2019-2020 Bambi whacking

The #1 community for Gun Owners of the Northeast

Member Benefits:

  • No ad networks!
  • Discuss all aspects of firearm ownership
  • Discuss anti-gun legislation
  • Buy, sell, and trade in the classified section
  • Chat with Local gun shops, ranges, trainers & other businesses
  • Discover free outdoor shooting areas
  • View up to date on firearm-related events
  • Share photos & video with other members
  • ...and so much more!
  • Archeryrob

    Undecided on a great many things
    Mar 7, 2013
    3,064
    Washington Co. - Fairplay
    Maybe too high of a doe to buck ratio in that area and they aren't all getting breed. If so, you're going to have some really late fawns and does that can't be killed in September. We have a lot of doe around but its over in January.
     

    qorban88

    Active Member
    Jan 11, 2015
    106
    Maybe too high of a doe to buck ratio in that area and they aren't all getting breed. If so, you're going to have some really late fawns and does that can't be killed in September. We have a lot of doe around but its over in January.

    Didn't think of this but you're probably right. Guess I need to start thinning the doe herd...
     

    Doco Overboard

    Ultimate Member
    Usually its the amount of available daylight that gets the bucks to produce the pheromones that in turn once deposited that bring the does into estrus. With the days getting longer starting in about late November it could be just the opposite of too many does but a higher percentage of bucks just with a smaller amount of stink concentrated in an even more smaller area.

    Who knows but one thing for sure is I would be trying to kill me one of those bucks next year. It's almost time to go again already.
     

    remrug

    Ultimate Member
    Mar 13, 2009
    1,762
    manchester md
    I was working in Ruxton a few years ago.I was watching 5 or six does feeding/loafing in the woods behind the house.Two decent sized 8 points and three smaller bucks were doing the same thing,but hanging behind the does about 50 yrds or so....they werent mingling.

    The two 8 point started sparing ,then went to pushing and shoving pretty hard.They didnt get into full battle mode,but werent far from it.This went on for about 2 minutes.

    This all happened in April
     

    rgramjet

    Ultimate Member
    Jan 25, 2009
    2,962
    Howard County
    I haven't seen an antlered buck in a good while.

    My wife saw a big one, just after it was hit, near Browns Bridge and 216 a couple nights ago.
     

    outrider58

    Eats Bacon Raw
    MDS Supporter
    Jul 29, 2014
    49,818
    I used to leave my cams out all winter in bedding areas. I've filmed fights like those throughout the winter.

    Usually, the more fighting in an area, the more balanced the buck-to-doe ratio is. Though one or two fights, here and there, aren't indicative of this, seeing many bucks with broken antlers and a ready willingness to come to rattling can be.
     

    Doco Overboard

    Ultimate Member
    I used to leave my cams out all winter in bedding areas. I've filmed fights like those throughout the winter.

    Usually, the more fighting in an area, the more balanced the buck-to-doe ratio is. Though one or two fights, here and there, aren't indicative of this, seeing many bucks with broken antlers and a ready willingness to come to rattling can be.

    See I guess the old adage is true, to kill bucks you have hunt where they're at not where they've been.
     

    DeathBeforeDishonor

    Wildlife Consultant
    Jan 14, 2017
    50
    Camp Lejeune, NC
    THE CAMERA DOES NOT TELL THE WHOLE TRUTH!!!!! Only an amateur deer hunter will base his time spent in the woods on trail camera activity. I've witnessed some of the most mature bucks in the woods from 1100-1300 snooping around and the trail camera would of NEVER captured a picture!!! Stop cheating yourself with the privilege of hunting your grandfathers 500 acre farm that only gets hunted during rifle season and is restricted to only your access and start killing more reputable deer. And yeah start thinning the doe herd out the first week of November I guarantee your chances of seeing a buck trailing a doe that time of year is at an all time low!
     

    lazarus

    Ultimate Member
    Jun 23, 2015
    13,678
    THE CAMERA DOES NOT TELL THE WHOLE TRUTH!!!!! Only an amateur deer hunter will base his time spent in the woods on trail camera activity. I've witnessed some of the most mature bucks in the woods from 1100-1300 snooping around and the trail camera would of NEVER captured a picture!!! Stop cheating yourself with the privilege of hunting your grandfathers 500 acre farm that only gets hunted during rifle season and is restricted to only your access and start killing more reputable deer. And yeah start thinning the doe herd out the first week of November I guarantee your chances of seeing a buck trailing a doe that time of year is at an all time low!

    Unless it’s a bad camera, if they go by it, it’ll snap their picture no matter the time of day...

    But yes, I hear you. Only harvest something if you are hunting. I use my game cameras as much to see how active the various trails are as well as if there are some nice bucks to see if I should consider passing over someone because his much larger and older brother is also prowling the trails and I should wait for him.

    I mostly care about eating venison, so happy to drop a couple good does a season. Or more if friends are hungry for venison and can’t get out hunting. Also like to bag a buck. Preferably a big one, but generally so long as it’s at least a good size 5+ point I figure game on.

    But as mentioned, depending on when in the season it is and how annoyed my wife is by my hunting I might not wait for the big one. This year I saw what I thought was a good sized 6-pt in early November and I’ve been super busy this year. Wasn’t sure I’d get out hunting much more bow. Harvested him. Turned out to be a really, really big 5 (antlers weren’t huge, but his body was. Probably close to 140lbs on the hoof. Got 59lbs if venison out of him in the end).

    Caught a really nice 8 on my game camera I had been looking for, but never had the chance. He did come through my clearing and my camera Christmas morning at about 8am. One of only 3 legal light pics I had of him from mid November till mid January. Though I STILL haven’t checked the pictures on the cam by the creek even though I pulled it down 4 weeks ago.

    Would have been an awesome Christmas present. Expensive though, you know, with the divorce that would result and all.

    Can’t find the daytime picture of him from Xmas day now. But here he was back again Christmas night.
     

    Attachments

    • 80740E1E-2ADB-4FFF-9D2A-62E0333BB19B.jpg
      80740E1E-2ADB-4FFF-9D2A-62E0333BB19B.jpg
      64.3 KB · Views: 365

    AlBeight

    Member
    MDS Supporter
    Mar 30, 2017
    4,380
    Hampstead
    THE CAMERA DOES NOT TELL THE WHOLE TRUTH!!!!! Only an amateur deer hunter will base his time spent in the woods on trail camera activity. I've witnessed some of the most mature bucks in the woods from 1100-1300 snooping around and the trail camera would of NEVER captured a picture!!! Stop cheating yourself with the privilege of hunting your grandfathers 500 acre farm that only gets hunted during rifle season and is restricted to only your access and start killing more reputable deer. And yeah start thinning the doe herd out the first week of November I guarantee your chances of seeing a buck trailing a doe that time of year is at an all time low!
    ??? What kind of game camera are you accustomed to that doesn’t take photos between 11am and 1pm? I’d maybe buy a new one?
     

    outrider58

    Eats Bacon Raw
    MDS Supporter
    Jul 29, 2014
    49,818
    ??? What kind of game camera are you accustomed to that doesn’t take photos between 11am and 1pm? I’d maybe buy a new one?

    :lol:

    I think his point is, some deer, especially mature bucks, don't always show up on trail cams. Most of the mature bucks I've killed were never seen on my trail cams, including an 8 yo buck I hunted for years on the same little 70 acre hay farm.
     

    Archeryrob

    Undecided on a great many things
    Mar 7, 2013
    3,064
    Washington Co. - Fairplay
    Or you pick up one of those wandering bucks on a trail camera and hunt that spot for two months and never see him again. Trail cameras are nice but only give you about 15 - 20%, at most, of the picture of what is going on at that spot. I've watched deer activity right off to the side of the camera field of view edge and it never triggered the PIR fields to take the pictures. Nothing else even comes close for being on site or a butt in a stand.

    You have to have sign to aim a trail camera at and does mostly use the same trails that make that sign. Bucks many times just walk in the same area, but not the same trails. A buck could be within 20 yards off a camera and an easy kill shot with a bow, but just not right where the camera is aimed. You would never know it without being there and the camera would not tell you that he was there.
     

    DeathBeforeDishonor

    Wildlife Consultant
    Jan 14, 2017
    50
    Camp Lejeune, NC
    Or you pick up one of those wandering bucks on a trail camera and hunt that spot for two months and never see him again. Trail cameras are nice but only give you about 15 - 20%, at most, of the picture of what is going on at that spot. I've watched deer activity right off to the side of the camera field of view edge and it never triggered the PIR fields to take the pictures. Nothing else even comes close for being on site or a butt in a stand.

    You have to have sign to aim a trail camera at and does mostly use the same trails that make that sign. Bucks many times just walk in the same area, but not the same trails. A buck could be within 20 yards off a camera and an easy kill shot with a bow, but just not right where the camera is aimed. You would never know it without being there and the camera would not tell you that he was there.

    My exact point
     

    outrider58

    Eats Bacon Raw
    MDS Supporter
    Jul 29, 2014
    49,818
    Other than people hunting a hole in a fence or over a feeder for meat, I'm not sure there are many deer hunters preferring to sit on the couch rather than in a tree.

    Rather than hanging a cam looking down a trail(a futile endeavor if there ever was one), I would hang a cam just inside the woods at a trail head facing outward. Once deer come in off a field at one of these points, they tend to filter off onto different trails, in different directions.

    That will give you a pretty good idea of what's out there. Trying to use cams to "pinpoint" a given deer is risky at best.

    Why do we not see so many mature bucks on TCs? It's because they don't usually walk doe trails unless they smell a 'promising' doe on that trail. Mostly they prefer to cut across trails, as many as they can, until they find a trail with the right smell.

    I pretty much stop using cams once I start hunting late October. By the, I already know the areas I want to set on.
     

    Doco Overboard

    Ultimate Member
    Mostly they prefer to cut across trails, as many as they can, until they find a trail with the right smell. (dont forget to add using thick cover in between the trails that are downwind or quartering into it) More people ruin good deer hunting spots changing batteries and looking at cards for deer that are there only during the night.
     

    outrider58

    Eats Bacon Raw
    MDS Supporter
    Jul 29, 2014
    49,818
    Mostly they prefer to cut across trails, as many as they can, until they find a trail with the right smell. (dont forget to add using thick cover in between the trails that are downwind or quartering into it) More people ruin good deer hunting spots changing batteries and looking at cards for deer that are there only during the night.

    That's part 2. Once the sun comes up and thd does are in their beds, the bucks begin their bed stalking. As DoCo hinted at, they'll do their 'cross trail' walking down wind of the beds. They get a positive hit, they'll go sneaking on in...

    In hill country, where deer like to bed just over the lee side of a ridge, you catch them side-hilling just below.
     

    Users who are viewing this thread

    Latest posts

    Forum statistics

    Threads
    274,933
    Messages
    7,259,533
    Members
    33,350
    Latest member
    Rotorboater

    Latest threads

    Top Bottom