in there for couple hours. My hunting partner and I hunted the morning without much luck. Brutal weather conditions. For the afternoon hunt, I called my hunting partner and he decided to stay on the couch and watch football. I went and I got in his stand. My fet were like frozen popcicles. Anyway, I had a great hunt, saw a bunch of does and bucks and saw a buck fight 50 yds away. Eventually I killed that nice 9 at 21 yds. My hunting partner doesn't have a lot of kills under his belt but he is learning. I'm always telling him if you want to kill deer and big deer you have to do the work. You can't kill them on the couch! I made it a point to call him so he could help me drag that buck out. I didn't do it to rub his face in it. I did it so he would realize that when it's hunting season, you hunt. Sitting at home watching the Eagles play and worrying about your doing in your fantasy football league doesn't put deer in the freezer or on the wall if that is your goal. I bowhunt because of the challenge. It's SUPPOSED to be hard. So if I have to walk in a mile or two, so be it. If I have hunt all day, so be it. If t's really friggn' cold out so be it. If I have to set up trees in January, February, and March, so be it.
 
Rg176bnc said:
THE COOKIE JAR: Like it or not your going to need one to kill a bunch of deer. Your going to need at least one killer spot or several good spots. The more the better and never ever give up on one until you are certain of its potential.



This next part is going to hurt some feelings but it needs to be said. If your one of those guys that always has an excuse as to why you dont have a place to hunt, big deer to go after, time to go, etc etc. Just stop reading because "know how " isnt your main issue, its you. Get it figured out, quit hunting or quit whining. I can here it now "Well in my state...." nope zip it don't want to hear it. No excuses.
Click to expand...
Really interested to hear more about these two paragraphs because to me that sums up 90% of success. The mentality that "I'm going to kill a deer" vs "Gee, I'd like to kill a deer," and the ability to identify and capitalize on great areas.

Looking forward to hearing more.
 
I like the "cookie jar" analogy. They are always in the woods and constantly shifting. Lots of places to kill deer but none better for making a big pile of dead deer bones than consistently hanging on a cookie jar.
 
Don't see the need to do anything deer related every day,.let alone every month. At least not once you've got your established spots figured out. Especially on private ground.

If you want to chase specific deer then things change drastically
 
SNIPERBBB said:
Don't see the need to do anything deer related every day,.let alone every month. At least not once you've got your established spots figured out. Especially on private ground.

If you want to chase specific deer then things change drastically
Click to expand...
Respectfully, I disagree. Not with the every day part but the every month part and "established spots".

There are so many outside factors that can drastically change your established spots annually. Good mast/no mast, drought/rain, vegetation growth, predators/disease, human impact, etc. Even with private ground, some things are still out of the owner's/manager's control.

For example, one of my favorite spots was holding 13 mature bucks over 1k acres one year because a slew of does had taken to it, with good reason. White oaks were raining down acorns like hurricane Katrina was hitting them. We had water, feed, and at the growth phase, optimal habitat (select cut 8 years prior).

I tagged out that year and focused my efforts elsewhere in the off season under the assumption this "established spot" was tried and true. Well, October came around and boy was I wrong. No mast, no water, increase in coyotes. The deer had shifted to a block of timber 2 miles away full of thick cedars, low browse and swamp. I could have wasted a whole season wondering what the hell went wrong if I never went in to hang cams for the 4 weeks leading up to rifle season. I shifted and once again tagged out.

I try to do something hunting related weekly until season gets close. I shoot 2 nights a week, usually walk a piece of ground once a weekend, and practice with my gear once a week. August timeframe I am shooting my bow 3-4 times a week from all different scenarios, shuffling trailcams and climbing 2-3 times a week.

Gutta be proficient to be efficient in killing ethically.
 
Not much of an issue here. Course I predominantly gun hunt and occasionally bow hunt some years but I fill my tags. I rarely even think about deer until November most years.

Got other things to do most years like killing the coyotes and coon that most deer hunters complain about and are indignant that we aren't waiting to February to do it without $$$$$$$$
 
This is a great thread. I don't predominantly gun hunt but I do both as I love to kill deer. If I had a choice of my favorite kind of hunting for deer? Bowhunting for big bucks. I agree though if you're a trapper, that's a different kind of love and one that tends to take over everything else. If you think deer hunting is tough, try trapping some time. I love trapping and it is so necessary. I have really gotten into hunting deer again and I'm finding myself wanting to hunt more than trap so that's a personal dilemma for me right now but I do think about deer hunting every day and I try to do something related to deer hunting every day, weather its looking at maps, scouting, practicing with my gear, practicing with my bow or firearms, its just something I have to do. When I'm in trapping mode, I'm thinking about that all the time........ I'm just glad I'm blessed by God to live in a country that affords us all of these freedoms. Can you imagine life without any of them?
 
In PA,YOU GET ONE BUCK TAG and depending on what WMU,you may be able to get 2 or 3 doe tags.I live in nortcentral Pa where there's very little agriculture and hundreds of thousands of acres of State land and land owned by timber companies and natures conservancies.Many of these properties enroll in a DMAP program where you can get additional antlerless tags for those propertiesAll total,my 15 year old son and I had 17 tags last year between the two of us that spanned multiple twps across three different counties.We filled every tag like we do most years and I strictly hunt on saturdays.We strictly hunt on these DMAP properties and they differ from year to year so we rarely ever kill deer in the same spots from year to year.I've lost track of how many deer my 15 year old son has shot since he was 7 but it's in excess of 60.I honestly have no idea how many I've killed.I lost track years ago.You don't have to have just a couple good places to hunt to kill a lot of deer.In this part of the country,the food sourced change not only from year to year but from week to week.A good spot the first week can be a complete bust a week later.You have to know what deer like to browse on,where the mast crops are,if there is any and you have to scout in season.You have to hunt them where they should be,not where you want them to be.When I scout a new area,before I look for any deer sign,I look at what's growing and how the deer are impacting it.It's always about the habitat.
 
Great thread. There are deer killers and deer hunters. I like to think of myself as a deer killer, (except one small piece I only kill Mature bucks and does on.) Basically if it is legal, I shoot it buck or doe. One legal deer walks in I kill it. Multiples walk in then I kill the largest bodied deer. I put meat in the freezer, you can't eat antlers!
 
I'm at the stage in my life now I'd rather shoot a nice buck for the area I'm hunting above all else but try herd management every year too. I killed four deer last year, two bucks and two does. Both were eight pointers. Bigger bucks on the different properties but I can't get out there every day either. When I feel like I had to work for the hunt in some way and decent antlers come by, I'll take the shot. For me its more hunt dependent than deer dependent within reason.
 
It also comes down to the actual hunter a lot of times. My dad and I would rifle hunt the same 150 acres for years. I like clockwork would shoot my 2 deer every Saturday. My dad "I didn't even see a deer". The next week here hunt my stand, I would shoot 2 out of his stand and once again dad "I didn't even see anything. The following weekend I shot one at sunrise and snuck in to about 300 yards from my dad and watched. His fiddle factor was off the chart, whittling wood, drinking his hot tea, reading a book (to stay awake). Then I saw deer within 100 yards of him he never saw.
We had words at lunch. I don't mind you coming out and enjoying the woods, but don't complain I you don't see anything. If you are deer hunting get that deer hunting tunnel vision. I think too many times WE ALL get into the fiddle factor and miss deer.
 
Good stuff OP! I believe having the time, the ability to learn and the determination of a killer makes it possible to be a killer or consistent big buck killer...all technical tactics aside I love just killIng “racked” bucks and chunky does yearly with bow and/or gun

PS Put time in now in order to kill deer in the fall
 
Looks like some pretty good traffic for the off season!

You certainly dont have to do something everyday. I get away with it because I can drive by some spots on the way home if theres time and daylight. I will say theres some things that dont happen to me anymore.

I know within a spot or 2 where I'll be the 1st sit of the season and there will be no questions about my bow, gear or truck come opening day.
There will be a place for every piece of gear in my turkey vest there wont be any fluff items and I'll be able to find it in the dark.

One year I lost every good private spot I had. My 7 acre spot, an 80 that I shared with a couple of guys and my 80 honey hole that accounted for almost 100 deer over the course of a decade between me and my father. It truly sucked and I almost quit all together. However it did lead to the spot I have now.

Lets touch on the Cookie Jar. They are out there still just waiting for the right guy or situation to come along. There was a place of business on this 80 that nobody hunted. I got to know an older gentleman thru a retail business I worked at that was pretty much the head cheese at this place and he hated the deer with a passion. They tore up his fence and some days that interfered with his going home time. That got me in the door. I had a key to the place that was in a VERY nice neighborhood behind locked gates.

The first 2 sits I didnt see a single deer. To look at this place it wasnt even covered in deer sign. No heavy trails,

very few rubs, no browse lines anywhere. Pretty lack luster except it was primarily oaks. This area was kind of a "Greenspace" if you will. Most neighborhoods in the midwest have them these days. I come to learn the deer in this area just roamed for the most part. My third sit I shot a 2 slicks and noticed they followed a chain link fence all the way to me. The next hunt I adjusted and found the tree that would account for almost every deer this property would give up in the future.

Heres some places that you can check out.

Rich neighborhoods. The richer the better. You would be surprised theres some pretty decent folks if you get to know them. Dont be above cyber stalking 1st either!

Tree farms

Vegetable farmers. Most of these guys are a green light, problem is I haven't found one that owns squat yet lol.
This also leads into when to ask these guys. June and July is a great time because its usually the first time they have gotten screwed out of their hard work in the garden.

Any place there is a human and deer conflict is a place to start. If you see a place that has planted young trees thats a good spot to start the next season....catch my drift?

THE HOOD! Most of us are middle aged white guys that live in a fair neighborhood and avoid the crappy parts of town at all costs. Which is exactly why you should be asking here. The 7 acre spot was slap in the middle of a #$%^ hole as Trump would say. There was a very small thicket on the South end of it that would hold deer for a day. Stragglers if you will. Sometimes they just have to hole up where they end up especially in urban areas. You can usually barter your way into a hood spot you just have to find the angle. Sometimes its just getting your ear bent for an hour or two.

Something I learned about these ultra small spots is there are few regulars. I seldom seen the same deer. Now in all candor I dont run cameras. I dont care for them, the negative impact to an area they bring, and I dang sure dont want someone to read the card. I care more for the pics than the camera. Its just not that sporting in my opinion buy hey you do you.

THE KILLIN! This is pretty much the easy part. First off if you dont have a bunch of deer or a bunch of spots you can go to far so think it thru. There are some deer you may not want to shoot and they arent the ones you are thinking of. We'll get to that in a minute.

Lets break down the group. Mom the leader, sometimes a younger doe that is probably last years fawn and the kids. Of all of these the button buck is the dumbest of the group and the easiest to kill. He'll come back after the shooting starts almost 100% of the time so I usually hold off on him unless theres only 2 deer in the group. Doe fawn. She will be the first one to do what I call "Sit down" when the shooting starts. If she survives the first volley she wont come back as often and you may have to take a longer shot than you initially had to start with. A viable first shot candidate.

Moms. Theres 2 kinds and the easiest way to know which you are your likely to get is how hard is this place hunted. If your the only guy around hunting feel free to shoot her second because she doesn't know any better. If you are on a property that gets hunted hard kill her 1st if you have any intentions of killing more than one. If they have survived a couple of seasons and have been around other deer that have been killed she will have no qualms on leaving the other deer to fend for themselves. On 2 separate occasions I have seen adult doe force their fawns to go ahead of them down the trial by rearing up and hitting them on the rump with their hooves. This is on a property that I share with over a dozen killers. Its all bow but they get awful tough to kill after the rut is over. Another thing is if they split up when you shoot one one of them coming back is a sure thing. As the season progresses the family ties arent as strong and this gets slightly harder to pull off.
 
SNIPERBBB said:
Don't see the need to do anything deer related every day,.let alone every month. At least not once you've got your established spots figured out. Especially on private ground.

If you want to chase specific deer then things change drastically
Click to expand...
You may be misunderstanding. By simply, logging onto SH daily you are doing something deer related. There is so much info out there. The sum total of all the info that you learn from a mentor or in the field, a magazine, TV show ( A good one like The Hunting Public), or online is what makes someone a good hunter. I've hunted with some real killers. I learned from each of them. However I've also learned a bunch right here on SH. This coming season, I'm going to use saddle hunting as tool to allow me to hunt in areas and trees that I never could before.
 
A couple things on the Killin. The moment you make a bad shot the shooting stops. The only thing worse than a gut shot is 2! If you dont see them fall you need to be dang sure of that hit before you continue to hunt.

Typically I aim 3in behind the shoulder. On adult deer this is money. On fawns come right up the leg, not behind the shoulder. Its awful easy to get to far back on one. Its all a smaller version with them obviously and you also dont know what your going to get on a gut shot with them. They are just as apt to keep moving looking for a deer from their group than they are to lay down.
 
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