We have had this encounter with a huge buck in Pawnee county for three years. we have a 1 acre field shaped in a perfect square. Our stand sits off the field about 10 yards in the corner of the field. There are no other feasable trees on the field for a stand. the oppossite side of our stand is nasty thick cedar trees. we put corn in field every year. anyway two years ago my dad was sitting in this stand and a huge buck stuck his head out of the cedars and just watched the field for a second, my dad tried grunting and bleating but the big buck just backed into the cedars and dissappeared. this morning i put a doe decoy in field about 25 yards from me and sprayed her down with the hunter specialty doe in rut spray. at 9 am I look up and see the biggest buck i have ever seen in the wild standing in the corner on the far end on my side of the field. I pick up my gun to put the scope on him. and all I can see is the bright spot of the sun through my scope. so i pick up my bleat can to get him to move. he is really looking at the decoy but wont move. just stand up high stretching his neck trying to see her better through the tall grass. he walk 3-4 steps then turns around I keep trying to look through the scope but its too bright to look that way. I do everything i can to make him move out of the corner but all of a sudden he just trots through the cedars. The decoy did get his attention but his brain wont let his body walk out in that field. I thought my dad was joking about this big buck, but seeing him with my own eyes now I am a believer. He is 12-14 points with very long tines. But he seems to always know how to check that field for does without giving up a shot on him, very smart deer. Now I am making it my mission to get this buck before the season is up. I dont think I spooked him so maybe he will show up again.
Go outside the box on him. Try something different. Be somewhere he doesnt expect you to be. Hope you get him.
A lot of times mature bucks dont react well to calling.
Another thing is to check your wind, having only one stand can cause u to hunt it in a bad wind for the lacation but if not some bucks are smart enough that instead of walking straight in up wind they will back out and circle down wind of u and the decoy sometimes 100 yards away.... if he smells u he just truns and walks away and u never knew he was there.
Just a few points to think about
Good Luck with him though
Another thing is to check your wind, having only one stand can cause u to hunt it in a bad wind for the lacation but if not some bucks are smart enough that instead of walking straight in up wind they will back out and circle down wind of u and the decoy sometimes 100 yards away.... if he smells u he just truns and walks away and u never knew he was there.
Just a few points to think about
Good Luck with him though
If he is always coming in that field at that corner, I'd look for the path he is following to get there. Play the wind right and he will be yours. Get setup on him while he is coming to the field to look and don't forget to play the wind in your favor... Good luck
That was my plan for this morning to use a decoy, I've never used a decoy on the place before. I figured if he skirted the field he would see the decoy and come on out. He did stare at it very hard and walked around in circles for a second but he was not coming in the open field for nothing. I know he beds in the thick cedar and there is no way at all to set up on him in there. I dont even know how he gets around in there. I thought about a ground blind but the feild is tall I would have to put it up on the end he comes out and I sure he wouldnt go for seeing something new out in the field. Maybe next year we will have to cut and turn the little field into a food plot then maybe there will be a better chance. we have killed numerous deer in that little field with just putting corn in it, but cant get the big boy to come into it
Yeah, there are some smart ones. I hunted this weekend in my blind and had a solid 150+ come in to my right. Just a few seconds left of shooting light. He came up on me so fast I didn't even have time to raise my gun. His head was on a constant swivel and he never looked down for more than a second.
When I slowly raised my gun, my chair squeaked just ever so little. He bolted like you wouldn't believe. Needless to say, I was heart broken. I've only gotten a doe this season and he would have been a big trophy. I'm ordering one of those silent swivel chairs so it won't happen again. Just get out there as much as possible and you will get another crack at him.
When I slowly raised my gun, my chair squeaked just ever so little. He bolted like you wouldn't believe. Needless to say, I was heart broken. I've only gotten a doe this season and he would have been a big trophy. I'm ordering one of those silent swivel chairs so it won't happen again. Just get out there as much as possible and you will get another crack at him.
I sit on the southwest corner of the field and he comes out on the east end of the field so long as there is a north wind he cant smell me, so wind is not the factor here because the wind is always in my face. I always spray down with scent killer and use a drag while walking to my stand. He is just not comfortable with coming off the edge of the cedars but one day he will slip up. If he doesnt die of old age first, lol.
I chased a big 8 for 5 days in a row, until he went back nocturnal. Somehow they have a 6th sense about where you are. Saw him every day, but never close enough for a shot. Moved every day to intercept him, and he moved too.
Good luck. Rut is about over, and that may be why he is hanging out and not coming in.
Good luck. Rut is about over, and that may be why he is hanging out and not coming in.
I played that game with a giant last year. Landowner and myself tried every possible setup, gimmick, stand, and food pile. Had dozens of game pics of him, both day time and night time, all at random times and days in between pics and on two different cams a half mile apart. Got our last pic of him the day after rifle season last year and hasn't been seen since, no sheds either. Frustrating but all the more reason to be in a stand everyday. Hope he cooperates for you.
If you can get the wind right and have the ability to stand still for a long period, hollow out a hole in one of the cedars and just wait. Being in the shade is key, along with not moving.
They don't get big without being smart. Hunt the area surrounding the plot too. He has to be moving in and out some direction. Climbers are good for this if you have trees that allow it. I don't, and will spend this spring with a pole saw taking all the small branches off the straight trees to accommodate next hunting season.
Ground blinds with tall grass are a blitch. For next year built a short tower that will put the floor 3-4ft up. Still small enough that 2 guys and a pickup can move it around. Sitting in a chair will let you see over the grass and you don't have to get crazy with a 20' tower. That doesn't help much this year though.
They don't get big without being smart. Hunt the area surrounding the plot too. He has to be moving in and out some direction. Climbers are good for this if you have trees that allow it. I don't, and will spend this spring with a pole saw taking all the small branches off the straight trees to accommodate next hunting season.
Ground blinds with tall grass are a blitch. For next year built a short tower that will put the floor 3-4ft up. Still small enough that 2 guys and a pickup can move it around. Sitting in a chair will let you see over the grass and you don't have to get crazy with a 20' tower. That doesn't help much this year though.
