The New Hampshire Fish and Game Wildlife Harvest Summary is a must read for every hunter. The summary comes out every year and I read it every year (see below). Of course that does not mean you will kill a deer every year but the summary slices and dices the harvest data every which way so you can get at specific information that you are looking for. Trophy deer data is available too.

http://www.wildlife.state.nh.us/Hunting/harvest_summary/Wildlife_Harvest_2012.pdf

Southern NH has always had a great deer population so many hunters consider this a focal point. Yet at the same time there are many hunters that want a really wild experience away from roads and homes so they go north. North country, my hunting friends, grows really big bucks. Why? The deer density is low, hunting pressure is low. This is where a buck can live to the trophy age above 3 1/2 years and peak at about 5 1/2 years and his antlers are in their best size and shape. When I say north I really mean Central New Hampshire and north.

So if you want a bigger deer “on average” to hunt consider northern deer. Its harder, much harder some say. If you know the area, then it is not as hard as you might think.

There are porker bucks in Southern Zones but you have to do your homework to have a chance at them in and around No Hunting Signs. Getting written permission to hunt in southern hot-spots is very much worth investing your time. Do it before hunting season and be neat in appearance. All the landowner can do is say no. Offering to aid the landowner in some way can help as well.

Yes I love my venison and have shot many lesser bucks but this year I may hold for a bigger buck and it may take 2 or 3 years to achieve success.

Once you have located your hunting areas then it is essential to scout them out. Topographical maps are also an essential tool for the mobile hunter. I like Topographical Software. There are numerous companies that offer it. Today there are phone apps that can do this too. Just remember to keep your phone charged. I still prefer a way to print out my Topo map and carry a paper copy with me.

Remember to wear Hunter Orange  during the firearms season, it will keep you out of harms way.©

A squirrel behind me was making noise in the leaves, irritated with the scuffling in the Oak leaves, I turned my head to spot the little critter and found instead a large 8 point buck sniffing something in the air and walking my way with great interest.

It was early November, I was hunting with a friend some years back in a new spot during the first day of shotgun season in southern New Hampshire. I was supposed to be “still” hunting. I did not switch to shotgun that morning. I was hunting with my Hawken 50 Cal. Cap Lock Muzzle loader. My friend and I were spending time trying to identify movement patters when a large doe appeared walking down a woods path in front of me. She was definitely going somewhere.  I raised my Hawken and fired as she stepped between trees.  I missed cleanly finding the large errant bullet path in the leaves below her.  I should have got the doe to stop with a whistle, I lamented, or practiced more at the shot I took. Seeing another deer that day was unlikely, or so I thought.  We followed the fresh doe tracks to see where she was headed and to ensure that there was no injury.  She crossed a stream that fed out of a beaver pond and it was there that we found fresh rubs on swamp alders that were so worn that they dug a half inch into the trees. My eyes nearly popped out of my head, this was a rare find indeed. This was a signal to me that a mature buck (more than 3 1/2 years old) with a significant rack was in the area. What makes that rub so special is that when large antlers are growing, it takes large wide veins to carry nutrients all the way to the top of the large antler beams.  In August the velvet and veins are shed leaving rough bone hard former vein channels and bumpy ridges at the antler base, like a very, very rough file. Rough enough to file a three inch thick alder trunks to pieces. More on Whitetails here;

http://www.uaex.edu/Other_Areas/publications/PDF/FSA-9105.pdf

Back to the story;  I saw a deer trail that crossed the stream near the rubs but did not have boots high enough to follow. I needed waders! I believed that the buck was using the edge of the beaver pond as his home bedroom turf as the wind would blow towards the bedding area near the pond to signal danger or perhaps a doe coming into estrus.

I shared with my friend those same thoughts and we should hunt here this afternoon. He said, “Naaa, I have some things to do this afternoon, can’t make it.” Further, I think he did not buy my theory that the buck is bedded near the pond.

The problem was to get onto the bucks theoretical bedroom was next to impossible, because the wind blew into that so-called bedding area right to the edge of that beaver pond. Undaunted, I went home and showered, I dusted myself with baking soda, changed to newer hunting clothes grabbed my slug shotgun instead. In analysis of this situation, I needed a scent lure to draw the buck from his hideout and cover my own scent. I was using Bob Kirshner lures Silver top Doe in Estrus and his mature buck scent. I got my duck waders and put them in a backpack and off I went. It was around 1PM when I crossed the stream with my waders.  I took them off and left them at the stream edge. It was warmer than expected that day and nearly 60 degrees in the sun, sweat was on my brow, so I slowed my pace for the last 100 yards. Wind was blowing toward the theoretical bedded buck at the edge of the pond so I immediately placed both the doe in estrus and the buck urine not far from one another and found a forked tree to hide my back side if the buck sneaks up behind me. It was tough to navigate in there as it was more of a thicket than open woods. About 45 minutes had passed when A squirrel behind me was making noise in the leaves, irritated with the scuffling in the Oak leaves, I turned my head to spot the little critter and found instead a large 8 point buck sniffing and walking my way. The  scents I had placed worked like magic. My heart began racing as adrenaline shot through me. I was facing the wrong way to take a shot. The buck was looking at my orange back side but I made little eye contact with the buck while lifting my shotgun, a Remington 870 pump. I lifted it in-line with the tree so the deer could not see the gun movement. I rotated in an instant and the buck jumped. As the shotgun got to my shoulder the buck ran to about 45 yards stopped and looked back as if to say, what the heck was that?  This gave me a front shoulder to aim at. I sent the slug on its way and watched as it struck just behind the shoulder and neck. The buck went down but tried to get up, a follow-up shot ended the encounter. I believed not only was the buck was where I thought but by using both the buck and doe scent, the buck believed that an amorous intruder was with his doe in his bedroom no less. In hindsight, I was perhaps lucky, but was truly where preparation met opportunity. A photo of my prize should be next right?

Tragically, A few years later our home was destroyed by fire thus photo’s and my upstairs deer mounts were destroyed. I wrote an article for  NH Wildlife Federation News on that buck years ago.

I have taken lesser bucks with muzzle-loader and bow but none as grand, but still trying. I will show you a big buck yet.

You saw my friend Ovide Lamontagne’s buck from last year? Now that is a NH buck! Look back to December articles from last year in the photo below. Now that is NH Buck with brow tines that should be in the record book!©