You favorite dates

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W.Seay

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Collierville,TN.
What is your favorite time period for the best chance at a mature buck? For Somerville (fayette county ) No doubt my favorite is Thanksgiving week and the week after.
 
deerhunter10 said:
the week of thanks giving is always pretty good to us but I love opening week of mz.
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I agree. I think opening week of mz is one of the best times to kill a big buck.
 
There was a blond girl in high school that really made me feel like a man. And a little later in life an Asian girl showed me some new tricks. Those were two of my favorite dates.
 
TNCharlie said:
There was a blond girl in high school that really made me feel like a man. And a little later in life an Asian girl showed me some new tricks. Those were two of my favorite dates.
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Haha
 
For me in SW TN (Tipton, Fayette, Hardeman, Shelby), I have always been a big advocate of the last week of November and first week of December (all other things being equal such as weather, temps, bucks still standing in the herd, hunting pressure, etc). With that said, after hunting some warmer than normal temps over the last few years DURING THOSE two weeks with hunting pressure peaking, seeing less than optimal deer movement while hunting and furthermore on trail cameras (particularly mature bucks), wasting a lot of my vacation days, and talking with numerous other hunters who hunted days earlier in November with BETTER TEMPS, I would suggest hunting any day you can from November 1 - December 10 when the TEMPS are at or below normal, preferably below normal and preferably earlier in that window when the buck population is still plentiful. Of course, this only pertains to those who schedules will permit this kind of flexibility. I was getting 4.5+ bucks on trail camera in daylight last year first week of November (5-9), and members of our club killed some of our best bucks on November 16, the day before rifle opened. Those dates have a few things in common such as they were weekdays not weekends, thus human presence and pressure was subdued, the buck population, particularly mature bucks was still at preseason levels (only one mature buck killed by a hunter prior to November 16) and the temps were 30/50 or thereabouts. In short, hunt your best weather/temp days during pre-rut when your target deer (mature bucks for me) are still at or near preseason levels. My .02
 
Same area as Andy and I agree with the dates...Nov 24-Dec 8. If your hunting time is limited limit it to those dates and pray for cooler temperatures. The only exception I'd make is opening week of muzzleloader leaning towards the second half of that season. Bucks are scraping and beginning to move some.
 
For my area, with its early rut, if you don't get a mature buck between Oct. 28th and Nov. 11th, you're not going to get one.

With the late opening of MZ this year, that gives me all of 3 days to kill a mature buck. :(
 
BSK...If your bucks are moving then and no one has been in there to booger the area up you ought to be able to hit the "fresh hot" woods with them in full swing. You'll get him.
 
Mike Belt said:
BSK...If your bucks are moving then and no one has been in there to booger the area up you ought to be able to hit the "fresh hot" woods with them in full swing. You'll get him.
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In three days? Highly unlikely... Doesn't mean I won't try though. ;)
 
For gun/mz hunting in my area of East Tn I like the last 2 weeks of November. For bowhunting I really like the first 2 weeks of Nov. Not as likely to see as many and have the wild action like a lil later, but I do have a better chance at patterning a buck and getting close enough to arrow him undetected, while he is laying down all the sign that litters the woods in Nov.
 
Andy S. said:
For me in SW TN (Tipton, Fayette, Hardeman, Shelby), I have always been a big advocate of the last week of November and first week of December (all other things being equal such as weather, temps, bucks still standing in the herd, hunting pressure, etc). With that said, after hunting some warmer than normal temps over the last few years DURING THOSE two weeks with hunting pressure peaking, seeing less than optimal deer movement while hunting and furthermore on trail cameras (particularly mature bucks), wasting a lot of my vacation days, and talking with numerous other hunters who hunted days earlier in November with BETTER TEMPS, I would suggest hunting any day you can from November 1 - December 10 when the TEMPS are at or below normal, preferably below normal and preferably earlier in that window when the buck population is still plentiful. Of course, this only pertains to those who schedules will permit this kind of flexibility. I was getting 4.5+ bucks on trail camera in daylight last year first week of November (5-9), and members of our club killed some of our best bucks on November 16, the day before rifle opened. Those dates have a few things in common such as they were weekdays not weekends, thus human presence and pressure was subdued, the buck population, particularly mature bucks was still at preseason levels (only one mature buck killed by a hunter prior to November 16) and the temps were 30/50 or thereabouts. In short, hunt your best weather/temp days during pre-rut when your target deer (mature bucks for me) are still at or near preseason levels. My .02
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I agree Andy and would add to hunt the second or third day after the most recent front where temps are below normal and days are bright and sunny.
 
BSK said:
Mike Belt said:
BSK...If your bucks are moving then and no one has been in there to booger the area up you ought to be able to hit the "fresh hot" woods with them in full swing. You'll get him.
Click to expand...

In three days? Highly unlikely... Doesn't mean I won't try though. ;)
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Curius. What do you do the rest of the hunting season? besides work? I guess you take your kid?
I have heard you say that it is highly unlikely to kill a buck post rut, and you do not bow hunt, so what do you do?
I realize I probably want kill one except during the rut, but I still go if given the oppurtunity?
 
Our rut is good and I love seeing all the deer during this time but we see some of our best deer late in the season if it is cold. We only hunt afternoons after mid Dec. and they hit our plots pretty hard.
 
I killed an 8 point and 10 point last year during the first week of muzzleloader. killed my biggest 2 years ago first week of muzzleloader.
 
woodsman87 said:
BSK said:
Mike Belt said:
BSK...If your bucks are moving then and no one has been in there to booger the area up you ought to be able to hit the "fresh hot" woods with them in full swing. You'll get him.
Click to expand...

In three days? Highly unlikely... Doesn't mean I won't try though. ;)
Click to expand...

Curius. What do you do the rest of the hunting season? besides work? I guess you take your kid?
I have heard you say that it is highly unlikely to kill a buck post rut, and you do not bow hunt, so what do you do?
I realize I probably want kill one except during the rut, but I still go if given the oppurtunity?
Click to expand...

I basically take off the month of November and hunt pretty hard. I usually hunt at least half of the days in the month--primarily the 2 weeks of MZ and the opening week of gun. Then I go back to work. :(

Looking at many years of past data, our only legitimate shot at seeing a mature buck up and moving during daylight is during the cruising phase of the rut (Oct. 28-Nov. 11 on my place). After that, mature bucks are locked down with does in very thick cover. Now we have the opportunity to see 2 1/2 and 3 1/2 year-old bucks up and chasing estrus does all the way until the end of November, but we've never seen a buck older than 2 1/2 after the end of November (why I rarely waste time hunting December [other than the first week] or January). Our trail-cams show virtually no daylight pictures of bucks 3 1/2+ after the first week of December.
 

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