Mature buck pics vs seen on stand

[bat man]

How many mature bucks that you get on camera do you see on stand? I think the property layout and perceived pressure influence daylight sightings of mature bucks.

This year I have laid eyes on 3 of the 5 mature bucks I can think of. #4 is dead and number 5 May be as well as I have no pics since rifle.

Last year was a little higher percentage seen as muzzleloader weather was more conducive to daylight feeding for the mature bucks.

Still some season left and late is my best chance to see bucks on food.

 

[MoBuckChaser]

I see more bucks in Missouri in person on stand during the rut than I ever get on camera all year. Mainly because they come from other properties into ours for a few weeks. And only a few of the bucks that live on our property walk in front of the camera, most avoid them like the plague!

 

[wklman]

By mature are you talking about 2.5 or 3.5? I had one 3.5 on camera and saw and shot a different 3.5 I didn't have on camera. I had a bunch of 1.5 and 2.5's on camera and saw only 1 of those while hunting. I feel my property is more conducive to having deer wander thru then setting up shop because of the river bottom that butts up against it and me only having 20 acres of woods.

 

[biglakeba$$]

I havent seen a 3.5 or older buck on the hoof in 10 deer seasons.

So my answer is 0% have been seen by me since 2004. Ow.

On cam every year 3 to 5 mature bucks cross through.
I should add zero pics of them during legal light as well.

 

[bueller]

Unfortunately I don't hunt enough to have much of a shot at seeing any of the mature bucks we have on camera in person.

 

[bat man]

every year virtually every mature buck is seen and filmed/taken from stand. We have a hardwood ridge which makes it quite easy.

What do you attribute your success to besides the 'easy ridge'? Access, planned lines of movement, improvements? top 3?

 

[bwoods11]

I saw one 3.5 year old and shot it with bow. Besides a few bucks on camera, this was slow year for sightings in (MN)

Good year for camera photos and sightings in Iowa.

 

[Bill]

Where's all the pics?

Never seen no, pics with hard antlers

Seen several time in Oct/Nov to far for a shot. No pics with hard antlers

Never seen, no pictures with hard antlers

No hard antlers pics. Seen and killed first week of November

No hard antlers pics, never seen

Never seen, never a daytime pic after antler hardening. Ever, ever for the last 2 years

Seen and flubbed up on with a bow mid November. Bro hit the release on draw

Seen all summer killed sept 21

 

[wklman]

The top 3 pics are of the deer I shot this fall and the bottom one is the one I got on camera early this spring. The year is wrong. It's the only pic I got of him and I never saw him while hunting.

 

[willy]

On my 54 acre property I had two bucks that were 4.5 or older and saw both, harvested one. Another 4.5 plus was shot on this property but was not on any cameras. He was a traveler I believe. The pics above are from the 54 acre property. The live buck pics were taken Sept. 13 and 14. The top buck has not been seen since Oct. 10 via camera.

On my 80 I have two or three 4.5 plus that passed by my cameras but I haven't seen them yet. One is dead for sure. The other two were on cam after rifle but haven't been seen by human eyes on my property yet . The last two pics are the living ones. It is through picture history that I know they are 4.5 or older.
The first two thumbnails are of the same buck. He went by my stand opening morning of rifle but I was not in it as I was with my wife on the other property hoping to be there when she connected with the first buck in the full size pics that we dubbed crabby patty. He is a 6x6 with tight crabs at the end. She didn't get him but a buck that we hadn't seen before, which was a wonderful surprise!

On the 54 acres there is little pressure because of stand entry ease and limited hunting land around mine.

On the 80 there is a ton of pressure surrounding my land and little from me on mine but I can only go in on the correct winds and that hasn't happened when I have been able to hunt except for twice this year.

 

[Tree Spud]

View attachment 3251 View attachment 3252 View attachment 3253 View attachment 3254


The top 3 pics are of the deer I shot this fall and the bottom one is the one I got on camera early this spring. The year is wrong. It's the only pic I got of him and I never saw him while hunting.

Wklman ... that is a hog ... looks to be 5.5 year old ... what did he weigh and age?

.

 

[West Branch]

Here is a rundown of our last few years:

2012 - No cameras but with 3 guys bow hunting for a few weekends each I think there were at least 6 2.5+ bucks seen during shooting hours with a couple shot opportunities. 1 or 2 might have been repeats. There was one BIG one that was season at a distance at sunset. One guy had 3 of the shot opportunities but I think he enjoyed watching the deer and didn't want to end his season early.

2013 - first year with cameras. We figured 8-9 unique bucks 2.5+. A few were seen while hunting, I think there was only one shot opportunity at a 2.5.

2014 - 7 bucks 2.5+. One seen at dusk on firearms opener. We should have been hunting from Nov 4-7 based on the couple cameras we had working.

 

[wklman]

Wklman ... that is a hog ... looks to be 5.5 year old ... what did he weigh and age?

.

I never weighed him since he had been dead 9 days before I found him. I would say he would have been around 200 lbs dressed out. As far as age goes I'm thinking he's 3.5 since he didn't have that big horse head of an older buck. I'll get a better idea of how old he was once I take the lower jaw to get looked at at the mn deer classic.

 

[Tree Spud]

I never weighed him since he had been dead 9 days before I found him. I would say he would have been around 200 lbs dressed out. As far as age goes I'm thinking he's 3.5 since he didn't have that big horse head of an older buck. I'll get a better idea of how old he was once I take the lower jaw to get looked at at the mn deer classic.

Yes, you may be correct. Think I confused a previous full body pic from the thread before.

Nice deer ... congrats.

 

[shawnv]

For me that really depends and no year is ever the same. Most years I have shot a nice buck on public land where I have had no camera out. I was out marking trees for the loggers today and jumped the giant I've had hanging around and had pics of. I had pics of him last week after muzzleloader closed but it was still nice to see him again knowing he's safe on my farm with no tags left and I think most everyone else around me is done bowhunting for the year.

 

[MN Slick]

Between my 2 farms I had pics of 16 bucks that I believe were 3.5 or older and saw 7 of them while hunting, 5 of which were archery close. I set my goal at shooting one I thought was 4.5 or older this season and didn't get one killed but had a blast trying. Unfortunately, two great 3.5 year olds I passed up were gunned down by neighbors as were 2 solid 8 points one of which was for sure an older buck.

 

[j-bird]

I don't run a cam - will start this year. My buddy runs one every once in a while.
The only really nice buck we had a trail cam pic of we never saw (this is "tank" pic was in 2012). This is the best deer we have a cam pic of.

It was great motivation to get my but out of bed, but I never really expected to see him even though I have a stand in the background of this photo. We see nice bucks 3.5 old now every year (I think Tank was older than that), but I don't think they live on my property, they come from larger tracts of timber up and down stream of my place - my place is simply a travel path once the urges of the rut kick in - they like to follow the creeks. My addition of a cam may prove me wrong, so I will see.

 

[OkieKubota]

View attachment 3285 Looking back over trail cam photos we had pictures of 8 mature bucks on our place and 6 smaller bucks on our 80 acres. I saw the "Big 10" buck from my stand on October 3rd while bowhunting and was not offered a shot... This buck was last photographed on our property on October 17th and as he was the most daytime active mature buck we had I figure he was poached as noone around me bowhunts at all but many rifle hunt the bow season...

 

[OkieKubota]

This buck I had many pictures of and was in a Bachelor group that consisted of Big 10, This buck, and Big 13... I saw him from stand once on 10/31/14 while I was hunting with my Muzzleloader.

 

[OkieKubota]

This is the other buck in that trio... He was photographed many times on our property throughout the year and I had laid eyes on him twice. Jumped him once from a bed he had on our property across the road while checking boundary lines and then again the first Sunday of rifle while I was walking our east fencerow but he was on the neighbors side so I did not shoot him. Per trail cam he was back on our property on Monday the 24th of November and then again the 26th of Novemeber when my wife saw him from stand and this is the outcome...