It's fairly common. When I was a kid, we often got blamed for knocking corn down when in reality it was the deer doing so. Raccoons will also just live in the corn fields till it's picked as well
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The Piled-High Club
- Thread starter Nutterbuster
- Start date
- Joined
- Sep 6, 2014
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- 967
As one one of the afore mentioned Pile High Club members, Here's my take on "hot sign". Hunt it! ASAP
WARNING by doing so you may cause issues w/ your partner or spouse! Priorities are priorities. You decide which is more important.
Example 1 - Early in my bowhunting career, I hunted as spot that I found there year previously that thought might be good. I never pre scouted it. I just went in cold. It was Early October. Didn't see any bucks that morning but what activity I did see was 100 yards away. After the hunt was over, I went over and checked it out. There were 2 or 3 beat down trails. Fresh tracks every where, very fresh rubs, and some scrapes. I picked a tree that would put me downwind of all the sign and I could access it without crossing any of the trails. I went home, did some chores and headed back out much to the dislike of my girlfriend at the time. I went in cold. Set up. Within the 1st hour, I had a nice 6pt on the ground. I waited 1/2 hour lowered my bow to the ground, Here come a nice 8pt, I had multiple tags so somehow I pulled my bow back up into the tree and killed him. Perfect shot. He went 20 yards and bedded down. He lay there for 1/2 hour, head bobbing up and down. Slowly it got lower and lower and eventually his head never came back up. While all this was going on, more bucks were coming in. I stumbled into a group of bachlor bucks. One of them was the biggest 6pt I had ever seen, He came in and I had 1 more tag. I drew and held for 1-2 minutes waiting for the right angle. Deer were all around me. Finally he gave me the shot and I killed him. My 1st Triple! Here's where it gets interesting, the bucks didn't know what happened and just hung out. Then here comes big 8pt and a 10pt. I had no more tags so I just had to watch. I watched them slowly filter out of sight. After dark, I snuck out of there. I went home, got my hunting partner. It took us quite some time but we got them out. When I got home my girlfriend was PIZZED. We could only eat one. She was mostly an antihunter anyway so the idea that I shot more deer than we could eat was appalling to her. She asked my partner WHY did he have to shoot 3! His answer was "because he could" She was furious but she shut up. My partner did business w/ her and had been giving her a cut rate deal for years. She knew not to run her mouth too much to him. I got the cold shoulder for weeks.
Example 2 - Same girlfriend. Following year. Same area. I found this small little ridge in a swamp that had some SMOKING hot scrapes. Still wet in the middle! I went home, did some chores. I was supposed to spend some time w/her that afternoon. I grabbed my stuff and started to head out. She said "where are you going?" Huntin', I found some fresh sign and It's got to be hunted tonight. She was PIZZED again! Anyway I get in there, set up and nice 7pt comes in. I waited for the shot and finally I shot him quartering to, he whirled and his eyes were SO big. He knew he was screwed. His head got low, he got his horns caught in the brush, and he rolled right over top of his self. He made it 5 yards. Right about this time is when I noticed MR. Big. Less than 30 yds away. He was on the edge of the ridge in the brush. He wasn't sure what was going on and paced back and forth. I had 2 shooting lanes. he was between both of them. Back and forth, looking. He could see the dead buck but couldn't figure out what happened to his buddy. Finally after 10 minutes, he left,. I got the cold shoulder again for weeks. Was it worth it? YEP! Awesome experience that I wouldn't trade.
I got to run to work now but I've give another example later. The moral of the story is hunt hot sign ASAP but it might cost you a relationship. She had to go anyway. I was, am and always will be a bowhunter. So no female was/is going to change me. I sent her packing. She later inherited 1.8 Million. My buddy said I screwed up. I said, Nope, best thing I ever did!"
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I’m incredibly grateful to nutter for starting and facilitating this thread and to all the experienced folks sharing your knowledge - thanks all! The info here has already helped me get a deer. I’ll save my questions for later as y’all are already dispensing the goods.
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I'm back.
Example #3 Different state. MT ( Ex-girlfriend long gone) A few years ago I sat all day in a funnel. I saw 22 that day but no shooters. (14 of them between 10 AM and 2 PM). Snow was on the ground. The next day the wind was wrong for that tree but right for another one that I want to hunt REALLY bad. I hunted it and bucks were all over the place and 2 shooters. Long story short I didn't get it done although I should have. To get to that tree in the AM, I had to walk through near the area that I sat the day before. About 125 yds away. There were some tracks but nothing to get excited about. On the way out, I had to walk through the same spot again. It was like an explosion. Tracks everywhere. You couldn't take a step without stepping on a deer track. My spot had been good but obviously a LOT of deer had been spending the day here as well. It looked like they were feeding the grass sticking up out of the snow. I had tree prepared there that required a north wind. Tomorrow's forecast? North wind! I had planned to hunt another north wind tree but chose to sit where all the tracks were. sat there the next morning. I saw deer all morning. About 930 AM the bucks started showing up looking for does. 11AM I killed an 11pt at 18 yds. Nov 11th.
Example # 4 Several years ago before I started saddle hunting. I had one of the best days I've EVER had in the woods. In an area that I call the Cottonwood Corridor. It is a long row of cottonwoods about 400 yds long and anywhere from 30 yds wide to 100yds wide. Brush on both sides. Open in the middle. I knew Deer used it all the time. Typically I didn't hunt that area because the tree selection was poor. The trees are sparse and what few trees that are there, are too large to get my LW in. I had trees prepared on either end of it but not in the middle. Every time I sat on either end, I would see deer and bucks 200 yds away approximately in the middle. So one evening of seeing deer but nothing nowhere even close to bow range. I decided to dive in and go to where I had been seeing the deer. I got down and walked to where I thought was "the spot". I found a tree in the dark and hung it. Total guess but knew I was close. The next day was incredible. I saw Probably about 30-35 deer total. It was hard to keep track. They were bedded in front of me to my left and to my right. Anyway, I never went more than 15 minutes without looking at a deer and never more than 30 minutes without looking at a buck.16 bucks total and 3 shooters. I had 13 opportunities at a 145" 9pt between 30 yds and 60 yds in a 3 hour period from 12 noon to 3 PM. Mostly 50 and 60 yds. My range finder was malfunctioning so I didn't feel comfortable about taking a shot. . I felt that sooner or later he was going to screw up and come in close. He never did. I thought it was going to happen once but the doe zigged. I needed her to zag. They both went the other way. I was just on the edge of all the activity but couldn't get any closer due to available trees. Awesome day. I learned a ton by watching those deer and bucks. It's changed how I hunt today. Nov 22 Post peak rut Downwind of doe bedding. It Never would have happened if I didn't follow the sightings. Now I have 3 tree prepared in that area.
Hope this helps. I'm a PM away if you have questions.
Example #3 Different state. MT ( Ex-girlfriend long gone) A few years ago I sat all day in a funnel. I saw 22 that day but no shooters. (14 of them between 10 AM and 2 PM). Snow was on the ground. The next day the wind was wrong for that tree but right for another one that I want to hunt REALLY bad. I hunted it and bucks were all over the place and 2 shooters. Long story short I didn't get it done although I should have. To get to that tree in the AM, I had to walk through near the area that I sat the day before. About 125 yds away. There were some tracks but nothing to get excited about. On the way out, I had to walk through the same spot again. It was like an explosion. Tracks everywhere. You couldn't take a step without stepping on a deer track. My spot had been good but obviously a LOT of deer had been spending the day here as well. It looked like they were feeding the grass sticking up out of the snow. I had tree prepared there that required a north wind. Tomorrow's forecast? North wind! I had planned to hunt another north wind tree but chose to sit where all the tracks were. sat there the next morning. I saw deer all morning. About 930 AM the bucks started showing up looking for does. 11AM I killed an 11pt at 18 yds. Nov 11th.
Example # 4 Several years ago before I started saddle hunting. I had one of the best days I've EVER had in the woods. In an area that I call the Cottonwood Corridor. It is a long row of cottonwoods about 400 yds long and anywhere from 30 yds wide to 100yds wide. Brush on both sides. Open in the middle. I knew Deer used it all the time. Typically I didn't hunt that area because the tree selection was poor. The trees are sparse and what few trees that are there, are too large to get my LW in. I had trees prepared on either end of it but not in the middle. Every time I sat on either end, I would see deer and bucks 200 yds away approximately in the middle. So one evening of seeing deer but nothing nowhere even close to bow range. I decided to dive in and go to where I had been seeing the deer. I got down and walked to where I thought was "the spot". I found a tree in the dark and hung it. Total guess but knew I was close. The next day was incredible. I saw Probably about 30-35 deer total. It was hard to keep track. They were bedded in front of me to my left and to my right. Anyway, I never went more than 15 minutes without looking at a deer and never more than 30 minutes without looking at a buck.16 bucks total and 3 shooters. I had 13 opportunities at a 145" 9pt between 30 yds and 60 yds in a 3 hour period from 12 noon to 3 PM. Mostly 50 and 60 yds. My range finder was malfunctioning so I didn't feel comfortable about taking a shot. . I felt that sooner or later he was going to screw up and come in close. He never did. I thought it was going to happen once but the doe zigged. I needed her to zag. They both went the other way. I was just on the edge of all the activity but couldn't get any closer due to available trees. Awesome day. I learned a ton by watching those deer and bucks. It's changed how I hunt today. Nov 22 Post peak rut Downwind of doe bedding. It Never would have happened if I didn't follow the sightings. Now I have 3 tree prepared in that area.
Hope this helps. I'm a PM away if you have questions.
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- Sep 1, 2020
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- 1,977
You see more bucks in one day than I see all season.
khnc
Active Member
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- Oct 29, 2020
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- 128
Croft State Park im betting. LOLWhew weeeee, there’s a lot to unpack in this thread, but I’ll start with the above (and probably won’t be back to this thread for the next 9 days or so as I’m dropping my wife off in the morning and heading west, lol).
Mid 90’s in SC. 2 day draw hunt on a State Park. Scouted a couple weeks early and found great sign. No….GREAT sign, lol. Climbed a tree the first morning and had a gangly dogwood leaning over blocking my shooting lane. Sat all day and told myself I was cutting it down and hauling in out when I got down that night.
Came back the next morning and climbed the same tree. When the sun came up the same dogwood was still blocking what I deemed to be my shooting lane. Got distracted by killing a doe the previous evening and had forgotten to deal with it.
I couldn’t think of anything BUT that tree so at 0800 I climbed down to get rid of it, lol. I stepped off my climber and saw movement about 120-150 yds away. Turkeys. Well hell, no way I can cut the thing down with lout disrupting them so I sat there waiting on them to feed out of sight. Then here he came. Main frame 12 with mass, tine length and symmetry. A giant. And he stopped 18 yards away. The problem was the turkeys had made it to me and I was amongst them. He was broadside with nothing blocking a shot, but there was a hen between me and him about 6 yards from me. She was staring at me, I was staring at him and he was staring at her.
I had an arrow nocked and my release on the string, but I was not drawn back. I thought about going for it, but didn’t. After a few minutes of waiting on something to give he turned his head forward and started walking. The hen looked his way and I drew back, put my pin on his shoulder and was tracking him as he walked. Slowly walked…..
I had made up my mind to shoot him in an opening beyond a cedar tree. He got to the cedar and turned right, eased down into the creek and crossed out of my life forever without offering a shot.
I let down then laid down. Turkeys freaked out and left. I was devastated, lol. Packed my sh….. stuff and left. And I still forgot to cut that ****** ****** tree down.
I could have shot that fool anywhere I wanted to in the first 20’ while he was walking and just didn’t. Because he was moving. Big mistake. Still remember that morning like it was yesterday.
Now he’s the second largest deer I’ve ever seen alive in SC, but the other was from my truck. During the 2 or 3 days I was awake after that morning I did the math over and over in my head and decided that deer would green score 158”
khnc
Active Member
- Joined
- Oct 29, 2020
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- 128
Damn, Andy May just keeps on killin giant bucks year after year after year. It amazes me as much as anything , with these guys ability to draw tags for big buck states every year too. But a lot of Andy's giants come off public in his home state. Ive shot some really good bucks on Kentucky public, but no where near with the consistency guys like Andy do it. Amazing.
khnc
Active Member
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- Oct 29, 2020
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- 128
Nov 11 is the best killin day there is for whitetails! Nov 13th is my 2nd best. Driving home from South Dakota on the 11th this year and had to work the 13th. I need to plan better. But, I did miss a 140" 10pt on 11/09, so I had a chance. lol
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- Sep 6, 2014
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My findings as well. This year I hunted new area on 11/13. I went in blind. I had been there years before so I had an idea of where I wanted to be. I saw 3 rack bucks. 1 up and comer, one almost shooter, and one giant right at last light. I picked new tree in the dark. I'm going in after him this weekend. 11/19-11/22 have been good to me and my friends as well.
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I am blessed w/ good property and open terrain. I can see a long way usually. However This year is an off year. I've only seen 20 bucks total. I think we have EHD. Deer sightings are drastically down yet FW&P says nothing confirmed. I usually see hundreds of deer a day at my job. I'm a UPS driver and I cover 170 miles a day in prime deer country. Last Friday I saw 20!
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My old mentor had a goldfish pond under his window. He would drink coffee there in the middle of the day, looking out the window. Waiting for the evening hunt. If the fish started getting real active, he got in the tree.
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No. Stay out of the bedding areas till you hunt. Pre scout. Find them in early spring in the snow. If your on a new property mid season, The bump and dump tactic THP uses will work. Don't spend a lot time crawling around in there. Speed scout it. Find the likely entrances and the exits. Hopefully find a tree or multiple trees that will allow you to stay undetected. Plan for different wind directions. Plan your access. Stay all day if you have to. Refine it from there based on what you see. JE's tactics are spot on. Do as much as possible to not spook the does. The bucks will follow. If now does, move to the next bedding area.
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No. I pay attention to different age class's of rubs in the same area. If I see multiple years worth of rubs then it tells me there's a pattern. Multiple years of big rubs gets my attention. Field rubs I ignore almost completely. Just tells me that he in the area but he was there most likely at night.
For those that have them around, don’t overlook the wild pecan as a primary mast crop deer will hit. Don’t often hear it mentioned but they can be quite the draw. About half the size of a paper shell but really sweet nutty pecan flavor.
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I notice the hickories seem to be drawing them this year. Have you seen similar draw from hickories to pecan? They’re dropping after the majority of the acorns, and we don’t have pecan in our woods. Pecan and hickory in the same genus of trees but I dunno how deer feel about the situation. What other unorthodox mast trees do you focus on?(walnut? Cherry? Chestnut? Something different?)
For those that have them around, don’t overlook the wild pecan as a primary mast crop deer will hit. Don’t often hear it mentioned but they can be quite the draw. About half the size of a paper shell but really sweet nutty pecan flavor.
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I havent ever noticed deer keying on any type of hickory. Seems like I have seen others mentioning them eating them some but not sure outside of hard times, they would key on them. Have always heard they will pound chestnuts but never hunted where there were any. Hazelnuts are supposed to be pretty good as well but again just what I have seen others mention where they have them.
Poop and nuts. That’s all we serious students of the hunt care about.