BIG BUCK!!!

Posted: Mon Nov 29, 2010 7:53 pm Post subject: BIG BUCK!!!

hey yall, i am new to the whole deer hunting thing......i have never been.....needless to say i have never killed a deer.......i have got a small plot of land that i can hunt, and i have been putting corn out for about three months now.....i also have a wildlife camera up and get about 80 pictures a week from it......but most are from a button buck, a doe, and a racoon........every once in a while a lil 2 point comes around......anyways, my mom seen a 9 point across the way from my hunting plot but he will not come on in and eat.......how do i get him on in there to establish that food source????.....any help would be greatly appreciated.....
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Ol'Salt Joined: May 15, 2008 Posts: 144

Everyone has an oppinion; here is mine. Plant a food plot. It will be cheaper in the long run and more natural to the deer. Deer know corn doesn't fall out of the sky, but it is the low hanging fruit and the careless deer will feed on it. They can feed on a food plot year round and it will become part of their daily habbit. I'm sure plenty of people have killed big bucks FEEDING on a corn pile, but for the most part, to kill one on a corn pile he will either chase a hot doe to the corn or you will need night vision googles.
Secondly, what is his natural food source? Look for acorns early in the season. You don't have to hunt just over food, look for scrapes and rubs and hunt that area as well. Deer will pattern you if you are hunting out of the same stand often. You need to find trails and sign, hunt that area a couple of times and move.

Good Luck

Ol'Salt Joined: Oct 29, 2006 Posts: 426

He will be eating it when the acorns have had a bunch of frost burn and the browse is all gone. In other words, food is drying up right now and then the corn pile is alot more productive. I found the biggest baddest scrape and rubs I have seen in 40 years this past weekend. Trees as big as my waist shredded and scrapes full of piss 3x3 ft wide. This is one big buck, I need a game camera.
Good luck

Rick

Posted: Tue Nov 30, 2010 9:51 pm Post subject:

this is the 2 point
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Posted: Tue Nov 30, 2010 10:10 pm Post subject:

I killed my bullwinkles by feeding does. I scouted in the off season for the big ones, decided where I wanted to feed at, fed does most of the year to the point where I could name almost all of them, never really hunted the spot until he rut, the does come in heat, bullwinkle can't resist breaking his nocturnal habits, deer down. If you are the only one hunting the land it really helps. That guy in the picture could be a decent 6 point next year depending upon nutrition and genetics. It got to the point in my little spot that I routinely let 6,7,8's walk. I even let a small 9 walk once but you can do that and feel good about their survival when you're the only hunter. Also, Golden Estrus is about the only scent I used that consistently works. I liked using scent wicks with it. I spent alot of money and hours in the woods experimenting with scents and found Golden Estrus was consistent when bought fresh every season. My magic time started about a week before halloween. I hunted so much I thought my wife was going to leave me. I was really going to miss her :D .
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Posted: Tue Nov 30, 2010 11:01 pm Post subject:

well so far that is the biggest buck i've seen.......would this be a good 1st deer?
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Ol'Salt Joined: Oct 29, 2006 Posts: 426

If you are into managing for trophies, you want to take him out. A state wildlife biologist told our club that a Cow Horn (what I see in the pic) will always be a cow horn (genetic problem) and you should take them out as you don't want them breeding your does. Also pop those does, when you have a lot of does, a buck doesn't have to move alot, but when you thin them out, you will see more large bucks. To Matador's point....all rules are out the window during the rut, as the big ones slip up trying to get a little nookie during the day. Biggest Carolina deer I ever saw killed was a 14 pt by my buddy, shot at 1pm rubbing a cedar bush. The wind was blowing 35mph and he kept seeing the bush top shaking in a cut down from his climber and thought it was the wind until the deer stepped out from under it. I have the polaroid and will try to scan it and post it.
Rick

Posted: Wed Dec 01, 2010 8:13 am Post subject:

Rick, the cowhorn thing is a myth. Very few will remain cowhorns but there is some of a genetic connection. The gene for them to stay a cowhorn is linked to a double recessive trait if I recall correctly. Check behind me if you will. The thing about the cedar though is how I located one of the first bucks I ever killed.
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1st Mate Joined: Jan 31, 2005 Posts: 67

My thoughst:
1. Let them grow old. Genetics are overrated for the most part.
2. Be in the woods when they slip up. The big bucks are smart and nocturnal MOST of the time except when they have nookie on their mind, then they are stupid.
3. Improve the buck to doe ratio. Too many does compared to bucks is not good.
4. Let the cowhorns walk, he could be a trophy in a few years.
5. Don't be discouraged by not seeing a big buck on the camera, they can travel quite a distance and you may see him once and never again.

Posted: Wed Dec 01, 2010 9:56 am Post subject:

For a first deer...SHOOT IT! You can't eat the horns. As you mature as a deer hunter you can become a trophy hunter. KILL IT AND KILL IT NOW!! Fresh venison is uuummmmgooodd. BTW, it isn't called a two point, it is called a cowhorn as mentioned in other posts.
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1st Mate Joined: Jan 31, 2005 Posts: 67

Also if you want to kill a doe, I always try to kill one of the older does. They are the ones that are always looking up and checking out tree stands and will stand there and blow at you driving all the other deer off.

Posted: Wed Dec 01, 2010 3:37 pm Post subject:

well i cant tell the difference between a doe and a button buck? i am new to this like i said........no experience what so ever...... :oops: :oops: :oops:
i do have some pictures of what looks like a nice doe?.... :?
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Mate Joined: Sep 09, 2007 Posts: 20

A button buck will typically have a flat head. A doe's head is more rounded. That is the best way I have found to tell the difference.

Posted: Wed Dec 01, 2010 7:51 pm Post subject:

Good point! I will have to say when I was a teenager I was meat hunting late in the season and shot a button head by accident thinking it was a smallish doe.
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Matador
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Posted: Thu Dec 02, 2010 1:09 pm Post subject:

My comment on cow horns.

Posted: Thu Dec 02, 2010 1:15 pm Post subject:

was he a cowhorn???......if so how long did it take him to become that?
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Posted: Thu Dec 02, 2010 1:35 pm Post subject:

My second comment on cow horns.

Posted: Thu Dec 02, 2010 1:46 pm Post subject:

mack attack judging from his size maybe a year and a half not over two and a half. However our hunting property is surrounded hunt clubs who run dogs at least three days a weeks so trophy manganent is a moot point.But they are still fun to photo and see what shows up in the day light to get invited to dinner.

Posted: Thu Dec 02, 2010 2:20 pm Post subject:

anyway.....i have made up my mind......i am gonna let everything walk except the cowhorn....or if i get consistant pictures of a bigger buck.....i will let the cowhorn walk and take the bigger buck......sound good to yall?
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"Grassy banks and rusty cranks"
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Ol'Salt Joined: Jul 03, 2007 Posts: 360

If you think a cowhorn is all he'll ever be, do a google search for a buck named Goliath. He was found on the side of a road after his mother got hit by a car. Granted they raised him in a pen but he went from a spike to over 300" if I remember correctly.

Posted: Thu Dec 02, 2010 7:26 pm Post subject:

8O 8O 8O HOLY COWHORN BATMAN.......ha ha ha i dont know if i should kill it or not now.......i think i am gonna shoot what feels right to shoot!
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Ol'Salt Joined: Jul 10, 2006 Posts: 127 Location: Apex, NC

mack-attack

Your first deer is your first deer, if you want him take him. Or take a doe. It is all about the learning process. My first was a 2 1/2 yr old buck (probably a 6pt.) who lost his horns to a car or larger buck, broke off right at the skull. Under the circumstances I took him my wife said it was a suicide as he sure wasn't going to get a girlfriend without headgear. A doe would have been just as exciting. Someone here recently posted the 4 stages of fishing, I think it went like this...
1 Catch a fish
2 Catch a limit
3 Catch a big fish
4 Catch a fish on my terms

Deer hunting follows the same progression and we all progress at different rates. Go out and have fun, be safe, enjoy the process, and learn as you go. You will get to the big buck on my terms (management) stage soon enough. Without new hunters joining the ranks there soon will be too few of us to fight the anti's, just like with PEW and fishing.

Ol'Salt Joined: Oct 29, 2006 Posts: 426

To clear things up. There is a difference between a spike and a cow horn.

We've killed several 3 and 4 year old cow horns at our club, many have very long single prong on each side. That is what we call a cow horn. Was a cow horn at one year old and was a cown horn years later.

A spike is just a first year young buck and that will eventually grow points.

Ol'Salt Joined: Mar 07, 2006 Posts: 319 Location: dunn nc

goodyear

Ol'Salt Joined: Mar 07, 2006 Posts: 319 Location: dunn nc

they have to grow up

Ol'Salt Joined: Mar 07, 2006 Posts: 319 Location: dunn nc

we-ve gotten 2 tens and 2 eights 1 nine and a bunch of does had ten bucks n field at one time also got a dog hunting club right beside of us THESE R NOT SHOOTERS

Posted: Fri Dec 03, 2010 9:04 pm Post subject:

wait???.......so now i shouldn't shoot a 6 or 7 or 8 point buck????? you said that these in the pics aren't shooters?!? that dont make since????
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"Grassy banks and rusty cranks"
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Posted: Fri Dec 03, 2010 9:10 pm Post subject:

I've let 6, 7, 8 pointers walk many times. After I started letting deer walk I started killing bullwinkles. The only time I shot a smaller deer is when I could tell they were genetically compromised or I was meat hunting (shooting does).
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Matador
2200 NauticStar Tournament

You can lead a horse to water but you cant make him THINK.

Posted: Fri Dec 03, 2010 9:21 pm Post subject:

well what should i do?
i want meat...but i also want trophy......i am thinking to kill that cowhorn and mount him because he would be my 1st deer and about 75 pounds of meat......so it wouldn't be so bad would it?
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"Grassy banks and rusty cranks"
R.I.P Daddy

Ol'Salt Joined: Jan 19, 2006 Posts: 317

Okay here goes. This is not your dominant buck. Enjoy the experince and pop him,field dress him and then work the meat up. Then go back the next day and get his granddad. Cut his horns off and lay them next to your favorite seat. Spend what you would have spent on a mount and put in a food plott. Think of it this way. Your first fish was not a record maker was it. Enjoy the resource and mounts only collect dust. Good Luck
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