There he was again, on my camera, on public land. I’d been here before, getting pictures of an eye-popping buck only to have him vanish like the morning fog, and left wondering where he went and if someone else had shot him. It’s a common story that plays itself out time and time again, and many times a hunter only has images, trail camera pictures burning into their brain along with could have beens and a whole list of haunting unknowns. But this time would be different, I would punch an arrow through him at dusk eight days into season and find him a short 35 yards later. These are the factors that led to that, and ones that need to come together to seal the deal on mature bucks, and take them consistently.
Key Factor #1 – Actionable Intel
I started watching a large group of bucks on public land in July. It was hard not to get excited because there were about eight mature bucks appearing consistently. Exciting, you bet, but this was not actionable intel and I knew it. Bucks typically breakup from bachelor groups in September, and relocate to other parts, leaving you scratching your head and in a frantic search to find them. In mid August though, I put up several trail cameras (one being a cell camera), in hopes of getting a little better idea of the potential of these bucks, and if at least one of them showed signs of being shootable come October. I only made the recon trip at midday and wore, as I always do, rubber hip boots and rubber gloves so as to leave no trace of any human presence. On this strategic mission I gathered two key bits of intel: there were treestands already on the property from previous years (and in the two best locations) and there was a perennial scrape that was already being hit by these mature bucks. Bad news, and good news.
As summer progressed I started getting a good inventory of bucks, some real whoppers, and this seemed too good to be true. Bucks of all sizes were consistently hitting the scrape, and some during daylight. But as I assumed, some of the action started declining as September days ticked off toward October. It did seem like a good number of these bucks were at home, and a large swath of security cover surrounded the piece making it viable for several of them to stick around into season. This would only work, however, if the owners of the treestands didn’t roll in day one and blow out the joint (which I fully expected). On top of that, a big challenge with this location was its difficult access – no morning hunting would be feasible, and it would be extremely tough to exit without spooking deer. This meant I’d get one or two sits max, so I had to play it ultra strategic and push past the emotions telling me to hunt day one (going with feelings kill more hunts than almost anything else). I stayed out and monitored the area for the sign I needed: no hunters, and daylight movement of a target buck.
Key Factor #2 – Surprise, Surprise
The bucks had to have no clue they were being hunted, by me or anyone else, and I had to know this factor was in place before I gave up one of my hunts to this spot. This is a point of emphasis – many hunters foolishly burn many of their precious few hunts on spots they hope, not know they can kill a buck. There’s only so many good hunting days in the season, so I try not to waste any of this precious asset. But after getting a dusk picture on October 5th of one of the top two bucks I’d been seeing hit the scrape, and observing no hunting pressure (scouting other hunters is a huge key on public land that many overlook), I planned my first sit on my birthday, October 6th.
Anticipation swelled like a rutting buck’s’ neck as my Silverado seemed to plod the miles to the public parcel which was now one of the most promising pieces I’d ever scouted. Nervously I passed a string of decal laden trucks parked along the neighboring block of woods, revealing hunters were hitting that piece of public from two sides (and probably all converging in the same area unbeknownst to each other). I crossed my fingers and parked far from my hunting location – another part of surprise, which is keeping your hunting areas a secret to other hunters and as fresh as possible. Due to some nuance of human psychology, people tend to gravitate to where they see others, so I remove this element as much as possible (think about how fishing boats always show up grouped together in a big lake). As I crept into my stand overlooking the freshly pawed scrape, the stage was set and the odds were as high as I could stack them. But I was on edge about one thing that I had no good plan for: I wasn’t sure I could exit my stand without spooking nearby deer. It was my birthday, however, and I guess luck was on my side.
Key Factor #3 – Extreme Stealth
Deer, and especially big bucks, are not church-goers. They just aren’t forgiving. Slip up even a little bit, leave the slightest sign of human intrusion and your chances are gone. It’s important not to be delusional about that fact. Typically I want to get multiple hunts in the same spot without tipping my hand to deer, especially mature bucks. It’s possible, but you need to give extreme attention to a plan for your entry and exit that allows no deer to see, smell, or hear you. On top of that, while hunting you can’t be detected in any way by any deer, not just the buck you’re after. With a lot of deer around, this is impossible unless you are meticulous with this stealth component.
Be as scent-free as possible (view my scent free regimen HERE), and make sure your gear and clothing are completely silent. I definitely had these going for me, but the bulletproof exit was the problem. Around 6:30 I had several deer make their way toward their preferred food source about 200 yards away, and one was a very wide and heavy-horned buck. Over the next hour I watched this shooter and tried to quell my knocking knees, but all my hoping wasn’t luring him any closer to the scrape just 8 yards from my tree. Observing him browse confirmed that no hunting pressure had tipped him off or pushed him to nocturnal activity, and the rain and wind had picked up, playing perfectly to my only chance for a clean exit. Waiting until extremely dark, and under the cover of the gails and spitting rain, I slipped out the back to a nearby creek ravine, and silently picked my way to the truck. Had I been ninja enough to get a second chance? I’d find out two days later.
Entering the same way, my plan was to hunt the scrape once again. It was as close as I thought I could get to the hot action I had been observing, while still possibly allowing a safe exit. The large buck had proven by the October 5th trail camera pose that he would hit the scrape near last light too, and I really could not afford to wait until late October in hopes of better daylight movement. Other hunters could show up any moment, and on public land this has to be considered in your strategy. Without giving too much away about my secret location, I can say that I saw over a dozen bucks this night and over forty deer total, several groups of does being downwind of me on numerous occasions without blowing. At last light the intel, the surprise factor, and my extreme attention to stealth all came together as two bucks made their way toward the scrape and my stand.
The first I recognized from my trail camera pictures as the small buck traveling with the larger mature buck. This is something older bucks employ to live longer – have a subordinate buck check things out for them. Like a king’s food taster checking for deadly poison, the small buck came directly to my left and downwind of me to check the scrape, as the old monarch just watched for signs of danger. Smelling nothing, he moved through and I readied myself for a close-quarters shot as my heartbeat began thumping in my ears. Release on the D-loop, I glanced toward the larger buck and saw he had stepped broadside in front of me at 25 yards, offering a perfect shot. As the last rays of light were absorbed into the growing darkness, I drew, found my pin, and executed my moment of truth shot sequence, sending the buck crashing into a corn field stone-dead just five seconds later.
Luck is not something that I think hunters should rely on, and although there is always a certain element of this, to consistently have chances at mature bucks these three factors must be in your favor. This public land 10 point was the perfect example of this, as well as what happened two days later when one of these critical factors, stealth, was removed. My cell phone lit up with another picture, but this time of a hunter. And just like that the daylight buck movement at this once lava-hot spot turned glacier cold. That’s the way it goes, especially on public land and with mature bucks, but by reading and playing these factors correctly you can have meat in the freezer and a mount for the wall.
High IQ Takeaways & Challenges:
- Do you look to find or create these 3 factors on your hunts? How can you?
- Do you exercise enough restraint and have enough data to know the exact timing your surgical strike? (See more about that in this article HERE!)
- Check out our FREE Pressured Public Lands Guide with 8 New Approaches to find success just like this HERE!
