The day last deer season ended, I started thinking back about what went right and what went wrong. Yes, I am obsessed (like you, perhaps). The best memories were of the few days when I shot a buck, but I learned the most by replaying and analyzing all those lean weeks when I didn’t get a deer. How did I mess up? What could I have done differently? Learn from some of my mistakes and shoot a big deer this fall.

Map It

Thoroughly studying maps of your hunting area is a vital step in determining the best spots to target. Skip this step, and you're just going in blind.

A buddy called and said, “Hey man, I got permission to hunt an awesome new farm. You in?”

“Let’s go!” I roared, and off we went for a week. We hunted like mad, had fun, saw some deer but came home empty-handed.

We should have slowed down and scouted a day or two, from my den with maps and aerials.

Go online and order custom maps and aerial photographs of your hunting spots. Spend a few hours poring over the information. On a black-and-white aerial, study the lay of crop fields, woods and edges. On a heavily wooded tract, look for a burn, cutover or power-line cut where whitetails will feed and mingle.

Check for cover: grown-up fields, cedar stands, beaver swamps and the like. Ridge thickets that overlook crop fields or creek bottoms are especially good places for bucks to bed.

Search for strips of woods, hollows, cover-laced streams and other funnels connecting feeding and bedding areas. Mark a couple potential stand sites in and around those travel corridors.

It’s that simple. By studying maps you can eliminate up to 50 percent of marginal habitat before you leave the house. Then you’re ready to load up, drive out and initiate a smart ground game in the hotspots where deer will be active.

Hunt Terrain, Not Sign

For a week I fell into the old trap of watching a set of 10 smoking-hot scrapes on a ridge. I saw a few deer, but never a shooter buck. You’d think that after 25 years of hard-core hunting I would have learned the big boys hit the scrapes at night.

Your new tactic should be: Don’t hunt particular scrapes (or rubs) at all. You still need to ground scout and find the freshest sign. But then, read your maps and scout out from the buck rubs and scrapes for 200 to 300 yards or so. Pinpoint a creek crossing, ditch head or strip of woods with more fresh tracks and trails in it, and hang a treestand right there. While a big 10-pointer won’t hit those scrapes in daylight, there’s a good chance he’ll travel in a nearby funnel any time of day. Play the terrain near hot sign to see more shooters.

Move In

One day last November, I spotted glimpses of a giant 10-pointer chasing a doe on a ridge 150 yards away. From the same stand the next morning, I saw him again. On the third morning, he was gone. What was I thinking? I should have moved in on him sooner.

Don't be afraid to move (a little) on a shooter. If a buck is rutting, he won't stick around for long, and your odds are better if you get up ad go to him rather than waiting.
When you see a big deer rutting on a ridge or in a creek bottom, don’t just sit and hope he’ll circle by your stand. Move in. He might be gone tomorrow, but then he might be back again, scraping or hassling a hot doe. But one thing is sure, he won’t be around long. If you sit and wait two or three days, he will leave with a doe or run two miles to find another hottie. Your motto should be: When the rut is on, move in for the kill.

Move It

One morning I sat in a stick ground blind for four hours without seeing a deer, and I admit my guard was down. I caught a flash to the left — giant buck. I froze, fearing he would see me. He didn’t, but just as fast as he appeared, he was gone.

Our granddaddies taught our daddies who taught us to be still and not move a muscle because a big old buck will see us and spook. So naturally, one of our bad habits is to be too timid and tentative when a big deer comes close. We dutifully freeze and don’t move a muscle. A lot of shooters get away, like that 160-incher did to me last fall.

(I cried.)

Train yourself to be more aggressive with a big deer in sight. You still need to be smart and quiet, but you need to be proactive, too. Keep your eye on a buck as he comes in, shift your feet on stand to get into shooting position, get your bow or gun up when his head and eyes are hidden behind brush or a tree. Move slowly and smoothly, but move. Continue to flow with the animal as he creeps closer and closer.

Here’s the most important part. Whether hunting with bow or gun, take the first clear, solid, close-enough shot you have at a buck’s heart/lung vitals. Know your surroundings, shooting lanes and distances. Be prepared to take advantage of every opportunity. Kill an 8- or 10-pointer now, before he wises up or something blows up. 

The author blogs daily on deer hunting and big bucks at www.mikehanback.com.