Unusual hiding places for mature bucks

[Native Hunter]

One of the other threads got me to thinking about this subject. I've heard and read of some unusual hiding places mentioned before where deer go when the pressure hits (small isolated cover patches in the open, drain culverts, etc.). I just wondered if any of you guys had some stories like this.

 

[Buckly]

I've seen more than one right out in a golden rod or high grass field when the pressure is on. Thinking about it, most hunters would be in the woods or brush or if they did walk through the field they would have to be extremely lucky to run into them. Like a needle in a haystack.

 

[Turkey Creek]

We see it all the time here just luckily most deer hunters havent figured it out yet. Cover is the limiting factor for big deer survival here. Not unusual to be able to see for MILES in any one direction. Even when you know they are in those isolated pockets very difficult to hunt them if you are an ethical and law abiding hunter.

 

[Bowsnbucks]

A good friend in S.E. Pa. was trying for 2 years to nail a big buck that had been seen near his father's nursery. After much searching, moving stands, scouting sign, etc. - the big boy was seen laying-up in a small island of trees & weeds. It was right in the middle of a huge field that alternated between corn and soybeans. No way to approach the spot without being seen easily at a long distance. Rifles can't be used in that zone because of all the housing, businesses, etc. He probably died of old age - or car.

 

[Bszweda]

X-MAS tree farms

 

[Jordan Selsor]

I have one side of the farm that is bordered by a fairly busy 2 lane Hwy. Their is big draw that is on this side with thick underbrush. I never gave it much attention thinking bucks wouldn't hang out so close to the Hwy. Plus I don't like to hunt an listen to traffic. I walked it last winter during a prescribed burn an was amazed at how much deer sign was in the thick cover. Beds an deer scat everywhere an just 80yards from the hwy. Both the bucks killed on the farm this year were within 100-150 yards from that Hwy. They seem to work the Hwy just out of eye site during the rut with a south wind.

 

[Merle Hawggard]

Native,
One of the best clay co buck's I've saw was killed in a very small patch of woods off Crowley' s Ridge. A guy I know from work's relative had watched it around that place all summer and ended up getting it that fall. I'll see if he still has the picture of it next week. He did say how surprised he was a buck like that stayed in such a small area.

 

[H20fwler]

Wherever a smart old rooster pheasant will hide a buck will, I can't tell you all the times we have jumped bucks out of a patch of foxtail out in the middle of a field over the years.

 

[Bigshooter19]

The stupidest place you can think of. We have a ton of ag field by me and we walk line fences and ditches in between sits to try something different.

 

[Tree Spud]

Close to old buildings/machinery, log piles etc, quiet where people probably walk by, no shooting nearby, just enough tall cover (grass, weeds, shrubs) were they simply blend in.

 

[Buckly]

I have a ladder stand that is 20 yards off my main roadway that overlooks a field. The area around the tree stand is thick briers and saplings. Thick enough were I needed to clear a spot at the bottom of the ladder so the briers don't cut me up. There has been a buck bed under that stand for 2 years now. You can't see the bottom of the ladder from the roadway and I go by there all the time checking cams and doing field work.

 

[WTNUT]

I killed a net 174 inch buck some years ago that spent nearly all day every day in a clumpy of trees and brush between and interstate highway. I bet there wasn't 1/2 an acre of cover there. But, every night he would cross the north bound lanes and go feed and do his thing on my buddy's property and go back to that darn spot before daylight. I think I spent 30 plus days in a tree trying to catch him during daylight. Then finally, one day in late November I caught him trying go get back to his hidden spot about an 30 minutes after legal shooting light. That was all it took.


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[chummer]

If I knew where they were hiding I would shoot one.

 

[bigeight]

I've jumped some real whoppers when hunting the flooded timber while duck hunting in high pressure areas. Waist or chest deep water and jump some mature deer off of tipped over root clumps, muskrat houses, etc.

 

[Buckly]

If I knew where they were hiding I would shoot one.

Good point!

 

[Lee Haakenson]

Years ago i came back from a black friday shopping expedition and a big 10 pt was beaded against the garage in the yard. This is in a small subdivision with an acre of woods 300 yards away. I hustled inside to grab my gun but he didnt hang around long.

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[Lee Haakenson]

Also saw this one last year chasing a doe in city limits of hudson, WI last year

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[Lee Haakenson]

I have one side of the farm that is bordered by a fairly busy 2 lane Hwy. Their is big draw that is on this side with thick underbrush. I never gave it much attention thinking bucks wouldn't hang out so close to the Hwy. Plus I don't like to hunt an listen to traffic. I walked it last winter during a prescribed burn an was amazed at how much deer sign was in the thick cover. Beds an deer scat everywhere an just 80yards from the hwy. Both the bucks killed on the farm this year were within 100-150 yards from that Hwy. They seem to work the Hwy just out of eye site during the rut with a south wind.

Also saw this one last year chasing a doe in city limits of hudson, WI View attachment 11650

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[chickenlittle]

At the bottom of our pasture, there is a spring surrounded by multiflora rose and autumn olive. I always thought that would be a good hiding spot and would check it out if I walked down through there but never found anything. 8 or 10 years ago, I was going that way and there I saw this buck laying there dead on his side on the bank of the spring with one antler on the ground...or so I thought. I stopped in disgust at seeing this nice deer there dead. And then he hopped up and scrambled away. He did stop in the woods road and give me a chance but I got bit by my Marlin .30-30's cross bolt safety. I cocked and pulled the trigger and nothing happened. I had time to cycle it again and pull the trigger again before he had enough and was gone. Wish I could tell that story with a different ending.

 

[Freeborn]

I have a few humps out in a swamp that borders my northern boundary. You can identify them as they have high stem count shrubs on them like ROD while the wetter areas are cattail or RCG. Bucks like areas where they can hear or wind anything approaching them and these humps are impossible to approach without getting busted. The key to catching bucks coming out of the swamp is to identify their entry point to your property which often for me is the NE edge along the swamp. Bucks use the swamp as cover and swing to the downwind entry point of the property.