Gerald Almy

How to Hunt Giant Bucks that Don't Bother With Breeding

Online Editors — Mon, 08 Aug 2011 11:15:55 -0400

by Gerald Almy

We all know what happens during the whitetail rut, right? Bucks become less cautious. They spend more time on their feet. They stick their necks out to court does. 
But hold on. Not all bucks rut.

What’s more, research shows that these loner deer aren’t just youngsters elbowed (or “tined”) out of the action by bossier brutes. In fact, they include some of the oldest, biggest bucks on a given property.

Since nonrutting whitetails don’t expose themselves nearly as much as their breeding brethren, they can go totally unnoticed by other hunters. You, on the other hand, can do yourself a big favor by focusing some of your hunting efforts on these big, crafty, solitary guys.

Recluse Recon
A study at Mississippi State University by wildlife biologist Randy DeYoung, Ph.D., examining DNA from bucks and fawns, revealed conclusively that a portion of adult bucks do not breed. Want to know if there’s one on your hunting property? Pay close attention to the most recent buck sign. Rubs, for example, are largely abandoned by rutting bucks. So finding freshened ones is a good clue. Just as important, though, is where you find the sign. This time of year, most is located around the gentle, sparsely vegetated terrain of doe feeding and bedding areas—because that’s where the breeding bucks are. But if you find a hot rub or even a large, recent track in the more hidden, rugged terrain typical of a mature buck’s pre-rut core area, you may very well have found a nonbreeder in his prime.

If you hunt in fairly open landscapes, spend a little time glassing hidden feeding areas away from doe family groups. You might just be lucky enough to spot a heavy-bodied monster whose neck isn’t so swollen, whose hide isn’t roughed up from fighting, and whose rack makes your jaw drop.

Short of fresh sign or a sighting, though, you may simply have to assume there’s a nonbreeder around and be willing to focus on hunting hard-to-reach places for the reclusive monster. Think rugged and remote. Back off the doe bedding areas and seek out high craggy benches, for example, or thick cedar swamps. Leave the big food plot or cropfield behind and find an overgrown clear-cut or isolated thicket near hard or soft mast. Two years ago, I killed a large 8-pointer this way that no one had ever seen, even during the frenzy of the rut. He was 5 years old, didn’t have a mark on his cape, and wasn’t anywhere near a doe when I shot him.

Non-Rut Tactics
Once you’ve spotted a nonbreeder, found his fresh sign, or located a likely hideout, there are three good ways to fill your tag. First, sneak close to the suspected bedding area early in the morning and sit all day if you can. No, these bucks aren’t breeding, but elevated testosterone levels still make them move a bit more than normal. They might return to their bed late or arise from it midmorning or midday, for instance, to find a bite of greenbrier or stray acorns.

If you hunt hilly terrain and there’s more than one spot where a big nonbreeder might hole up, work two places each day. Sneak in to your first locale from above during the morning to take advantage of rising air currents. Then, in the afternoon—with its downhill thermals—hit your second spot from below. Don’t even put up a stand. Just hunker down against a blowdown and wait for your buck to move.

Another good option is to still-hunt rugged or thick terrain, moving slowly into or across the wind and pausing often to scan the cover ahead with binoculars. Be ready to shoot fast. Any buck you see in these areas is apt to be mature, so a quick look as you raise your gun will usually tell you if he’s a shooter.

Finally, a two- to four-man drive can be very effective and doesn’t disturb the other bucks in your hunting territory. If pushing these isolated thickets doesn’t produce, you can go back to doe habitat the next day and hunt for a breeder going about his business in traditional fashion.

One or two drivers should crosscut the wind toward one or two posters blocking any funnels or escape routes. Move slowly, and don’t shout or whoop. Done right, the pushers should have as good a chance at tagging out as the standers. Just make sure everyone knows their safe shooting lanes.

Don’t expect to push a whole lot of deer out of these areas. But when you do bust out a buck, be ready to shoot: There’s a good chance he’ll be worthy of your wall.

Kill The Buck That’s Between Does

Online Editors — Thu, 04 Aug 2011 16:11:08 -0400

by Gerald Almy

It happens every season. Just when the chasing phase reaches its height, everything comes to a halt as bucks hole up with newly willing mates. But you can still fill your tag. The key is to catch a buck between does. A dominant buck may breed with two to five does during the peak mating period. That means he’ll move from one doe to another up to four times. Here’s how to catch him:

#1 - Locate Doe Feeding Areas
Oak stands, fruit trees, cropfields, and food plots are the top spots. Look for tracks and feeding sign in the woods, and glass open areas to confirm does are using them.

#2 - Find Doe Bedding Areas
Focus on good cover nearest the food. Does love to bed on gentle knolls in semi-open cover with scattered brush, tall grass, and thickets. Follow trails to uncover clusters of beds 2 to 21⁄2 feet in diameter or smaller.

#3 - Pinpoint the Buck Routes
Once you’ve found several doe bedding areas, look for travel corridors between them. Small bucks will move directly from one area to the next. Mature bucks will take a more circuitous route, using a brushy creekbottom, overgrown fenceline, or heavy timber between cutover areas to move unseen. Look for large tracks and the occasional fresh rub to confirm that the route is active.

#4 - Hang Your Stand
Once you find a likely buck route, follow it. Look for a pinch point, such as the head of a wash, a rock outcropping, or a riverbank, where the deer is forced through a narrow opening. Hang your stand downwind with a clear shot to the trail. Another great spot is directly downwind of one of the doe bedding areas; this is where a good buck will stop to scent-check for a hot doe—and present a good shot.

#5 - Stake a Fake…and Wait
If the cover is fairly open, place a subordinate male decoy just off the route to draw a buck over for a fight or to make him pause for a shot. Calling with doe bleats or short grunts can also draw a buck that’s not traveling the exact route you’re watching. Finally, plan to stay on stand all day. If a buck finishes with a doe at 11 a.m., he won’t wait until evening to look for the next mate. And you won’t tag him unless you’re there.

Attract Bucks with Hinge Cuts

Online Editors — Tue, 02 Aug 2011 16:12:16 -0400

by Gerald Almy

You know the simple pleasure a lean-to can provide in bad weather. Well, a buck will seek shelter in just such a spot, too—and you can create one for him. Here’s how:

Build It
#1 - Find a spot where you can hinge-cut several low-value trees so that their tops fall and rest upon the branches of a live uncut tree. A fruit tree works well for the latter, as it supplies food. So does almost any thick conifer, which offers shelter into the late season. Greenbrier, honeysuckle, grapevines, bittersweet, or other climbing vines contribute additional cover and food.

#2 - A natural lean-to will hunt best if you locate it somewhere between a buck’s regular bedding cover and the nearest major feed area. You want the haven to become the buck’s personal favorite staging area—a place where he’ll loaf, feed, and even rest on his way to and from the main grub.

#3 - Once you pick a spot, cut the low-value trees 3 to 5 feet above the ground, slightly more than halfway through—just enough so the tops fall where deer can browse on them. The trees remain alive and can provide food and cover for several years.

Hunt It
Set your stand so the prevailing wind flows perpendicular to the buck’s line of travel, which will let you hunt mornings—when the buck may loaf at the lean-to on his way back to bed—or evenings, when he’s apt to stage there before feeding. If he shows after dark in the evening, move the stand closer to the bedding area. Or wait for some nasty late-season weather, then grab your gun and slip in downwind. You may find your buck bedded in his favorite storm shelter.

8 Last-Minute Projects for Better Deer Hunting

Online Editors — Tue, 02 Aug 2011 15:38:59 -0400

by Gerald Almy

You know how to get yourself prepared for the earliest deer season: Glass the fields from afar. Check the trail cams. Hang the stands. Take time off work. But if you manage your own land, the habitat needs some preparation, too. Here’s a list of quick, easy projects you can do before the opener and even as the season gets under way to help your ground attract and hold more bucks.

Project 1
Clear an access trail through thick cover to make it easy for deer to reach a cluster of apple trees, a small oak flat, or another food source. But here’s the trick: Make sure to swing the route just upwind of a good stand location.

Project 2
Use a leaf blower to clear newly planted plots in the woods; too many leaves can smother the seedlings. While you’re at it, overseed areas where a plot is too thin, preferably just before a rain shower. Rough the freshly seeded area up a bit with a rake for good soil contact.

Project 3
Reactivate mineral licks (where legal). Keeping them maintained and available year-round helps keep bucks on your property. Break up the ground with a shovel, then mix in 10 to 20 pounds of fresh minerals 6 to 12 inches deep.

Project 4
Add an extra shot of fertilizer to food plots to boost their production and appeal. Fertilize established wheat, oats, and brassicas with pure nitrogen. For clover and alfalfa, use 5-10-10 or similar fertilizer with just a bit of nitrogen. Add a few bags of lime, too, as it’s almost impossible to get the alkalinity too high.

Project 5
Hinge-cut some low-value trees to provide additional browse and cover along travel routes and staging areas. This simple chore can provide the extra sense of security an evening buck needs to step under your staging-area stand while there’s still good shooting light.

Project 6
Spray established clover and alfalfa plots with selective herbicides such as Poast or Arrest to reduce grass and weed competition several weeks before the season. Then, closer to the opener, mow them down to between 3 and 5 inches high to create fresh growth, which is higher in protein and more palatable to deer. Stagger the cuts in different fields or strips so they offer varied stages of regrowth.

Project 7
Disc or till strips in fallow fields or old pastures. You’ll kill or reduce fescue and other unwanted grasses, and before long beneficial forbs and wildflowers will sprout to attract hungry deer.

Project 8
Create a water hole or small pond. Dig a hole in the ground to fit a farm stock tank or kid’s swimming pool. Then backfill and wait for it to fill up with rain. Or simply pile some rocks and logs to dam up a stream that would normally go dry. (Just be certain that it’s legal to do so.) If it’s the only or best water source around, it will start drawing bucks in a  matter of days.

Favorite Deer Foods: Bone Up on Acorn I.D.

Online Editors — Tue, 02 Aug 2011 15:19:39 -0400

by Gerald Almy

You know about oaks. Deer love white oak acorns, which drop in early fall, best. Red and black oak acorns are larger and have more consistent crops from year to year. But these are just the basics. In fact, deer relish acorns from dozens of oak species. Here are six others you should know about:

#1 - Bear Oak
2- to 5-inch leaves; 3⁄8- to 5⁄8-inch acorns
Also called scrub oaks, these trees grow just 20 feet tall, sprouting after fires or heavy timbering, often on dry sandy soils and rocky ridges. The small nuts were long thought to be so bitter only bears would eat them. Don’t believe it. Deer do too.
Acorn Drop: Sept. through Dec.

#2 - Nuttall Oak
4- to 7-inch leaves; 1-inch acorns
The Nuttall has a big striped acorn and produces nuts at a very young age—sometimes in its sixth year. It grows best in moist soils with lots of sunlight and can reach 100 feet tall. Expect a good crop every two to three years.
Acorn Drop: Sept. through Dec.

#3 - Chinkapin Oak
4- to 7-inch leaves; 1⁄2- to 1-inch acorns
These oaks yield an abundance of smallish acorns that deer relish. Find them along dry bluffs and limestone uplands. They can’t tolerate acidic soils but are drought-hardy.
Acorn Drop: Sept. and Oct.

#4 - Pin Oak
3- to 6-inch leaves; 1⁄2-inch nuts
I planted several of these oaks around my house, and a wide, 3-year-old 8-pointer is glad I did. He feeds on the small nuts before the nearby white and red oaks start to drop. Pin oaks do well in wet, heavy soil and bottomland habitat, yielding a heavy crop every two to three years.
Acorn Drop: Aug. into Oct.

#5 - Burr Oak
6- to 12-inch leaves; 11⁄2-inch acorns
Producing mast every two to three years starting at 35 years, this oak can reach 100 feet tall. It drops the largest acorns of all. Burr oaks are commonly found with red maple, black ash, and sycamore.
Acorn Drop: Sept. and Oct.

#6 - Chestnut Oak
4- to 7-inch leaves; 1- to 11⁄4-inch acorns
Life is short—unless you’re a chestnut oak, which can live 400 years. Thriving in well-drained lowlands, these trees yield a good crop of large acorns every two to three years. The bark is coarsely furrowed on older trees.
Acorn Drop: Sept. and Oct.

Follow this four-step plan to stay on top of the crop:

#1 - See what you have. Take a tree identification book and hit the woods. Find out what oaks you have and take notes on exactly where various kinds are located on your land. State foresters will often help for free.
#2 - Monitor the nut crops. Use binoculars to check out which oaks have the heaviest crops before they fall. Keep scouting to see which drop first.

#3 - Get downwind. Set up with the breeze in your favor in spots where you find fresh shell fragments and scuffed-up leaves.

#4 - Stay mobile. The first nuts to fall get eaten quickly. Keep monitoring various oak species and move to a new location when the deer clean up the crop where you’ve been hunting.

By learning which oaks you have and when they drop their acorns, you’ll stay a step ahead of the game—and other hunters.

10 Tips For Late-Season Deer Drives

Online Editors — Mon, 01 Aug 2011 10:01:20 -0400

by Gerald Almy

#1 - Don’t Add Noise
Banging pots or barking like a dog usually hurts your chances because it gives away your position. It’s better to have a big buck guessing where you are. And when he does move, you want him walking past the posters—not hightailing it because he’s scared out of his wits.

#2 - Pause Occasionally
Halt your progress when you come to a promising thicket. A skulking buck will think you’ve seen him, get nervous, and start moving.

#3 - Use the Wind
Everyone knows to post blockers downwind and drivers upwind. But you can use a breeze to your advantage before you even start the push. Have drivers get in position and hang out upwind for a while. Their scent may be all it takes to nudge deer past the posters.

#4 - Find Funnels
Funnels are fundamental to stand hunting, but deer also follow them when fleeing drivers. Strips of timber, gullies, saddles, drainage ditches, and brushy fencerows are great spots to post.

#5 - Make Sanctuaries
Put a few choice areas of security cover off-limits from day one. Bucks pressured elsewhere will move into them—and be there when you’re finally ready to push.

#6 - Drive in Reverse
When you’re hunting a draw or a finger of woods that juts out from the main cover, try driving into the wind. That is, slowly still-hunt toward the narrow end of the draw or finger as another hunter or two post downwind, just inside the main cover, to catch bucks slipping out the back door.

#7 - Find Natural Blockers
Take advantage of any natural features that block bucks from fleeing in a given direction, thus helping steer them toward your posters. A deep river, rock face, or ravine are good examples.

#8 - Post Blockers Early
Sensing distant noise or movement, heavily hunted deer sometimes realize something is up and sneak out before the drive even begins. Avoid this by positioning posters extra early—before drivers even start to line up for the push.

#9 - Watch the Weather
When it’s snowing sideways, raining buckets, brutally cold, or unusually hot, bucks tend to hole up in thickets, making drives especially productive.

#10 - Yell
Finally, if a driven buck comes tearing past you too fast for a good shot, try yelling, “Hey buck!” You’ve got nothing to lose. He’s either going to run out of your life forever, or, if you’re lucky, he may pause to look or at least slow down, offering a better shot.

Use a Shovel To Set Up a Late-Season Deer Ambush

Online Editors — Mon, 01 Aug 2011 09:53:45 -0400

by Gerald Almy

Clearing trails through deep snow on your hunting property can help deer reach vital, dwindling food sources—and it can put a late-season buck in your lap. Once you shovel out your vehicle, hit the woods and do this:

Connect the Spots
Start at a major late-season feeding area and clear a path toward a known or suspected bedding area. Try to get within 150 to 200 yards of where deer bed down. That’s close enough that they will quickly pick up the trail, yet far enough that you’re not apt to spook them.

Any number of implements will do the job. I’ve used an ATV or small tractor with a blade, a snowblower, a leafblower, a shovel—even my feet. Clear the trail as soon as possible after the snow or even during it if a blizzard is bearing down. It’s easier to clear a foot at a time while it’s falling than 3 feet when it’s done. You know deer are bedded then, so you won’t bump them.

Plan the Ambush
The key, of course, is to plan the route so it steers deer past a spot that’s advantageous to you. That may mean running it upwind of a permanent stand location. Or it may mean picking the perfect tree—one that has good cover and allows you to get in and out without spooking deer—and running the trail upwind of that. Sometimes I’ll start by clearing a major route and add a smaller one slightly off to the side through heavier cover that a mature buck would prefer. Then I hang my stand there.

With dense whitetail populations in many parts of the country, winterkills can be severe after deep snows. If I can help 20 or 30 deer reach a vital food source in difficult conditions and possibly harvest one mature buck out of those, I don’t feel bad about it. You shouldn’t either.

Seek Small Does to Find Big Second-Rut Bucks

Online Editors — Fri, 29 Jul 2011 14:38:14 -0400

by Gerald Almy

The primary rut may be over, but big bucks are still looking for mates. Yearling and fawn does aren’t typically ready to breed until three or four weeks after the main rut. Those young females are the ticket to your late-season success. Here’s how to capitalize.

Find the Fawns
Young females appear long-legged with thin, slight, square-shaped bodies. A fawn’s nose is short, and its ears appear almost too big. Compared with male fawns, females have narrowly tapered faces and lack pedicles in front of their ears. You can identify them at a food source—they’re smaller than other females. Also, as the secondary rut approaches, they’ll begin to pull away from the group. You’ll often find them feeding alone, 50 to 150 yards away from the others. They’ll also bed and travel slightly away from the main group. Speed-scout for their small tracks just off to one side of where the other does are living. They will be (a) downwind, since bucks will be approaching from that direction to scent-check the does, and/or (b) toward the nearest thick security cover where big bucks hole up.

Set Up on the Buck
Next, scout likely travel corridors connecting these areas to known buck lairs. Hang your stand where you find the odd super-fresh rub or large fresh tracks. In open country, glass for small, isolated does. When you find one, use binoculars to search nearby thickets for her mate. Then make a looping crosswind stalk. With the buck’s attention locked on the doe, you can move in for a shot.

Some Giant Bucks Don't Bother With Breeding

Online Editors — Tue, 05 Oct 2010 11:40:16 -0400

We all know what happens during the whitetail rut, right? Bucks become less cautious. They spend more time on their feet. They stick their necks out to court does.
But hold on. Not all bucks rut.

Recluse Recon

A study at Mississippi State University by wildlife biologist Randy DeYoung, Ph.D., examining DNA from bucks and fawns, revealed conclusively that a portion of adult bucks do not breed. Want to know if there’s one on your hunting property? Pay close attention to the most recent buck sign. Rubs, for example, are largely abandoned by rutting bucks. So finding freshened ones is a good clue. Just as important, though, is where you find the sign. This time of year, most is located around the gentle, sparsely vegetated terrain of doe feeding and bedding areas—because that’s where the breeding bucks are. But if you find a hot rub or even a large, recent track in the more hidden, rugged terrain typical of a mature buck’s pre-rut core area, you may very well have found a nonbreeder in his prime.

Non-Rut Tactics

Once you’ve spotted a nonbreeder, found his fresh sign, or located a likely hideout, there are three good ways to fill your tag. First, sneak close to the suspected bedding area early in the morning and sit all day if you can. No, these bucks aren’t breeding, but elevated testosterone levels still make them move a bit more than normal. They might return to their bed late or arise from it midmorning or midday, for instance, to find a bite of greenbrier or stray acorns.

Don’t expect to push a whole lot of deer out of these areas. But when you do bust out a buck, be ready to shoot: There’s a good chance he’ll be worthy of your wall.

Find The First Hot Does to Tag a Trophy Now

Online Editors — Mon, 04 Oct 2010 15:26:50 -0400

You know the drill. Find doe family groups as the rut approaches, take a stand downwind, kill a big buck. If only it were that simple.

The fact is, you need to find the right does. Different groups of females, even in a small hunting area, cycle at slightly different times. (If they didn’t, the main estrous period would last about one and a half days instead of seven to 10.) Finding a doe group that’s cycling or just about to cycle can up your success dramatically.

Mature bucks monitor the status of females constantly as peak rut approaches. They’ll visit different doe groups, watching for visual signs and scent-checking for pheromones that tell them exactly which does are ready and which aren’t. Once the first group comes into full heat, however, this visiting comes to a screeching halt. If you’re sitting near does that won’t cycle for another three days, you could have a long, cold wait. And you could be missing hot action with another group just a quarter mile away.

Get on Schedule
How do you find the hottest does on your property? One way is to pay close attention to rutting activity on different parts of your ground over several years. If you take careful notes in a journal or on a calendar, you can eventually create a rut hunting schedule. Having done exactly that, I have found, for example, that a group of does in a cool, higher part of my property always breeds early, so I set up there for my first rut hunts. Once they finish, a group that holds near a prime feed area in the lowlands comes next, followed by two groups scattered in the middle of the property. Each year, the scenario plays out over a full week or more, allowing me to stretch my rut hunts out and be in the right place at the right time.

Read the Signs
If monitoring actual estrous schedules isn’t practical, simply paying attention to climate, habitat, and doe behavior can help tip you off to which females are cycling. If one part of your property is cooler than another—say, because of higher elevation as in my example—does living there will tend to cycle first, making this the first place you should check for early rutting action. Otherwise, ask yourself where the best habitat is located. Find the spot where choice foods are surrounded by premium cover in the form of low brush, tall grasses, scattered trees and saplings, and edible shrubs like honeysuckle, blackberry, olive, and raspberry. The oldest doe around typically claims this spot and comes into heat early, before younger does. On the flip side, expect groups living in lesser habitat to breed later in the season.

In any case, you can tell when does are approaching estrus by their behavior. They’ll be on their feet more, pacing. They won’t typically leave their home turf, but they’re restless and want to waft out their I’m-almost-ready pheromone scent to nearby bucks. They act antsy and look back over their shoulders a lot. Their tails may stick straight out or be crooked to one side.

If the does you see look relaxed and mostly interested in food, with no nervousness or edgy demeanor, search for another group. If they kick at bucks that approach to sniff them, move on—but make a mental note to check back on them in a few days. Females that run playfully from approaching bucks but aren’t really trying to get away are what you want. That’s where the biggest bucks in the area are going to be for the next few days. It’s a short window of opportunity, but if you time it right and camp out downwind of the does’ primary bedding or feeding area, you can have some incredible action. Stay there until the activity wanes or you put a tag on one of the suitors.