Goes without saying.......Stan Potts can't kill big uns if they aren't there.

I'd rank "know how" solidly above time in the woods, if you know how, it takes much less time in the woods.

CD gave you the best advice I've seen.

Don't burn your best stands out until the time is right. That is true whether hunting mountains, flat land or anything in between.

This is when you crappie fish.

More solid advice.

2Dogs, Demp and CD nailed it. I don't step foot in the woods here at my place until after Christmas, I've learned its just best to leave them alone until they get to moving on their own during the rut. I hunt other properties and public land early on to fill the freezer.

Great advice on this thread about some mountain deer killing.

2Dogs is the Chuck Norris of Jackson County mega buck Slaying and CD is the Jack Bauer of big buck murdering. Both stone cold deer slayers. I remember a few times hunting and hearing CD shoot and thinking well a grandaddy buck just died ha ha

Hold on there lead foot, Chuck Norris . Besides , he's getting pretty old.

Jughead told me you were an old grey headed warrior so that's why I went with Chuck

It was either him or Eastwood

You need to stop listening to Juggy, he'll get ya in trouble. Now Eastwood , he says some really cool lines and he's an Obama hater. Hmmmmm. BTW, Norris is old, Eastwood is seasoned.

hunting good land is definitely key but it still takes a lot of skill and woodsmanship to kill good bucks in Jackson Co., more so than anywhere I've ever seen. My flat land/ black belt buddies are blown away by how hard the hunting is on my place compared to their' s. Year in year out our crop of bucks is as good if not better but our bucks are just harder to hunt, see, kill. They love the views and love the change in scenery and know the potential to kill a really good buck is there, but when they see where I go to hunt and what it takes to get there they are usually happy to get back to their flat ground and shooting houses. Can't say I blame them, but for me there is nothing like hunting the mountains, but it's hard work and frustrating at times.

I hear ya.

Thanks for everybody's input. Really good info on here.

Learn your RUT dates, We have one lease we know exactly which days in January are the best. There are certain places we BARELY step foot on until the WIND is perfect and/or the rut is on. Preferably both. And if we need to scout it out to see what sign is around we try to do it before a rain that way our scent is washed out almost immediately.

A Lot of times we won't even step foot on this place the entire month on December just to let them get comfortable again.

You've got some good info that's been posted before but we still haven't answer your question of how to kill mature bucks during the pre rut " lull" or " lock down" .

Yea, but everybody told what they do during that time period. That was really all i was after. Looked like other folks wanted to hear from yall too...over 1,000 folks looked in here.

Looks like the common theme of how to kill a bigun before the rut is just plain ole luck. But is it luck if it happens frequently?...demp??

Not an expert opinion hear, and I'm just an ol flatland hunter. But one thing I've learned that benefits me at this point in the game, for this time of the year. Use this time to refine your skills. Like they said not prime spots and hunt doe's. BUT use it as a trial run so to speak for your big buck routine.

Killing a mature buck in Bama is just plain lucky anyway and killing one before the rut is just that much more lucky, there is no way around it. Every December buck I have on the wall I killed in the morning (except for 1) and all were either headed back to their bedroom (which I was setup on the edge of) and were a tad late or they were in their bedroom and they just happened to move around enough in it (mainly clear or select cut) and come through a little opening to give me a shot. Also most of my mountain success is around bluffs and thick stuff, find those 2 close to each other and I can about guarantee you there is a mature buck around.

When someone tells you good luck before you go hunting tell them thanks because you are going to need all of it hunting the mountains of Jackson County.

The best thing a man can do to increase his odds of killing gooduns in early December to say Christmas in Jackson County is to get your arse out of Paint Rock Valley and head east/northeast as far as you can go without going over into Tennessee or Georgia. All of Jackson County ain't the same.