tactics&technique

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American Hunter  ■  October 2009

Buck

Hideouts Mature bucks know where to run when the shooting starts, places where they’ll pass the time while hunters linger over scrapes the bucks won’t refresh until midnight. We asked astute hunters to tell us where bucks go to hide. By Mark Hicks

to it, your odds for bagging a trophy skyrocket. We’ve put together a list of 10 sanctuaries where aged whitetails often lay up. One of these areas just might harbor your dream buck.

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tails love to munch on the lush grasses and manicured shrubs and plants that grow on golf courses; however, to be a sanctuary, a golf course

Photo: Michael H. Francis

Photo: DonaldMJones.com

T

he main thing a whitetail needs to become a trophy is longevity. Yes, genetics and food sources play important roles, but a buck must survive at least 3½ years to grow decent antlers, and 4½ to become heavy. Many places that manage specifically for mature bucks won’t even shoot a buck until they’re certain it’s at least 5½ years old. Outside of managed areas, whitetails that live long enough to make the record books do so by spending much of their time in “sanctuaries” where hunters don’t tread. Learning to find their secret spots is a key to tagging these brutes. Big-buck sanctuaries have oft been called “buck bedrooms” because the deer mostly bed and wait for darkness in these hiding spots. Such places can take many forms, such as parks, golf courses and posted lands. But though you can’t hunt many sanctuaries, bucks invariably leave their safe havens from time to time, especially during the rut. They also get up at different times during the day to move around their hideouts. As a result, if you can find a big-buck sanctuary and hunt adjacent

Golf Courses and Parks  White-



American Hunter  ■  October 2009

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to look mighty tempting, but Pinkston let it pass. His patience paid off on Dec. 3 when the big boy finally offered an 18-yard broadside shot. Pinkston loosed an arrow and, minutes later, gripped 11-point antlers that netted 178 typical Boone and Crockett Club points. I know several bowhunters who have scored big bucks by hunting next to parks in suburban areas. Rural parks also have big-antler potential, provided they, too, are off limits to hunters. To find out if a park grows big bucks, drive or walk through it early and late in the day when whitetails are moving. In many parks, deer are surprisingly tolerant of humans. Then again, the deer know that the park is a sanctuary where humans won’t harm them. They become more wary when they leave the park, which they often do at night to feed.

Some parks are overpopulated with deer, which makes food scarce there. Your challenge is getting permission to hunt on private land that borders the park. You might be hunting in somebody’s back yard. They key is to get access to property the deer pass through when they leave the park. Your next step, like Pinkston’s, is to be patient.

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Mountain Laurel Thickets

In Appalachia, Pennsylvania and north through New York and New England, mountain laurel thickets often encumber the tops of mountains and ridges. These can be exasperating tangles of year-round greenery. But they are often big-buck bedding sites. And they are often far back in public areas and too daunting for most hunters to tackle. The trick is to understand the terrain. During the deer season, deer will often bed on the west-facing edges of these thickets so they can scent anything coming from below and then bounce into the nasty thicket if necessary. Scout along those edges for trails, rubs and scrapes. During the rut, bucks will cruise along these edges looking for does. Be there and bring a lot of patience. Bucks will often arrive first, bed early, get up again when does arrive later and then, if the rut is on, spend midday slowly cruising.

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Niches Within Public Hunting Areas  Public hunting areas in

Photo: Bill Buckley

Photo: DusanSmetana.com

also needs bedding cover. Whitetail fanatic Steve Pinkston found a golf course in central Ohio that appeared to have everything whitetails needed. Pinkston talked the course manager into letting him scout the grounds, and he found some long-tined sheds in a bedding thicket near a cluster of cabins. Since he couldn’t hunt the golf course, Pinkston finagled permission to hunt a 12-acre strip of woods that separated the golf course from a soybean field. He set up trail cameras in the woods and soon had photos of three trophy bucks. One of them was enormous, but it only passed through at night. While hunting the woods for two months, Pinkston passed up several shots at the two smaller 140- and 150class bucks he had photographed. The larger of the two bucks was beginning

whitetail country typically get hit hard and often. Deer densities tend to be lower than on nearby private lands, but these places often hold a

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American Hunter  ■  October 2009

few brutes. Any buck that survives on public land long enough to make the record book is super smart and nearly nocturnal. Although there are no true sanctuaries in these places, wise old bucks find bedding areas that hunters overlook. These places become sanctuaries by default. Wisconsin’s Dan Infalt has an uncanny knack for finding buck sanctuaries on public land. He claims that most hunters walk right past trophy whitetails to get back into the woods where deer are “supposed” to be. “Some of the biggest bucks I’ve found on public land bed close to the road between the parking areas used by hunters,” Infalt says. “I could actually see one buck in the woods when I drove past it.” That buck bedded about 100 yards from the road, and it was hidden from sight while lying down in the woods. It wasn’t until the buck stood up just before dark that Infalt could see it and the heavy 9-point rack it carried. “He would stretch his legs and mosey along parallel to the road,” Infalt says. “He wouldn’t go far from his bed, his comfort zone, until dark.” To get a shot at the buck in legal shooting light, Infalt had to sneak in and set up a stand within 75 yards of the buck’s bed. He skillfully pulled off this maneuver and greeted the 160-class whitetail with an arrow at point-blank range.

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Posted Private Land  Land-

owners who don’t allow hunting can be a blessing in disguise. If hunting is open on the surrounding properties, these no-hunting “islands” become big-buck sanctuaries. I know of two such places in southern Ohio. One is a 90-acre parcel of brushy woodlands that was posted six years ago. Local hunters were initially upset that this land was suddenly off limits. Now, many of them have changed their minds because they are seeing more mature bucks than ever. During the rut, bucks that take refuge on the posted land leave their sanctuary in search of does. Smart hunters put stands in the natural bottlenecks that lead to and from this property. The other property is 75 acres of woodlands around a residence. It provided a sanctuary for a non-typical that would easily score more than 200 points. I know several bow and gun hunters who had close encounters with this buck over four years by hunting the perimeter of the posted land. That buck had to have been at least 7 years old when it was hit and killed by a car while crossing a road after dark. I heard so much anguish about the loss of this buck that I wouldn’t be surprised if some forlorn hunter placed a wreath where the buck met its maker.

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Swamps and Marshes  Few

hunters bother with marshes because these lowland fields of cattails look like the last place whitetails would bed. This is exactly why trophy bucks find sanctuary in these places. All a buck needs to set up shop in a marsh is a small island of higher ground. Michigan whitetail fanatic Jarrod Erdody has learned how to find and hunt these big-buck hideouts. “Whenever you see a sparse string of trees in the middle of a marsh, there just might be a buck bedded there,” Erdody says. “Trees usually grow on dry land that is slightly elevated above the bootsucking marsh.” Since a buck rarely leaves its bedding island before dark, you must physically scout these places to determine if a buck resides there. This is best done in the spring so any buck you push from its bed has plenty of time to get over your intrusion. Big tracks and a well-used bed with rubs nearby means you’ve hit pay dirt. Pick a tree for a stand that overlooks the buck’s exit path. Ideally, you should hunt there when a quartering wind lets the buck walk with the breeze in its face without catching your scent. Since these islands tend to be small, your stand might have to be within 50 yards of the buck’s bed. It takes a super-stealthy approach to avoid spooking the buck. Backyard Bucks  Big bucks sometimes bed close behind houses and barns where they can see humans coming and go-

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Photo: Bill Winke

Mature bucks live long by hiding in unlikely spots. Many times hunters, thinking bucks will bed far from human habitation, overlook obvious hiding spots located near roads and homes.

Photo: Michael H. Francis

ing, including hunters who blunder past them. Noted Wisconsin whitetail hunter Andrae D’Acquisto claims that several of his early bow kills were backyard bucks. One of D’Acquisto’s most productive farms received heavy hunting pressure. Everyone else hiked in and set stands near scrapes, rubs and well-worn deer trails. The biggest bucks learned to avoid the onslaught by bedding behind the house on a small peninsula enveloped by a swampy area. To keep his backyard bucks a secret, D’Acquisto arrived late in the day after the other hunters had gone afield. He never returned to his vehicle until the other hunters had left. His treestand was in a narrow band of pine trees where the bucks exited the peninsula. “Those bucks wouldn’t move until the last 15 minutes of legal shooting light,” D’Acquisto says. “Then a train of Pope and Young Club-caliber bucks would pass by.”

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Man-made Sanctuaries  If you

manage land for deer, or have the exclusive rights to hunt a given piece of property, you can create your own big-buck sanctuaries. One way to do this is to make existing bedding areas off limits to hunters at any time of year. Whitetails will soon learn that humans don’t tread there. You can also create bedding sanctuaries where they don’t exist by making small clear-cuts and letting them grow up in dense underbrush. These sanctuaries keep bucks on your property, allow them to live longer and draw bucks from neighboring lands. Andrae D’Acquisto manages 900 acres of land in Illinois. It is a matrix of woodlands, food plots and bedding

areas, a whitetail oasis in the midst of open farmlands. When the farmers harvest their crops, whitetails flock to his property like migrating geese. “I have more big bucks on my land during the late season than at any other time, including Boone and Crockett Club-class animals,” D’Acquisto says.

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City Limits  As urban sprawl

continually spreads, more big bucks find refuge within city limits. It’s no longer a secret that trophy bucks reside in residential areas. The hard part is getting permission to hunt there. You are often limited to bows, but even then many homeowners don’t feel comfortable with hunters in their back yards. Then again, some homeowners welcome hunters because deer decimate their landscaping. The most successful urban hunters I know scout for whitetails in their vehicles and seek hunting permission only after they’ve located a buck worth shooting. Another option is to join an organization dedicated to hunting “nuisance” urban whitetails. These groups exist in several states. To be a member, you typically must pay dues, take special classes and pass a bow-proficiency test. There also may be additional requirements, such as taking does, minimum antler restrictions and liability insurance. Some clubs assign their members to urban areas where landowners are overrun with whitetails. It’s a tough gig, but somebody needs to do it.

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Islands  Whitetails are good swimmers and can easily reach an island far offshore in a large river. Hunters generally don’t fool

with islands because you need a boat to get to them, which is hardly standard whitetail gear. Also, most hunters don’t believe that an island is large enough to support a big buck. They are wrong. An island just might be the sanctuary that harbors your mega-buck. An excellent example is the Blennerhasset Island Historical State Park in the Ohio River where controlled hunts are sometimes held to reduce whitetail numbers. In 2000, biologists counted 553 deer on the island’s 450 acres. That’s the equivalent of 736 deer per square mile. The deer population on Blennerhasset peaks in the fall, because deer swim there to escape mainland hunters and to find breeding partners. Some of those deer sport dandy antlers. You can’t hunt on Blennerhasset other than during controlled hunts, but there are other privately and publicly owned islands on rivers across the country where you can gain hunting access. Arkansan Mark Rose, a professional bass fisherman and whitetail fanatic, wisely scouted a small island on the Mississippi River a few years ago. He found a huge rub on a big cypress tree that got his heart pumping. He followed the buck’s tracks through its bedding and feeding areas and he located a good place for a stand. Rose waited three weeks for the right wind to hunt the stand. He figured he would only get one chance at the buck, and he didn’t intend to blow it. When the wind was in his favor, Rose boated to the island, snuck to his stand and then sent an arrow through the ribs of a Pope and Young Club-caliber buck.

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Steep Ridges  In 2006, a

study of Pennsylvania deer revealed an interesting fact: Deer, especially bucks, tend to hang out on steep hills to avoid hunters. It turns out, according to the study, that hunters don’t like to navigate the steep terrain often encumbered by blow-downs. The bucks have figured out the hunters. The deer density during the day actually increases in the steeper areas as whitetails bed in spots where they don’t smell people and haven’t been spooked by hunters trekking along easier paths. The bucks bed on slopes in new growth or around fallen trees. Finding these special deer spots takes scouting. You’ll have to find their tracks on the side trails and look for rubs.  ah

Photo: DusanSmetana.com

In areas where glassing whitetail movement is possible, scout before, and even during, the season by watching where bucks move and where they bed. They are creatures of habit.

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American Hunter  ■  October 2009