Bucks with bow???

[Trevor2]

How do y'all consistently kill bucks during early bow season? I tend not to get anywhere close to their bedding during bow for fear of spooking them before they become a little dumb and horny. So what do yall do?

 

[redblood]

let them be till muzzleloader. lock the gate, dump the corn, take their pics. then choot em with a gun

 

[catman529]

have seen 3 bucks so far but not had a shot opportunity yet. Not worried about it, I will take whatever doe I can get to thin out the does a bit so maybe there is more competition when the bucks are horny and roaming. even if I don't make an effect on the doe population, I still enjoy seeing and getting to shoot deer!

 

[Shed Hunter]

let them be till muzzleloader. lock the gate, dump the corn, take their pics. then choot em with a gun

that sounds like a great way to do it


I've only seen one buck, a ssmall 8.

 

[buckaroo]

When it start's cooling off usually mid Oct. is when I start seeing buck's in daylight.

 

[cecil30-30]

I've been bow hunting for 5 years now,and only seen 2 bucks that was atleast 2.5yrs old.and 1 of which I killed..Plain and simple,I just dont see the bucks till ML and Gun season starts.

 

[Pursuit Hunter]

Hunt dominant trees with buck sign around them.

 

[muddyboots]

In all my years bowhunting i have seen 1 mature buck. I use this time to shoot does and get ready for m/l. Also on dominant trees with buck sign around them i never see any until november around here.

 

[RatherBeHuntin]

The bucks that I have taken with a bow were mostly got in the first couple of weeks of the season when they were still in their summertime patterns and they hadn't been pressured yet. But I can't say that I have done it with any consistency.

 

[W.Seay]

Easy, I leave them alone til gun season! I killed and had multiple sightings of many mature bucks once I started doing this! Don't pressure the big boys til you have a gun in your hand.

 

[Winchester]

Depends on many things, from hunting skill all the way to areas available to hunt. Food and Cover is King this time of year!

 

[recurve60#]

I've had fair success hunting the biggest rubs I can find this time of year. He will be on a feeding and bedding pattern, so if you find several rubs this time of year it shows his travel route. Its fairly predictable.

I don't pay much attention to just one rub. If I find several rubs in a small area, especially close to a food source, I hunt them.

Takes alot of leg work during the season since I wanna know I'm on fresh rubs, but I wear rubber boots that never come in the house and try my best not to touch any limbs and vegetation while I'm scouting.

Once I find what I'm looking for I try to stay on stand till after noon. I've had them show anytime from daylight till one or so. After that It seems they bed for the rest of the daylight hours waiting for darkness. Never had much luck in the evenings at all.

 

[woodsman87]

I understand that you shouldn't pressure deer, and I am very careful about using woodsmanship when I am in the woods. But when you don't have much land to hunt, and hunting is my favorite thing to do, it is impossible for me to not go hunting if I have the chance. I am sure that is why I kill no big deer because they all get scared before the rut. I can't help it but to go hunting when I have a chance, scaring them or not. Plus, you never know what will come by.

 

[bowriter]

I looked back through about 15-years of journals at the bucks I have killed that I guess, would qualify as trophies-those over 125 gross inches, bow kills. Keep in mind, for many years, I hunted almost totally with a bow and in prime locations of the country.

I cannot find any pattern as to time of year. They are well dispersed as far as time of year and time of day. The three largest were killed Oct. 15-opening day for tyhat state, Oct. 7, cold wave hit IL and Oct. 26, big pre-rut in IA. The rest were spread out like royal flush from late Sept. to Mid Dec.

Only two were killed from the ground. The spread to morning or afternoon is also just about equal. Prime morning time is 7-9 and prime afternoon is 5-5:30.

 

[recurve60#]

My post above is for mountain(big woods) deer, and trophy is not in inches here because it won't amount to anything in the books unless really lucky to kill an anomoly.

In my description trophy is 3.5 and up in age. Maybe one day I can hunt where trophy means inches, but I doubt it. I just do what I do here.lol

 

[double browtine]

I only hunt near bedding areas when there is no wind or when the wind is right to get there. Also in early bow season i just hunt travel routes in the morning and food plots in the evening. I try to stay out of the woods until muzzleloader. The land i hunt is 220 acres with about 50 acres on the east side and then 120 acres of crp and food plots with woods in the middle with a deep ditch and hollow to the river bottom. River bottom is about 50 acres with a 3-4 acre wetland. Cumberland river is to the north. I try to hunt the days when the wind is right

 

[bowriter]

My post above is for mountain(big woods) deer, and trophy is not in inches here because it won't amount to anything in the books unless really lucky to kill an anomoly.

In my description trophy is 3.5 and up in age. Maybe one day I can hunt where trophy means inches, but I doubt it. I just do what I do here.lol

Obviously, a trophy would be the same thing. To get the inches, it would have to have the age. In some areas, trophy means weight.

I just thought of something else and checked to be sure. I have killed an equal number of elk in the morning and afternoon. I would have bet I killed more in the morning.

 

[recurve60#]

Yep. Hard to judge a trophy here by antlers. Although they are nice racked they just don't have the inches.

3.5 yo is a trophy to me...i guess cause that's what the state calls a mature buck.lol

 

[redblood]

Easy, I leave them alone til gun season! I killed and had multiple sightings of many mature bucks once I started doing this! Don't pressure the big boys til you have a gun in your hand.

amen

 

[Atchman2]

I've seen two on my hunting lands, both small. One is a 4 pt and one is a true spike. I missed the 4 pt. I think he jumped the arrow. After missing him, I haven't seen him anymore.

I tried to shoot the spike, but made too much noise. I haven't seen him anymore either. Not got this bow thing figured out, but last year I killed three (two does and a buck) with my ML. Maybe my hope is in the ML season.