Saw a huge Buck

[Pmer]

Its 3 weeks before White tail season and I'm on the property getting my model 70 zeroed in. I had a nice group a little high at 100 yards and got on the ATV to take some targets to a ridge at 300 and 350 yards to check bullet drop.

After I drop off the targets I decide to take the ATV the into some high ground that is in a swamp and see how much water is in there because of all the rain we were getting. Now I've been hunting there for years and never seen any monster bucks. I get deer but no big bucks.

I'm standing on the ATV going slow in the grass and drove by him by about 15 feet and did not see him. I went about another 25 yards and turned around in the water and started heading out the way I came in. That was when he jumped up and ran out of my life. I had a few seconds and couldn't count all the points on his tall rack.

Is there any chance he'll hang around or does anyone think that he moved out to the next herd of females. And he could see me from where I was target shooting too. It makes wonder how many times I've been near trophy animals and not known it.

 

[nfhjr62]

In all the years been hunting with family and going out too check what the area we will be hunting, we have hunted on Sg Land 127 here in Pa and when checking our rifles on the rifle range there will always see deer not far away would just stand there and look BUT as soon as the season starts away they would go at the FIRST shot and head for the hills and we would be right there waiting as after many years just knew what would happen.
So yes he will move out you just have to just figure out were the deer will go

 

[SS427]

I've watched mule deer during hunting season from across a canyon get jumped by hunters and circle right back to where they were before and bed down. It was the strangest thing I've ever seen while hunting. We put a stalk on them the next day and got a nice buck by placing a couple people on stands in the path of their previous escape route. Never hunted whitetails so no idea if they act the same way.

We killed a small mule deer buck while sitting in camp one year. There was a small irrigation ditch that ran just above camp and a herd of does kept using it for a water source. When we get to camp, we usually fire our guns to check zero and foul the barrels. We also have some young boys that fire 22s at targets and varmints each day. It is less than an inviting environment for deer. About four days into the season a nice forked horn had joined up with those does, and one of the teen age boys killed it from camp. It was pretty cool.

 

[TheSnake]

I think it depends on when the rut starts where you are at. If you are not in the rut, chances are that deer hangs out in that area and will be back. I don't think deer are scared out of the county that easily. Just as Otter states, we frequently shoot at my place, run the tractor or just walk the pastures and scare bucks off. Give it a day or two and they are back in the same areas at the same times as before. Now after the rut starts, all bets are off and they will wonder off looking for does and can be gone for days. If they go too far off, they could be taken by someone else and never return.

I have seen some pretty big bucks while squirrel hunting with a shotgun loaded with #4 shot or while not hunting. Makes me sometimes think they can tell when you are not a threat and they don't run, but just stand there and let you walk by.

When the season starts, I would be back in the area looking for that one. Best of luck and good hunting.

 

[DCRYDER]

He'll never be back there, may as well find another spot. Now where EXACTLY was this place??? lol

Just don't be in there walking around leaving your scent everywhere for a few days. He may have even came right back that night smelling around to try to figure out what you were.

 

[FryeGuy]

I don't think you bothered him. you were on an atv, very early in the fall, I think your odds are very good. he may be gone for a day or two, but he will come back. you found his secure spot. A few years back I was on a big buck, saw him 3 mornings in a row before getting a shot. hit him and never found him, but did jump him while tracking. the next two weeks the farmer decided to build a fence where he crossed. 2 days after he finished he came walking back by, I didn't mess up that time. I would leave that spot alone completely, keep everyone else out as well until season opens, then go get him.

 

[1000yardstare]

Was repairing some prone ramps on the back rifle range at my club on a September day a few years back. I became aware of a presence and looked up to see an 8 point buck standing 50 feet away from me watching me sawing plywood. Guess he wondered what kind of animal was making that funny buzzing sound. I just kept working wondering how long he would hang around. After 20 minutes or so he trotted off to the back of the range and went up and over the backstop.

There is heavy bush behind the skeet fields where he beds down. He stayed there all Fall despite the continuous skeet, trap, handgun and rifle fire. We see him now and then all year long. We discourage hunting on club property. Nice to see the animals around. So maybe he never felt threatened and stayed put in his territory.

I have walked the perimeter of the 65 acre property every year to check the No Trespass signs and seen his scrapes and rubs around the whole perimeter. Am going out again next week before the first shotgun week for deer and keep an eye out for his sign.

 

[FryeGuy]

had a similar thing happen to me last year. I was at a range sighting in for deer season on a wildlife refuge range. I had just fired a few rounds, was writing down some info in my notebook, looked up to shoot again and there is a doe standing on top of the berm above the target. I finally had to run her off. she wouldn't leave. i guess they get used to something and could care less. I just wish it had been two days later....

 

[North Fork]

White tails range is about a mile.

 

[Pmer]

Well I never did see that big deer. But my neighbor said it went by my stand on the last day. I filled out and was at home.... Well what can you do, it was still a good deer season.

 

[M14AMU]

White tails range is about a mile.

North Fork

That belief is OLD WIVES TALES my friend!!

Wildlife folks put a collar around a whitetail buck at Swan Lake Wildlife Refuge near Sumner, Missouri a few years back and 3 days later that buck was hit by a truck in the CITY LIMITS OF KANSAS CITY.....100 miles distant!!

Nature makes bucks...especially during the rut range over large distances! This prevents too much 'in-breeding' of any particular herd!!

 

[2506]

The reason that that buck was go big and you never seen him before or since is because he is not stupid. They go nocturnal when they get smart. The only time you are going to see him is when he messes up during the rut or when you do like you did with the ATV, almost run over him and spook him up. I have witnessed this in NC where they use dogs to deer hunt. I saw a pack of dogs come through and jump up some doe deer. The doe took off and the dogs after them. Then when they were good and gone this nice 8 point buck gets up out of the reeds in the exact spot that those doe were laying when the dogs jumped them. The dogs had to almost step on him but he stuck tight. He thought he was going to slip out the other way and get away from all the commotion. He thought wrong. He ran into a load of #4 buck shot from my Rem 1100 from about 40 yards and was down for the count.