December Bucks?

[Tipup101]

I never have good luck finding December bucks. I can find does all day and night but the bucks are tough. I've seen a few chasing still. I've been doing some calling but the ratio is so out of wack it does little good. I have two does already I might shoot a third but I would like to hold out for awhile yet. What do you guys look for. I know bedding areas close to food source is a good place to start but what else. There is to many nice bucks running around my area to call it quits and shoot doe number three just yet.

[Musky Buck]

Well Tipup if there are so many nice bucks running around your area what ratio are you talking about ? Sounds like your ratio is pretty good. What I look for is so many nice bucks running around my area. Ok, I'll square up with you. It's called nocturnal, pressured deer and even without pressure I believe south of a line where the huge forest areas begin, deer, mainly the what's left alive bucks really go into night mode. I have seen more in 2 days hunting, all does and fawns, just from 4-5:12 pm then I did rifle hunting mornings and evenings for 5 days. Best bet I think is to set up down wind as close to where you believe the buck(s) are bedding, if it's calm that can sometimes be tough to do. I get to my morning stand on a windy day 1/2 hour before shooting light and on a calm day an hour before shooting light, I'm figuring the first hour of light is the best bet in my farm country and the last hour. Most of the December bucks I've encountered have been extremely wary, usually seeing them deep in the swamp or river bottom, it only takes a deer a minute or 2 to cover a mile if they want to so if they have a dependable food source they aren't too worried about getting a jump on filling their tank in the corn field, now does and fawns seem to filter out there at least some nights in shooting light, the bucks seem to lag behind. Tipup unless you have a lot of year after year quality hunting land that is rarely disturbed getting a December buck is difficult because they seem to stay hunkered down during shooting light and about 100,000 of them are deceased already, many others shot at and missed, and their nose is hard to beat,( I don't know how many bucks are taken by bow,gun,cars,wolves,poachers,and now musket guns,etc.each year) they walk around most nights smelling their home range and they know if the area has been disturbed. I'd say put in your time A.M. and P.M. and there isn't a whole lot more you can do, best of luck ! Just my experiences, go with your gut, I have had the all-season license and have muzzleloaded each year ever since, not sure how many years that includes but last year was the first year I took a musket buck and I put in tons of time which was nearly as rewarding as finally getting a shot and completing it, only musket shot I have taken. But took maybe 8-10 years for it to happen, and I've seen only 5 bucks muzzleloading, 4 immatures and last years buck that I luckily got, 9 minutes after shooting light began. Patience Mr. Tipup

[Bear55]

This may not help this year but I have learned a lot about my area by getting on a good sized set of tracks and see where they take you. This is of course the hard part because there are not too many of those large tracks around but if you can find one it could really help out down the road. Either follow them or backtrack him to see where he came from. You might ruin your chance for him this year but you can learn some priceless information for next years late season hunt. And who knows you might just get a crack at him this year if you are lucky.

[delzz7]

I agree with musky. If the bucks have been pressured, we need very cold weather to get them to move during the day. The forecast is predicting a high of 15 last weekend of muzzleloader. Hopefully that will be cold enough to get them on their feet moving.

[sticknstring]

I rarely see antlers in December either. Last year I called in a spike on the 16th but aside from him, all does & fawns. This year it could be tough getting close to anything unless we get some snow pretty quick. Backtracking in the snow is a great tool to learn how undisturbed deer move.

[Tipup101]

Well the deer we see are not all to pressured. The land west and south of me is a good 800 acres af county park. Land east is protected for now. To the north a guy hunts first season his two buddys hunt second season. The other property north is protected. So very little pressure. You can't go by tracks we dressed does that are 6 to 7 years old and one two years ago dressed out at 203 pounds. So tracks mean very little here. But until 5 years ago this farm was hunted hard. But now we are the only two of hunting it. We saw more quality buck this year than ever. During the rut it was nuts. I saw a 160 class buck that sprinted past my stand a 10 yards chasing a 130 class buck. But theese deer are nocternal all season until the rut. So it must go back to that pattern in December. What in the heck are we going to do.

[Eskimoman]

you have a pic of that 200 lb doe?

[Bear55]

you have a pic of that 200 lb doe?

I'd like to see some pics too, not calling you a liar but that is a little unbelievable.

[BLACKJACK]

you have a pic of that 200 lb doe?

Lighten up guys, its tough to judge weight on the hoof. It was a big doe, leave it at that.

December hunting means finding where the deer are eating, its cold out, they want to chow down.

[Mark Christianson]

He said dressed at 203... Not judged on the hoof.

[Bear55]

He said dressed at 203... Not judged on the hoof.

Ya a 200lbs live weight doe I could see but a dressed out doe at 203 seems like a world record. Heck 9 out of 10 guys who say their buck dressed out at 200 are usually wrong.

[Musky Buck]

I think I would've whistled that near boone and crockett buck to a stop and forget about muzzleloading !

[mrklean]

i would love to see pics of that

[Musky Buck]

Think like a mature buck, what or why will they be on the hoof during shooting light? Food source but even then they more times than not will wait for complete darkness to move. 2nd rut although in 25 years I have never seen a buck chasing a doe in December so that's a tough one to pattern, sure it happens, just most often after dark. Add snow to the mix and the deer in my area get even more nocturnal unless it's ultra cold and they have to work a little harder to fill their stomach, then I see more activity although it's still generally does and fawns. This 800 acres of county park, is that open to the public ? Even heavy pheasant pressure can alarm the deer. If not that 800 acres is a sanctuary that they will leave most likely only after dark and return bedded down by daybreak. North of you is pressured enough that the deer will be alert to say the least, I guess what I'm getting at is there is a big difference between the word "deer" and mature buck, big difference. There isn't much anyone can do to put a mature buck on it's feet unless you can make a drive, which more times than not don't produce regularly in regards to mature bucks. You're lucky to have someone who hunts with you able to jerk the jaw bone out and age the deer for you. Another interesting part is what happened to the guys that hunted that so hard, if friendly with any of them, ask them what worked best. Should've whistled that 160 buck to stop and nail it, heck with muzzleloader. That buck was less than the length of a ruler to making the B @ C record book ? If you are willing to shoot that buck now, why not shoot it then ?

[HunterLee]

They are tough, usually the last few years have been cold enough that the deer are moving a little before last light. This year I havent seen a deer on its feet before 5pm. None in the morning. It has been fairly warm and with no snow its even harder. There are deer as i can go out after dark and look at them with the spotlight.

I feel there was less pressure this year around us as last year, but we are seeing hardly any deer sitting at nights. Even on one field i sit on the deer were out at 345-4pm last year and this year they don't get to it until 5ish. I was walking back to the pickup and then they were crossing the trail. Its been a tough year around our area. Lots of crops, warmish weather.

If you are seeing does there are bucks there to, but they tend to wait until after all the others are out in the field. Check them with a spotlight an hour or so after dark, should be some bucks by then. We wouldn't see a couple bucks last year out until 9pm on the fields. They were coming about 2 miles to feed. Only bumped them once and never saw them again.

[Tipup101]

O.k I working on pics of the doe. There is a pic of this deer on the scale. But my buddy said he will keep looking his dad said it is in one the ten shoe boxs of photos. So he's looking for it. Plus you think I didn't they to stop that deer. But if you think your stoping a buck from chasing another buck good luck. People doubting the doe does not shock me I thought it was [PoorWordUsage] when I heard it until I saw it. How many guys have shot a 6 to 7 year old doe. We have a three legged doe out there now that is a monster that was seen with a 2 to 3 year old buck and she is bigger than him.. When a doe goes dry they pack on the weight. What I need to do is get some new trail cameras. Mine got stolen trying to pattern a double drop tine 13 point. That did get shot by a freind on a old farm I use to hunt. It scored 158 and 3/4.

[Musky Buck]

Not sure what your angle is Tipup. I've whistled almost all 21 bucks I've taken to a stop, if a quick quieter one doesn't work I up the anti, better than not trying anything. They usually freeze even if after a doe because she will stop and I've done it when a buck is chasing a buck, you guys must win every big doe contest in your area and you are saying that a doe in your area is larger than a 3 1/2 year old buck ? You must have tiny buck fawns and bad genetics. Everyone knows a friend of a friend who shot something nice, should I post that the state record muzzleloader buck non-typical scoring 221 was shot either on my property or right next to it in 2005 ? Big deal, I'm thinking your post had more to do about tooting your own horn than looking for Dec. advice. Show me the proof and I'll gladly believe you, it's just no one else seems to be able to claim they are dressing out 200 pound doeheads.

[Tipup101]

The doe thing came up because people talked about judgeing deer by track size. Plus I don't toot my own horn it was like last week when my freinds were getting [PoorWordUsage] at me and my buddy for telling them we passed 6 to 8 does a day during the three B season while they saw nothing. I have good property whith good deer herd to hunt. Plus If you read the first post and you will see my original question.

[sticknstring]

I don't know Musky... I've sure been hearing a lot about your 21 bucks and 14 pointer this year. I think there's some tooting going on alright and I don't think it's coming from Tipup!

[Heartman]

A friend and I took a doe in WI one year that was right up around the 190-200 dressed mark. We named her the "Donkey Doe" due to her extraordinary size. Must've been must older than what we typically see - and I remember it was all three of us could do to drag that critter out the 3/4's of a mile to the truck. Great big head on this doe - an anomaly for sure. And I'm no expert on deer size, but have been around a number of 190 and heavier deer when they've been weighed. Doesn't happen very often, but it still happens.

[Musky Buck]

Sticknstring if that's true it really is about trying to sell my property or I'd post pictures of at least the 200+ pounders. I would like someone to buy it, whoever does will have better hunting on it than myself because my distant relatives would honor it more, right now they feel they can drive it out or hunt it whenever I'm not around because they live a mile away from it and I'm 5 counties away on the job, this year I hunted it Sunday morning when I got the deer. It's advertised in the Outdoor News and if someone wants some good buck land they should go for it. It's one of those rare places where that deer was the 20th buck taken out of the same stand, good luck musket hunters and dress warm, maybe this cold will put em on their feet a little better.

[Bear55]

The doe thing came up because people talked about judgeing deer by track size. Plus I don't toot my own horn it was like last week when my freinds were getting [PoorWordUsage] at me and my buddy for telling them we passed 6 to 8 does a day during the three B season while they saw nothing. I have good property whith good deer herd to hunt. Plus If you read the first post and you will see my original question.

Could you agree that 99.9% of the big tracks most of us see are going to be a buck? I'm sure there are some large does out there but a doe dressing out in the area of 200 has to be incredibly rare.

[kr8r.tom]

a 200lb doe is rare but would you believe a 500lb buck? true, taken in minnesota... now theres a fun drag!

[BKB]

Musky, could you please send me the info on the land. [email protected] Thanks!

[Musky Buck]

Will do, and i want any interested parties to go walk it, just like you'd test drive a car go test the land, check the stands,shooting lanes, buck rubs are all over the main area. this land has been in the family for years and my dad had it willed to me, then I had to buy it from him because his job fell apart, 33 years with cenex land o lakes and the board ousted him, now that company in his town is gone altogether, anyway, I certainly will educate anyone buying it on how to hunt it and with 25 years under my belt i know the little intangibles, it's just my neighbors farm and my other land is closer to where I live now and there are good bucks on all 3 areas I hunt so this 80 has become expendable.