The Palmetto Kid

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PK_
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The Palmetto Kid

Unread postby PK_ » Sun Jun 07, 2015 3:15 pm

I saw someone mentioned my name in the 'call out' thread. Honestly, I was taken aback by it at first and definitely humbled. I have been kicking around the thought of it for several weeks and decided to just go ahead and try to put something together that might be somewhat informative or at least mildly entertaining…

I will try and give a little background info without giving out my SS#, D.O.B. etc…

Background:
I probably have had a fairly different life than most on here as I was born and raised in the heart of a concrete jungle. I grew up mostly surfing, bass fishing, playing sports and skate boarding. My dad got into hunting when I was about 6 or 7. I was instantly fascinated with the whole idea. I spent my summers with my grandparents who lived in a rural part of NW PA. I spent the days dark 'til dark out trout fishing in the nearby creek, hunting anything that dared move with my crossman air rifle or stomping through the woods looking for deer or deer tracks or deer poop or anything I could find deer-related. Many times I got in trouble for being gone for hours on end and for wandering much further than I ought to have(often several miles), mind you I was only 8 or 9 years old. I didn't understand what the big fuss was all about as I always felt at home in the outdoors and would easily lose track of time.

Back home was a different story. The closest 'deer woods' were about an hours drive and they weren't much for 'woods' at all and there wasn't much for deer that lived in them. It was the everglades, home to far more snakes and gators than deer. Nothing but knee deep muck choked with 8' tall sawgrass for miles and miles. The hunting was hard out there, so we hunted hard, but unfortunately we hardly knew what we were doing. I can remember the group of us going entire seasons without anyone seeing a deer. Hearing one blow and splash as it bounded away was sometimes the highlight of one's season. For some reason we stuck with it, and we actually killed some deer out there in the grass, but eventually found better habitat in other parts of the state.

My first kill was a young buck with the bow in my early teens. Even in my early years with only a couple deer under my belt, I really only wanted to pursue bigger bucks. I think it was their elusive nature that fascinated me. I have still only ever shot 2 does in my life and I could never bring myself to shoot a button buck. I have only killed 4 or 5 bucks that were yearlings, and besides my first, I never cared for the feeling afterwards. I am not trying to brag or brow beat, just trying to lay out what led me into hunting for mature bucks. I was not allowed to gun hunt until I was 15 or 16 which is when I 'lucked' into my first decent buck with a 30-06. I shot this 8 point right after passing on a spike. Passing that spike and being rewarded with my biggest buck to date ingrained a valuable lesson early on in my life, you have to let the little bucks walk if you want to shoot a bigger one. Learning this early on kept a lot of young bucks from meeting their maker throughout the years.
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Tactics
For the most part I was just your average hunter for many years, hoping to be in the 'right place, right time'. However, I began to understand that if I wanted to kill a buck, I needed to hunt where the bucks lived. I figured the bucks lived where nobody was hunting, because if people were hunting there, they either would have killed the bucks in the area, or the bucks would have moved off. I always figured that there were secret spots where the big bucks were prancing around broadside all day long. This is when I stumbled onto my first plan of attack.

It was around this time that I started using the simple strategy of trying to just 'out-walk' the competition. I started to only hunt areas that were 2 miles or more from any road or parking area, and it was yielding some results. But as GPS, smartphones and google earth became more common, the more 'brave souls' I would run into back in these isolated areas. Later I had an experience that got me away from that strategy. I was hunting more than 3 miles from the truck and I had 2 hunters within eyesight of my location. When a 3rd hunter came through in the afternoon making his way to his stand he bumped a good buck and I watched the other two hunters shoot and miss before the buck walked right under my tree. After nearly getting heat stroke while dragging that buck back to camp, I gave up on the 2 mile+ strategy. Here is a pic of the buck from a disposable camera(the good ol' days) when I finally returned to camp with it I believe around 1 or 2 am, I shot him at 5pm.
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There was a detail about that kill that bred a new strategy for me. I killed that buck out of an awful tree, a crooked naked pine tree with no cover and it only allowed me to climb about 10 feet off the ground. I knew it was in the right spot and it was the only tree there, so I hunted it anyways. From this point on I looked exclusively to hunt areas with no suitable trees to hunt out of. I killed a good number of good bucks out of setups like this.

Some kills from 10-12ft or less with no cover:
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After getting onto pretty good bucks consistently between hunting hard to access areas and areas with little pressure due to a lack of trees to hunt out of, I started to really get into this buck hunting thing. I wanted to hunt as much as possible, the only good thing about deer hunting in FL is the long season and liberal bag limits and I wanted to take full advantage. What I quickly learned was how spots become 'burnt out' easily. So I was left with the choice of hunting less or finding more spots. Which led to hunting new areas, often times without being able to scout before season. I leaned heavily on my ability to read maps and hunted many spots 'blind' with good success over the years.

Some kills from spots only scouted by map:
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During this phase I got very hungry for good information on hunting pressured bucks. I came across an article that began to change everything for me (http://www.gameandfishmag.com/hunting/h ... l_1207_01/), it was about hunting nocturnal bucks in their bedding area. I immersed myself in scouting to find these potential honey holes and blew a lot of setups but managed to kill some pretty good bucks along the way. I started getting really serious about figuring these bucks out and started to read some whitetail books, going through about a book or more a week for a year or so. I learned a lot from a few and little from the rest. I was lent the Eberhart DVD set and watched it about a half dozen times. Later I found this site and Dan's DVDs which really helped bring it all into focus.

I don't want to get too drawn out with the basics that are all over this forum already, but for me, reading maps and being able to point to potential bedding and secluded funnels that will get daytime buck activity during the rut has been the absolute biggest factor in my past success. I can remember even when I was 10-12 years old (before google earth, bing maps etc…) I used to sit down and sketch out the areas after I would hunt/scout them. I would mark down where there was deer sign/encounters etc… I always wanted to see the big picture. The bulk of my hunting is on new ground each season, logistically I am just not able to get boots on the ground beforehand. Having honed my map reading over the years from a young age has helped me to be able to walk into new areas and get into good bucks, over and over again. I will break down a couple different tactics I use when hunting new areas.

The easiest is rut hunting, finding good secluded funnels. I am not going to spend too much time on funnels and rut hunting, there is an abundance of information out there. If you are interested in how to find and hunt funnels during the rut, read two books; Mapping trophy bucks - Brad Herndon and Bowhunting trophy Whitetails - Bobby Worthington and you will be about as good at it as anyone in the deerwoods.

The only point I will add is that most 'traditional' funnels get pressure from other hunters. My best success has come from 'subtle' or 'invisible' funnels. An invisible funnel as I call it, is simply the shortest distance between two places a buck wants to be. I noticed this one year by watching several bucks over the course of a few days take the same 'odd' line of travel through an open field. I had banked on a line of brush to act as a funnel through this green field but the bucks kept cutting at the same angle right through the open. After consulting the map, I found that they were making a 'beeline' between two doe bedding areas. An example of a subtle funnel would be a low spot that in a corn field that runs perpendicular to the rows. Sometimes they are hidden within the field and only visible by map. Something like this:
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And they can result in something like this:
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The next is a pretty standard bed hunting strategy I have used for several years when hunting new areas. It is simple and effective. Pick a tree near the edge of a potential bedding area (hopefully there is fresh sign showing it is active) that will work for that evening and the following morning (or two different trees). You want to take into account the predicted wind, any thermal activity, your entrance/exit and the likely entrance/exit routes of the deer. Hunt it in the evening and then the following morning. After your morning hunt, go dive right in and check out the bedding area. Confirm what the deer are/aren't doing and use that information to pick the next bedding area and setup.

I killed this buck on the AM portion of such a hunt:
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The second method I really enjoy is still-hunting through bedding areas. I will pick a bedding area and start from the downwind side or work it crosswind zigzagging my way through it. The real key is going slower than slow. This is by far the most enjoyable way of hunting I have found. If you are interested in still-hunting, the book by Bill Vaznis on the subject is a gem. I have not killed many bucks this way, I just started trying it the last 2 or 3 season really. I have had enough incredible encounters with big bucks doing it that I know it is a viable way to kill them. I was able to connect with one good buck this way and I detailed the memorable story here: viewtopic.php?f=287&t=22639&hilit=blind
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Please do not misunderstand, I do not believe that these tactics can replace real boots on the ground post season and spring scouting. I just wanted to share a couple tactics I enjoy that are not quite as common or discussed as much as traditional bed hunting/scouting or rut hunting.

This has already turned out much longer than I anticipated, so for fear of boring you any longer…

Thanks for reading and thanks to all who contribute to this awesome community.
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PK Out.


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Rich M wrote:Typically, hunting FL has been like getting a root canal
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Re: The Palmetto Kid

Unread postby Bucky » Sun Jun 07, 2015 3:26 pm

Natural born killer! Good read

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Re: The Palmetto Kid

Unread postby Stanley » Sun Jun 07, 2015 3:31 pm

Was wondering where the Palmetto Kid was lately. PK is easier to remember. ;) Very nice right up and some dandy bucks also.
You can fool some of the bucks, all of the time, and fool all of the bucks, some of the time, however you certainly can't fool all of the bucks, all of the time.
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Re: The Palmetto Kid

Unread postby kurt » Sun Jun 07, 2015 3:37 pm

:clap: awesome...are all of these kills from Florida or mixed in. I love the buck with kickers on both g2's

Your insight on here is always good
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Re: The Palmetto Kid

Unread postby whitetailassasin » Sun Jun 07, 2015 5:04 pm

:clap: hats off to you sir. Thank you for the bio

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Jackson Marsh
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Re: The Palmetto Kid

Unread postby Jackson Marsh » Sun Jun 07, 2015 5:08 pm

Outstanding PK! :clap:

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Re: The Palmetto Kid

Unread postby jmaas07 » Sun Jun 07, 2015 5:59 pm

Nice write up, enjoyed the read.....nice line up of bucks as well.

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Re: The Palmetto Kid

Unread postby Edcyclopedia » Sun Jun 07, 2015 11:20 pm

That was a great read kiddo - I really enjoyed it!!!

Thanks for making my Sunday and giving me my first jump start towards the 2016 season...

Cheers! :clap:
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Re: The Palmetto Kid

Unread postby JoeRE » Sun Jun 07, 2015 11:33 pm

That is awesome PK, you've got it there is no doubt about it. Thanks for writing that up. I enjoyed that article you posted about the nocturnal bucks too.

To put things into perspective guys keep in mind I suspect a lineup of Florida bucks like that is every bit as hard to obtain as if they were all 150 inch bucks from the upper midwest. :clap:
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PK_
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Re: The Palmetto Kid

Unread postby PK_ » Mon Jun 08, 2015 12:04 am

Thanks guys. I really enjoyed putting it together, it gave me a chance to reflect on a lot of good memories and pinpoint different steps I took as a deer hunter so far. Anyone on the fence about whether to do a write up or not, I suggest to go for it.

kurt wrote::clap: awesome...are all of these kills from Florida or mixed in. I love the buck with kickers on both g2's

Your insight on here is always good


Thanks man. The orange beanie, the velvet 8 and the truck bed buck is from out of state.
No Shortcuts. No Excuses. No Regrets.
Everybody's selling dreams. I'm too cheap to buy one.
Rich M wrote:Typically, hunting FL has been like getting a root canal
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Re: The Palmetto Kid

Unread postby Kraftd » Mon Jun 08, 2015 1:22 am

Awesome!

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Re: The Palmetto Kid

Unread postby hammer » Mon Jun 08, 2015 2:12 am

Awesome job PK! Been looking forward to this one and you did not disappoint.
That is an impressive collection anywhere in the country, hats off to you for doing it in Florida ! Very nice

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Re: The Palmetto Kid

Unread postby welded34 » Mon Jun 08, 2015 2:14 am

Awesome write up Pk!

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Re: The Palmetto Kid

Unread postby Hawthorne » Mon Jun 08, 2015 2:53 am

Very cool write up! Thanks for sharing.

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Re: The Palmetto Kid

Unread postby seazofcheeze » Mon Jun 08, 2015 3:30 am

Really great write up and a ton of nice bucks too. Awesome stuff!

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