WEIRD PLACES I'VE FOUND BIG BUCKS WITH RAY EYE
The One That Got Away with Ray Eye
Editor’s Note: Ray Eye has hunted deer for more
than 30 years and has been a member of Hunter's Specialties
Pro Staff since 1985. This week Eye will tell us about
weird places where he's found big bucks. To take a trophy
buck, you need to locate a big buck in a region where
nobody else is looking for him. Many times these little
overlooked spots can and will produce that dream buck
you've searched for your life. After reading about where
Eye has discovered big bucks, start searching for overlooked
honey holes this season to take the buck of your dreams.
This buck is one I hope to take this season. I found
him last season on a piece of property that contains
about 3000 acres. Most of the sportsmen who hunt this
land hunt from really nice tower stands, and very few
of these hunters bow hunt. There have been some really
nice bucks taken from this property because it has quite
a bit of agriculture on it. It's an ideal place to grow
big bucks in central Missouri. But one piece of their
property, approximately 50 acres that contains a couple
of little buildings and a pasture, is right next to
a state road and a major highway. This 50 acres also
homes a creek bottom with a soybean field and a cornfield
across from it. The space from the open pasture to the
agricultural fields is only about 75-yards wide, and
this creek runs through that timbered corridor. To the
north is someone else's property that contains big timber.
The little corridor is only about 100 yards from the
road, and several houses are close to the road. If you're
sitting in a stand in this corridor, you can hear people
talking at the houses, radios playing and watch traffic
move up and down the road. Because this location is
so highly exposed and small, the members of the hunting
lease never hunt this region.
One day I asked if I could hunt this property, and
the land owner said, "Sure. But, you're not going
to see any deer because no one ever hunts that property."
When I scouted the area, I found some good deer signs
- trails, scrapes and rubs - so I hung three tree stands.
In late October, I saw a really big buck going through
the corridor, but all I could see was his rack. I never
was able to take the buck during bow season, although
I'd seen several other nice bucks. So, three days before
Missouri's gun season, I took a ground blind down to
a spot where I thought the big buck was traveling and
set up the ground blind. I used the Hunter's Specialties
pop-up ground blind.
The
day I put up the blind, I decided to take my bow with
me, put out a decoy and just see what happened. I had
to hide the blind so that none of the people in the
houses or on the road could see exactly where I was
hunting. I could hear dogs barking, people talking and
traffic moving on the highway, and I told myself, "This
is probably a dumb idea and a bad place to hunt. However,
no one else is hunting here. A good buck can move through
this corridor without being seen, and he would have
easy access to this bean field and corn field without
being harassed by hunters."
On the property behind where I set up the blind was
also a large field of Mossy Oak BioLogic. I had my bow
with me, and I also had my video camera. So, I started
taping some of the does and small bucks that using this
little corridor. I photographed how they were reacting
to my decoy. I had my camera sitting on a tripod inside
the blind. When I finished photographing a doe late
in the evening, I turned the camera off and started
using my binoculars to look for other deer. After I
had glassed for about a minute, I started to take the
binoculars down from my eyes, and as I looked out the
window of the blind to my right, I saw a huge rack not
4 feet from my blind.
I'd walked in along the edge of the creek to leave
as little scent as possible. I'd also sprayed down with
Scent A-Way, and I'd set my blind up only a few feet
from the edge of the creek. The last place I ever expected
to see a deer was coming from behind me where I had
walked in and set up the blind, which was the direction
from which the buck had come. When I spotted that rack,
I reached for my bow. I knew I could easily get off
a shot and take this monster buck. But, because I was
watching the buck and not looking at my bow, as I picked
up the bow, it hit the tripod where my camera was sitting.
That small noise spooked the buck, and he jumped and
ran out into the field, out of bow range, but well within
camera range.
I powered up the camera. The buck was about 40-yards
away from the blind when the camera powered up, and
although I couldn't get a shot at him with my bow, I
was able to video him with my camera. Using my Tru Talker,
I'd grunt to the buck every time he'd turn to walk away.
He'd turn back to look at me, stomp his feet, bristle-up
and lay his ears back as though he were going to come
in to where I was. Although he couldn't see me in that
blind, neither could he see the deer that he thought
was grunting to him. Finally he seemed to just melt
into the woods about 60 yards from me.
I
hunted him four more days and didn't see him. Then I
hunted him during the entire Missouri gun season. I
finally moved a portable tree stand into the area where
I'd last seen the buck. I passed up a buck that would
score 130 points on Boone and Crockett and a second
buck that would have scored 140 points, hoping to take
this huge Missouri monster. Finally one morning during
gun season, I spotted a nervous doe walking the edge
of the field behind me. I looked behind her and spotted
this tremendous-sized buck following her. I slowly moved
my gun around to get it into a position where I could
take the shot. However, just before the buck reached
a spot where I could take the shot, he crossed the creek
and got into some thick cover. Although I didn't put
a tape measure on this buck's rack, I was confident
he would measure somewhere between 185 and 195 points
B&C - one of the biggest bucks I'd ever seen in
my life. This buck had to weigh well over 200 pounds.
If I'm persistent in hunting that buck again this year,
and if nobody finds out that this buck is in this really-open
public area, I should be able to take him this season.
I already have three portable tree stands hidden in
trees that I can find, but no one else will probably
see. I've already scouted this region this year and
have found plenty of deer sign. This area is a small
bottleneck between thick-cover places, croplands, BioLogic
fields, a state road and three houses. This section
of land has so much civilization around it that no one
has ever hunted it because most people believe that
deer won't ever move through a spot this close to civilization.
But that's the very reason that the big buck lives there.
I've also seen several other good bucks in there. When
you're looking for a place to take a big buck, search
for the areas where no one in his right mind will hunt,
which is usually where you'll locate him.
Big bucks have learned to live extremely close to people,
and I believe they can tell the difference between people
and hunters. Oftentimes, some of the most-public areas,
next to roads, highways, houses, buildings and even
camp houses are where you'll encounter the bigger bucks.
Remember that a trophy buck has to live where no one
wants to hunt if he's going to survive. And, if you'll
hunt in those places where no one wants to hunt, you'll
see and oftentimes take the bucks that no other hunter
even knows exist.
I've
had some of the hunters who hunt this property ask me,
"Why are you hunting down there in that little
neck?" I'll answer, "Well, I've seen a few
deer there." These hunters generally laugh and
tell me, "Yeah, but there aren't any big bucks."
I'll just smile and say, "Well, maybe one day y'all
will spook one that will run by me." Last year
I went up to one of the property owners' houses in this
area to admire a couple of bucks he'd taken. I was thinking,
"Neither of those bucks is half as big as the two
bucks I've already passed on right here at this fellow's
house, but he's 15 miles to hunt."
I spotted this big buck three times last season, and
the last time I saw him was right at the end of January.
So, I know the buck survived hunting season. This year
I'll be in that little bottleneck again, and hopefully
this year I'll be able to take that monster buck. Little
places like the one I've described often hold really-big
bucks like the one I'm trying to take this season.
TOMORROW: THE BACKWARD BUCK WITH RAY EYE
|