? for 2dogs, foldemup, CD, demp17 and the like...

I consider yall the "deal" for these Jackson county mountain deer that I'm after. I'm not a man who is afraid or too pridefull to ask for help. So, just wanted to see if yall would shed a little light on what kind of things yall do, to be successful in these mountains before the rut. If i am not mistaken, demp17 took a big "daggers" buck in early or mid December. It would be cool to hear some things you did with that buck. Any info on the subject is welcomed and much appreciated.

I don't think I'm yer huckleberry before pre-rut when scrapes are hot. I can't kill them during the 2-3week shut down period before to pre-rut. I've killed several opening day , then after that can't buy one till scrapes get hot. To be honest, I don't know anyone that consistently kills them say from about now till Dec 20. I quit worrying about that period years ago. From about Dec 20 till Jan 10 is my happy zone. But that's everyone else's too.

I don't think you can get much better advice than this. I don't hunt Jackson county mountains but the mountains up here in Eva that I hunt are nearly exactly the same. I gave up the idea of trying for bucks until about late Dec through the end of January. After 15 years of hunting with the same results I finally just decided to except it. I normally bow hunt public land for meat until late December and then start hunting our lease for bucks.

If you kill one in the mnts after bow season and after opening weekend, but prior to the rut, you are just plain lucky, as in winning the loto lucky…

I know several guys with good property in the black belt and they see good bucks all through December and January, but apparently the mnt bucks in N Bama find a cave and go in to hiding until they start hitting the scrapes.

Demp17 has a horseshoe so far up his rear end it take 3 JUGHEADs to pull it out.....

Well, glad to see I am not the only one who has trouble before the rut. I know its going to take some luck this time of year, just hoping yall might have some out of the box tactics to share. I am basically just trying to catch one coming back to bed, near where i think hes bedded. But there are folks who do it..been keeping an eye on the harbin page on FB. Thanks for the replies so far.

Only 2 of my big bucks have come on opening weekend, the rest are in January. Just hunt a bunch of places and find you a big doe group. Find them again in January. I did well because of low pressure on surrounding properties. I hunted big hardwood ridge saddles where I can see the next ridge on each side of me with foodplots at the bottom and cutover at the top. First or second bench from the top is where I spend most of my time.

You might get a mature buck every now and then in the dead period on a property with a lot of folks " scoutin" or the neighbors dogs running deer. But in the mountains without forced movement or just blind luck......not happening very often.

Save your best stands for prime time , then throw everything you have at them. Now's the time to roll does, just not where you expect to hunt the big un in bout 3 weeks.

Lots and lots of truth in this ha ha

Honestly I have killed way more good bucks in December than I ever have in January, and it for the most part its just dumb luck. I have 6 deer on the wall 5 were December kills. I killed my first January wall hanger on Jan 16 last year. You aren't going to get much better advice from what 2Dogs said, he is the Chuck Norris of Jackson County big bucks.

I hunt the "hardest to get to places" I can find early on. Early season pressure seems to put deer in these areas, most places I go most folks wouldn't fathom hunting. I have no clue why I hunt with a rifle because most places I hunt are thick, steep, and just plain rough and one can only shoot 40-50 yards at best. I also due a lot of scouting early on and find these type places. And not so much now but I use to hunt a whole whole lot, more you are in the woods the better chance you have at killing one. Now I have kids and I hunt Illinois so busting my butt for 3 months to find a 135" Alabama deer aint no fun!

I found ol dagz by way of game cam, he lived in a pine forest jungle and used a cut in a bluff on top of a mountain to come in from feeding at night. I left that area alone and only hunted it twice. On 12/5/2011 he was late to his bedding area and came through about 15 minutes after daylight and I just so happen to be at the right place at the right time and shot him at 30 yards.

X2. I think he gives off an estrus smell when he takes a leak in the woods.

When DEMP17 steps in the woods animals do the death march straight for him. Luckiest dude to ever wear a hunter orange.

You'd think he'd put his poor younger less fortunate brother on one from time to time.

Yes! Thats the kind of stuff i like to read. So 1 more quesiton...are yall even hunting right now? Other than some does, will yall even try to hunt where you think a big one is, at all right now? Im saving my rut stuff for later, but im tempted to go into some areas where some big ones have been in the past.

How many times does it have to happen before yall stop calling it luck?!

I was off 5 days over the holiday and went hunting once. Full Moon, SSE wind, and hot weather is not favorable for big bucks moving. In the past I would have hunted every waking moment regardless of weather but I enjoyed sleeping in and eating! If you hunt big buck places this time of year you better make dang sure you eliminate as many possible mistakes as you can. Keep the wind in your face (impossible in the mountains), slip in and slip out and pray the deer don't come from the wrong direction and smell you or where you walked in. If you screw it up your chances of killing him just dropped significantly. If you have one patterned though, now is the time to kill him because that pattern is fixing to change.

Daffyduck can't say anything, he killed a giant last year in December 2 miles from where he had him on camera the day before and I am pretty sure the biggest deer he has ever killed is in a spot big bro showed him.

Well how about your pal LUMPY then?? AH, nevermind, if you're going to help someone, JUGHEAD needs it more than me since I got lucky in Jan 2014....

I ran some property lines this weekend, tried to roll a doe or two. I'm not hunting the prime spots yet, not even time to narrow it down to 2 or 3 yet.

What makes the deer in the mountains act different than the deer not in the mountains?

The wind. It's unpredictable ... blows this way then that way ... never know where its gonna come from

That's the same where I hunt. Also the deer can come from any direction. I quit worrying about the wind direction, for that reason.

I haven't hunted much flat land but I would guess the terrain would play a part. There are some places that deer can go up/down that humans can't unless they have rope! Also places where deer just cannot go up nor down. I am somewhat clueless to flat land deer though, even in Illinois I catch myself hunting deep hollows instead of the fields like my buddies hunt.

I've never hunted fields in IL or KY, either. I always hunted in the woods. Deer seem to stay on trails more(even in open hardwoods) in those states than they do where I hunt. I hardly see a deer walk a trail here. I have my best luck here before the rut starts. Once the rut starts where I hunt, it turns into luck. I've killed a few during the rut, but way more outside of the rut.

I don't know that they do. I do know after the first few days of gun season till about the 20th of December, not many mature bucks seen or killed.

I know they don't act like those I hunted in Canada. And certainly not the TV horn porn bucks in the mid-west. And you won't kill many mature bucks up here in wide open mature timber of any species like in those pics Gobbler posts .

Do you think it's because the woods are so open?

They don't move in the thick stuff either. It's not uncommon for areas with long seasons to have a " lock down" period prior to breeding.

I guess we have " lock down" in areas most deer would feel comfortable moving in all the time . I see pics on here and on TV and can't imagine why a deer would travel through such open terrain.

My best set ups over the years are all very similar. They all had clearcuts on top, big woods on the side, and crop fields in the bottom. All were classic between-feed-and-bed scenarios. The deer would feed in the bottoms at night and would work their way up to the cutovers in the mornings. My best stands were always on the top bench, just under the bluff. Any further down the mtn, and the deer would get by me before daylight. Throw in a point or a saddle or some other "structure" and it gets even better. I don't know if your land presents any of these scenarios, but try to find out where they feed and where they bed and camp out in between. Watch the thermals as much as you watch the predominant wind direction. On a "calm" day, the thermals may over ride the lateral winds.

Like others, almost ALL of my older bucks were killed in January. It took me a long time to learn not to burn out my best spots before the time was right. CD.

Demp17 what part of North Bama are you from?

2Dogs is listed as BoxesCove, I know exactly where that's at but unsure if I know who he is either. I'm wondering how many people on this site that I might actually know.

Not with any regularity , by the same persons, year in year out early December. There has been several good ones killed early this year. I'll bet $ luck and/or forced movement in most cases. There's no patterns this time of year, rut is not rockin', not much movement in daylight period.

I know a man that does it and does it all on public ground. They may not be high scoring deer, but they are old, mature bucks. I'd love to show his wall off but he's an off the radar guy.

And with the exception of a few I know most of the guys you listed and we all have some pretty good ground to hunt on. I know folks who kill giants every year and only bow hunt but they have some of the most prime land in Alabama. The club I'm I'm now is terrible, pressured really hard, shoot everything that walks, drive 4 wheeler right to stand and I don't have one buck on camera. So where you hunt and how it is hunted is as big as anything.

I'm from SE Madison County but I've hunted Jackson County my entire life. Cut my teeth at LA Hunting club in Stevenson when my family leased it. Learned a lot about mountain deer on the 6k acres in the 18 years we leased it. I mainly hunt PRV and family land now.

I'd like to know how to kill 3 grown uns the first couple weeks of December every year so I could help my wife Christmas shop .

I know he spends ALOT of time in the woods. He's an old man that will out walk any young man I know. I hope when I get his age I know just half of what he knows about hunting these mtns.

Sounds like Ray Holloway, he lived around the road from me. He used to hunt every day , slow and steady on the ground, probably the most patient man I've ever known. Prolly take him all day to go 1/4 mile once he was in prime deer killin' terra. And boy did he kill them.

No sir, that wasn't a question. I was just saying I have been keeping an eye on it. I'm sure the Biguns on there now are not typical bucks for them, early in season.

I wish I knew what it was! I grew up hunting river bottoms in Mississippi and then in the hills outside of Vicksburg and killed a bunch of deer including several mature bucks. I have killed deer everywhere I have hunted from city limit woodlots to farmland in Middle and Southern Tennessee ... but I have never killed one in the mountains of Jackson County. Hopefully this year will be the year though!

Same for me on time frame. I can count the good deer I've seen before Christmas just a hair over one hand in all my years. I've learned now to pace myself. Most of mine right now is either spent trying to get my kids a deer or shooting a doe or 2. If I go too much, I'll be burnt out before game time.

If y'all can only kill mature deer during the rut, how many days do you hunt a season?

If a non Jackson county fella is allowed to add his .02, this is the most underrated post on the topic. Hunting good land is the primary key to regularly killing big bucks. I'd say time in the woods and know how, are tied at 2nd. Ability to seal the deal is 4th. A lot of mediocre hunters kill a good buck or two most years, by spending plenty of time on jam up land. Same with turkeys

I agree on the land part. Right there with it though is neighbors that think on the same level with similar goals.

Yes sir, I agree. Land is a huge part, but add that to these boys know how, it's a good combo. Land #1 and know how #2...totally agree

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.

What he said.

What? I didn't tell tell them the most effective part which is to simply follow ridgestalker around these aforementioned areas.

^^^ Truth

What a pal!

Y'all forgot the preferred method by a lot around here. The ol' trusty spotlight.

I'll add what little I know about it to the subject. I personally have done better outside of the rut. I don't know if its the terrain I hunt or what, but its the fact. I hunt alot like Demp described, on the edge of their bedding areas. Knowing how mature deer use the terrain to navigate their way to and from them is a plus. You've all heard 2dogs and others say pretty woods aint where to find them and its the truth. The places I go, you could barely sling a beagle dog thru or its so steep you risk breaking a leg to get there. I think there's certain mornings when you can almost guarantee a buck will be late getting back to bed. If you know EXACTLY where he's bedding, you can set up on a marginal wind to where he thinks he's safe as he's smelling everything before he gets there. I don't hunt these types of places but 2 maybe 3 times a year because most of the time, I'm having to cross his trail somewhere and double back to where I think he's coming from. If he don't come thru the day I'm in there, I go on to the next place when I go again.

There's a forum alot of you guys may know about but for the ones that don't, here's a link. This man's techniques are totally out of the box and work great for public ground, which is what I hunt 99% of the time. If I hand the luxury of good private land, I'd hunt safe the way most folks do, but I don't. Check the forum out, it may add a trick to your box of magic.

http://www.thehuntingbeast.com/index.php

Great post . This is a great way to kill them when scrapes are hot , but before breeding starts. If you can figure where he beds and where he's likely to come from. Get close to his bed but not on top of it. Get there early, and climb quietly , well before daylight. Good chance you'll get him just after shooting light the first morning. Lots of scrapes are made at night. I've always figured closer breeding gets, he'll be running a little later and later. If I think I know where one beds, I'd rather hunt this way than on top of his scrapes. Hunting scrapes it's very easy to hunt behind a buck, ya gotta be in front of him on scrapes to kill him.

I'd like to hear some of you seasoned vets tactics on killing them during the rut. I know to hunt the does but what do you look for terrain wise and all?

If you hunt Paint Rock Valley get to your stand early and stay all day. Let all the yahoo's coming in late and then going to get lunch chase the deer to you.

Yes sir, i would be interested as well. Alot more to it than just finding does. I see doe groups every single time i hunt. Funny how we all talk about the thick woods being the place to be, pre rut...thats also the only place i can catch up to a goodun during the rut.

I dig it man...im fixing to check out the link, Thanks.

Hate to see this one at the bottom. I think we have a good informative thread going.

Good stuff guys.

I'm studying it ...

all this talk about how hard it is to kill a good one before the rut and I get a call today from our neighboring land owner saying he shot a good buck but had lost the blood trail. He's going back tomorrow to look some more.

I gave him some tracking dog numbers. I told him I'd go help him look after I get off in the morning. When he says it's a good one, it usually is.

Chip? Dang, I hope he finds it. CD.

Call in Meg

Yep, Chip. Tom said it was too far to travel. Blood was bright red, so good chance it's a dead deer. I had a number of another guy by the name of Isaac. Not sure where I got the number but it was stored in my phone. Any one know who this is. It's a 256 number.

We need more dogs in this state....Tom just can't cover all of NE Bama by himself.

I sent him a number of a McKinney fella last night, but I never heard anything back from him.

Hope he finds it.

I bet Tom would come if he knew that it was gonna be worth his time and effort. I would bet my bottom dollar WAY too many people don't pay him a fraction of what his services are worth.

Just curious, what does he charge to come find a deer?

The only time I saw his dogs in action, he simply asked for a "donation". He didn't have a set price. I'm not sure if he still operates that way or not. I wouldn't. My buddy made it well worth his time, but I'm sure hes been stiffed more than once. CD.

Not sure what was discussed but I would have made it clear up front that I planned to pay him well regardless of the outcome. Can't imagine someone not going this and I'm sure an offer was made in this case but he may have too much going on. Too bad though. Mature bucks up our way are too hard to come by to loose.