Are nocturnal bucks able to be killed? They can be tough, but it is possible.
Whitetail Habitat Solutions has some good advice on how to kill nocturnal bucks.
Read more in this article, and then watch the video.
5 Rules For Killing Nocturnal Bucks
1. Hidden Food Plots (and other deer hotspots)
Are your food plots and other great habitat creations designed for you to pattern deer or for deer to pattern you? Hunters hunting food plots poorly, may be the #1 way that nocturnal bucks are created.
2. Exterior Hunting Access
Exterior hunting access doesn’t mean that you necessarily have to follow your parcel borders, but it does mean that you have to allow as much contiguous land as possible, to be hunter-free and to truly become a sanctuary. A sanctuary is not a sanctuary, unless the deer inside can not see you, hear you or smell you. The % of acres on your land that should be avoided by your access (scent, sound and site) should be at least 50% on parcels 40 acres or less, and at least 60% or greater on parcels 80-120 acres or larger.
3. Hidden Stand and Blind Access
If you regularly spook deer while entering or exiting your stand locations, changes have to be made. One of the rules I hunt by is to ask one questions: “Would I climb into this stand or access into my blind locations in this manner, if deer could carry a weapon”? Each stand setup should allow you to use spook-free, nearly 100% of the time.
4. Defined Lines of Deer Movement
Accessing and climbing into deer stands without spooking deer is often impossible on highly improved lands, because random habitat improvements create random deer movements. By making sure that the dots of daily deer movement are connected on your land, you can be a lot more certain that you can hike to a location of ambush with a much lower probability that you will spook deer.
5. Quiet Is King!
If it snaps, zips, squeaks, clangs, bangs, motors, rips, creaks or groans…you simply can’t use it if you want to consistently kill nocturnal bucks. A deer’s ear isn’t necessarily that much better than our own, but they are tuned into unnatural noises extremely well. I believe that many hunts are potentially destroyed, before a hunter even gets close to their treestand. I know personally I have spooked deer at 200 yards, just by accidently banging my release on the top of my quiver when I attempted to check my watch. It doesn’t take much, and we all probably know someone we have hunted with that may be likely to spook deer within a 200 yard bubble while they access a stand. [Continued]
