Hunting Trophy Deer in High Pressure Areas

In most areas of the country where there are high concentrations of people hunting, there are not high numbers of mature deer. Can a guy have consistent success in these areas? The answer is yes, as long as you put the time into scouting these areas, finding these deer and spend time in the stand in those “hot” areas.  In high pressure areas these deer must be located before a consistent pattern of success will be achieved. Otherwise an individual could wait the whole season hunting a stand and passing on smaller bucks when there is not even a big buck in his area.

Step one in mounting a trophy animal is finding a trophy animal. That starts with finding multiple spots to hunt and scout. Never overlook even the smallest tracts of land to hunt, that 5 acres that is in someone’s backyard might hold that whopper buck. With urban sprawl, and more and more housing infiltrating farm country, these spots must not be overlooked. The approach I take at first is all spots are good spots. Then through the scouting process I weed them down.

Once these possible “hot spots” are found then it is time to start scouting. Scouting is the main ingredient in the recipe to fill your tag. In high pressure areas these deer must be located before a consistent pattern of success will be achieved. That starts by putting cameras out in mid-summer over mineral piles to try to catch that picture of a buck that might be in the area. This is the most productive way of finding out if a mature buck is in a certain hunting area.   Spotting these bucks in the summer is another possibility but high pressure bucks often live in areas that seclude there daytime movements or have very little daytime movement at all.  Even if that buck is extremely nocturnal, having that camera over a mineral pile greatly increases my chances of getting a picture of him.

Do not overlook areas, establish mineral sites and stick to it into the fall. I believe this to be the most crucial time of the season. This is when the plan takes place for the fall. You are deciding what spots have the potential to produce a caliber of animal that you are looking for. Once these animals are located then you can weed out the non-productive areas and have a list of “hot spots.” Maybe you will find that there is an area you can hunt that has been overlooked and has more than one trophy on it, or perhaps, maybe none at all. The important thing is you will know where to go to have the chance to fill your tag and not waste valuable time you could be spending at a productive spot. Let’s face it deer season is only so many days long, so you must make every one count. Trophy hunting is not for everyone, but often this hard work scouting will pay dividends and there is no greater feeling than dragging that deer out of the woods that you knew was there.