Those who have taken big bucks...I need your info!

[jonsimoneau]

For that last 10 years or so I have noted every big buck I have ever seen paying special attention to wind direction.  For those of you who have taken a big buck, I am interested to hear a few details.  If you have recorded it or remember it, please tell me the way the deer moved towards your before you shot him.  Was he moving directly downwind, upwind, quartering downwind, quartering upwind or crosswind?  Please omit those that were shot while trailing a hot doe.  I also would like to know the time of year.  Also, I am mostly interested in bucks that were thought to be at least 3.5 years of age.  I am kind of compiling all of this info.  And if you have a picture, all the better.

[Gatekeeper]

I don’t have a lot of experience hunting but the big buck I hunted last year and will hunt this year likes to walk the mowed trails that I have put in.

I saw this buck twice last year while hunting. The first time was right around dusk in late October. I set myself up about 50 yards in the timber thinking he would use the timber as a staging area and hang out in the security of the trees before entering the open field. Instead I watched him walk a 7’ wide mowed trail that is about 30’ out from the wood line. This trail is in an 18 – 20 year old CRP field that has a good amount of scrub brush, medium size cedars and patches of small trees growing in it. The mowed trails have a good amount of clover growing in them. During this encounter he was walking south and the wind was coming out of the southwest.

The second time I saw him it was mid January and he was within 15 yards of me but it was 45+- minutes before good shooting light. Again he was walking the mowed trail and he walked part of the trail that I used when I walked to my stand. I was setup in a finger of trees overlooking a heavily used deer trail. The path that I have mowed is on both sides of this finger of trees and crosses through the trees about 30 yards west of where I was setup. I could hear the deer walk the trail to the west until his steps faded. Then a short time later I could hear him coming back towards me walking the trail on the other side of the finger of trees. I know it was him because at one point he silhouetted himself against a little background light. During this encounter the wind was blowing from the northwest at about 10 mph. He came from the north, walked to the west, turned and walked to the east and then casually moved to the southeast. Walking in the same direction as the wind was blowing. I am sure he crossed down wind of me but he didn’t run to get away from the area. I could hear him moving through the dry vegetation at the same leisurely pace that he used while up wind of me and he continued this pace until the sound of him moving faded.

About two hours later a group of does came through on the down wind side and they busted me in the same area that I last saw the big buck.

[longbowben]

This is to much to answer but the wind was alyays in my favor here are a few.  

 

[longbowben]

I have killed 8 big bucks, i beleave you must try to be sent free never hunt a stand when the wind is wrong.And im in my stands way before daylight.Most of my stands are put in july,and i cut my shooting lanes in feb.I have killed most of my bucks in the first two weeks of the season when thier in thier core areas.this year leatherneck has seen 3 big shooters and one 125 class 10 pt that he passed on and this is the one that i killed.

[longbowben]

In my area a big buck is 135 or better.It depends on where you live.i use to hunt wv a big deer thier is much smaller. Im very thankful that i live in ohio.We have very big deer and lots of them.

[Stone Sheep]

The buck that i shot last year was 4.5 years old.I rattled him in from 400yards away across a CRP field. For the first 350 yards, he was moving with a cross wind. For the last 50 yards he turned with the wind in his face.I shot him at 6 yards. Nov. 3rd 3:30pm NNW wind.

[rg176bnc]

Ive shot 5 deer over 135 w/ the largest being 176.  4 were moving crosswind and 1 w/ the wind at his back.  Ive seen just as many move into the wind as crosswind and w/ the wind at thier back.  I dont believe their smart enough to always be on the most extreme down wind side of a block of timber. Their world just isnt set up that way.
I think you would be better served to be where they feel safe while crossing these areas.  Once you hunt an area long enough it will become apparent that the majority of bucks will go thru an area in roughly the same way.
During the rut they are more interested in checking out as many feeding and bedding areas as possible (the quickest way from A to B).
I think what makes an older buck the hardest to kill is thier core area shrinks the older they get.  They dont like to leave this area in daylight hours until the rut gets the best of them.

[John3]

My biggest buck came in quartering up wind. October 5th that year at appx. 5pm.. He was with a larger buck but of course I shot the first buck that gave me a good angle.


JDS III

[Stone Sheep]

ttt

[Widowbender]

My four biggest:
125"... quartering with the wind...3:30 pm Nov 20

135"... crosswind...5:00 pm  Nov 29

140"... quartering with the wind  6:30 pm Oct 15

146"... quartering with the wind 11:00 am Dec 4

These are good sized bucks for North Carolina. A good friend and one of the best hunters I know once told me that Big Bucks like to move with the wind coming across their shoulder (Quartering). One of my favorite evening setups is along travel routes on the downwind side of a nasty thicket or old clearcut.

David