Big Bucks Where No One Can Hunt Them but You
Bucks in the Pines & Bucks Where No One Wants
to Hunt
 Editor’s
Note: Thousands of acres of land throughout the country
home trophy bucks. Often the landowners don't hunt these
properties. But they also may not allow anyone else
to because they've had bad experiences with hunters
in the past or can find no benefits in letting someone
hunt their lands. To have a trophy, big-buck hotspot
no one else but you can hunt, solve a landowner's problem
before you ask permission to hunt. Here are a few ways
to hunt lands no one else can hunt by solving the landowner’s
problems first.
All my life hunters have told me, "Pine plantations
are biological deserts where no deer can live."
However, I've learned pine plantations can provide plenty
of cover, food and sanctuary for a trophy buck. Some
years ago, I hunted a pine plantation on the edge of
a major highway. The pines stopped 20 yards short from
the edge of a creek in a hardwood bottom. Most sportsmen
would opt to hunt the creek. No one hunted in the pines
because they assumed the road noise would spook the
deer. Besides, the hunters believed the deer had nothing
to feed on in th e
pines. When I discovered a well-worn deer trail leading
into the pines and some large scrapes on the edge of
the creek, I knew a trophy buck held in those pines
and would come out of the pines to work his scrapes
at night. Several other hunters had put up tree stands
near the scrapes but had had no success bagging the
deer. More for curiosity than any other reason, I decided
to enter the pines to try and determine where the deer
bedded. I had walked less than 20 yards into the pines
when I discovered a space where no one had planted about
four rows of evergreens. Workers had piled up stumps
and logs in this area when they had cleared the land
to plant the pines. This windrow had grown up with Japanese
honeysuckle and greenbrier, two of the deer's favorite
foods. On the edge of the windrow, the pines shaded
the fertile ground, allowing mushrooms to grow. I could
see where the deer had eaten the mushrooms. For the
next two weekends, I hunted in these pines. I spotted
two bucks with antlers that would have measured more
than 18 inches between their beams. But I never had
the opportunity to get off a shot. I plan to hunt in
the pines again this season. Hopefully I'll get a buck
then.
Bucks Where No One Wants to Hunt:
To find big bucks, also hunt in areas where no one else
wants to hunt. Bo Pitman, lodge manager of White Oak
Plantation in Tuskegee, Alabama, explains, "We
take the biggest bucks on our property from the spots
that most hunters believe are the worst stands. "For
instance, we have one stand near the highway in an open
field. Hunters can see cars going up and down the highway.
All they have to look at is the edge of a pine plantation.
But big bucks do come out of the pines and move across
the road at this particular stand site. However, whenever
I put a hunter on this stand, he'll think I've given
him the worst stand on the property. He doesn't realize
that some of the biggest bucks we've ever taken have
come from this stand." Hunters also hate to hunt
a small neck of woods not 100 yards from the back door
of Red Oak, another lodge on the White Oak Plantation
property. Sportsmen sitting in this stand can see the
housekeepers going in and out every morning when they
clean the rooms and the hunters who've slept late getting
up and going to breakfast. The s tand
sits so close to the house that reason dictates you'll
never see a buck there, especially a big buck. However,
because some hunters who know honeyholes for big bucks
can exist close to houses and White Oak only allows
hunters to hunt this stand one or two times a year,
they bag monster-sized bucks from this stand each season.
Other big-buck stand sites on the property hunters
hate lay in the middle of extremely-dense cover where
the sportsman may not be able to see more than 20 yards.
"Most hunters assume that if they can't see for
a long distance they can't spot a big buck," Pitman
said. "Although older-age-class bucks rarely expose
themselves in open woods during daylight hours, they
will walk through little openings in thick cover during
the daytime throughout most of the season. Our property
produces big bucks each season at what hunters consider
bad stands." White Oak lets hunters hunt the very
worst stand on their property only during January. Because
this stand sits on a small island, the hunter must wear
chest-high waders and walk through a deep, muddy swamp
for 1/2-mile to get there before daylight. If he takes
a buck at this stand, he understands he'll have to drag
that buck through the swamp for 1/2-mile before he can
get to his vehicle and carry the deer out. Few hunters
choose to go to this stand site. But the brave hearts
who do often take trophy bucks.
To learn more about White Oak Plantation, call 334-727-9258
and visit www.whiteoakplantation.com.
Tomorrow: Weird Places to Find Trophy Bucks Where No
One Can Hunt
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