I Think Its Starting to Click

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G-Patt
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Re: I Think Its Starting to Click

Unread postby G-Patt » Fri Jul 30, 2021 5:41 am

While doe hunting, I will catch a glimpse of mature bucks skirting downwind from my set up about 35 to 40 yards away and down-thermal. Even if that means they travel up and down steep ravines with rocky drainages between them. They travel over those obstacles with ease - it's really amazing the watch. I can't say it happens a lot, but at least 2 times a year I witness this.


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Re: I Think Its Starting to Click

Unread postby Trout » Fri Jul 30, 2021 6:45 am

G-Patt wrote:While doe hunting, I will catch a glimpse of mature bucks skirting downwind from my set up about 35 to 40 yards away and down-thermal. Even if that means they travel up and down steep ravines with rocky drainages between them. They travel over those obstacles with ease - it's really amazing the watch. I can't say it happens a lot, but at least 2 times a year I witness this.


When you see that, I'm guessing you are set up downwind of the doe sign, would you say the bucks are in the first good cover downwind of the doe sign, or downwind of you? Also, are you hunting a permanent stand site/frequently used tree, or is it a first time sit?
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Re: I Think Its Starting to Click

Unread postby Trout » Fri Jul 30, 2021 7:23 am

PK_ wrote:
I also want to say that other guys have been talking about this kind of stuff on this forum for over a decade.


Just goes to further validate that beast tactics are legit and not some kinda fad. Not that all the computer simulation stuff isn't cool and there might be stuff in there that could give a guy an edge, but at the end of the day it all comes down to woodsmanship.
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Re: I Think Its Starting to Click

Unread postby greenhorndave » Fri Jul 30, 2021 7:37 am

And sometimes it’s just hearing something a different way that can cause things to click. That predator comment from PK was one of those for me. I see it in a way different light now for rut behavior.
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Re: I Think Its Starting to Click

Unread postby Huntress13 » Fri Jul 30, 2021 10:59 am

greenhorndave wrote:And sometimes it’s just hearing something a different way that can cause things to click. That predator comment from PK was one of those for me. I see it in a way different light now for rut behavior.


Yes, I was thinking that too. Different terminology or a different way the info is presented. Trout's post awhile back about Transitional Hubs relating it to highways was one of those for me.
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Re: I Think Its Starting to Click

Unread postby mauser06 » Fri Jul 30, 2021 5:05 pm

The best thing I've ever started doing was following mature bucks around in the snow. Yes, that's typically post season...after months of hunting, breeding, food source changes etc etc. He's a different animal than he was in the fall. But they still show you how they use the landscape.

Pay attention to what he's doing and where he is. I completely believe everything is done with purpose. Even during the rut...it's not nearly as common to catch a mature buck in pressured areas slipping like younger bucks. Think about it....if they passed through the same funnels and such everyone knows to hunt, would they have gotten old?


Snow is an invaluable teacher. I feel bad for those that don't get the luxury. I can honestly say I wouldn't be where I am if I didn't have snow. I've been putting pieces together for years. I remember the first mature buck track I took. Snow in rifle season. Hour or 2 passed daylight abd I cut a FRESH set of big footed buck tracks. I had him dead...I just knew it. He cut out of the bottom and started up a maintained trail wide enough for a pickup. Huh....good chance he's gunna be on the other side of this hill...and I knew the woods..even if he wasn't on the trail, chances are I'd be able to peek over, find him and get him killed.

Sneaking up the trail following his tracks. Right after he crested the hill he turned to the left. Huh. I kept on them sneaking along. He went in, J hooked and bedded on a little tiny knob on the leeward side....watching the human trail and wide open creek bottom. He saw me and had my thermals before I ever cut his tracks in the bottom. I didn't stand a chance of ever seeing him.


Truly fascinating animals.


Someone mentioned basically giving up seasons to maybe see 1 or 2 shooters...and they just enjoy seeing lots of deer. Everyone has their thing.

Thats sorta how I got into this style of hunting. I dabbled but got frustrated. I'd go back to my same ole honey holes where I could almost always see something.

I'm reaching a confidence and desire all at the same time. I may start choking down buck tag sandwiches. But it's time to up the bar. I have little desire to see deer. Especially in archery season. I wanna see THE buck. The next one destined for my wall. I've killed a pile of deer. I've killed a number of bucks. I actually have a pretty good streak going. If it ends, It ends. I'm determined to continue learning and learn to put older bucks in the back of my truck. Everyone has their own thing. Their own goals and desires. Do what keeps it fun and exciting and interesting for YOU. I went though the stages. Gotta kill a deer. Gotta kill a lot of deer. Gotta shoot every deer I legally can. Gotta kill a buck. Gotta kill the first legal buck I see. Latdky it's been..."Eh..let's wait and kill nicer bucks...but that one is good enough!"

I have the luxury of ample doe tags, a rifle and a late flintlock season where I can go back to killing deer and a 2.5yo in the late season still makes me thrilled. Archery season, that 2.5yo isn't getting my arrow anymore...unless I feel like it that day lol.
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Re: I Think Its Starting to Click

Unread postby MuskieHunterDave » Sat Jul 31, 2021 4:41 am

Thanks for posting the link Trout, it was a really good podcast.
Whenever I hear podcasts like this I pour over topo maps of areas I've hunted trying to identify new areas to check. I have too much woods to scout and too little time!
I'm not sure about using AI for hunting. I work with data in the IT field and I have a hard time thinking of ways to use AI that don't end up being evil. It feels like it has the potential to make a sport that already feels too "technologized" even less fair. Sometimes it's hard to know exactly where the line can be drawn, but you eventually get to a point where you realize you're all the way over it.

The thing about the app I was most interested in was the vegetation identification for a given region. Just the other day I had some nuts falling on me in a park and I tried to look up what kind of tree it was but couldn't find it.
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Re: I Think Its Starting to Click

Unread postby G-Patt » Sat Jul 31, 2021 7:08 am

Trout wrote:
G-Patt wrote:While doe hunting, I will catch a glimpse of mature bucks skirting downwind from my set up about 35 to 40 yards away and down-thermal. Even if that means they travel up and down steep ravines with rocky drainages between them. They travel over those obstacles with ease - it's really amazing the watch. I can't say it happens a lot, but at least 2 times a year I witness this.


When you see that, I'm guessing you are set up downwind of the doe sign, would you say the bucks are in the first good cover downwind of the doe sign, or downwind of you? Also, are you hunting a permanent stand site/frequently used tree, or is it a first time sit?


No permanent stands and usually this happens on the first sit. There's this one oak spot I sit when the acorns are dropping on a southern wind. Just north is steep finger ridge that drops off immediately and next to it is a series of other finger ridges. The drop-off pulls my thermals after the sun goes behind the trees. On at least 2 separate hunts, I've seen a mature buck climb up one steep ridge and down the other and up again with very minimal effort, nose to ground. The does are up top in the cover and will make their way to the dropping oaks just before closing time.
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Re: I Think Its Starting to Click

Unread postby PK_ » Wed Aug 04, 2021 6:39 am

mauser06 wrote:The best thing I've ever started doing was following mature bucks around in the snow. Yes, that's typically post season...after months of hunting, breeding, food source changes etc etc. He's a different animal than he was in the fall. But they still show you how they use the landscape.

Pay attention to what he's doing and where he is. I completely believe everything is done with purpose. Even during the rut...it's not nearly as common to catch a mature buck in pressured areas slipping like younger bucks. Think about it....if they passed through the same funnels and such everyone knows to hunt, would they have gotten old?


Snow is an invaluable teacher. I feel bad for those that don't get the luxury. I can honestly say I wouldn't be where I am if I didn't have snow. I've been putting pieces together for years. I remember the first mature buck track I took. Snow in rifle season. Hour or 2 passed daylight abd I cut a FRESH set of big footed buck tracks. I had him dead...I just knew it. He cut out of the bottom and started up a maintained trail wide enough for a pickup. Huh....good chance he's gunna be on the other side of this hill...and I knew the woods..even if he wasn't on the trail, chances are I'd be able to peek over, find him and get him killed.

Sneaking up the trail following his tracks. Right after he crested the hill he turned to the left. Huh. I kept on them sneaking along. He went in, J hooked and bedded on a little tiny knob on the leeward side....watching the human trail and wide open creek bottom. He saw me and had my thermals before I ever cut his tracks in the bottom. I didn't stand a chance of ever seeing him.


There is a lot of knowledge in this post if someone pays attention to the details of the example.

I have been telling people that what I know about mature bucks has mostly come from tracking and glassing. Snow tracking, blood trailing, deer drives, still-hunting and spot and stalk. I have certainly learned a lot from other people, but anything I learn second hand gets tested against what I see in the real world, boots on the ground, following and observing bucks. And I feel the same about this GPS data.

While I hold it in high regard, find it fascinating and enlightening. In my mind, it will not be an end all be all. It may be the closest thing to that, outside of experience and woodsmanship, but it will be a supplement to those and not a replacement.
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Re: I Think Its Starting to Click

Unread postby mauser06 » Thu Aug 05, 2021 3:59 pm

I'm with you PK. I can gain knowledge from different sources. But I learn my best in the woods.

The biggest thing is EVERYTHING is different. My swamps and marshes don't look much like Dan's videos.

Hill country in Northern PA and hill county in Southern Ohio are completely different landscapes.

We're also dealing with wild animals.


There just are no cookie cutter answers.





Periodically there'll be posts about Dan's videos and THP and other YouTube hunting channels and how it can ruin public land mature buck hunting. I believe they are definitely adding some pressure. But I'm not seeing much human sign where it needs to be. It's actually pretty predictable and they are stopping at the first good sign that pops up.

The videos and stuff certainly help. But if you aren't out there applying the tactics and LEARNING how to apply it to your specific situations, you aren't a threat.


For early season hunting, I've found it's taking me 2-3 seasons to really feel like I am a threat. I also have been guilty to not focusing on one specific area...and learning absolutely foreign landscapes...so if I apply 100% of my time to 1 area, maybe I could shorten it. Last season was the first I went in and scouted my way in and killed a buck. I had previous knowledge of the area but it was minimal. I can't tell you how many hunts I did in that fashion. They all led up to the demise of that ole marsh buck.


I also practice different hunting tactics which as PK said, I am learning deer. I grew up doing small deer drives. A lot of times usually just me and a buddy or me and my dad. Some of the biggest bucks I've been apart of killing have been just 2 of us. That's no accident or coincidence. That's 2 cereal killers putting their knowledge together and killing bucks. Absolutely deadly tactic when executed right.

I also enjoy still hunting and tracking in the snow. I use both as ways to scout new big ground with a gun in my hands. I learn and scout and drop pins in the GPS and OnX and come back post season if it's promising. Sometimes I end up dragging one out.
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Re: I Think Its Starting to Click

Unread postby Lockdown » Fri Aug 06, 2021 2:27 am

I didn’t read all the comments, but to touch on the “hunt the cover downwind of the saddle instead of hunting in the saddle itself” here’s my perspective.

Yes they’re right, that’s the type of thing mature bucks do. They like to bed where they can keep tabs on things yet stay out of the way. They like to watch from the sidelines. That said, there are hundreds of saddles out there and not every saddle is going to work for this concept. You need to find some legit bedding and legit sign (beds rubs scrapes) IN IT indicating that the downwind cover is the place to be.


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