How to kill a big one......

[Little Wattsy]

As I ask this I know that there are SEVERAL differant deffinitions of a trophy deer so Ill be plain. A 130 inich Boon and Crocket will be the minimum bench mark.
The question is for those of you who have done this or shoulda....Do you hunt by ground (ground blind), buy air (tree stand) or by still hunting / stalking?
I have my guess but would like as much detail as yer willing to give.

 

[playfarmers]

I have taken 2 huge whitetails and many others with the muzzleloader, and they each fell the same way. My hunting partner and I spread out and slowly walk a bush, and have a third hunter sitting well away from us on an escape route. The huge old bucks where consentrating on the other hunter, and didn't even know I was there. I have shot a lot of deer from a ground blind, but none as big.

 

[jethro224]

My biggest was killed while I was sitting on the ground on a hillside. Not in a blind, but on the ground.

Another one I shot would score 125-130 (never had him measured). I had just killed a doe from a ground blind. Went to check her out and, as I walked back to my blind to get my stuff, he came around a point. I saw him, thought "good buck" as my gun automatically went to my shoulder, and squeezed. He ran over and fell down right by the doe.

Back when I was a new hunter with a new scope on a new shotgun, a really big buck was comin' my way. I saw him drop into a ditch that led past my logpile. The only way he could go was right thru my shooting lane! I put the gun up on a log and waited... and waited... and waited... There he was! Broadside in my lane! Stopped and looked at me!
I lowered my eyeball to the scope.... and couldn't see him! What the...???
By the time I figgered out that I'd been breathin' all over the scope and fogged it up, he was wavin' bye-bye.
He was HUGE!

The best way to kill a big one, no matter how you hunt, is to let the little ones grow up. :thumbsup:

 

[rabjr]

The best way to kill a big one, no matter how you hunt, is to let the little ones grow up.

Yep what Jethro said.

I'm forced to do it from a ground blind so I read the land real well. Know the food source, know where the Does are going to go and leave them unmolested until you get your buck, they are your best weapon. :thumbsup:

 

[Roy]

ya follow Jetho and Swampy around.... :grin: :thumbsup:

 

[Mad Professor]

Biggest deer I've taken I was stalking up on his trail. Something spooked him and he came running on his back trail right into me. I never had the rack scored but I think it would do well, antlers are 50mm at the base and hold their diameter well out to nearly the last point.

I've chased bigger deer the same way and only got glimpses of them after stalking them all day. I learned a lot chasing these deer even though I never got a shot. Some led me through herds of does, doubled back down stream beds, circled back into his/my tracks......lots more fun than sitting on a stand all day. :thumbsup:

 

[BrownBear]

Are you talking about Columbia blacktails? In my experience with both them and Sitka blacktails, and mule deer for that matter, is that their range and habits are usually way too open for blinds to be reliable. I'd only consider a blind if there was some aspect of their routines which was predictable.

I've taken my share of big ones that meet your criteria, but it was always either spot-and-stalk or knowing their home range well enough to hunt them up out of their daily beds.

 

[Little Wattsy]

Are you talking about Columbia blacktails? In my experience with both them and Sitka blacktails, and mule deer for that matter, is that their range and habits are usually way too open for blinds to be reliable. I'd only consider a blind if there was some aspect of their routines which was predictable.

I've taken my share of big ones that meet your criteria, but it was always either spot-and-stalk or knowing their home range well enough to hunt them up out of their daily beds.

My bad for not clarifying. You are RIGHT RE: Blacktails (gotta garage full of horns) But I off to a new, for me, ML hunt for whitetails this comming November. Expecting some snow and peakish rut.

 

[tg]

"I have my guess but would like as much detail as yer willing to give."

Shoot 'em with a PRB they like that better, makes 'em feel special... I have had the best luck in the rut, by slow still hunting and taking spells to watch well used trails, partnering up to cutoff backtrackers and sneaky nose to the ground brush crawlers is also good, finding permission on private property that has good deer habitat an little if any pressure is probably the best bet but hard to find, most of the largest bucks I have taken were from such private lands from 5 to 100 acres either in the bottomlands or along the costal foothills, this is all Blacktail,

 

[nealglen37]

Pay someone $10,000 in Texas to on their "Ranch".

 

[Little Wattsy]

Pay someone $10,000 in Texas to on their "Ranch".

Definately on my "to do" list! :hmm: :wink:

 

[David G]

I've deer hunted for 30 years(did'nt realize it had been that long until I just figured it up) :shocked2:and I have come to favor a good ground blind set up. My best buck to date has come from the ground. Scout the area throughly for travel routes and clear shooting lanes accordingly. I like hunting fairly thick cover so it's important to keep your scent to a minimum. I've been in the woods on a new deer lease off and on for the last 3 months setting up treestand and ground blind locations. Some areas may lend itself better to a treestand location. Be flexible and have as many locations set up as possible come opening day. :thumbsup:

 

[sidelock]

I have taken something like 200 deer in about 60 years. Lots with CF rifles, some with shotguns, many with ML. None from up a tree. Most from a ground stand, many from (so called still hunting). I aint about to drag a bunch of junk around with me so I can climb a tree. While guiding my 13 YO Grandson this past season for 3 days, he killed his # 2 and # 3, all from the ground. I don't think he will ever go to climbing for deer.