How many wait for your target buck...

[R C]

To make a daylight appearance before you start hunting your setup? I hunt a small property and could see myself waiting all season without the target buck ever showing up during daylight (I know, that’s why they call it hunting). On one hand, I like to hunt and don’t want to wait all season to do it. On the other hand my goal is to kill my target buck and waiting until the buck shows that he is ready to be killed (by showing up during daylight) actually provides the best chance for doing that. How many of you use this tactic and have actually killed the buck you were after? If you have accomplished this how many acres were you hunting on? I could see this working if you were hunting several hundred or thousands of acres and could set aside an area but on a small property it would be much more difficult. I’m thinking about running two feeders this upcoming season and not hunting one of the feeders until a shooter or target buck shows up during daylight.

[drogers6771]

That was my planned tactic this year after hunting one of our properties for 2 prior seasons without success. Luckily, this season, my target buck (avatar pic) started showing up every morning the week before rifle season started and I harvested him at 8am opening day. This property is 54 acres and is the one in my write up in this section. This will be my first season to bow hunt in about 6 years, so the property has only been rifle hunted from 1 box stand. We have larger bucks that travel the property, but seldomly venture in our open hunting plot. This was the best buck that was willing to make an appearance during the off season so he was my target. Since I will be bow hunting in seasons to come I will be able to take a more tactical approach to this season, but the exact method you described above is what I was planning on this past yr....it just so happened to be right at the start of season. I only had night time pics of him for the last 2 years.

[EastTexasMan]

Originally Posted by R C

To make a daylight appearance before you start hunting your setup? I hunt a small property and could see myself waiting all season without the target buck ever showing up during daylight (I know, that’s why they call it hunting). On one hand, I like to hunt and don’t want to wait all season to do it. On the other hand my goal is to kill my target buck and waiting until the buck shows that he is ready to be killed (by showing up during daylight) actually provides the best chance for doing that. How many of you use this tactic and have actually killed the buck you were after? If you have accomplished this how many acres were you hunting on? I could see this working if you were hunting several hundred or thousands of acres and could set aside an area but on a small property it would be much more difficult. I’m thinking about running two feeders this upcoming season and not hunting one of the feeders until a shooter or target buck shows up during daylight.

My motto is why not be in the stand when he makes his first appearance?

I like to hunt, so I go hunt. Some people I know will hunt more once a good buck shows up on camera, but my theory is if you were already hunting then you would of killed him when he showed up. At our place, you usually get one shot. If you wait to see him appear, then you already missed your chance.

[solocam_aggie]

Originally Posted by EastTexasMan

My motto is why not be in the stand when he makes his first appearance?

I like to hunt, so I go hunt. Some people I know will hunt more once a good buck shows up on camera, but my theory is if you were already hunting then you would of killed him when he showed up. At our place, you usually get one shot. If you wait to see him appear, then you already missed your chance.

Bingo

[breederbuck33]

If I get set on one deer then I'm toast. I will become obsessed and either eat tag soup or shoot that deer.

[doright]

Hunt when you can. I have a lot of deer that cross between my stand and the feeder and never show themselves on camera. Some bucks wont go near a feeder.

[Mr. Whiskers]

Half the time my target buck turns into one cruising through and never seen before.

[bowaddict40]

My only problem with your tactic is, he may be there more than you know. He may just not be going in front of your camera. I have seen many deer walk up to my set right out of sight from my camera and walk off. Never getting a picture of them. Deer of all ages do this. So I would go after him and try to put him down.

[Mike Fangman]

Originally Posted by EastTexasMan

My motto is why not be in the stand when he makes his first appearance?

I like to hunt, so I go hunt. Some people I know will hunt more once a good buck shows up on camera, but my theory is if you were already hunting then you would of killed him when he showed up. At our place, you usually get one shot. If you wait to see him appear, then you already missed your chance.

Totally agree ^^

[fishinguy]

Your camera could also be missing him as well. Unless you can cover your entire area with cameras, he could be passing through at any time.

[Mexico]

Why do you think God invented spotlights? To hunt that joker at night!!

If he's in the area I'm hunting him. Hunted my last deer 15 days straight with 1 set of daylight pictures in a month. I knew he'd mess up eventually I just needed to grind it out until it happened!

[drogers6771]

Now bear in mind this was one of 4 properties that I was hunting, and a property that had historically not produced as well as the other 3

[Slick8]

Originally Posted by Chasing_bone

My only problem with your tactic is, he may be there more than you know. He may just not be going in front of your camera. I have seen many deer walk up to my set right out of sight from my camera and walk off. Never getting a picture of them. Deer of all ages do this. So I would go after him and try to put him down.

Originally Posted by Mexico

Why do you think God invented spotlights? To hunt that joker at night!!

If he's in the area I'm hunting him. Hunted my last deer 15 days straight with 1 set of daylight pictures in a month. I knew he'd mess up eventually I just needed to grind it out until it happened!

Bingo, this is where I'm at if I'm settled on a target buck.

Sent from my SAMSUNG-SM-N920A using Tapatalk

[2B4Him]

First off, I'm not really a 'trophy' hunter, although I am fairly strict on my 'game management'.
When my summer pics show the most mature bruiser that frequents my setup, he is my 'target'. However, I am also after a 'cull/management' buck and a couple of doe. I also love the opportunity to shoot pigs.
So, I'd never wait until the 'target' starts showing up at a particular time. If he never shows up during my hunts, I don't shoot him. But, I don't want an empty freezer.

[drop dead fred]

I’m kind of on the fence in both spectrums. 1) my target bucks usually don’t show till late October on most places I hunt. Therefor early seeason when it’s hot i generally don’t see much that I’m after. 2) I’ve had more success staying out of the woods and keeping pressure low and my scent down until i get a target buck. 3) this is where i kind of switch though once it gets late October and cools off i will be in the stand every chance i get no matter if i have a deer I’m looking for or not. So I’m kind of both as much as i want to be in the stand I’ve learned it’s just as important about the “holding out” than “grinding” sometimes. Timing is everything and when it gets close to the right time I’ll be glued to my stand whether up to that date i have something on cam or not. My places are all around 200-300 acres, and I’ve had a pretty high success rate.

[Garbuster]

Originally Posted by doright

Hunt when you can. I have a lot of deer that cross between my stand and the feeder and never show themselves on camera. Some bucks wont go near a feeder.

There was an 11 point and a 10 point taking off my lease this year from the same stand that overlooks a feeder with a cell camera over it. Never got a pic of either of those bucks

[diamond10x]

My philosophy is there is no substitute for time in the field. A lot of buddies and people I talk to are always saying I always have a good season and get “lucky” but not one of them spends as much time in the field. I have killed 1 whitetail in my life that I feel is worth showing off, but there’s been a long list of cull/management deer I’ve spent months chasing that the reward at the end made them sort of a trophy. I can definitely tell a correlation between success and time hunting. You never know what you’re gonna encounter and all a camera does is let you know you should have been there. From October to January I’m hunting at minimum every weekend and it pays off. Granted I have a hunting addiction that is ridiculous to some because during season it comes before anything and everything.

[gingib]

Originally Posted by EastTexasMan

My motto is why not be in the stand when he makes his first appearance?

I like to hunt, so I go hunt. Some people I know will hunt more once a good buck shows up on camera, but my theory is if you were already hunting then you would of killed him when he showed up. At our place, you usually get one shot. If you wait to see him appear, then you already missed your chance.

x2!

I nailed mine this year and won a deer contest

[meltingfeather]

Have you considered waiting until the does accept you so that you can befriend the buck and he will let you kill him?
What's this "ready to be killed" business?
I like to hunt so I hunt... there are too many variables to follow some rule.
If you wait for him to show up once you've already thrown one opportunity out the window. How many are you counting on?

[Low Fence]

If mine make one.... that was probably my only chance. Besides that I’ve seen 2 bigger and never seen before this year alone.

If conditions are right I’m hunting, reguardless of what a camera that captures a small portion in time says

[BolilloLoco]

As long as the wind is right I hunt.
But wind gotta be right for the walk in and while on stand.
Dont wanna blow it out.

[toledo]

The two biggest deer we've killed had never been seen on camera. Both after does. When the rut hits, you need to be hunting, regardless of what the cameras show.

We've also had bucks make a regular appearance on camera for a month and never be able to put it together.

On the subject of cameras, the more the better. I like to have two covering the feeder, and two set up nearby either facing away from the feeder or on trails leading to it. Crazy how you can have four cameras in a 20 yard area and only get pics of an animal on one of them. And that may be the only time he ever shows. I'd bet any hunter running a single camera pointing at his feeder has mature bucks around that he doesn't know exist.

[Drycreek3189]

I don't usually have a "target buck". There are bucks that I wish would show, but I make the "shoot-don't shoot" decision in the moment, and I'm content with that. Hunting is supposed to be enjoyable, and I wouldn't enjoy complicating it. My two cents.

[Bayouboy]

Many times.... Waiting = Tag Soup

[SV72]

Killed my avatar buck last year and never had a picture of him. Those cameras don’t pick up all the deer in the vicinity.

[Dusty Britches]

Originally Posted by EastTexasMan

My motto is why not be in the stand when he makes his first appearance?

I like to hunt, so I go hunt. Some people I know will hunt more once a good buck shows up on camera, but my theory is if you were already hunting then you would of killed him when he showed up. At our place, you usually get one shot. If you wait to see him appear, then you already missed your chance.

Originally Posted by Chasing_bone

My only problem with your tactic is, he may be there more than you know. He may just not be going in front of your camera. I have seen many deer walk up to my set right out of sight from my camera and walk off. Never getting a picture of them. Deer of all ages do this. So I would go after him and try to put him down.

Ding ding ding! This ^^^

[Beargrasstx]

https://youtu.be/J8R3yf1w7LM Part 1
6 minute video showing how to upload game photos, create folders, and trend those pictures in that folder by a selecting a date range. This will show you frequency at the camera location based on wind direction, time of day, and moon phase. This is a useful tool if you hunt a small property or small properties and trying to decide where you should hunt or what stand to hunt

[jshouse]

my best spot is like freds, except for a few occasions over 7 years the shooters dont show up and arent regulars until halloween or even, so i dont hunt out there till they show up. saves me a lot of vacation time for when the shooters are there in late november and december, aslo saves my wife from having to run two boys all over town to practices...happy wife...

if i was rifle hunting i would probably hunt more (and sit longer) and look for those "cruising" bucks that miss cameras but i basically have 2 shooting lanes out to about 30y each, if the deer isnt on my camera than i dont have a shot anyway.

[sbushee]

Not me. I see a good mature book I try and get it. Matters not if it’s target

[lovemylegacy]

Originally Posted by R C

To make a daylight appearance before you start hunting your setup? I hunt a small property and could see myself waiting all season without the target buck ever showing up during daylight (I know, that’s why they call it hunting). On one hand, I like to hunt and don’t want to wait all season to do it. On the other hand my goal is to kill my target buck and waiting until the buck shows that he is ready to be killed (by showing up during daylight) actually provides the best chance for doing that. How many of you use this tactic and have actually killed the buck you were after? If you have accomplished this how many acres were you hunting on? I could see this working if you were hunting several hundred or thousands of acres and could set aside an area but on a small property it would be much more difficult. I’m thinking about running two feeders this upcoming season and not hunting one of the feeders until a shooter or target buck shows up during daylight.

I have been waiting for quite awhile.

[chase15]

I have killed my target buck twice on the first daylight appearance. Just because his pics arent directly under your feeder doesnt mean hes not skirting it and checking it from different directions during daylight.