cooter144

I have shot two mature deer that I had seen before.

This first one I saw feeding in an alfalfa field the last week of September with three other bucks. I shot him at the same spot one week later after moving my standcloser to where I had seen him.



This second buck I saw feeding in a different alfalfa field while doing some scouting in August. I never saw this buck again until I shot him 3 months later around thanksgiving. I killed him about 250 yards from where I had previously seen him on a trail back in the woods.

jonhall9

Greg,

I have not yet been fortunate enough to shoot a mature buck. I have hunted one, this season, that I saw twice and did not succeed in taking.

I thought it was a good question though, and I was really intrigued by everyone's answer. What conclusions do you think we can draw from that? Just looking at the bucks that people HAVE seen before, it seems like there are two general categories. The ones that were seen anywhere from months to a year before, and then ones that were seen a few days before.

Do you think this is representative of two classes of bucks, with the one group being residents of the hunter's area, and the other being roaming bucks due to seasonal, food, or (probably most common) rut factors? Wondered what you thought about that, since that is what I thought everyone's answers showed.

Interesting question.

Jon

Schultzy

The P@Y buck I got this year I did not see before. Seen a few other bookers but not him I don't think. It goes to show that sometimes you just never know what you got running around in your woods!

whip5

The home range of our whitetails in Nebraska is fairly large, so it doesn't happen often. Luckily we have a ton of mature bucks, largely because of TDM (nothing under 160). It has happened more for me with mule deer more than it has with whitetails. I did kill a buck a couple years ago that I had seen the previous year and passed on.

Rob/PA Bowyer

I'm only considering those 3.5's I've shot. Of all of them, only 1 had I seen before and it was that same week. They were rutting hard. I saw him a couple times that week but I figure it was only due to about a 1000 acres of corn being cut down to 2 acres in front of my stand. All the deer were in that corn field.

Other than that one, all the other 3.5 year olds I saw only the day I shot them. One 4.5 year old or older came in one time and one time only.

I've seen the 2.5 year olds a couple times and 1.5 year olds multiple times.

GregH

Moving a stand 2 hours before sun up! That's doing what it takes! Respect.

Rob/PA Bowyer

I was talking to Germ a week or so ago, he was headed out about midnight to move a stand because he knew the buck wouldn't be there then.

Respect!

Cougar Mag

A couple and I am not saying anything about a couple of others I missed....a few years ago. One of my best bucks I had seen 3 times while in season scouting one year, but I never really could hunt him because the wind was just not right. I finally got him two days before Thanksgiving and the neat thing was I was intentionally after him that morning. Here he is on my wall:

BTBowhunter

4 out of 8 for me and with2 of those 4, I am fairly certain that I saw them for more than one season before killing them

GregH

Jon,
To be honest, I don't know if any conclusions can be drawn. I'm not even sure what I was looking for. I was just curious.

With so many different hunting senarios it would be difficult to draw conclusions. One thing I believe is that most of the people that have seen the buck they killed prior to killing it, is that they have been hunting longer than guys just starting out or guys just starting to hunt mature bucks. Everyone has heard the stories of the new hunter going out for the first time and killing a monster. It can and does happen. However, the guys that are seeing bucks that they let go the previous year or spotted a couple of weeks earlier, are moe adept at what they are seeing. They have gotten over that "Hey!! I saw a buck!!" Now they are recognizing specific deer. This is not always easy to do. It takes patience, time and dedication. Their skills are evolving. Don't get me wrong, killing a deer the first time you see it is great too. You can bet if a 150 buck that I've never seen before comes by, he's getting my arrow.

There are a lot of different situations. Here's two that I experience.

One, gun hunting, almost always without execption the buck I kill is one I've never seen before. While gun hunting I'm hunting pressured deer. The deer are moving to avoid humans. Sometimes they seem to be moving naturally but not often. This means that I take what I get (if the buck is one that I want).


Two, While bowhunting, I am always hunting deer that are moving naturally. Also, since I am hunting mature bucks I spend great amounts of time in the woods and pass lots of smaller bucks. I can remember almost all of them but I also write down what I see. A description of the rack and their age. I keep track of does also.

For the last few years I've been increasing the size of the bucks that I'd like to take. The risk of not tagging one is much greater but it's a risk I'm willing to take. I can get all the meat I want from killing does. During this process I've had to pass up bucks that I'd never passed on before. It's tough when you've got a 136 8 point 14 yards broadside to look the other way.[:-]But knowing that there's bigger ones out there gives me the confidence that I'll eventually get my shot. What this has done is to allow me to see more bucks that I've seen before. When they go from 3 1/2 to 4 1/2 and from 4 1/2 to 5 1/2 etc. Therefore I'm killing a higher percentage of bucks that I've seen before. Sometimes I hunt specific bucks but that's a whole other deal.

I'm very grateful to have spots to hunt where I can do this. However I do this in all my spots. I just adjust the size of the buck I'm looking for to the size that the area produces. It works like a pyrimid, at the very top the top end bucks are the most rare. Your chances of tagging one go down the higher you shoot for. You have to decide how high you want to shoot!

Example: Last year there were 3 bucks I was interested in. I finally had a shot at number three and missed![]But I had my chance. At the end of the season I saw a buck that I thought met one of my other goals and got it (turns out I was wrong but it was still a very nice buck). The buck I got this year was number one last year but number two this year. It just shows you never know what you're going to see if you just sit back and observe. Have your goal in mind though, before the season starts!