Why certain bucks reach maturity and how that affects hunting strategy

[meyeri]

Just like the title says, I'm curious of your thoughts on the mature deer you've harvested and why that deer reached maturity over another one?

I've been trying to pay a lot more attention to this stuff recently and it's changed how I approach hunting certain deer. I've noticed a wad of different reasons bucks reach maturity and I've found that not all mature deer are on the same level when it comes to hunting them. So what strategy did you implement to hunt a deer based on traits or habits that you noticed? What worked, what didn't? I figure if I can learn from someone else's mistake or success then I can save myself some heartache. These are just some examples of why I've noticed certain deer reach maturity:

-Small core area (hangs out in a small patch of habitat).
-Nocturnal.
-Simply lucky (we all have hunted bucks like that).
-Bad genetics (neighbor shoots the 3 year old 10 point over the 3 year old 8 point).
-Timid personality (lesss likely to be called in).
-Large core area (wild card bucks)
-Low pressure area.
-Etc.

 

[jkratz5]

1. The buck that doesn’t work lay by the rules- doesn’t walk trails, always hangs back behind the rest of the herd, last one to the food plot, etc
2. Has an area that he feels safe-sanctuary
3. Small core with food, water and bedding all within a few 100 yds
4. Only makes a mistake once or twice a year - up during daylight, not as alert, etc
5. Spend the majority of there time where they have the sight/smell advantage (especially when bedded up)

 

[Sligh1]

Really good thread!!!!! Here’s few off top my head.

1. Survival genius. Smart & crafty. 6th sense.
2. I’ve shot some mature bucks that I am SURE were passed up cause mediocre (or worse) genetics. Not incredibly hard to kill but I know others let him go. I LOVE to shoot those bucks!!! Whole list of reasons why I shoot em beyond just enjoying those hunts & bucks.
3. Small core area - like above. Yep - bingo!!!! Guys .5 miles away maybe had a glimpse of those old dudes but really have no real shot at killing. In my area, more often than not, close the home range WAY down 5++ years old.
4. My biggest reason I’ve killed mature bucks in my later years.... passing the “visible good genetic bucks”. When 2 or 3 seasons before - on any other farm - they would have been roasted and dead. Those are the bucks I LOVE passing. Visible good genetic bucks with impressive size but hold myself off. Does it always work out? Of course not!! I’ve kicked myself a few times. A few times, it’s paid off really well. There’s no doubt there’s bucks that are “genius” with crummy racks or with crazy huge racks. In the best case- you find a deer who is not in that “genius” category with the great gens & let him go & do what u can to keep him safe. It’s a gamble but, for me alone, it’s absolutely fun & rewarding the times it pays off. Killed mature bucks in my earlier years by spending a gazillion days in woods across endless farms & even states (just a numbers game with a lot of hunting strategy mixed in).
5. Unhunted areas or sanctuaries..... be the least frequent reason I personally ever see bucks get mature. Maybe 1 farm in my whole life comes to mind???? Bordered maybe 200 acres that “no hunting” was policed pretty well. It was not “Insane” but also wasn’t a big farm it bordered. I guess I’ve never been that lucky and usually find myself in “very well hunted areas” every other time.
6. Back in the middle of no where. Places folks don’t go, over look or remote areas for people in general. Areas u say “dang it’s really boonies here”. Not super common but seen it. Kansas had some areas reminded me of that.
7. The fact that many hunters are “dumb” (sorry- just being real ). Deer are wired to survive & outsmart humans. Folks think “if I don’t shoot him, someone else will”. Wrong in many cases. Those things surprise people constantly. They have so many survival instincts & senses it’s crazy. Animals capable of reminding us of GHOSTS or when you do see em- so many senses to “find you” it’s mind boggling. It’s very easy to screw up on a buck with some brains. He’s not gonna beg for an arrow or bullet and he’s one of the craftiest survival machines u can hunt. Why it’s so fun!!!!!

 

[letemgrow]

The mature bucks I have seen take what I would call "calculated" risks and we as hunters have to learn how to capitalize on them.

Couple instances I've had hunting public land in KS over the past 5 years.

I had a mature buck chasing a doe on public ground in KS and he would never step out of the cover with the doe. I was sitting about 10 yards in the fence line, the doe was 5 yards from me and the buck would not come closer than 30 yards from that fence. The doe would walk parallel to the fence and he would keep looping around, back in cover to stay within sight of her as she walked away along the fence line. He was not coming any closer than that to the edge of that cover...no matter what.

Another time, from that same spot, I had a giant 8 slip in behind me along the timber edge. How he never smelled me I'll never know, but he was straight down wind of me for a long time, within bow range. Again, he was sitting back in cover, about 10 yards from the edge, and was just kind of milling around in the same spot making a scrape for a long time. He would stop, listen, scent check quite often and repeat....never moving from that spot. I was not sure what exactly he was doing, till darkness came and then I found out....he was just waiting to cross that open field to get to the other timber on the other side. He had EVERY advantage staying where he was. The wind was blowing from the woods, to him, to the field. He could hear any danger approaching from the field to the woods and lastly he was behind a big dozer pile of cedars where no one could even see him from the field side. It was an encounter burned into my memory about hunting a 5+ year old buck.

I call those calculated risks for a buck and the reason why most people never see those deer. Most bucks learn the tricks of the trade the longer they are alive. I think a few "dumb" bucks are just really lucky and somehow survive the gauntlet, but not very many that do not pick up the tricks.

It's been the same on my MO property. Those big deer DO NOT like open areas, so I avoid hunting those places like a food plot or ag field unless I'm doe hunting. When walking into a spot I take the slow and steady approach. Step step listen for example...something I learned from watching mature bucks and how they move. It can take me 30 minutes or more to cover 100-200 yards to get to a spot I'm hunting.

 

[letemgrow]

Another instance, I saw 3 bucks standing out in an open bean field on my way to hunting (looked like 2-3 year olds). It was early afternoon, in early December, so I knew a doe was somewhere close by. I drove a little farther looking and she was on the other side of the fence, in a cattle pasture. Those bucks were too far away from her, so I knew another buck had to be there somewhere. Took me a while to find him, he was standing in the lowest spot there and the best cover there was by the roadside. That's what I call a calculated risk, he did not want to leave that doe, but he also did not want to stand out in the open like all the other deer were. Another impressive KS 8.....

 

[hesseu]

I think mature bucks also know when we call (grunt or rattle) and it "just doesn't make sense" to them for one reason or another. Don't get me wrong, I've grunted and rattled and it has worked...but, i've also seen mature bucks and have done the same and they immediately know for some reason that what I am doing should not be happening. That, or they must know of a bully buck and are moving along.

I agree w/ Letemgrow...I think calculated risks are a must for going after mature bucks. One thing we've done this year is bought a whole lot more stands, and we are going to be putting them up in places where the calculated risk factor is involved. Perfect weather, wind, time of season, etc is going to be a must on these stands. With the amount of stands, I'm hoping that gives us the different options for when the 1st of November gets here.

 

[Hardwood11]

For a buck to make it to age 5 or older in Minnesota, there needs to be some nasty thick cover and that is usually swamp. The bucks that survive seem to spend 90% of their time in that cover.

On occasion a buck will find a remote area of cover that is impossible to hunt and will live in that small piece and grow old. I witnessed that on one of my farms, old 7 pointer with unique rack made it year after year. We had him on camera after dark, but during the day he would bed in this old thick grown up railroad bed, with few trees.
There was no way to get in there without him realizing he had a an intruder. I think he eventually died at age 5 or 6 ...we have not seen him now...might have been hit by vehicle.

)

 

[Daver]

Most older bucks are truly a different animal, they will wait in the cover for a field to fill up with other deer and are content to wait either until darkness or many, many minutes have elapsed before they expose themselves. I shot a smart, old guy a few years back on an evening hunt and there were deer in the field, including a nice buck, for approximately an hour before he stepped out. I strongly suspect that he was standing about 10 yards deep in the timber for 20-45 minutes just watching the other deer as they fed. Had there been even a little nervousness shown by any of the deer in the field...he would not have been seen there that night.

I remember watching a true stud one time right around the 5th of November and he was following a doe and she was on the move with plenty of daylight yet...and he really looked uncomfortable on his feet in the daylight...but he let the one thing that has tripped up many bucks keep him going. I eventually gagged on the 22 yard shot and he lived on, aarrghh, but I will never forget the sight of him following her across the field with the sun hitting his massive antlers. He was hating the fact that he was walking around in the daylight, you could just about read that on his face. He was very nervous the whole time and that was the only time I ever saw that buck in daylight. Harrumph!

Knowing that most older bucks are really nocturnal, and/or move very little in the daylight, you have to plan for the few number of times that you can hope to intercept one when they are on their feet during daylight. The other HUGE factor to me is the "neighborhood". In order to shoot older bucks, there needs to be older bucks and if folks crack every 1 or 2 year old they see...well then there aren't going to be very many older bucks, no matter what else you do. So hunting pressure in the neighborhood, selective harvest, etc, are also in play.

We try hard to limit ourselves to bucks that are 5 years old or older and in order to accomplish that you have to have discipline to not shoot the good 3's and 4's. (I will not say that I have never broken that rule , but nowadays, it is very uncommon for us to do so.) Given that, I would say that any buck we shoot nowadays will probably have been passed up by us, or by good, close neighbors, anywhere from 2-10+ times while he is 2, 3 or 4. If you are selective on your side of the fence, but the neighbors hammer all "nice racks"...you will struggle to get some 5+ year olds. If however, you and a few neighbors can agree not to decimate the 3's and 4's...you will almost always have some brutes "around".

 

[jkratz5]

Another time, from that same spot, I had a giant 8 slip in behind me along the timber edge. How he never smelled me I'll never know, but he was straight down wind of me for a long time, within bow range. Again, he was sitting back in cover, about 10 yards from the edge, and was just kind of milling around in the same spot making a scrape for a long time. He would stop, listen, scent check quite often and repeat....never moving from that spot. I was not sure what exactly he was doing, till darkness came and then I found out....he was just waiting to cross that open field to get to the other timber on the other side. He had EVERY advantage staying where he was. The wind was blowing from the woods, to him, to the field. He could hear any danger approaching from the field to the woods and lastly he was behind a big dozer pile of cedars where no one could even see him from the field side. It was an encounter burned into my memory about hunting a 5+ year old buck.

This is 100% correct. I cannot tell you how many times a big boy has done this to me. To the point now where I try to find a spot to hang closer to the thick and clear a lane in there. Gives me 1 option, maybe!!!

 

[Tim Hull]

All bucks move in daylight, you just have to be within 50-75 yards of his bed. Lol.

 

[MN Slick]

It's a numbers deal in many areas. If there is a good population of bucks some will get to the older age class. My partners and some neighbors have itchy trigger fingers and usually kill the first decent one that shows up and then they are done. Fortunately it's usually not the bigger older bucks that show up first. Itchy trigger fingers in places with lower populations like much of MN absolutely kills the chances of older bucks in the population.

 

[flugge]

The deer I killed this year was 6 1/2...I always saw him on his feet in daylight a lot, but always VERY smart about where he walked and how he got from point A to point B. I finally figured out his super secret hiding spot and closed the deal this year, but after it finally was revealed, there was NO way anyone could get in and out of the property without him knowing someone was coming. And I mean literally from the moment I pulled into the driveway, he knew I was there from his spot. I learned a lot from him, and hopefully will start to pile up more big deer (if there are any left after all the CWD killing)

 

[Wapsi Tree Rat]

I read some research a while back that made sense on paper, but not sure about reality. I'm curious what some of you guys think...

It basically stated that some of the biggest and oldest bucks are NOT the ultimate fighting champion and have no interest in battling with another buck for the right to a one night stand with the lady. They may mount an easy doe, but refuse to run around like a low IQ teenager out all night chasing and fighting over girls. Because they don't get involved in these skirmishes and the grueling physical demands of the rut, they are much healthier as the weather turns harsh.

A beat up buck needs a lot of nutrition to fully heal himself, but can't do it when winter turns nasty and food becomes scarce. It becomes a game of only survival. When spring arrives with new food sources, the buck's body uses a lot of energy and nutrition towards healing that would otherwise go into antler growth.

I do remember a while back we got 4" of snow on Nov 4th and didn't see bare ground again till Feb. Brutal cold too. That year I found a dead 10pt around 150ish, well he would have been but 3 tines were busted of his main beam. (pictured below)

There were no holes in him. (except for the normal ones). His face was marked up but didn't look too awful.

Maybe some truth to it? Just a bunch of hooey? I dunno. Think about it...how many times have you rattled up a busted up buck?

 

[Ishi]

I read some research a while back that made sense on paper, but not sure about reality. I'm curious what some of you guys think...

It basically stated that some of the biggest and oldest bucks are NOT the ultimate fighting champion and have no interest in battling with another buck for the right to a one night stand with the lady. They may mount an easy doe, but refuse to run around like a low IQ teenager out all night chasing and fighting over girls. Because they don't get involved in these skirmishes and the grueling physical demands of the rut, they are much healthier as the weather turns harsh.

A beat up buck needs a lot of nutrition to fully heal himself, but can't do it when winter turns nasty and food becomes scarce. It becomes a game of only survival. When spring arrives with new food sources, the buck's body uses a lot of energy and nutrition towards healing that would otherwise go into antler growth.

I do remember a while back we got 4" of snow on Nov 4th and didn't see bare ground again till Feb. Brutal cold too. That year I found a dead 10pt around 150ish, well he would have been but 3 tines were busted of his main beam. (pictured below)

There were no holes in him. (except for the normal ones). His face was marked up but didn't look too awful.

Maybe some truth to it? Just a bunch of hooey? I dunno. Think about it...how many times have you rattled up a busted up buck?


View attachment 116411

Every buck has a different attitude.
They fit between these categories.
Mean SOB’s - lushes.
That attitude also many times determines how easy or hard they are to kill.

 

[Wapsi Tree Rat]

Every buck has a different attitude.
They fit between these categories.
Mean SOB’s - lushes.
That attitude also many times determines how easy or hard they are to kill.

Well then I think the answer is quite simple. Skip, your next video...
"Best methods of implementing a testosterone supplement into your food plot"