My first real attempt at a trophy whitetail

[Telemark]

I've made half-hearted attempts before, but this will be my first proper attempt at a trophy buck. I'll be hunting in Ohio with my new-to-me crossbow. Excalibur crossbow, Megameat broadheads.

I can hunt about 100 acres of private land in Holmes county. I was thinking November 4-9 for this hunt. I can probably hunt my cousin's place, too. Not sure.how big his property is, but it holds deer.

I can also hunt Sycamore state park near Dayton. Never been there before, but it's free, so may as well check it out.

I have a couple new ladder stands, plus a new saddle. I have plenty of scent reduction products, estrus urine, Evercalm, and a couple calls, and a phone I can use to play calls.

Any tips, advice, etc. is all welcome.

 

[H20fwler]

Good luck!

Not sure you are allowed to use phone to play calls while hunting though.

 

[Telemark]

Good luck!

Not sure you are allowed to use phone to play calls while hunting though.

Weird. Google AI gives me different answers based on how I ask. I can't find anything concrete that prohibits electronic calls for deer in Ohio. But I'm having trouble accessing the state websites from overseas.

 

[Cool Hand Luke]

Welcome to the club! You obviously need to have them around in order to kill one and 100 acres sounds like a nice place to start! My best days religiously have always been the 7th-9th. Killed most all my best bucks on those days.

Pay attention to the wind. Absolute most important. Don't hunt a stand based on activity, hunt it based on the wind and keep that at the forefront as you approach and leave your stand. Mature bucks won't tolerate smelling you. Unless you have a hot doe under you and she's just trying to protect herself, you won't get away with much. I still wash my clothes in scent elimination soap but don't get spun out about trying to eliminate scent. I use cover scent wafers as I believe it can get you out of pinch in some instances.

Don't discredit hunting in the middle of the day and all day sits during that first week of November.

Deer are very vocal creatures but you have to understand how and when to call. Buy a good grunt call and make some rattling antlers out of sheds. Take some time and learn how and when to do both equally well. Learn how to snort wheeze and when to implement. A well timed snort wheeze can be the difference in killing a mature buck who won't commit to coming in and not.

Best I got for ya. Good luck and keep us posted!

 

[Mtyhunter]

Sounds like you're going in blind. I know you know how to hunt, so I'll try not be captain obvious. Here's my tips...
the place to hunt would be the one with less human traffic. Going in cold to a public hunting area in Ohio would not be ideal imo.
an aerial map and some local knowledge is a great place to start
your timing is right in the rut, so you're not trying to pattern movement. just find where the does live
take advantage of any elevation you can get
like luke said above, don't discredit hunting in the middle of the day. all day sits are tough, but mandatory during the rut
evercalm yes, I've found it great for does. all the rest of the scents, ditch. they're not going to make any difference
i like a good tending grunt during the rut, and that's about it. rattling does work, too.
Mr. Greenjeans usually has no forgiveness, so make sure you're all legal

Good luck my man!

 

[Telemark]

Welcome to the club! You obviously need to have them around in order to kill one and 100 acres sounds like a nice place to start!

They're around. I also have about 300 acres in Ontario, but that will probably be part of a land tour thread next year.

My best days religiously have always been the 7th-9th. Killed most all my best bucks on those days.

Internet agrees, that's why I chose those dates.

I will do my best with the wind. It's a hilly area, but I get a meat deer every year I try there with rifle.

Thanks for the tips and encouragement.

 

[Telemark]

Sounds like you're going in blind. I know you know how to hunt, so I'll try not be captain obvious. Here's my tips...
the place to hunt would be the one with less human traffic. Going in cold to a public hunting area in Ohio would not be ideal imo.
an aerial map and some local knowledge is a great place to start
your timing is right in the rut, so you're not trying to pattern movement. just find where the does live
take advantage of any elevation you can get
like luke said above, don't discredit hunting in the middle of the day. all day sits are tough, but mandatory during the rut
evercalm yes, I've found it great for does. all the rest of the scents, ditch. they're not going to make any difference
i like a good tending grunt during the rut, and that's about it. rattling does work, too.
Mr. Greenjeans usually has no forgiveness, so make sure you're all legal

Good luck my man!

Hey thanks.

I'm going blind in Sycamore, so I might have to spend a day scouting.

The private land I've hunted for decades, but 99% was after the rut. I took two crossbow bucks there during rut, but they are not trophy-class.

The estrus is just to position a buck, not to draw it in. I was hoping to call one in. Been watching a lot of YouTube on that.

 

[SwampCat]

i dont know what your definition of a “trophy” whitetail is - but, at least in my area, mature bucks can be very difficult to hunt - with bow or crossbow. I hunt mature bucks - usually five years or older - many of which do not classify as trophy when it comes to antlers. I have six or seven five year old plus bucks using my property. I have hunted probably 15 times this year - hunted scrapes, trails, bait, and acorns. I have seen a grand total of none of them. Out of a dozen cameras - there has been one of the bucks daytime a number of times, one of them daytime once, and the other five never. It is hard to kill a deer that is 100% nocturnal on your property.

I hunt with a crossbow, usually with a ghillie suit, from a strutter chair. It allows me to instantly change location if the wind changes. I like to stay back thirty yards from where I think I would shoot a deer. I dont like closer and i get scared of string jumping further. A problem with hunting a single buck, is other deer that you are passing - locating you and letting every deer in the woods know not to come here. I find late season to be more productive than early season - patternable and hungry and more diurnal. I am not crazy about rut because they are hard to pattern. Early season, at least in my area, is close to impossible with nocturnal deer and a lot of food availability.

 

[Mtyhunter]

i dont know what your definition of a “trophy” whitetail is - but, at least in my area, mature bucks can be very difficult to hunt - with bow or crossbow. I hunt mature bucks - usually five years or older - many of which do not classify as trophy when it comes to antlers. I have six or seven five year old plus bucks using my property. I have hunted probably 15 times this year - hunted scrapes, trails, bait, and acorns. I have seen a grand total of none of them. Out of a dozen cameras - there has been one of the bucks daytime a number of times, one of them daytime once, and the other five never. It is hard to kill a deer that is 100% nocturnal on your property.

I hunt with a crossbow, usually with a ghillie suit, from a strutter chair. It allows me to instantly change location if the wind changes. I like to stay back thirty yards from where I think I would shoot a deer. I dont like closer and i get scared of string jumping further. A problem with hunting a single buck, is other deer that you are passing - locating you and letting every deer in the woods know not to come here. I find late season to be more productive than early season - patternable and hungry and more diurnal. I am not crazy about rut because they are hard to pattern. Early season, at least in my area, is close to impossible with nocturnal deer and a lot of food availability.

Sounds like you're hunting in my area! Everything you said is 100% on point with what I experience here in Oklahoma

 

[Mtyhunter]

Hey thanks.

I'm going blind in Sycamore, so I might have to spend a day scouting.

The private land I've hunted for decades, but 99% was after the rut. I took two crossbow bucks there during rut, but they are not trophy-class.

The estrus is just to position a buck, not to draw it in. I was hoping to call one in. Been watching a lot of YouTube on that.

I'm not sure I'm against estrus lures, however, I've tried about everything out there over the years, with cams out to record, and have had -0- success with estrus. Twice I've had smaller bucks get close downwind from a tarsal gland I hung up, and they about turned themselves inside out running away when they got a good whiff. Some have said that's normal, tarsal glands are for the big bucks. Ok, maybe so, but I don't like any of my deer freaking out, so no more tarsal gland.
Will admit that Evercalm seems to really work. The first time I used Evercalm i had deer on my cameras that laid down right in front of the camera, which was very rare up until then. Since then, found this is not unusual, so i believe it actually works. However, the pigs will do the same damn thing when I use Evercalm, which is not good.

 

[BenA]

It gets a lot of attention lately on the internet, but major funnels and pinch points seem to be excellent spots during the rut. I've seen bucks I've never had on camera going through funnel areas, even ones that get very little activity during the rest of the season. And, they can be productive all day. I have heads of steep draws that have some major trails. Those always have some good activity. Another one is a major road where a head of a draw almost touches it. That sees really good buck movement.

 

[Catscratch]

Nov 8-12 have been good dates for me, but Nov 25th has been better.

Scents are an absolute no to me. Tried them and had only bad experiences with them.

I love to use a decoy!!! I've had great luck with the 2d printed bucks like Montana makes.

In my experience... the number one factor (by a large margin) in shooting big bucks... has been scent control. I don't mean soaps and stuff like that. I mean stuff like not entering in the dark so that unseen deer don't scent me, wearing gloves on entrance and exits so that my skin never touches vegetation or stands, making sure my legs don't rub against brush while walking, etc. I'm completely convinced that every time you go hunting you leave evidence that deer can sense for at least 12hrs. I'm also convinced that a mature buck will only tolerate such intrusions once or twice before they shift out of your stand site.