Where the Big Bucks Are

- By Rich Miller

You think that bucks that have a lot of bone on their head would be hard pressed to stay hidden all year and stay out of sight. Big deer have a knack of disappearing around April; stay hidden until the middle of October and then only stick their heads out periodically. They start making appearance in some areas sooner than others, but it is going to happen as October starts coming to a close. Over the past week I have heard story after story and people sending me pictures of big bucks one after another.

I scored again last Tuesday on a nice 8-point at my hunting club. I saw a lot of deer activity last week and saw several small bucks chasing does. The buck I shot wasn’t chasing he was just cruising in an area that had a lot of buck signs in it. Ii was not the only one that scored last week, a couple of my buddies also connected with some of their best bucks to date. Sunday afternoon, my cousin Greg killed his best buck and has been on cloud nine ever since. He scored on a 200 lb., 8-point that was one heck of a deer for South Carolina. The good thing is that it is just getting started and it is only going to get better from here on out.

Back in September when I went to Kansas, we put some trail cameras and deer feeders in several different places. We have done this for several years and every year there are a lot of deer that start using the game feeders pretty quick after we put the cameras out, but no bucks. Every week I am anxious to hear from my buddy, Mick, who lives there to see what has shown up, but no bucks week after week. Every year we wonder where all the bucks are and try and figure out where they could be hiding.

Well, after several weeks of worrying, the ground has opened up and the bucks have started coming from everywhere. Mick called me Friday afternoon and said “there here” and they are some good ones too! From the looks of all the photos he sent me, not only are they starting to move but there was a lot of daylight activity also.

Seeing pictures like that makes me wish I was there right now. There were several brutes on the pictures from last week that I would shoot first day and be happy as can be, but the smaller bucks usually show up first. The later part of October and the first of November is when the really big boys show up.

All I can do now is sit back wait and dream of the monster that will show up next week. I still want to know where they have been for the past six months. Here at home I get pictures of deer all year long and can keep track of how they are growing. Out there is a different story there are very few sightings by trail cameras or by our fellow hunters and farmers for most of the summer. I guess it really doesn’t matter where are hiding all of those months as long as they show up in November when I am in the stand ready for them.