How to Take the Buck that Nobody Else Can Bag
Hunt Little Places
 Editor’s
Note: Bucks of legend, those seldom seen and mostly
nocturnal, that no one can take but that everyone chases
have developed reputations of having almost supernatural
powers over the years. Here's a look at how some of
the nation's deer hunters successfully have pitted their
skills against the bucks with the big reputations.
Preston Pittman of Pickens, Mississippi, the creator
of Preston Pittman Game Calls, has hunted deer across
much of the United States.
"I often can find big bucks in little places where
other hunters walk by them or where no one in his right
mind thinks to look for a buck," Pittman mentions.
"A few years ago I hunted at Bent Creek Lodge near
Jachin, Alabama. A small pine plantation lay on one
side of a blacktop road, and just on the edge of this
little planted pine area were s ix
or eight acorn trees. Across the road from this spot
was a 2- or a 3-year-old clearcut. Beside this pine
plantation and the small grove of hardwoods was a big
cow pasture. Although hunters had seen a nice 9-point
buck cross the road early in the morning and just at
dark there, no one could find this buck during daylight
hours. Most of the hunters would pull off the blacktop
road, drive past this little pine thicket and begin
to hunt the deer at the end of the pasture." Pittman,
accustomed to looking for isolated hunting spots, decided
not to search for the buck at the end of the pasture
in the big woods where everyone else had hunted. Instead,
he began his hunt in the acorn trees right on the edge
of the pines, less than 100 yards from the road.
"I went into my stand site at about 2:00 p.m.,"
Pittman remembers.  "From
where I was hunting, I could watch the cars go up and
down the highway. I made sure I had a favorable wind
and got up the tree as quietly as possible. When you
hunt close to bucks, you've got to be extremely quiet
to avoid spooking them." As night fell, Pittman
watched the little pine plantation. Just before dark
he saw a buck walking out of the pines, stretching himself
as he moved into the acorns to feed. "I believe
if I'd been watching more closely I even could have
seen the buck when he stood up in his bed," Pittman
says. The big buck moved out of the pines and fed on
the acorns as he turned broadside to Pittman, who watched
from
his tree stand, less than 15-yards away with his bow
at full draw. Pittman released his arrow and made a
good hit on the buck. He climbed down the tree to claim
his trophy. "Everyone knew the buck would feed
across the road in the clearcut, and everyone assumed
that the buck would go all the way to the back side
of the pasture into the deep woods to bed-down,"
Pittman explains. "However, the buck had learned
that if he bedded close to the road, the hunters would
walk or drive past him, never thinking to hunt that
small patch of woods. Although I didn't really think
the buck would bed-down so close to those little acorn
trees, I'd learned that bucks often would bed down near
an area where they could get themselves some snacks
before going to their primary food source. One of the
real secrets to finding big bucks no one else can take
is to look in little places where no one else thinks
to look."
Tomorrow: Take A Shortcut Buck
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