Monster Minute Blog

During the summer months, hot temperatures and high humidity are great reasons to stay inside, but the big bucks are still out there and are usually more visible now than during any other time of the year! This is also a great time to figure out a game plan for a giant buck you are already hunting or to locate a new monster in your favorite hunting area. It can be downright miserable, sweating in the summer heat and swatting mosquitos, but the determined hunter can accumulate some very valuable information scouting when most hunters are back home in the A/C! For the past 20 years, I’ve spent countless hours scouting from June through August, and it has paid big dividends for me. I’ve learned some tactics for this time of the season that can help you if your willing to put forth the extra effort and for the next few weeks I will discuss these along with summer deer patterns and how to make the most of your scouting.
[Read more…] about Keys for Summer Scouting

When it comes to hunting “Monster Bucks” one thing is for certain, a successful hunter will go the extra mile to learn everything possible about his quarry. One of the tactics I have used to help me score on big bucks consistently over the years, involves establishing mineral sites and monitoring them with trail cameras. Not only does this allow me to watch his antlers develop, but I also gain valuable clues to his travel patterns. Another benefit to this strategy is helping to optimize a bucks potential growth by making the correct nutrition available to him. You may be asking yourself when is the best time to put this plan into action, and I say right now!
[Read more…] about Minerals for Monster Bucks

For the majority of his life, a mature whitetail buck lives simply to survive. Since the day he was born, he’s taught the most basic survival instincts from his mother, but over the years he develops his hands by buy ar 15 accessories and training which improved his senses, honing them constantly as they become the weapons that guard his very life. As the seasons come and go, he transforms into a different animal than the rest of the herd, cautious and mysterious, making fewer and fewer mistakes… His life becomes one of secretiveness and seclusion. A stealthy old buck picks the safest routes, using the thickest cover, the contours of the land, and the cloak of darkness to conceal his movements. He becomes a master at the game, the game of survival. This elusive creature has a weakness though, and it lies within his travel patterns. It’s when a buck moves that he is the most vulnerable.
[Read more…] about Understanding Travel Patterns for Big Whitetails

Last week we talked about shed hunting and how important it can be to locating a mature buck. If you find a good set of anlters, you know the buck has survived the hunting season. Where you find a bucks shed antlers can also give you a starting point to figuring out his home range. Once season ends, hunters should hit the woods searching for sign left behind by a giant buck. Shed hunting is my first step in locating a big old dominant buck to hunt, my second step will be trying to locate his core area. I honestly believe that a hunter can increase his odds tremendously if he will burn a little shoe leather in the off season locating a bucks core area. This week we will discuss what a core area is, where to look, what to look for and why its important to find these spots.
[Read more…] about What is a Big Buck’s “Core Area”?

The mature whitetail is an amazing creature and may very well be the most sought after trophy in North America. The whitetail deer can see, hear and smell better than any animal in the woods and once a buck reaches maturity, he is a master at the game of survival. A big buck is a different creature than other deer in the woods and his ability to evade danger demands respect, the hunter must approach this chase differently than the rest. A mature buck lives a separate life from others in the deer woods, he is a rare and unique creature and has learned to survive by making very few mistakes. Over the years, giant whitetails develop a sixth sense…an unseen and unexplainable defense mechanism that seems to detect danger when its close…making them an even more difficult animal to harvest.
[Read more…] about Shed Hunting

What’s the key to harvesting Monster Bucks consistently? It would have to be finding them, right? It doesn’t matter if you are the best bowhunter on earth and you can hit a paper plate consistently at 100 yards on every shot, if he doesn’t live where you hunt you won’t kill him! There’s an argument for scouting too, you can’t shoot a giant year in and year out unless you put your time in and burn up some shoe leather figuring out what they do and how they do it! What about the element of surprise? Could the key to wrapping your tag around a giant rack every fall be a stealthy, secretive hunting strategy where the buck your after never knew you were there? It’s tough to decide what’s most important when it comes to hunting Dominant Bucks. My success has come from paying strict attention to detail, and all the tactics above have played a huge role in my sucess. I’ve always believed that the more I can do to “stack the deck” in my favor would have to increase my chances on harvesting giant bucks. It seems like in this day and age, everybody is looking for that one thing that will bring them success overnight, that one magic lure, that one product that will make them virtually scent free, or some gimmick that will bring the bucks running. I don’t believe such a product exists, and you get out of it what you put in, it takes a lot of work, but man is the reward worth it!
[Read more…] about Monster Bucks, what does it take?