This guy has given me the slip 2-3 times this year; I've either hunted the other blind location, my lease or a day earlier or day later than when he's shown. This weekend has been no different as he showed one day prior to my getting out there, actually 12 hours earlier. Suppose why it's hunting and not killing. Any good remedies out there to try and close the gap?? These are some night pics of him but he has also appeared during shooting morning hours and late shooting evening hours.

Ditch the feeder and hunt the corridor between where’s he’s bedding and eating. If you want to make an aggressive push, hunt the bedding

Use a different approach to the area where you hunt him. He knows when you are there.

Many times, the smart old bucks know where you are. A couple of times I killed some big ones by hunting from a new position, sitting on my folding stool. I had one slip out of the woods and study the elevated stand I usually hunted from. Never looked behind him, where I was sitting.

If he is only showing up at night it wouldn’t have mattered where you hunted.

Correct, these are simply some of the night pics of him. He's shown up a couple of times between 7:00AM-7:40AM and couple of times between 5:30-5:50pm. So, on the early side of the morning and later side of day, of legal time..I don't have those pics here.

deer has impressive 3rds. Good luck

Try accessing your blind from a different direction (if you can)

Old boy like that is probably watching you come in and out.

Just try not to leave your scent trail in the path the buck accesses from.

Yep the big bucks around me gave me my indian name (pisses a lot).

Nice looking buck

Solid... me too !

I like your humor red.

I’m convinced old bucks learn to associate the sounds that humans make with threats to their safety. Things like chained gates being opened, engines running, doors and tailgates being shut, and especially the sounds of ATV’s and UTV’s. If you’re up to it, try parking at the gate and walk the distance to your stand. Do your best to avoid sounds that aren’t being made when you’re not there. If wary old bucks can hear the sound of a safety being clicked off, detecting the sounds mentioned earlier are a piece of cake. It also brings to mind how hunters will go to great lengths to control their scent while totally ignoring all the sounds they release in a given area.

Good luck.

I suspect many a mature buck has learned the sound of squeaky hinges on box stand doors.

Honestly, the best thing you can do is log in as many hours as you can in the stand locations he’s frequenting. He’ll slip up if you can put in the time.

Are those cell camera pic's?

Without knowing your set up and how you're accessing it, hard to tell what you may be doing that is spooking him. What works for me, I don't access my stand from a direction that will bust me during the time that a buck may be bedded, or staged before moving into my target zone. I actually drive my Ranger around a loop that is a couple of miles out of the way so I can approach through an area that won't get me busted. I then park and walk, a very long way, 1/2 mile or more some times. My feeder goes about 3 months without needing corn, I top it off 3 weeks before opener so I don't disturb the target zone. I've never shot a buck at a feeder, it's the does that I am trying to keep in the area that will bring in the bucks during the rut, always works for me. I'm not visible at all from my stand, wind isn't a factor, both of these advantages gained by the stand location and how it's built..........so many things go into being there without a buck knowing you are.

I think if you are willing to walk in a long way from the direction that gives you the best chances of not being detected, hunt that stand 3-4 hours morning and afternoon/evening three days in a row you'll kill him.

I’m by no means a perfect hunter in any way, but I always wonder a little when I hear people suggest the bedding areas and feeding areas and travel corridors. Where we hunt and the surrounding areas are brush minus the senderos etc. there are no pinch points, no dedicated feeding/bedding areas. Deer do not routinely come from or leave to the same place.

Good luck on getting him.

For your area, I could see that. Where I hunt, definite bedding and feeding areas for the groups of does and yearlings and very young bucks that stay together. As for the good bucks, there are travel routes that they prefer but don't use in a predictable pattern. Peak rut, different story.

As is often the case, redChevy and I think alike. I know there are areas that are different, but often there are no distinct bedding, feeding, travel corridors. Certainly identifying and taking advantage of them can be helpful but it’s often a very hard row to hoe.

In areas where the type of cover and terrain are monotonous like south Texas brush country there are usually little to no distinctions at least to the human eye. The more diverse the cover and terrain get the more it affects behavior.

Some shooting hour sightings of him




He's a little rutted down in these mid-Nov. pics. Love his double white throat patch in that 2nd fog morning pic where he's looking straight on at doe in pen and camera.

That's my plan Gros, put the time in and hopefully I and someone else does not connect on him. Noteworthy, my ranchito is < 100 acres so he's mostly if not entirely a pass through buck. I don't run an ATV or vehicle to stands and generally hunt very stealthly from 12' tripods with canvas camo netting around the frame. I am very focused on being quiet and limiting my body movements. Dad taught me at very young age in South Texas to minimize my movements and sounds.
Should we be able to connect, he'd be a mature trophy off my small property. Game On!!!

Consolation targets

Nice buck/bucks. Good luck.

The smart old bucks know where you are. Following my own advice many years ago, I set up in a place nobody ever hunted. I was after a big buck that hung out in a wild onion patch. I could see the end of a dirt road through the woods from where I was. About 600 yards to my left, I watched a huge buck walk along the woods edge to where the road began. He dropped to his belly, low crawled to the road edge and looked down the road to see if any of us were in the stands. When he decided the coast was clear, he stood and walked past the road. And that’s when I really understood that I needed to do some hunting from non-regular places.