Tips and Techniques

Tips And Techniques

That Will Help Take Mature Bucks

By Charlie Burchfield

Mature bucks are out there but are tough to take. However, for those willing to kick their skills up a notch, you just might find your tag on one of these trophies.

It was mid-morning when I realized a change was in order. For the first few hours of the first day of rifle season, like so many other hunters, my hunting is done from a tree stand. After that, you’ll find me making tracks. Guess it comes honestly since that’s the way my Dad hunted. Over the course of his decades of hunting, there was no other hunter in camp that took more deer than he. And with good reason; he paid attention to details.

“Check out those areas other hunters don’t like or seldom go to,” was Dad’s advice. Even at camp, Dad would pattern those who hunted there. Tracks in the snow often were his silent partner and would show where others had, and had not, gone while hunting in the area.

“Hunters generally would take to the trails and the maze of log roads, which provided them with easy access. It works for some, but check out how the deer react to where other hunters hunt,” Dad pointed out.

One spot he loved to hunt was on a ridge where a pair of log roads paralleled each other, making their way out to the point on the ridge. The majority of hunters who frequented there would seldom, if ever, continue out to where the terrain broke over to the other side of the mountain and down over the side.

After being pursued time and again, the deer pattered the hunters and realized that hunters did not hunt the ridge out. The deer adapted by lying down at the end of the ridge. In the event the deer were compromised, their escape was accomplished by a few quick bounds down over the side of the mountain. Dad’s strategy was to continue to hunt in the opposite direction from where other hunters approached the area.

“Older deer have seen it all and are wary of movement,” was Dad’s advice. “Once the shooting starts, the big boys are on full time alert, using their eyes and what they have learned about hunters in the past.” While a whitetail’s sense of smell is acute, the eyes are part of a whitetail’s defense system.

There are occasions when a young deer will catch your movement, stare, and stomp its foot in an effort to get you to move. But older bucks approach the situation differently. When mature bucks see movement, they will, especially when they know they are being hunted, simply slip off into nearby cover. No games, as it’s a matter of survival. In the bag of tricks mature bucks have developed, taking cover and watching a hunter’s movements works to their advantage. In many cases, a mature deer will avoid hunters by simply letting you pass by. It doesn’t take much to conceal a whitetail.

Last season, this advice paid off as eleven deer approached the bottom of a small, but sharp ridgeline. I was positioned above the deer at the base of a dead fall. Several in the group were looking my way. It wasn’t difficult to see a nice buck halfway back in the pack.

Twenty-two eyes were scanning the surrounding area. Now, more than ever, my every move needed to be slow and deliberate. After all, by now these deer had seen hunters, and the mature ones in the group were on heightened alert. And with good reason, since they knew the game and a hunter meant danger. It seemed to take forever, but minutes later the 8-point was wearing my tag.

While field dressing the buck, it wasn’t long until my brother, Mark, was at my side. “Yep, that is the same buck I saw earlier in the morning.” “Why didn’t you take him?” was my reply. “He was working his way through the clear cut, and from my tree stand I could see he was with a group of deer. I saw he was a good buck and slowly began turning in his direction to get a shot when my license holder scraped against the tree behind me. He looked up, and when his eyes met mine, he was GONE,” Mark told me. Deer in the area where they live and survive will quickly pick up unfamiliar sounds, whether it is talking, a car door slamming, or the ripping sound of Velcro.

In the case of this buck’s first and only encounter with my brother, the buck knew that what he heard and saw spelled trouble, and he immediately made an exit. When whitetails tie two of their senses together, they do an immediate disappearing act. Also, you can bet that if that buck had made it through the day, it would have avoided Mark’s tree stand as well. Deer have been known to skirt around known tree stands where hunters have been spotted.

Odor and scent are the way a buck will locate a receptive doe or elude a hunter. Scent control is vitally important to a bow hunter, but is equally as important to the gun hunter. Cooking odors can be strong and cling to clothing for extended periods of time. At breakfast, in camp with other hunters, the clothes worn for the first meal of the day are not what go on my back in the field. My outerwear is stored in plastic bags or outside, then put on when leaving for the day and hung up before coming back into camp. Bathe with no-scent soap, use scent-free deodorant and keep as scent-free as possible.

When hunting, pay attention to wind direction and use it to your advantage. When you want to move deer towards another hunter, use your scent to help move the deer in the desired location. On the other hand, when on your stand, make certain you know where your scent is going and not in the direction you expect to see deer. It sounds simple, but this is one rule hunters often overlook.

One great piece of advice Dad had to offer which still holds true today is, “You’ve got to spend time in the woods.” Time in the field, observing and learning, will go a long way in making a hunter one who hunts deer or is simply a deer hunter.