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Mineral licks

redsquirrel

redsquirrel

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If anyone has any experience using trail cams over mineral licks to try to hone in on some spots for specific bucks in the fall I would love to hear your experiences.

In particular I am interested in applying this to hill country/big woods tactics, but I would love to hear any experiences.
 
I use trophy rocks year round in some specific spots. It pulls in everything regardless the time of the year.early season especially. I had the same bucks from velvet nubs to antler drop for quite few years. One spot I have is in the middle of the woods and I pull the card about once a month only when its pouring rain. If you can put your mineral and camera on field edge it's a lot more condusive to being less intrusive on the bigger deer. You'll get mostly night time pics in that locale but keeps the deer less weary. Also put your camera about 8' off the ground and angle it down. Helps to not freak out the big boys with the flash or even IR being out of their perifiry. I found that raising the camera made a big difference in high pressure areas. If I see something that sparks my interest I get really concerned with travel direction and may put out a few more cam's to try to keep narrowing down where the buck is bedded. As far as hill country tactics- get dialed in w/ the guys on the Hunting Beast forum. Best hunting forum period. Coolest and most knowledgible bunch of guys you'll ever have the pleasure of sharing info with. Also the guy who runs it- Dan Infalt is the man. He has some awesome videos. Hill country bucks- marsh bucks- and farm country bucks changed the game for me on public land. Check it out.
 
Bigburner said:
I use trophy rocks year round in some specific spots. It pulls in everything regardless the time of the year.early season especially. I had the same bucks from velvet nubs to antler drop for quite few years. One spot I have is in the middle of the woods and I pull the card about once a month only when its pouring rain. If you can put your mineral and camera on field edge it's a lot more condusive to being less intrusive on the bigger deer. You'll get mostly night time pics in that locale but keeps the deer less weary. Also put your camera about 8' off the ground and angle it down. Helps to not freak out the big boys with the flash or even IR being out of their perifiry. I found that raising the camera made a big difference in high pressure areas. If I see something that sparks my interest I get really concerned with travel direction and may put out a few more cam's to try to keep narrowing down where the buck is bedded. As far as hill country tactics- get dialed in w/ the guys on the Hunting Beast forum. Best hunting forum period. Coolest and most knowledgible bunch of guys you'll ever have the pleasure of sharing info with. Also the guy who runs it- Dan Infalt is the man. He has some awesome videos. Hill country bucks- marsh bucks- and farm country bucks changed the game for me on public land. Check it out.
Click to expand...

I actually just purchased some mounts because I planned on mounting my cameras up high this year as you said. I only hunt public land without any fields so I will probably be checking cams in the rain like you said as I try to narrow down where certain bucks are bedding.

I am already on the Hunting Beast. I agree that it is definitely the best hunting forum around. Those guys make you look at everything you are doing in a completely new light. When I moved to north jersey 5 years ago it was a culture shock for me because the terrain is so different. After 5 years I was starting to figure some things out, but after 6 reading on the beast and watching Dan's video's I have probably learned more than the past 5 years combined. I have found a ton of beds during my scouting so far this winter, but I have found 3 spots that I am 100% sure are well used buck beds. Since I only need spikes to set up a tree for my saddle I plan on setting up those spots over the next month after this snow melts and make setting up for the actually hunt a little easier.

Thanks for the great info!
 
Sweet man. I've been hammering on the scouting and cut a track in the snow last week. Followed it about 3/4 mi. And bumbed a big boy from his primary bed. Where he was bedded and how he used the terrain to travel and get in the best spot was rediculous. I'm already frothing to get on him next year. He was still was holding both antlers and figures him to be about 130". He was a main frame 8. I'm gonna head back in few weeks and see if I can't get his sheds.
I concure with info you get from the beast. I've been in the woods all my life work in the woods everyday and killed my first archery deer at 12 and have only ever hunted with a bow up to this point. I had so many ah ha moments when I read the stuff on there I felt like I've been lucky up to this point. So making my own luck and spending tons of time focusing on finding buck beds just makes me feel like I'm going to be making some determination how the game can sway in my favor.
I manage 13000 acres of State forest land and everybody thinks I have it wired but every year dispite my success I always start at square 1 at the beginning of the season to push further and hunt smarter. I've been doing a lot of mapping and once I get a few more places wrapped up I'm going to get some trees prepped and then wait it out.
 
That's great motivation when you actually bump a big one from his bed! Now you just have to be patient for the right conditions to hunt him! It will be a long summer...

2 weeks ago I did something similar. I cut a nice fresh track in the snow and the snow was melting so I knew it couldn't be more than a couple hours old, this was about 2 pm. I figured he had to have been coming from a bed so I back tracked it. Not sure how far I tracked it, maybe 1/4 mile but like you said through some ridiculous terrain. Over rocks and on really steep sides of this cliff that I never would have though a deer would go through (until recently!) I finally got to his bed and it looked like he had been using it a lot on a west wind. Nice big bed with piles of poo all over. The way the terrain lays I can sneak in to about 100 yards from him and keep this big knob between us. I can't wait to hunt that spot! If I get lucky and he is there I guess its a crap shoot if he follows the point around my way or goes the other way. I haven't figured that out yet.

First of all, I'm jealous that you get to manage 13000 acres. That is awesome! I agree with everything else you said as well. I always have hunting on my mind and trying to find a way to become a better hunter. It really is an addiction.

I shot my first deer and archery deer at 13. It is nice to see how much we are on the same page. I feel like even though I am only 30, I grew up hunting the "old" way. If you read some of the threads on archery talk there is a lot of stuff that makes me shake my head. With all of the new technology and tv hunting, a lot of new hunters expect instant success. Nothing against new hunters at all, I just wish they were better prepared for the hard work and reality. Sorry for my mini rant...
 
Just like big business has ruined music, it has ruined hunting. Warped perception and magic potions. I can't even watch hunting shows anymore. I either laugh to hard or get pissed off at the image that is portrayed on how thing should be in order for you to kill a "booner". It all comes down to money. And people expect everything to fall into their lap without putting in the work.
I'll sto[p now and keep doing what I'm doing b/c I'm just happy to be where I'm at.
 
Couldn't agree with you more. I have a friend who asked me to teach him how to hunt. Prior to that all he knew was from watching hunting shows. It took a lot of effort to ingrain into his head that tv is not even close to reality... especially in NJ!

My cousin in law also started bow hunting in the past few years. Everything with him is "they did this on youtube". I am constantly reenforcing that that is just not always reality. Last fall I took him out and dedicated an entire weekend to helping him get his first deer. Rather than sending him off to his spot and me going somewhere else, I actually hung in my saddle behind him for 2 1/2 days. Well finally on our last evening he had a nice long spike come in, and I was able to coach him to finishing the job. :D
 
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