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: TROLLING FOR BUCKS WITH RAY EYE
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