Trade off... low pressure, big bucks.

[fishboy1]

One factor that hasn't been discussed on the "how to get/grow whopper bucks" is limiting hunting pressure.


I think it is ranked up as high or higher than antler restrictions and buck limits as important factors for HUNTING mature deer.

Now Im not talking about stumbling across a whopper buck that is spooked out of his hidey hole on opening day by the "orange army" but actually hunting for mature bucks.

How many times have you been "onto" a buck only to have some other hunter (or yourself) blow it and never see him again the rest of the season?

 

[BSK]

Hunting pressure is huge when it comes to hunting mature bucks. However, I really do believe having sanctuaries that are not violated is a huge mitigator of hunting pressure. I've found that bucks do not react as negatively to hunting pressure (going totally nocturnal) if they have areas to hide from human intrusion into their world.

 

[username]

I really do believe having sanctuaries that are not violated is a huge mitigator of hunting pressure. I've found that bucks do not react as negatively to hunting pressure (going totally nocturnal) if they have areas to hide from human intrusion into their world.

Me too!

I have also found that the more sanctuary you designate, the less geeked out the deer get. We are up to 30% of our 300 acre property being off limits now and it has been phenomenal for daylight older buck activity.

I'm sort of starting to beleive that pressured deer will actually shift areas a bit because we have noticed a substantial increase in deer numbers once the gun seasons started opening and had neighbors in the woods. I'm sure these are probably deer that are local but they weren't using the property much at all until the gun seasons opened. Now I'm seeing 10+ deer a sit most mornings and afternoons which is more than pre-EHD'07.

We are not seeing or photographing any new mature bucks though. Just a couple homebodies that have been on the property all season that we can't catch up with.

Of 6 3 1/2 or older bucks on the property pre-rut, we have killed 4 of them and all were entering or exiting a designated sanctuary. The other 2 are still there.

I am a huge proponent of sanctuaries. As you can probably tell. :)

 

[megalomaniac]

My farms are the perfect example...

basically we're willing to give up the entire 2nd half of the season to grow big bucks...

We hunt hard during the pre-rut and rut (numerous sanctuaries excluded) and fully expect and do kill mature bucks every year.

But the second half of the season, we essentially leave the bucks alone and strictly hunt a few more does to reach our quota. The big boys that made it through the 1st half of the season can live undisturbed on the majority of the farms. That way, they are apt to stay on my property undisturbed and live another year to grow.

It is the only way to manage small properties for mature bucks I firmly believe.

 

[fishboy1]

Cool.

We have seen similar results. Opening week of bow, deer are roaming everywhere.

As the season progresses, they get spooky as heck and gravitate toward the unpressured areas.

Once the leaves fall off, they are only around the thick, steep, or unhunted areas.

This is on a prime property with great habitat, high deer density, and an insane mature buck component. (we saw 7 bucks over 3.5 with 3 likely 4.5 or better on 512 acres ) 3-3.5 bucks were killed this year.

 

[BSK]

I really do believe having sanctuaries that are not violated is a huge mitigator of hunting pressure. I've found that bucks do not react as negatively to hunting pressure (going totally nocturnal) if they have areas to hide from human intrusion into their world.

Me too!

I have also found that the more sanctuary you designate, the less geeked out the deer get. We are up to 30% of our 300 acre property being off limits now and it has been phenomenal for daylight older buck activity.

I'm sort of starting to beleive that pressured deer will actually shift areas a bit because we have noticed a substantial increase in deer numbers once the gun seasons started opening and had neighbors in the woods. I'm sure these are probably deer that are local but they weren't using the property much at all until the gun seasons opened.

This is exactly the results I see username. On most properties without sanctuaries that are heavily hunted (not just weekend hunting but during the week as well), including ones where hunters are passing up young bucks, once the firearms seasons start, older buck sightings decline fairly rapidly. Photo-censuses will show that many of the older bucks simply aren't around anymore. The continuous hunting pressure literally drives them away from the property.

However, even heavily hunted properties WITH great sanctuaries often see an INCREASE in older bucks once the firearms seasons start, as bucks gravitate towards the sanctuaries.

I can't emphasize this enough. Time and again I've watched older bucks move into a property that is hunted harder than surrounding properties during the firearms seasons because that property has great sanctuary cover.

 

[fishboy1]

I wonder what the "sweet spot" is balancing hunting/scouting and keeping your scent and presence to a minimum.

We hunted a zero pressure property that had whopper bucks on it.
First day we simply went to some old stand locations from years past. Saw a pile of deer including some big guys but never got a good shot.

Got down and scouted the property. By the end of our hunt, we only saw yearlings and younger does where we were all seeing piles of deer and big fat older deer during the beginning couple hunts.

Since only one of us knew the property well, we wound up walking upwind of thickets, approaches, and bedding areas finding our "hunting spots"

Might have been the weather but I think the deer responded to the pressure of us walking all over the place scouting out our hunting spots.

Opening weekend of LBL is similar. Lots of deer and some whoppers, but the invasion that happens just prior to opener kicks the deer off their patterns and into hide out mode.

 

[BSK]

You know fishboy1, I looked at that for awhile. In fact, I thought I had found a correlation between the amount of total hunting time spent that year and when older buck daylight activity began to shut down. I found that hunting pressure began playing an influence in daylight buck activity once hunting pressure totalled 0.25 hours per acre (25 hunting ours per 100 acres). By the time hunting pressure reach 0.50 hours per acre (50 hours per 100 acres), buck activity was basically shut down.

However, that data came from normal habitat--big open hardwoods and normal hunting activity (hunters hunting "favorite" stands). Once I started working with properties that had great cover habitat, areas set aside as sanctuaries, and hunters going out of their way to not over-hunt stands, I found properties that were still seeing good older buck daylight activity even when hunting pressure reached 0.5 hours per acre.

So I firmly believe it comes down to the habitat, how it is used, and how skilled the hunters are choosing stand locations.

But I've also seen an instance where the same skilled hunters began to lose the cover habitat on their property (it grew beyond the cover stage). They still used sanctuaries and still worked hard not to over-pressure hunting spots, but the bucks began to react to the hunting pressure earlier and earlier with each passing season (as the good cover decreased). So cover habitat is an important factor.

 

[Winchester]

If the cover is there the bucks will stay, if not they will find desirable cover elsewhere. When pressure is applied the bucks dont always leave or go totally nocturnal, they simply adjust their habits and use the available cover to their advantage!

 

[Hillbilly Hunter]

Good posts BSK and Winchester. I see the same thing. I hunt my "favorite stand" way more than is recommended. I hunt the wind everytime I sit in it. It is in a geographic abnormality. It is in a spot where a deep saddle in one ridge is T'ed in the low point of the saddle by a secondary finger ridge. The deep hollows coming from each side of the finger ridge is met with thick ground cover. The finger ridge is mostly cedars while the primary ridge is hardwoods. Thick and nasty. I have killed both of my bucks this year from that same spot, and one in 2007. I also see several shooters every year that I cannot get a shot through the brush, but I don't dare remove it. Two of the bucks were 4.5 and one was 3.5

 

[fishboy1]

That is the trade off I was talking about.
Either you have to have great cover, or you have to cut down on your hunting pressure.

 

[WestTn Huntin man]

Hunting pressure is huge when it comes to hunting mature bucks. However, I really do believe having sanctuaries that are not violated is a huge mitigator of hunting pressure. I've found that bucks do not react as negatively to hunting pressure (going totally nocturnal) if they have areas to hide from human intrusion into their world.

I mostly hunt only 25 acres. There is one spot on the property and several around it where a tornado went thru several years ago. I have only been in there twice in 6 years. Both times were tracking shot deer. It is on your knees crawling around thick stuff.Every year I get to watch deer coming in and out of these areas . A couple of big bucks keep getting bigger. It's a rush just seeing them in the early morning or late evening and knowing they're still around. I don't know when but my day
is coming ??