Pressured Deer Are EASY To Pattern

[GarGuy]

JF, Im hesitant to give advice on Midwestern deer. My limited experience with them in Northern Ok, Iowa, and Michigan is that they are really much easier to hunt and much more tolerant of human intrusion. Im sure there are specific deer that follow east tx rules though in heavily hunted areas.

As far as sanctuaries... they are where you find them. Most are really thick stuff with no visibility. Most hunters don't like that so they don't bother it. On the properties I own, I just let an area grow up, plant a food plot and honey suckle, clover, etc and then stay OUT. One trip into the stuff will impact it for weeks when I can walk or drive all around the edges with zero impact.

I spray down head to toe and never touch corn with my hand. If I pour out a bag, I spray it heavy. If I throw it with a can, I spray the can/bucket as I pour it in. I really believe this makes deer associate what scent I leave with food instead of hunting. After all the vanilla hype, it will be interesting to see if deer start to associate it with hunters.

[Joshua Flournoy]

Sounds like you've got tons of acreage with very little hunting pressure around. Seems like surrounding pressure has been a key to GG's buck sanctuaries from his descriptions. $.02

There is pressure from bowhunters on surrounding properties so far, but nothing compared to what it will be during those 6 days of gun season starting the Monday after Thanksgiving. Deer will be ducking for cover when the orange army hits the woods. Preferred method of hunting up here during gun season for the majority of people is walking and doing "drives".

[U.S.ArmyRetired]

JF, Im hesitant to give advice on Midwestern deer. My limited experience with them in Northern Ok, Iowa, and Michigan is that they are really much easier to hunt and much more tolerant of human intrusion. Im sure there are specific deer that follow east tx rules though in heavily hunted areas.

As far as sanctuaries... they are where you find them. Most are really thick stuff with no visibility. Most hunters don't like that so they don't bother it. On the properties I own, I just let an area grow up, plant a food plot and honey suckle, clover, etc and then stay OUT. One trip into the stuff will impact it for weeks when I can walk or drive all around the edges with zero impact.

I spray down head to toe and never touch corn with my hand. If I pour out a bag, I spray it heavy. If I throw it with a can, I spray the can/bucket as I pour it in. I really believe this makes deer associate what scent I leave with food instead of hunting. After all the vanilla hype, it will be interesting to see if deer start to associate it with hunters.

If deer have never been exposed or introduced to vanilla, wouldn't it spook them? I have tried this year on Ft Hood but no luck yet. But there is very heavy hunting pressure on Hood.

[hardtner]

Hes a ten. I am pretty sure he will net B/C. He would already be dead with a rifle. I hope to sneak an arrow in him though.

That will work

[GarGuy]

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If deer have never been exposed or introduced to vanilla, wouldn't it spook them? I have tried this year on Ft Hood but no luck yet. But there is very heavy hunting pressure on Hood.

I put in places deer have never seen it and it always helps. I never preach vanilla as a magic solution, just an aid when I do everything right. If you depend on vanilla to kill your deer, you are already behind the 8ball.

[CMLambin]

Best thread I've ever read on here. Great stuff!! I already feel like I'm a better hunter.

[Backwoods101]

Best thread I've ever read on here. Great stuff!! I already feel like I'm a better hunter.

X2

[EastTx]

I have a question on something that I have not seen you address or that I may I have missed. I believe the increase in vehicle traffic around one of these sanctuaries during season will cause a buck to leave. If it is near a highway, house, or county road I can see getting away with parking nearby while hunting. A bedding area that is located in the middle of a lease that only has traffic from September through January I believe is a different story. The buck I was after is on a property that has had no vehicles on it since last season. I wanted to keep it that way so I was walking in close to 1 mile each time I hunted. I even had 3 different routes going to the stand for different wind directions. I have tagged out and now my brother is wanting to hunt my blind but is wanting to drive in and park about 300 yds from the blind. He doesn't think it is that big of a deal. What is your opinion? Thanks

[redfish76]

I have tagged out and now my brother is wanting to hunt my blind but is wanting to drive in and park about 300 yds from the blind. He doesn't think it is that big of a deal. What is your opinion? Thanks

Sounds like my brother. Ha. Wants to kill a big buck but doesn't want to expend the effort. Since you are tagged out, I say let him try as an "experiment." It'll be a learning experience for you both.

[GarGuy]

I have a question on something that I have not seen you address or that I may I have missed. I believe the increase in vehicle traffic around one of these sanctuaries during season will cause a buck to leave. If it is near a highway, house, or county road I can see getting away with parking nearby while hunting. A bedding area that is located in the middle of a lease that only has traffic from September through January I believe is a different story. The buck I was after is on a property that has had no vehicles on it since last season. I wanted to keep it that way so I was walking in close to 1 mile each time I hunted. I even had 3 different routes going to the stand for different wind directions. I have tagged out and now my brother is wanting to hunt my blind but is wanting to drive in and park about 300 yds from the blind. He doesn't think it is that big of a deal. What is your opinion? Thanks

Its a HUGE deal. Deer close to a road are used to traffic and I use that as an advantage. Deer off the road quickly learn traffic means a hunter in the area. 4wheeler the same thing.

One spot I hunted for years was in the DCNF and about 200yds from a large open field that was heavily hunted. There was a camp house on the property maybe 1/4 mile from me and box stands. Many times, I would be in my stand with a mature buck on the corn when that guy would start his 4 wheeler. The deer would immediately spook from my corn and stay gone until he killed it. He rode to his stand every day. In the mornings, the same thing when he got off his stand and rode back to camp. as soon as he killed the 4wheeler, I would see the deer start trickling back to my corn and feed watching toward his camp.

[lovemylegacy]

Well let me tell you a story about that hunt. That old buck and four more shooters were in a tiny sanctuary. I had hundreds of pics of them and all in daylight. just like clockwork, if one of the other deer got in the corn, the old wide deer would be there all hours of the day. SLAM DUNK!

I had a ground blind so we could sneak in to 100yds without being seen. The only reason those bucks were out there was because there was zero hunting pressure so I had to do everything perfect. I waited until the wind was right and we got in perfectly. I was recovering from the flu and 30 minutes into the hunt, I felt the gagging cough coming. I choked it back as much as possible but it wouldn't go away. I pulled my coat over my head when it had to come out but I knew I had messed up. We sat all day and didn't see a deer.

That was two weeks ago and I went from having hundreds of pics a day of those buck to not a single pic since! I mean, those bucks have not even checked that corn pile once since that cough. That just goes to show you how sensitive mature bucks are in their core sanctuary. Those deer had never experienced a hunter there before and wouldn't tolerate one.

Well, where did they go? They should have another sanctuary close by...right? I love this thread...anybody that has killed as many big SETx deer as you, we might ought to listen.

[redfish76]

Thanks GG for sharing all this information. My hunting has changed a lot in the last few years as it has become much more centered around putting my 12 year old (and sometimes my 8 year old) on deer. We got on a new place last season. It works out best for us right now to hunt out of a box blind which overlooks feeders in two different directions. Does are easy, but to really connect with a big buck we are simply going to have to get lucky--probably during the rut.

This is the one I really want him to get. I posted this the other day, but he came to a feeder three times in the morning and evening last season--over a three day span. We weren't there.








All that said, your thread has gotten me excited about really "hunting" once more--something I haven't done in a few years. I think I'll do some offseason work and do some hunting on my own next season. There are some exceptional bucks on our place and the guy a 1/4 mile away has killed two NT B&C bucks (~200") in the last five years. I have a couple of questions if you don't mind.

The biggest part of this comes in finding them after deer season when they've been pressured the most. Go in and find their beds, with any luck you'll jump him and see him. Commit that spot to memory and you have 9 months to decide how to tweet it to where you can hunt it.

(1) So I assume you can enter the thickest parts of the sanctuary right after the season? Up until, say February? I assume you do any cutting, planting, etc. very early and then limit your access to just checking cams, feeding until you are ready to hunt? And then you don't go into the thickest parts until after the season?

I spray down head to toe and never touch corn with my hand. If I pour out a bag, I spray it heavy. If I throw it with a can, I spray the can/bucket as I pour it in. I really believe this makes deer associate what scent I leave with food instead of hunting. After all the vanilla hype, it will be interesting to see if deer start to associate it with hunters.

(2) I want to know more about this vanilla spray. I would assume it is vanilla extract added to water or scent spray in a spray bottle? When you say you spray down head to toe, are you saying you spray yourself with vanilla? If so, I assume you don't do this when hunting, just when feeding.

[GarGuy]

[QUOTE=redfish76;941



(2) I want to know more about this vanilla spray. I would assume it is vanilla extract added to water or scent spray in a spray bottle? When you say you spray down head to toe, are you saying you spray yourself with vanilla? If so, I assume you don't do this when hunting, just when feeding.[/QUOTE]

No Sir. I like real vanilla but cheap Great Value at Walmart works too. I mix it about 1 part V to 4 water on real and maybe 1 to 2 or 3 on imitation. I spray down when corning and hunting. Everything I own smells like a cupcake from sept to January. I spray my hat, boots, butt, hair, underarms, bushes I touch, and the ground around my corn. It will not spook deer and will actually attract them to some degree. They like vanilla corn better and after trying it , they will leave the other until the V is all gone!

[Johnny]

I have a question on something that I have not seen you address or that I may I have missed. I believe the increase in vehicle traffic around one of these sanctuaries during season will cause a buck to leave. If it is near a highway, house, or county road I can see getting away with parking nearby while hunting. A bedding area that is located in the middle of a lease that only has traffic from September through January I believe is a different story. The buck I was after is on a property that has had no vehicles on it since last season. I wanted to keep it that way so I was walking in close to 1 mile each time I hunted. I even had 3 different routes going to the stand for different wind directions. I have tagged out and now my brother is wanting to hunt my blind but is wanting to drive in and park about 300 yds from the blind. He doesn't think it is that big of a deal. What is your opinion? Thanks

I completely agree with this. I started hunting a piece of property about 6 years ago that had a big oil rig at the very end of the road than ran through it. EVERY afternoon a guy would ride through on his truck and check the rig. We also had 18 wheelers come in from time to time to load up.

The first year I put up stands way away from this gravel road because in my line of thinking no deer in there right mind would be anywhere near this road. Wrong. I put a stand up on a hillside and out one window I could see a pretty good stretch of the road about 600 yards away. One afternoon while hunting, the guy came in around 3:30 (like he always does) in his truck to check the rig. He spent about 10 minutes checking the rig and then drove back out. Not even 3 minutes later I see movement on the stretch of road he just drove over. Out walks a big solid 10 pt, probably around 150+. It was 600 yards away and I was able to glass him with my binos for about 20 seconds as he crossed the road and into some thick stuff. After him, deer just started piling out onto that stretch of road!

The very next day I tore down my pop up and found a great place to put it overlooking this stretch of road. I wasn't able to hunt it for another two weeks and when I did I brought my son Colton with me. The rig hand drove by at 3:30 and me and Colton waved to him on his way out. 5 minutes later here came the deer and lots of em! It was like a deer highway! They knew exactly when that rig hand came in to check things over and knew it was safe to come out when he left. Right before dark here comes that big ol 10 pt walking up the road. Colton was shaking something bad and I tried my darndest to settle him down. He got the cross hairs on em, squeezed one off and he ran off into the mesquites! I couldn't tell if he hit him or not but we looked for 2 hours in the dark and couldn't find hide nor hair of that rascal! Never did see that son of a gun again. That is the only deer Colton has missed to this day.

Anyways, yes, if the deer have a lot of noise around them, don't let that discourage you. They are very use to it and adjust. We killed a BUNCH of critters on that road bed and sure do miss it.

[Etxbuckman]

GaryGuy if you're scouting a new sanctuary or other general area (like in the DCNF) when do you do that so as it minimize the impact on the deer? I'm talking about the time of year and time of day. Jooger said it's good if you actually bust a buck ouf of his bed but obviously you don't want to do something like that in September...