Chasing bush bucks 2022

[Smoky buck]

Well another season of bush buck hunting is getting closer and as long as I am not dead I will be at it again this November. I have not stopped scouting but I have been a little late getting cams out. I decided to focus my cams on new ambush points but plan to hunt two of last year’s locations. I will be putting effort into locating some of the bucks from last year but in different parts of their range

Unfortunately the wide 10pt I was after last year never appeared in daylight so I will be abandoning that ambush point and trying to find him in areas he may use in daylight this year

The split brow buck I was after last year I did see in person but no shot do to a tight quarters stand location. The goal is to find a location to target him a location with better shot opportunities

I will also be looking for new bucks and targeting others in the same old spots

I will be setting 7 stand locations this year that will be used mostly by the wife and I. I will have my cousin who has never shot a buck over for a week as well. Possibly my brother again as well. One of my knuckle head buddies from last year has moved to town this year and the other two from last year will appear as well. They will set their own spots but I will be hit up for intel lol

This year I probably won’t get into tips as much but will answer questions if they come up. Still plan on sharing about my stand set ups. Will add cam pics, from the stand pics and pics during the season as it progresses

[Stinky Buffalo]

I am really looking forward to your posting on this thread, Smoky! Last years' posts were terrific and I definitely enjoyed them - and I also learned a few things!

[Smoky buck]

Ok finally got in a cam check that consisted of most of my cams. Still have one more to check. Unfortunately one cell cam is giving me issues and two cams the cards had problems today

Here is the 3 best bucks of this cam check




I really like this buck with his character. This is from an area that I have hunted in the past but have not for two years. This is from a location I call the trench from hell. One of those places I know I should explore more but it is just nasty




These two bucks were found in a location near where I found the wide 10pt last season. I want a better look at the buck in the foggy pic as I see potential. There is a communal scrape near by. This is a small pocket of open poplar on the edge of evergreens


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[Prairiekid]

I will definitely be following. That drop-tine buck looks great, I would be spending as much time as I can in the Trench.

[58thecat]

Now the game begins....which one falls over and when?

Good luck.

[Smoky buck]

It should be an interesting year I have seen some interesting ground and some nice bucks well scouting.

The more time I spend hunting and scouting this area the more things click. I am definitely keying in on where to locate different genetic traits

As for the trench it is not a nice or easy place to hunt but it maybe a focus point lol

[Sooner]

Love your bush buck threads.

Did a cam check at my friends farm this weekend. The nice up & comer bucks we seen last season have grown a bit more and when we went for a quad ride, a very nice & symmetrical 4 pt in velvet stood up from the canola field and wow was all I could think.

He will defiantly be considered once the Nov deer blind goes into operation(and he don't disappear).

[Bushrat]

Some nice looking deer there Smoky.

[Smoky buck]

Fixed up the cams that had issues and checked the last cam. These guys were on it




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[DiabeticKripple]

How come you never change the date/time?

Even being off by the hour for daylight savings drives me nuts.

[Smoky buck]

Originally Posted by DiabeticKripple

How come you never change the date/time?

Even being off by the hour for daylight savings drives me nuts.

3 reasons

1) personally I am only concerned about it there is daylight movement

2) I can figure out roughly how often the buck is around by the time frame in between checks

3) it drives my good buddy absolutely crazy that I don’t fix it and just because it bugs him every time he looks at my pics makes it worth it

But I am also one of those people who never changes the time in my truck and just know it’s 1hr off 6months a year

[58thecat]

I tied lines today and fixed fishing gear, had a few hours left before supper so jumped on the quad to check out a few areas well a field of waist height alfalfa quickly exploded with bucks all headed to the safety of the woods...now I gotta get my cams out....dam you Smoky

[Smoky buck]

Originally Posted by 58thecat

I tied lines today and fixed fishing gear, had a few hours left before supper so jumped on the quad to check out a few areas well a field of waist height alfalfa quickly exploded with bucks all headed to the safety of the woods...now I gotta get my cams out....dam you Smoky

Slacker

[Smoky buck]

Well did a cam check and switched something’s around. Between the heat and it seems like most of the leases and roads were mowed action was a little slow

I did manage to locate what appears to be one of my target 10pts from last year in a new pinch point



And I got a better look at the 8pt that I got a foggy pic of earlier

A few cams were mobbed by elk, black bear, and moose messing up the angle of the cam so they were not working right the whole time. The elk are nice to find and a new thing I am adding some effort into But they are hard on cams. About 50% of the time I get elk on cam the mess with it



Shifted some stuff around today and helped my buddy find two cam locations for himself

Going to be busy for my next set off so giving the cams a longer soak this time


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[300magman]

Some great looking deer there!

[Smoky buck]

Originally Posted by 300magman

Some great looking deer there!

It will get better as it goes as I start keying in on my spots and the time of year improves

I have one area that looks amazing but have yet to find a pocket that is capable of being hunted. Did 7km worth of hiking in there yesterday and have invested at least 10km previously but it’s just tough bush to hunt. The deer sign is crazy and good elk sign too. Bumped a big 11pt in there yesterday

It may take many hours to find a pocket to hunt in there but I will grind it out till I do even if it’s not in time for this season. Dragged my buddy with me on the hike through there yesterday he says I am crazy but can’t believe how much sign is in there

I also dropped into the bottom of the trench to see if If I can find a better place to target that drop tine and possibly locate other nice bucks

The two pockets I helped my buddy set cams in are looking very promising too. Odds are I will share pics from those cams too

[Who Da Fisherman]

Originally Posted by Smoky buck

It will get better as it goes as I start keying in on my spots and the time of year improves

I have one area that looks amazing but have yet to find a pocket that is capable of being hunted. Did 7km worth of hiking in there yesterday and have invested at least 10km previously but it’s just tough bush to hunt. The deer sign is crazy and good elk sign too. Bumped a big 11pt in there yesterday

It may take many hours to find a pocket to hunt in there but I will grind it out till I do even if it’s not in time for this season. Dragged my buddy with me on the hike through there yesterday he says I am crazy but can’t believe how much sign is in there

I also dropped into the bottom of the trench to see if If I can find a better place to target that drop tine and possibly locate other nice bucks

The two pockets I helped my buddy set cams in are looking very promising too. Odds are I will share pics from those cams too

Google earth no help? I have found some very small openings/clearings that have helped me emmensly when I thought it was just thick bush.
WDF

[Smoky buck]

Originally Posted by Who Da Fisherman

Google earth no help? I have found some very small openings/clearings that have helped me emmensly when I thought it was just thick bush.
WDF

Google earth is always a starting point but in this case under growth or a lack of suitable size trees is the main issue. A lot of my stand locations google earth doesn’t help because they are mostly in thinner spots in the timber not true openings.

I do find it helpful for finding transitions in tree’s species water/drainage and potential contour changes

It’s definitely a tool I have been using for this area as a starting point before every hike and even during well I am in there. It’s really just somewhere I will need to just grind it out

The last resort option that I am considering is pick a location or two and clear out the undergrowth. Let the area rest this season and hit it next season. It’s a lot of work and a gamble that may fail

[Stinky Buffalo]

Yup, Google Earth is so handy, the only issue I have is that the satellite maps are a bit out of date for some of my areas. Sometimes by several years, so what show as open areas are all grown in, and vice versa.

I usually use a mix of OnX and BRMB satellite images just because of the variety of satellite image databases that they use.

[Prairiekid]

Is OnX pretty good for having up to date maps? I often use Fatmap and iHunter, but there are times when I would definitely expect more up to date imagery.

[FortMac]

Might toss a cell Camera up south of Crow lake. Have a 203 Antlered Moose tag I want to take care of before I start getting serious about a Whitetail hunt.

[Smoky buck]

Originally Posted by FortMac

Might toss a cell Camera up south of Crow lake. Have a 203 Antlered Moose tag I want to take care of before I start getting serious about a Whitetail hunt.

My experience with cell cams is not good so far. I have the stealth cam fusions and they miss animals constantly and my buddy is seeing the same with his spy points. We tested there reliability by putting trusted standard cams on the same tree. Our stealth can and spy point cell cams were proven to miss a lot

I can’t speak for other cell cams but at this time I am not impressed with the results of theses two brands

If you have not tested the reliability of your cell cam I recommend it. I do not trust mine

[Stinky Buffalo]

Originally Posted by Prairiekid

Is OnX pretty good for having up to date maps? I often use Fatmap and iHunter, but there are times when I would definitely expect more up to date imagery.

It uses MapBox (for the free version) - I'm not exactly sure if it's more up-to-date than Google Earth, but it is different. I haven't tried the paid version, as there's really no support for Canadian data yet. There is a map layer in the paid version that includes WMUs, so it appears that there is some work going towards that.

BRMB has MapBox as well (and various flavors), along with their own topo maps and some standard ones. So I switch between them to see the differences in topography to get an idea of what to expect from an area before I head out.

[Smoky buck]

Got in another cam check that included all of mine and 2 I helped my buddy set. A few of my personal cams are acting up. Seems the new stealth cams are not the quality of my older one’s. I am going to slowly start replacing them

Some nice bucks showing up and I have not fallen back into any proven locations yet. Also been a little distracted by elk investing a portion of my cams in this

So here is the nicer bucks from my personal cams





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[Smoky buck]

Now for my buddies cams one spot we found together the other I scouted but have never set a cam. Well new rule If I pre scouted an area I set a cam there first before anyone else gets to

This is now two years in a row I have put my buddy in an area with a tank. On a positive note I know he will return the favor helping me if I head south hunting and if he tags out before me I can hunt his stand is I choose









Bucks from the first cam we found together




And the spot I pre scouted


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[Smoky buck]

Just realize for the first of my buddies cams I posted 3 pics of the same buck lol. There is a second of similar quality and they were hanging out together I just screwed up posting and erasing pics on my phone

Good chance these bucks won’t be targeted do to other options anyway

[Smoky buck]

Something else I stumbled on in my travels too

I don’t think this is for hunting


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[Sundog57]

Nope, it's one of Justin's acolytes making green fuel

[58thecat]

It’s a rocket ship!


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[Smoky buck]

Originally Posted by 58thecat

It’s a rocket ship!


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It had no rocket fuel in it we checked