Help me bag this nocturnal buck...

Furync

Furync

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Location
Vaudreuil-Dorion, QC
Hiyas,

I'm pretty desperate for info now. I just came back from hunting this week-end. Was gone since thursday. I've been going to this spot for over 10 years. When I got to my spot on friday morning there was nothing unusual in the area, sat in my stand all day. Then saturday morning I went to do my little "round". 8 of these appeared OVERNIGHT in a 50 yard circle:
2ndweekend013pi6.jpg

He broke branches above the scrapes that were 6 feet off the ground.

He also added 7 of these in the same 50 yard circle:
2ndweekend012kv0.jpg


I also found a spot where he bedded down for at least several hours about 100 feet from my stand...:runaway:

Sat in my stand all day long just to see nothing. During lunch time I went to the car and grabbed my "doe in heat" urine, went up to my spot and put a few drops in every scrape.

Sunday morning while doing the "round", he added another 3 scrapes overnight on top of "re-scraping" some of the previous ones. He also added 4 rubs. That totals ELEVEN of each in a small 50 yard circle, all done under 24 hours. Most of which are SOLID rubs/scrapes.

I've tried grunts, bleats, the doe urine, and the "spend the whole day" thing and nothing seems to bring him out. I get to my spot in the morning and it's dark out, I leave when it's dark again, so he sure as hell doesn't come during the day.

In all my years of hunting I have never seen this many signs in one small area, and I cover a LOT of territory during the fall. Could it be more than one buck? Either way, how do I make him/them come during the day?

My instinct tells me to go cut him off higher up the mountain in the hope of having daylight when he passes but other than that... I'm short on ideas.

Anyone have experience with these nocturnal bucks?
 
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The rut hasn't fully hit yet....Be patient he'll start poking his head out sooner and sooner looking for love. He's probably bedding not far from your pics...
It'll happen just keep on him...

Good luck and post some pics after the boom~~~:D:D
 
Depending on regs and safety conditions in your area try a decoy around his scape lines. If you can get a hold of a montanna or similar they are easy to set up and fold up into small package so you can carry it in. He's probably holding in tight cover during the day but the sight of a rival buck or horny doe around his scrape line might pull him out.

Also, if there is a lot of moonlight he might only come out at night. maybe wait for little to no moon days.

I've used my decoy this year and have attracted bucks with it in deep cover. Unfortunately when I had a 5 pt 8 yrds from my stand the muzzle loader misfired. Dem's duh breaks :D
 
Icon's got the right idea. If he's noctournal, you have to find where he is sneaking in from. That way your on his "route" and you'll catch him when it is not dark.

Cheers
Jay
 
Jay said:
Icon's got the right idea. If he's noctournal, you have to find where he is sneaking in from. That way your on his "route" and you'll catch him when it is not dark.

Cheers
Jay
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Yeah that's what I was thinking too, I have a very good idea of his whereabouts, I'm just wondering if he'll be out before sundown...



Depending on regs and safety conditions in your area try a decoy around his scape lines. If you can get a hold of a montanna or similar they are easy to set up and fold up into small package so you can carry it in. He's probably holding in tight cover during the day but the sight of a rival buck or horny doe around his scrape line might pull him out.
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I like this idea. But if he's sleeping during the day how will he ever know there's a "hot doe" out? I already put some doe in heat urine in the scrapes, during the day, so maybe that will have him come check...


Keep the suggestions coming, I like what I read!!! :)
Thanks!
 
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2fat2fly said:
I was going to make the same suggestion. Either dumbpuss or his outlaws would have the solution. Probably involving spotlights and wiskey.:p
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Please keep his stupidity on his own thread. To bring it up here is not only irrelevant but it's insulting. Enough said.
 
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No need to be so pissy.
I like this idea. But if he's sleeping during the day how will he ever know there's a "hot doe" out? I already put some doe in heat urine in the scrapes, during the day, so maybe that will have him come check...
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It's pretty good odds he isn't sleeping the whole day. May well be watching you come in to your stand and is clever enough to lay low when you're around.
We were pushing bush near Yorkton and while crawling thru a thicket, had the buck crawl past in the other direction. If they survive to maturity, in an area that sees some hunting pressure, they get fair clever.
 
Make your own mock scrape. Make it in an area you can readily see and set up on. Preferably about 300yds from the nearest "real" scrape.

Buck and doe urine it up.....

Get into position at about 1pm, bundle up and wait it out.

Ive done it and it worked for me several times. Stay until legal light expires.
 
After a heavy rain you will find that the buck will come by to freshen up his main scrape with in 4 hours of the rain quiting you see if you can find the largest scrape in the area or a trail too it and give it a try.
 
he's probably already got you paterned. might have to wait till the rut is in full swing and hope he follows a doe in to your set up. the more you hunt it the more sent your leaving in that area. you can try calling rattling and decoy all day but if he knows your there it makes him that more weary to enter the area. it's hard to hunt a mature deer if he knows your there and easy for him if he knows you're not. just my 2 cents. keep your fingers crossed that he makes a mitake and remember the right place @ the right time rule is in effect. if any of that makes sense!:confused:
 
I would stay out of that immediate area...You probably have saturated the area with your scent. Follow the rub line, and setup
at least 200yards away. Always ensure good wind direction..I know hunting the mountains is hard with the wind currents, but
try your best. Use a different route to get to your stand, throw him off your pattern. If all else fails...maybe the rut will cause
him to make a mistake.

Supposed to get good temp's and maybe snow this week, so it will stimulate rutting activity. :)
 
fergie.17 said:
he's probably already got you paterned. might have to wait till the rut is in full swing and hope he follows a doe in to your set up. the more you hunt it the more sent your leaving in that area. you can try calling rattling and decoy all day but if he knows your there it makes him that more weary to enter the area. it's hard to hunt a mature deer if he knows your there and easy for him if he knows you're not. just my 2 cents. keep your fingers crossed that he makes a mitake and remember the right place @ the right time rule is in effect. if any of that makes sense!:confused:
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That reminds me of a hunting story I read once, can't remember which magazine though. The guys were hunting a small wooded island in the middle of a frozen river. They could see the deer tracks going to the island, but they did not leave. They set up stands and then had other hunters "push" from one side. They had more stands than hunters on the island, but those deer would never come by the stands when the hunters where in them. They figured that the deer would hear them get to the stand and climb up and know where not to go while being pushed. The hunters got smart though. They walked in pairs to the stands and one would go up while the other kept walking. Three bucks on that day were taken.

Not sure if you can find a buddy to come with you, but the point is to change up your pattern.
 
2fat2fly said:
No need to be so pissy.

It's pretty good odds he isn't sleeping the whole day. May well be watching you come in to your stand and is clever enough to lay low when you're around.
We were pushing bush near Yorkton and while crawling thru a thicket, had the buck crawl past in the other direction. If they survive to maturity, in an area that sees some hunting pressure, they get fair clever.
Click to expand...

X2

It does not take long for a mature buck to figure a hunter out. He may also be chasing hot does so he will be in and out of his area while looking for love once the rut really kicks in.
 
Well, to the plus side of the equation, the buck sure does seem pretty intent on declaring the area "his" doesn't he.

That's good, I think.

I have seen areas that had a lot of small scrapes and rubs, that were the result of a couple young bachelor bucks warming up for the rut. They did not stay in the area afterwards, though.

I've never tried the drip type lures that are supposed to only dribble out scent in daylight, but would probably consider one if I were in that spot.
Maybe worth a try if you can get in to the area, and are not coming back until the following weekend, for instance.

A combination of some rattling antlers (not very big ones, either) or one of those Rattlin' Bag noisemakers, and a grunt call might work too. Really low key rattling and grunting, as you want him to come out and kick some ass, not decide he's got no chance, and wander away to new turf.
Might be worth watching a few videos, to get an idea of the noise levels required. Crashing two great big antlers together usually results in a deer free zone around the guy doing it. Usually.
The day I started to believe in rattling as an option (aka, the first time I saw it actually work) I had a little buck pass by where I was sitting, right at sunset. Once he walked about 50 yards past me, I ticked the antlers together, just a couple times, and not very hard. He swapped ends like someone had kicked him, and came in to within 20 yards of me, looking for the source. After about a minute, he headed back the way he was going. I brought him back in 3 more times in the next 10 minutes or so, and he was obviously curious as to the source of the sounds.
A good friend of mine was pretty fond of hanging a set of antlers on a long line, so that he could pull it and have the antlers rattle a bit, as well as to drop them into the leaves and stuff on the ground beneath a tree a ways over from his stand, drawing attention away from where he was.

I had had bucks do the duck and run routine within sight when they heard antlers being beat together too severely.

On the complete other end of the spectrum, last years buck came in about 10 minutes after I let off three hard blasts on the grunt call, me blowin' the thing like it was a party horn on the eve of the year. Either he was stone deaf, or he was comin' in to see... Either way, I got him.

Perseverence! That's the best tool I can suggest. The guy that spends the most time where the deer live, see's the most deer.
Best of luck!

Cheers
Trev
 
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