Your most successful buck sign to hunt

[DanielB89]

I know we have several buck killers here.  What is your favorite buck sign to hunt over?  

A little bit about our situation: our rut should be kicking off in the next week.  I've seen scrape activity pick up a lot, haven't found any rubs that aren't from years past.  

I am off all this week and would really like to kill a buck, the bigger the better, hah!

This will be on public land that's bow only, if that matters at all.  

Daniel

[BOHO]

I’m not far from you. I live in Vicksburg. I’m no buck killer but I have gotten a couple in my 30 years of bowhunting. Deer where I hunt don’t follow the normal rules. They don’t run/work scrape lines or rub lines in daylight hours. The only exception would be a hot scrape line right after a rain. I’ve killed all mine when they were running a doe or up looking for one. Mostly in funnels but that’s where I hunt 90% of the time from pre rut til almost the end of season.  We don’t see any shooters until first of Dec for the most part. We have a 20” beam minimum. A lot of that has to do with hunting pressure. There’s somebody hunting our little lease almost everyday from oct 1 til jan 31. If I owned that 300 acres and was the only one hunting it I’m sure it would be a lot different. Maybe I’ll win the lottery one day.

[drewsbow]

Daniel :  I have never had much luck hunting scrapes as i find most are made at night and setting up on them has proven fruitless.
The best I can offer is to find a food source and some does because where the does are so will the bucks be. Drew

[Ryan Rothhaar]

My best buck sign for hunting mature deer is/are does and signpost rubs.  

The signpost are the big year-after year rubs.  A signpost hit last year means more to me than a bunch of 1-2 inch rubs from this year. I don't hunt the signpost rubs, but they are one of the best clues to perennial buck travel patterns.

I kill my older bucks under 2 general conditions - perennial buck travel patterns and doe family groups.... when I talk about these buck travel patterns I mean travel patterns used for 20+ years.... these get used by generations of bucks and are gonna be bigger picture than you can figure out 90% of the time, you just try to figure out a bit of the pattern.  If you are hunting under a thousand or two thousand acres you are just seeing a tiny portion of the big picture.

The second way I kill them is hunting does, hang around the does long enough and it'll come together.  The tricky part is being around the does and not screwing up the situation by getting caught or changing their pattern.  Look up Heisenberg's Uncertainty Principle                . Something I learned about back in undergrad quantum mechanics class.... but applies equally well to hunting around does.  The upshot is you can't always accurately figure out where the does are gonna be because your presence has a tendency to upset the system.                You have to be crafty to get by with it.  One strategy I like is coming into the stand later in the morning... let the does go by at first light without being there on stand to get caught.  Then I go into the stand a half hour after daylight to catch the cruising bucks.  If I could only hunt 1 hour a day in the rut it would 830-930 am.  I've killed a very high percentage of my mature bucks then, cruising for does or with does.

IMO spending too much time on stand is worse than not enough.... your presence messes things up, and getting busted by non target deer saves more big bucks than anything since scentlock suits.            

R

[Cwilder]

Ridges
The smell of tarsal
Streams and creeks

[Michael Arnette]

I'm no big buck killer but I've had some success on large tracts of public land. For me rubs are the best sign to look for. My most fruitful scouting on unfamiliar areas has been checking out what appear to be funnels and then having those areas confirmed with run sign. However, some of my very best public spots have zero and I mean zero rut sign...they are merely travel corridors between or downwind of bedding areas. I found it by pure luck after I saw some deer there on multiple occasions. Going on 4 years and not a rub or scrape within a hundred yards. The spot is basically a saddle and pinch point both at the same time.

On large public land food is impossible to hunt unless you can find a hot oak in early season. You'll be hunting land features. Here in the Midwest it's benches, saddles, pinchpoints, and inside corners if you are lucky enough to have crops nearby. and especially in the swampy areas look for travel routes on high ground.

[mec lineman]

i agree with Ryan on the rubs and Michael on the lack of buck sign in some great areas. you cant kill him if you are not there,but to much presence is working against you on specific target deer. During the rut however there is always a chance of a neighboring buck cruising through following those terain and wind features comepletly unaware that you educated the local herd.

[DarrinG]

Actually Id rather hunt doe sign this time of year. Best bait (sign) a bowhunter can have is a hot doe(s) lingering around a stand area. But like Ryan stated so well, you gotta be really careful, not to disturb the pattern of the does. I know that first-hand as I did so last year. I overhunted a spot the does were using frequently and slowly they quit using it until after dark, taking the cruising bucks with them. And there's not a much wiser or cagy critter in the woods than a big alpha, mule-face doe. She's one smart, woods-wise animal. Wont take too much to force her to change her patterns.

[MnFn]

Yes on the doe sign and rubs.  However this year between me and my family we have been watching does and fawns all week and have only seen one spike buck.

Perhaps too much activity, I guess that could be it. But I saw 15 does and fawns yesterday, you would think even an average buck would shown up before dark.

[Preston Lay]

Ryan speaks wisdom. The proof is in the pudding.

[bucknut]

I don't consider myself an expert and don't like to boast or brag but I kill a pretty good one every year. 95% of the time on public land. COVER or the ability for them to travel thru an area undetected is key in my opinion when hunting public land. I hunt travel pinch points and saddles a lot. Big bucks are lazy and get the most out of every step!  I also like to hunt the fringe of doe bedding areas. I don't hunt scrapes in the rut, but if there is one where I'm set up it doesn't hurt. I agree with Ryan on the perennial rubs. Definitely tells you they've been there before and pappy and grandpappy too sometimes, I have a 12-14" Telephone pole on my property that gets molested every year.  

Again this is just one dumb hillbillies  opinion. If I was real good I guess you'd be watching me on the outhouse channel! LOL!
Best of Luck, John

[ChuckC]

It is gun season now in WI.  I have been out a lot in the weeks prior, but no longer spend entire days in the marsh.  I noticed this year.... although I have seen scrapes and rubs, some very large rubs, I have yet to hear or see any chasing at all.  No bleats, no grunts, no footsteps from deer running thru the marsh just outta sight.  Notta.   Lots of tracks and worn out trails.  Deer are present.

Also, I have seen a couple bigger bucks and I have seen a lot of very small bucks (lil forks and spikes), but none that are year and a half eight point basket racks.

Wonder what's up with that ?

[northener]

Simply put ———- hunt the does, this time of year and hope to get lucky.  Hunt the wind. If its not in your face stay out of that stand location until conditions change.


It takes lots of preseason scouting and knowledge of buck habits in the particular area your hunting to really have a shot at big bucks. 3 1/2 to 5 1/2 year old bucks did not get that old by accident.

[kennym]

Some really good stuff here. Not much to add , we try to get a good wind direction for a stand and be in cover between 2 bedding areas in the rut.

Wrong wind-- go home or to another stand. The doe will pick you off.....

[KSdan]

Know where doe groups bed. Thick cover downwind side will get you cruising rutting bucks. Middle of day can be awesome. Doe estrous calling is strategic. We have 2 mature bucks harvested in last 10 days. Don't ask me about the monster i missed at 12noon in exact scenario mentioned. .          

Dan in KS

[Kromer]

Early October scrapes, or hunting around the does this time of year. I think most of the rubs made around here are either out of frustration or boredom. They're almost never in a "line", just found randomly. Find where the does are moving and pack a lunch.

[LookMomNoSights]

SCRAPES!!!!  But not just any scrape....you have to find the right ones.  I've put cameras over scrapes that are very impressive when I discovered them,  to only see them dry up with no deer visiting for weeks on end.
I have a cam over a scrape right now that is not impressive at all....with a pathetic little licking branch above it....and I have countless pics,  all times of day and night.  No big bones to speak of,  but the deer are crushing it.

[woodchucker]

Rub lines..... He walks that trail for a reason.
He may only rub his horns for a few weeks each year, but he walks that trail, all year long...

[Stumpkiller]

Find a funnel near the scrapes and rubs.

[Friend]

Identify the tightest of funnels

Two sets to accommodate wind

Let pics determine probability...check cams every other day.

Hunt long and maintain patience and confidence.

Have taken passes on 39 separate solid shot opportunities, from the ground, on bucks this season out of 54 hunts. Have only had four shot opportunities on lower level P&Y.

Am weak at getting on the true biggins. My knowledge at getting on the true biggins apparently wouldn't fill a thimble.

My comments for setup is based on a snapshot of my hunting partner's stellar success. He is one of the premier deer hunters in the nation and has already passed on six very nice upper level bucks that I am struggling to get the first shot opportunity.