Make your own deer hunting luck

Locating trophy whitetail bucks requires several things: a spotting scope, good binoculars, a high vantage point, the ability to stay downwind of the animals, and perhaps a tiny bit of luck.

You'll notice I said nothing about a bow or firearm. Those may be needed when hunting in the near future, but locating a good buck means spending a good bit of time in the field with the above mentioned items.

One of my buddies, Rich Johnson of Isppeming,  locates Upper Peninsula bucks by sitting high on a rocky outcropping overlooking a crop field with close proximity to some heavy cedar swamps. He sits quietly, often 500 yards or more from where the deer are seen feeding in an open potato field, and studies them with binoculars or a spotting scope.

Another friend uses a tall free near a busy highway. John Davey of rural Petoskey knows the deer won't be crossing the road during daylight hours, so he has constructed a safe and sturdy stand that sits 30 feet off the ground and just off the road right-of-way on his land. He crawls into it, fastens his full-body safety harness, and studies the deer and how they approach the field in the early evening.

"Sometimes I crawl into the same tree while it is still dark, wait for the dawn, and check out how deer exit the feeding area," Davey said. "After several early morning or late afternoon visits, I know where the deer are coming from and where they are going ... and which trails I should be hunting on different winds."

The savvy sportsman does this in several locations, and long before the bow season opens he knows where the deer travel. And best of all, he knows how he will set up on them once the season opens.

Knowing where deer bed down, where they feed and their exact travel routes, can be pin-pointed during the late summer months. These areas will not change unless humans move into the area when deer are normally moving.

I used to have an elevated coop in the middle of an open field. I could see 250 yards to one end of the field, 350 yards to the other end, and the field was about 400 yards wide. Walking in to this elevated coop was a snap, and I'd do it long before the deer would start moving.

The coop had stood in place for 15 years, and deer had come to accept it as a permanent fixture. It had plexiglass windows on all four sides, and a flat floor that allowed the use of a tripod and my Bushnell spotting scope.

I dressed in camo clothing, and had two stools in the stand for use during the firearm and muzzleloader seasons. In mere seconds, a deer that was spotted was instantly brought into sharp focus. It was easy to tell where the buck had come from, and backtracking that animals trail wasn't important. I knew the swamp he bedded in, and the trails he used to enter the field to feed.

The value of my spotting scope was it allowed me the opportunity to zero in on the buck's rack, and determine his size. On many occasions, if I had a friend who really wanted to shoot a decent buck, I knew which stand would be the most productive, where the buck would come from, and when he would show up.

This pre-season scouting, and timing of when bucks arrived, became so skilled that I could predict within two or three minutes when the buck would walk in front of a particular stand. It paid off for many hunters, and if I told them the buck would arrive at 7:23 p.m., they came to realize that I had these bucks pegged. It led to a good number of hunters shooting their first buck.

Johnson told me that that he had been able to do with pre-season scouting, "isn't difficult but, it can be time consuming.” What works for me can work for you, but getting out into the field, laying down some foot prints, and studying deer from afar requires a large investment in time.

"My success comes from a large measure of sweat equity in covering large areas, climbing trees or rocky ledges, and being there when deer move, I no longer trust my memory, but for the past 10 or more years, I write down exactly where and when I spot a nice buck. I watch him until I know all his travel routes."

Some hunters are willing to invest that time, and give themselves a better chance at scoring on a nice buck, and some are not. It's hot, dirty, dusty work, and the bugs can be bad. The results can be commensurate with the effort and work spent gaining in-depth knowledge of a deer and their travel routes.

Many hunters rely on luck to put them in the right spot at the right time, and other sportsmen make their own luck by knowing when to be at the right place at the right time. The big difference is, skill will normally out-produce luck almost every time.

Me, like many of my friends, prefer to make our own luck. It's much more fun that way.