thetrooper
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Post by thetrooper on Jan 26, 2022 21:49:24 GMT -6
I think the “just off” wind principle is one that I have recently learned, but that is a big part of being to upgrade from killing an occasional good 3 year old to mature bucks consistently. A mature buck travels everywhere on purpose and won’t travel without the wind in mind, whereas the 3 year old will literally throw caution to the wind looking for does. So if you are sitting with the wind perfectly in your face, perfect for you and perfectly wrong for the deer, you are hunting does and smaller bucks. Find the setup where the wind is ALMOST perfectly wrong for you and ALMOST perfectly right for the deer (“just off”) and that mature buck will feel confident enough to move during daylight. Combine that with a cold front, camera intel past or present, and a wind out of the east (shot 4 deer this year on east wind, 2 mature bucks on a NE), and your odds are better than good you’ll see something big. I haven’t been running cameras on a single property long enough to develop a pattern, so I’ll take your word on the “same time, same place” theory, although I’ve heard Don Higgins and others notice the same pattern. I did catalog the decent bucks I had around this year, and I’ll look for similar conditions to hunt them if they are alive next year. I wish I could hunt the rare east winds we get. But I only have access from the east. Now it's literally the entire eastern length of the property so we have good access but damn anything out of the east and I'm kinda fucked right out of the gate besides maybe a SE
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Post by kooch on Jan 26, 2022 22:12:18 GMT -6
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Post by Bwoods11 on Jan 27, 2022 19:40:18 GMT -6
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Post by kooch on Jan 27, 2022 20:39:42 GMT -6
LOL - I made a smart ass comment about not caring about the wind and smelling like sugar cookies... Decided not to sidetrack this excellent thread. I couldn't figure out how to delete the post from my phone, but I could edit it.
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Post by badgerfowl on Jan 27, 2022 23:52:24 GMT -6
This seems entirely like too much work. I just look at trailcam pics and go hunt. Keeps it simple.
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Post by Sandbur on Jan 28, 2022 4:24:17 GMT -6
This seems entirely like too much work. I just look at trailcam pics and go hunt. Keeps it simple. And I have skipped the trail cam part for about ten years or so.
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Post by badgerfowl on Jan 28, 2022 6:42:14 GMT -6
This seems entirely like too much work. I just look at trailcam pics and go hunt. Keeps it simple. And I have skipped the trail cam part for about ten years or so. Fuck that. Not giving up my trail cans.
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thetrooper
Full Member
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Posts: 106
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Post by thetrooper on Jan 28, 2022 13:41:27 GMT -6
This seems entirely like too much work. I just look at trailcam pics and go hunt. Keeps it simple. Yeah it's a lot of work for sure. I'm definitely not a numbers/analytical guy either so it's even harder. I just always hear crap like deer do this... deer dont do that...or some whack study from a 7,000 acre pine plantation in southern Alabama or some shit where the "university studies" have 0.0 relevance to my situation. I want to know what deer are doing in my area. And I'm here to say when you look at the numbers and data in your area your gonna relearn a lot of what you thought you knew
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Post by smsmith on Jan 28, 2022 14:13:54 GMT -6
I don't think there's any doubt that if your goal is to consistently shoot bucks in the top 5% of age and antlers, being a detail-oriented hunter is almost required.
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Post by badgerfowl on Jan 28, 2022 15:56:11 GMT -6
This seems entirely like too much work. I just look at trailcam pics and go hunt. Keeps it simple. Yeah it's a lot of work for sure. I'm definitely not a numbers/analytical guy either so it's even harder. I just always hear crap like deer do this... deer dont do that...or some whack study from a 7,000 acre pine plantation in southern Alabama or some shit where the "university studies" have 0.0 relevance to my situation. I want to know what deer are doing in my area. And I'm here to say when you look at the numbers and data in your area your gonna relearn a lot of what you thought you knew We have 30 acres. There's not a lot of analyzing to be done (especially as compared to the "studies" you've mentioned). I like to know what's around so I can "try" and select one of the better bucks but I'm not super picky about it. I follow two main "rules". Don't be late and don't stink. We've had our new place for 3 years and I've already shot #1 and #3 of my best bucks in 26 years of hunting. Location/neighborhood is probably the biggest factor in that.
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Post by Reagan on Jan 28, 2022 18:30:51 GMT -6
Interesting tactics and documentation. I have two strikes against me. I don’t have much for mature bucks bedding on my place. I do have a sense of where they bed on 3 neighbors.
I also let my kids run wild most of the year. I cut it back around Labor Day. Once they are on their own I’ll get more serious about my property but if grand kids come along, that will be the end of that.
I have never kept notes but I do remember dates. Of the three years I’ve had my new place, October 6, 13 and November 8 have been busy days. I try to hunt weather but I also hunt when I can. If I’m free and it’s November, I’m going. This year I had good encounters Nov 4-7.
One thing I will take away from this thread is how I’ll start organizing pics. Each older identifiable buck will get his own folder. Then I can maybe see patterns emerge.
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Post by chummer16 on Jan 29, 2022 7:31:47 GMT -6
My buddy has 30+ cameras on 700 acres and has been doing this for a few years now. He absolutely believes the same bucks show up on the same trail the same day every year.
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thetrooper
Full Member
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Posts: 106
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Post by thetrooper on Jan 29, 2022 13:48:03 GMT -6
My buddy has 30+ cameras on 700 acres and has been doing this for a few years now. He absolutely believes the same bucks show up on the same trail the same day every year. I dont know about the same exact spot. For me it's more like a ballpark usually within a couple days when they show up. And it changes with the herd dynamics if you got a 3 year old or younger buck. Once a buck gains some authority in the neighborhood he might be showing up earlier to stake claim or hanging around more. It also can change slightly with different crop rotations and stuff like that. Although I have a ton of overlap down to an hour on the same spot a year apart. Here's the buck I just killed first picture from 2020 (Oct 16) and 2021 (Oct 13).
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Post by Catscratch on Jan 29, 2022 14:02:34 GMT -6
Funny you guys bring up folders. I have paper folders laying around everywhere and computer folders for a dozen different bucks. I also have a document with yrs worth of dated events such as mushroom finds, buck sightings, and duck migrations. A 5 yr average will tell you the day to look for morels in the spring, oysters in the fall, or hens in the winter. Always within days of correct regardless of weather. Gadwall, teal, mallards, and scaup show up on their own times and always 8n comparable numbers.
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Post by Sandbur on Jan 29, 2022 17:55:00 GMT -6
Funny you guys bring up folders. I have paper folders laying around everywhere and computer folders for a dozen different bucks. I also have a document with yrs worth of dated events such as mushroom finds, buck sightings, and duck migrations. A 5 yr average will tell you the day to look for morels in the spring, oysters in the fall, or hens in the winter. Always within days of correct regardless of weather. Gadwall, teal, mallards, and scaup show up on their own times and always 8n comparable numbers. . I just found my fishing journals from the 80’s. I couldn’t throw them out yet. I had a couple of spots that were hot for walleye fishing when the lilacs were blooming.
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