Hunting a ghost

How would you go about hunting a 7.5-8 year old buck . Have pics of a deer from 2016 as a 4.5 yo 135” 8 point. Got out of running cams on that property until this year and he is still alive and is a 155-160” beast of an 8 point same spot as 3 years ago . Rut is dec 24- Jan 3 respectively, but I just don’t know if I can wait that long to hunt him . I can access and hunt him from a distance on most variations of a north wind and know within 20 or so acres of where he usually beds but it is 99% impenetrable and he’s pretty untouchable in there .

As far away as possible

Get in the thicket and kill him on the ground. 1%

Run some dogs up in there!

155 or 160 inch 8 point? That is a big boy

Can you post a picture of him?

Wait until you have the needed wind. Hunt from afar and go after him as many times as you can. Those older deer love that core area and rarely leave it but he will walk the edges or follow a doe out or ease out a bit early one night. Do not go in his area imo

We had one like that with 5 years of pictures and could never see him. We hunted scrapes, bedding area and hunted hard during the rut and he was on cameras so he was always there. One of the guys went down one day during the week on a slow warm day just to kill time and buck walked out into the middle of the green field and started feeding. Dumb luck.

Yes it is. A really good friend of mine killed this 155" 8 point Sunday morning here in Missouri on a farm his dad bought the first part of year. First pic is a crappy cell phone pic.

Stay away from him till the rut then hunt every moment you can.

I’ll post a tailgate pic of him if I kill him lol . . Yea he’s real similar to that deer just maybe a bit wider . I may have been a little high at 160... I’ll still say 155” though ..

Beautiful buck there Swampy! I hunted around Jamestown, Missouri for 4 years. It's a small town about 30 miles from Jefferson City. Where about's in Missouri are you hunting?

Your answer

That is a Stud there Swampy!

x 1,000. This is your best bet at getting this buck. And even then, you need to make sure you’ve got the right wind. Otherwise you’ll alert him to your presence and he’ll be gone.

We have killed three 7.5 to 8.5 year old bucks in the past three years. All three were killed in the final weekend of the season, and all three were killed in food plots while chasing does, at a time when the "rut" had already come and gone. Don't know what that means, but that has been our experience.

the best time to kill an old buck is at the tail end of the rut when fewer does are hot.

^^^^^ just before breeding gets started , use the element of surprise. You have to wait till he's on his feet in daylight. Get in there screwing around now and he may not move in daylight at all.

Man drive it the last Sunday afternoon of hunting season.

On public land id hop in there with him. But on my lease id probably put zero pressure on him until the rut. Sit all day, because they have to get up sometime during the day. He may only go 20 yards from his bed but thats 20 yards closer to you if your set up correctly that could give you a shot at him

My game cameras support this conclusion.

Just unleash a bunch of hounds on him, he'll come outa there

That’s the biggest 8 pt I’ve ever seen in person, my buddy killed it in Missouri few years ago, it was 153 and something

He killed one almost as big last week in Kansas





Here’s the one from Kansas the other day

I shot an 8 pt one morning many years ago. He come running off a hill and I just made a bad shot. Started blood trailing him and heard someone on the neighboring property shoot. Blood trailed him all the way to the bed of that fellows truck. Best I remember was 156" . If someone has the Alabama Whitetail Records book could you look it up for me to see if I remember the score right. The guys name was Glen Martin.

^^^ this, and hunt weekdays

Wait til the rut

Id do exactly like many in here have said. Back out until the pre rut/rut in your area. Then go in after him.

If you know pretty much to 20 acres where hes bedded Id hunt where I can shoot him stepping out of that 20.

I might even hunt right along , or slightly in from the edge if playing it safe didnt work after a week or so and get in there with him.

But just slightly, where I wont push him out coming and going and have a chance at him corralling a doe or two in there. That is exactly what Im doing right now on a piece on a pretty good one.

Im letting neighbors pressure him in there and killing him in the pre rut /rut. My buddy is doing the same on his piece. usually one of us will tag the good ones if we play it safe like that.

Good luck and post him up when you kill him.

Put some corn out there

I will tell you this I have seen numerous bucks on more than one occasion before rut and when rut or rifle season comes in they are gone. I would try a chance on him if there was a pattern and a way to get to him outside of the bedding area. The rut increases your neighbors chances cause he may travel around and get shot. He may be one of those old rutting bucks that stays in the bushes until midnight and then fights and calls the does to him, if so the rut may not help.