Bigger Bucks Up Higher?

schoolhousegrizz

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LAST EDITED ON Jul-24-14 AT 04:38PM (MST)[p]I have found an area that always holds bucks. I missed a decent one 4 years ago and shot a decent one last year, scored 139. I went on my first solo over night scouting trip 2 days ago and saw ten bucks, every buck was a 2 point besides one 20 inch 3 by 4. I have seen a true monster there in November. My spot is about 2/3 up the mountain. Do you guys think the biggest bucks are almost always higher during their summer mode? I plan on scouting out the higher peaks in a couple weeks. I usually rifle hunt but starting next year I will archery hunt and then rifle.
 
Yep....higher.

Cancer doesn't discriminate...don't take your good health for granted because it can be gone in a heartbeat. Please go back and read the last line. This time really understand what it says.
 
Not sure where or how high you're talking about, but yes, try higher. Even in the lower areas I have hunted in years past, the biggest bucks will often go to the highest points and into cover within the first 30 visible minutes of the morning. Once they get pressured, they'll go nocturnal until weather or the rut pushes them back down. Definitely not always the way it works, but it's been a good rule for me.
 
Higher is a good idea. Remote is also a good idea. I've been chasing big bucks a long time, and the best advice is "they are where you find them." But I'd be in the highest, most remote place you can find before sunrise and take a good look.
 
Thanks for the advice. My spot is about 8100 feet the very tip of the mountain goes to 9700. My spot however, is more remote then the higher country.
 
I can see how that is the default answer but you should find the least pressured area to find the mature bucks. In one of the areas I hunt it actually means to go lower, no one likes to hunt down hill so we see the bigger bucks down there.

Mntman

"Hunting is where you prove yourself"


Let me guess, you drive a 1 ton with oak trees for smoke stacks, 12" lift kit and 40" tires to pull a single place lawn mower trailer?
 
I've pretty much always used the 3/4 rule....the big boys will be 3/4 of the way up a mountain. Tops get pressure and are easily seen. Bottoms easy to get to. That said I find them where I find them. Sometimes I spot them near the bottom before heading up and get lucky.
 
+1 mntman,

Every place is different but some of the best country that i ever hunted was the NF several hundred yards above private ground that had extremely limited access. The bucks fed on the Private but mostly bedded in the N. Forrest above the fence line, certainly considered lower on the Mountain. Most who ventured in that country stayed on the high trails, never knowing the quality of bucks living in that lower part of the mountain range.

Joey

"It's all about knowing what your firearms practical limitations are and combining that with your own personal limitations!"
 
+1 to sage and mntman
I was at 12 thousand feet in Colorado yesterday and there were deer running everywhere. But there the peaks run up to 14000. They love the timberless Alpine areas when they are in velvet so they are not bumping it. In time all those deer will go down, but when is the real question.
Pressure sends deer packing and so do serious storms. Some of the old bucks hang up high while others head for the timber.
We archery hunt deer less than a mile from a main road (9000ft) or so. But we have found some secluded spots not far from the road where few hunters go. That is where we find big bucks.
Best of luck.
 
they are where you find them simple as that. they definently arent everywhere. some of the largest bucks ive ran into lately have been down low. Seems like everyone with the highcountry crazy the past ten years have been driving right past them. which i dont mind at all
 
I went more remote and more rugged, not higher. I found what I have been looking for. 3 bucks one has a 150ish frame one has a 170ish frame the other one is smart and he is always in the trees before I can get a good look. Thanks for the advice. Sorry I do not have any pics.
 

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