 How
to Know When Bucks Move
The Vietnam Stand Buck
EDITOR’S NOTE: You have no way of knowing what
day you’ll see a buck of a lifetime during deer
season. But you can pinpoint which days to hunt to increase
your odds of sighting one. By hunting on the days when
deer tend to move the most actively, you’ll have
more deer sightings and a greater chance of taking that
buck you’ve wanted all season.
On a trip to White Oak Plantation near Tuskegee, Alabama,
my son, John, and I sat at the supper table the night
before we planned to hunt. When we arrived early in
the afternoon, the temperature had climbed to the 50s.
However, by the time we had eaten dinner, the mercury
had plummeted to 26 degrees. “We ought to get
a buck tomorrow,” Bo Pitman, the lodge manager
told me. “If this cold front passes through tonight
and we have a clear morning tomorrow, the bucks will
move.” Pitman has almost two decades of experience
as a guide and has hunted deer all his life. Twice daily,
Pitman takes hunters with him into the swamps and woodlands
of White Oak and collects data on deer sightings.
 “We
pick up hunters after the morning and afternoon hunts
and record the weather and wind conditions, the moon
phase and the number of bucks and does sighted,”
Pitman reports. “We also have learned which weather
patterns produce the most deer sightings. The day after
a front passes through our area provides one of the
most-productive days you can hunt, according to our
records.” Pitman cautions that you often will
experience high winds the morning after a front, which
may cancel out the benefits of hunting on that day.
Although deer will move in the wind, you’ll have
a hard time seeing and hearing them. If the wind constantly
switches directions, the deer will smell you before
you spot them. “If we get lucky and have no wind
in the morning, we’ll have the perfect conditions
to take a deer,” Pitman emphasizes. Pitman assigned
John the Vietnam stand as he explained that, “We
call this stand the Vietnam stand because it sits in
a thick cane thicket. If a buck moves in that thicket,
you’ll not spot him unless he comes within 20
to 30 yards of your stand. If the buck appears, he’ll
show up suddenly and then vanish. When you have enough
light to see, expect the deer.”
As we left the lodge the following morning, the clear,
pre-dawn sky held millions of twinkling stars but no
wind. When I arrived at my ladder stand in a small stretch
of hardwoods on the edge of a lake where deer naturally
would funnel through, I found a layer of frost covering
the stand. No leaves moved on the trees. The moon appeared
as though it rose from the smooth surface of the still
water instead of reflecting from above. If a cold, windless,
noiseless morning offered our best options for bagging
bucks, we had the perfect time to hunt. But still I
wondered as I waited on first light whether John would
get a shot at a buck on that day. As a father, I knew
of only one thrill greater than my taking a buck - watching
the joy and excitement of the young man who bore my
name when he fulfilled his hunting dream.
 After
taking a short nap waiting on the sun to come up, John
studied the cane patch surrounding his stand. With less
than 50 yards of visibility, John quickly became bored.
Then John saw a buck’s antlers through the thick
cane but couldn’t take the shot because he couldn’t
see the animal’s shoulders. The deer stood about
30 yards from his stand. John hadn’t had an opportunity
to take a buck for two years. As the deer moved deeper
into the cane, John could see his chance to bag a buck
slipping away. “I knew I had to get to a place
where I could watch the deer or I wouldn’t get
a shot,” John said. John quietly stood in his
magnolia tree stand and slide the strap of his tree
stand harness up the tree. With the skill of a monkey,
he climbed on top of the stand and stood on the side
supports. Although John knew he risked falling from
the tree, he’d already tested his safety harness.
He had confidence the harness would hold him if he did
fall. As John looked into the brush, he watched the
8-point buck moving away from him toward an opening
no more than 2-feet wide. “I knew I had only one
shot,” John explained. “If I didn’t
shoot when the deer hit the opening, I wouldn’t
get the shot. I aimed my .243 at the spot where I hoped
the deer would appear. Through my scope, I first saw
brown hair and finally the point of the buck’s
shoulder at the intersection of the crosshairs. Then
I squeezed the trigger.” John had hunted long
enough to realize he needed to wait before pursuing
the deer. As he climbed down into his tree stand, he
replayed the shot again in his mind. The buck hadn’t
fallen at the crack of his rifle but instead had bolted.
Did he make a clean shot or not? Only time would tell.
After waiting 45 minutes, John climbed out of his tree
stand and searched an hour for the buck. However, he
found no evidence that he had hit the animal. Disappointed,
he slowly walked back to his tree stand. As he came
to the edge of a small stream, he found telltale blood.
But he didn’t see enough of a blood trail to immediately
pursue the deer. Instead, John walked to his pick-up
point, met Pitman and rode back to camp for lunch. After
lunch, John, Pitman and I took a trailing dog to search
for the deer. We began at the stream where John had
discovered the blood. The Walker hound barked and moved
quickly into and through the thick cane with us in hot
pursuit. Because of his years of living in the woods
and chasing after wounded deer, Pitman outdistanced
John and me. When the woods fell silent and we no longer
heard the barking dog, I wondered if John’s buck
had gotten away. Then Pitman yelled, “John, come
help me.” “I knew I got him Dad, I knew
I did,” John told me. In less than an hour, we
had dragged the 8-point buck out of the thick brush.
I’d never felt more proud of a deer I’d
taken than of the one my son had just bagged.
 Bo
Pitman accurately predicted the weather conditions that
caused the buck to move. I wanted to know more about
how to determine the best and worst days for sighting
a deer. “We got lucky this morning,” Pitman
explained late at supper. “Eighty percent of the
time, you’ll find a blowing wind the morning after
a front passes through our region. This morning, however,
the wind remained calm. The light frost also helped
us because the cold air caused our human odor to rise.
A frost after a front and no wind means your human odor
may rise above the deer, and they can’t smell
you as well. Most of the time, the afternoon after a
front provides the most-productive time to see deer.”
TOMORROW: BEST DAYS FOR BAGGING
A BUCK
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