By Alex Comstock
It's easy to fall into a routine right? No matter what facet of life, it can be hard to break that routine, even if it doesn't work. When it comes to deer hunting, if you truly want to be successful harvesting mature bucks, the mentality of sitting the same tree year in and year out might not always work out as you'd like. Not to say there isn't that special tree that could produce every year at the right time, but by becoming a mobile hunter, you could be setting yourself up for elevated success.
Mature Bucks Are Always Changing
Whether it be yearly, monthly, weekly, or even daily, it's not often a mature buck is always going to do the same thing. Sure there are tendencies and patterns you can figure out, but it could require you to bounce around a bit to figure a buck out. You may have multiple encounters with mature bucks during early season hunting one year, but if the crops change, or if any food sources in the area change at all, that tree might not work out the following year. In a shorter period of time, a mature buck may move through a certain funnel or bed in a certain area because of a particular wind. If that wind switches, he may bed or move through a completely different area, and the only way to have a crack at him is through being mobile, and setting up in a different spot as the day or weekend before.
What never fails to impress me about a wary, mature buck is their ability to survive. Just when you think you have one figured out, he'll do something that makes you scratch your head. If you have the ability to be mobile, you can adjust and adapt as the buck does, and have a better chance at crossing his path.
Being mobile was a large part of being able to harvest this late season buck. It was my first time hunting this area all season and I was able to put this buck down in December.
How else does hunting mobile help your chances of harvesting a mature buck? It allows you do to a couple other things as well...
You Hunt more Aggressively
Like I said earlier, it's easy to go to the same stand over and over again. Maybe one day a mature buck will walk by you, but by being mobile, I think almost by default you become more aggressive. If I see a buck do something and have reason to believe he's going to do it again, I'll make that move. In a different situation, if I think a buck is bedding in a certain area, I might move in as close as I can and hunt. What I've come to like about being mobile is that if you press in too far, and bump a mature buck, you don't have to go to that same tree the next day. By being mobile, you can hunt the next day in a completely new area, regardless if you already have a stand in that area or not.
Being Mobile Helps Avoid "Wearing Out" An Area
When you do find a great treestand location, the last thing you want to do is wear it out by hunting it every day. Truly great stand locations are few and far between and when you do get one, you want to keep it that way. Just as being mobile allows you to hunt more aggressively, on the flip side, you can bounce around the fringes, maybe observe in different locations, and then when the conditions are right, you jump into that great spot.
Conclusion
There are countless ways to be a successful mature buck hunter. Being a mobile hunter could be "your" way, or it could just be a part of your arsenal. If you've never tried hunting with a mobile setup, consider giving it a try this season.
