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So who's great at killing mountain bucks?

bigmike23

bigmike23

Well-Known Member
Joined
Jan 29, 2020
Messages
1,686
Location
NE PA
Of all the types of terrain to hunt, I'm finding getting on these mountain bucks to be extremely difficult. In the past game lands I've hunted, as long as there was a swamp of some sort I found it relatively simple to get on em. Go straight to the water and you leave all the pressure behind.
This year I'm hunting a new piece of public. Its an extremely remote mountain so I'm almost positive I have it to myself. I haven't seen a single sign of other hunters. Not 1 footprint other than my own in the mud anywhere. I know it's loaded with big deer from my cameras. I just can't seem to get on em.
I tried the dense mountain Laurel, didn't work. I tried a couple funnels like a saddle and bench thats on the leeward side. Didn't work.
I relatively new to mountain hunting deer. What do you guys do to get on em
 
Mountain bucks are tough to ambush. We do drives in rifle season back home, or more realistically, the cabin up the way always does drives and instead of letting them ruin my hunt, I set up where they push deer.

But patterning mountain deer ain't easy, I would lean toward spot and stalk, or have a friend or two and do small low pressure slow drives.

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My thoughts:

It's early yet. It will get better soon I think, with those spots picking up.

In your scenario, you might consider still hunting without fear of bumping deer from beds. While mtn bedding is a bit more variable than lowland in my experience, that inventory is great to have for future planning.

I blow through spots I know have deer, and see them when doing so, to get to the stuff I want to hunt and that's worked ok for me.

Gun + snow = track.
 
Having recently moved from hunting hills with mixed ag to big woods mountains, I will second that it’s a big adjustment and I am struggling to get on deer in this new environment. Finding sign, just dispersed and not usually fresh.
 
BackSpasm said:
Having recently moved from hunting hills with mixed ag to big woods mountains, I will second that it’s a big adjustment and I am struggling to get on deer in this new environment. Finding sign, just dispersed and not usually fresh.
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Same. I can get on those swamp edges looking at the sign, and I can telling pretty quickly if I got deer in there and it's worth hunting. The sign is definitely more widespread in the mountains not fresh. And even if it is, Its hard to get a read of where it's bedding is. I have to imagine the biggest bucks are bedding in the nastiest mountain Laurel up there
 
bigmike23 said:
Same. I can get on those swamp edges looking at the sign, and I can telling pretty quickly if I got deer in there and it's worth hunting. The sign is definitely more widespread in the mountains not fresh. And even if it is, Its hard to get a read of where it's bedding is. I have to imagine the biggest bucks are bedding in the nastiest mountain Laurel up there
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I also find a fair number of beds off leeward ridges etc…. But normally they don’t look recently used, don’t have adjacent rublines etc etc…. Seems like bedding is much more sporadic than I’m used to. Hard to hunt specific bedding areas like I did before
 
bigmike23 said:
Same. I can get on those swamp edges looking at the sign, and I can telling pretty quickly if I got deer in there and it's worth hunting. The sign is definitely more widespread in the mountains not fresh. And even if it is, Its hard to get a read of where it's bedding is. I have to imagine the biggest bucks are bedding in the nastiest mountain Laurel up there
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My best mountain buck just came flying off my wall a few minutes ago when I shut the door of my office, I thought for sure it was toast, white **** went flying everywhere, must have been nose cartilage from the euro mount.5C1D9BD1-9A75-410E-88D9-4AF824F6B693.jpeg
I think your on the right path. One thing to remember, assuming your mountain in is big woods, these big mountain bucks are pure nomads, they could care less what top they live on, here today gone tomorrow, the secret is having a dozen or more of these spots like your describing, and depending on wind and weather conditions dictates which one I hunt until snow comes, then we track. While tracking I mark every bed and pinch point as I go with ONX, then next season focus on those areas while I wait for snow. It takes super patience and some luck to catch one of these “mountain bucks” in his home, I couldn’t even imagine doing it with a bow, we always wait for rifle to hunt that type of country. It sure is rewarding when it comes together though, around here I have found people either love chasing deer in the mountains or hate it, no in between, I mite go 2 or 3 weeks of non stop hunting before I see a deer sometimes.
 
Topdog said:
My best mountain buck just came flying off my wall a few minutes ago when I shut the door of my office, I thought for sure it was toast, white **** went flying everywhere, must have been nose cartilage from the euro mount.View attachment 55456
I think your on the right path. One thing to remember, assuming your mountain in is big woods, these big mountain bucks are pure nomads, they could care less what top they live on, here today gone tomorrow, the secret is having a dozen or more of these spots like your describing, and depending on wind and weather conditions dictates which one I hunt until snow comes, then we track. While tracking I mark every bed and pinch point as I go with ONX, then next season focus on those areas while I wait for snow. It takes super patience and some luck to catch one of these “mountain bucks” in his home, I couldn’t even imagine doing it with a bow, we always wait for rifle to hunt that type of country. It sure is rewarding when it comes together though, around here I have found people either love chasing deer in the mountains or hate it, no in between, I mite go 2 or 3 weeks of non stop hunting before I see a deer sometimes.
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It is big woods. Theres alot of spots I've found that would make great rifle spots. It's incredibly hard picking the right tree theres so many ways a deer could maneuver around. Getting a buck here with traditional archery would be 10/10 difficulty for sure
 
I have a harder time predicting where deer will be in normal stuff like ag land and traditional terrain, there is always sign all over the place. For me, up in the big woods the deer bedding and such is easier to pin point, the problem is the consistency to which those deer use that predictable location, if that makes sense, hence the reason you never find tons of sign and it’s a head scratcher all season, that’s the number 1 problem of bare ground big woods hunting, these deer are super sensitive to human intrusion and have zero loyalty to any particular spot, you gotta time it just right, and that only comes with stupid amounts of time and patience. Now all that being said, when you do find a spot loaded with big fresh sign, hunt it, and hunt it fast, preferably before the rut, everybody knows how far bucks can travel during the rut in normal country the big woods is even worse. I don’t go up a tree on a mountain top, like you said usually it’s too thick, but that’s why mature bucks are hopefully there. When I still hunt a top sometimes it takes me several hours to prowl around what could be just a dozen acres or so, my speed is dependent upon visibility and weather conditions, most of my still hunting kills have been 40 yards or under, it’s super monotonous and usually requires more than one can of chew. What always amazes me is how some of these bucks are able to navigate that kind of thick country, but they do.
 
bigmike23 said:
It is big woods. Theres alot of spots I've found that would make great rifle spots. It's incredibly hard picking the right tree theres so many ways a deer could maneuver around. Getting a buck here with traditional archery would be 10/10 difficulty for sure
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Once you figure out how things work in your area, your odds of striking on the right tree improve vastly. A couple seasons will reveal patterns which will bolster confidence and refine decision making.

As it stands, movement will increase, soon, and if you are afield much, your observations will quicken the learning curve and you'll be more apt to home in on a right tree.

Big woods bucks are a challenge, but I've brush that hunts as hard. Spots in the mountains where I'm playing at a 30yd shooting circle vs spots where I may not get a shot at a buck within ten.

Man, I love the challenge of deer hunting. I'm all in to get that buck, but can't help but appreciate that they get by too. I'm not after gimees.

Enjoy the process, good luck, and happy hunting.
 
Topdog said:
What always amazes me is how some of these bucks are able to navigate that kind of thick country, but they do.
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I know. How I'm all tangled in brush and they don't tangle their racks is a mystery to me.

It's pretty awesome to hear them pushing through, knowing they're not far and the stakes are high.
 
Topdog said:
My widest was a nice 120” 8 that had a 21” inside spread and I’m telling you that thing lived where rabbits breed, spruce so thick I had a migraine by noon staring at green needles, I jumped him once and just caught a glimpse of him, I had all but given up and was on my way out and we ran smack dab into each other, he was like 20 yards and all I could see was part of a beam on his head so I took a chance and it worked it was him, after season I always break my rifle down and clean the needles out of the trigger and mag well.
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That's something right there.

Great story too. I actually had a doe run into my gun barrel once after splitting her and the buck I was after. Unfortunately, those scenarios tend to go the deer's way for me.
 
It’s definitely relative to your exact area. In my corner of NC we have a really high deer density. It’s some of the more mountainous area in the state with many of ridges 3500-4500’ in elevation. It’s not hard finding deer but a mature buck may only be 110” or so. A 150” is a buck of a lifetime!

I’m only slinging arrows which makes it tough.


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Are there any logging roads? The wind is finicky in higher elevations so scent control Is key. Any defined deer trails if so hunt them.
 
i hunt in the mountains of wv, it is very challenging, but the mountains protect the bucks and allow them to grow to maturity

you should do a lot o cyber scouting and then of course put boots on ground, that's obvious

i'm sure you've heard and read all about cyber scouting topo features, mountain bucks can run up anything they'd like, but they would be dumb to not conserve energy by taking easier routes

i'm assuming the woods are relatively green and monotonous looking when looking at leaf on aerial photos

if you go to google earth, there is a slider up top and you can select historic images from various seasons and years

look at all seasons, but especially when the leaves have changed colors and when the leaves have fallen off and there is snow

the fall colors can help you find more diverse habitat spots (more different colors) and soft transitions in cover but the leaf off snow pictures are the best, you can see soft transitions between evergreen and hardwoods (edit: leaf off also can give you a better idea of the stem density in the hardwoods and you can often see areas that are thicker and thinner in vegetation and find more open spots and a soft edge where the forest goes from more open to less so)

i would mark up onx based upon topographic features and also based upon habitat diversity and soft edges internal to the forest and start walking these areas and taking notes and looking for sign

you'll need to develop your sense of how the mountains influence the wind, look at wind forecasts and drop milkweed in the field, the air flows over the land similar to water in a stream with rocks

the most stable winds are when you are on top of ridges or plateaus or when you are on the side of a longer ridge and the wind is blowing parallel to it

hillsides with the wind cutting perpendicular have very erratic winds and it is rare to get a calm day when you can play the thermals primarily
 
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Topdog said:
When I still hunt a top sometimes it takes me several hours to prowl around what could be just a dozen acres or so, my speed is dependent upon visibility and weather conditions, most of my still hunting kills have been 40 yards or under, it’s super monotonous and usually requires more than one can of chew. What always amazes me is how some of these bucks are able to navigate that kind of thick country, but they do.
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people complain that stand hunting is boring just sitting around, but most people don't have the patience to still hunt properly....it is very difficult to slow down to as slower or slower than the pace of whitetail that is moving carefully and to pay attention and to be looking the whole time.....maybe patience isn't the correct term, more attention span to something not immediately rewarding...the urge is to start walking more quickly, as if you're going to casually walk up on a mature buck in thick cover and get him within bow range! (it might happen occasionally but unless you are 'out deering the deer' then they see you first almost every time)
 
I would suggest hunting the local doe groups in your area, early oct look for terrain and edge cover in relation to where the Buck may be bedding, the doe will show you the preferred food source possibly acorn that will give you another point to consider as the buck start getting up on their feet earlier in the day during the pre rut, hunt funnels and try to find edge areas that border multiple doe groups during the rut. Edges are key and understanding that a buck sees edges differently than we do is important. I've consistently gotten on mountain buck in the ANF here in Pa the last handful of years since starting to bowhunt but the wind and thermals have consistently caused me grief in closing the deal.
 
I think you’re ahead in the game, because In my opinion Finding the deer that you’d like to kill and getting away from people, is the most important part of the equation. I have found that some mountain bucks can be more easily patterned than others, and it’s always worth trying to find a pattern with cameras, before committing to hunt an area.

what I like to look for is the particular trail a buck uses every time he goes through an area. It’s not necessarily a timed pattern, where he comes through at a specific time, but more the fact that, whenever he’s in a particular area, he repeatedly uses a particular run.

In the mountains I see most bucks traveling along the top edges of steep terrain before it drop offs, or where a relatively open trail travels through to the back side of a thick bedding area.
 
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