The Difference in Style I See in Hunters Who Regularly Kill Mature Bucks

There are two styles of hunters I've noticed that consistently kill mature bucks. One reminds me of Peyton Manning and the other reminds me of Brett Favre.

I always viewed Peyton as someone who liked to control every situation. Every detail mattered. Every look. Every audible. I honestly think something like the weather in New England affected him early in his career because he couldn't execute exactly how he wanted in those conditions.

Then you contrast that with Brett Favre. A complete gunslinger. He trusted his instincts, wasn't afraid to take risks, and somehow found success operating completely differently. The funny thing is both styles worked.

I think the same thing exists in the deer woods.

Some hunters are extremely methodical. They want every variable lined up before they make a move. Others are aggressive, instinctive, and willing to push chips into the middle when they feel the timing is right. What I've noticed over the years is that both styles can be successful.

The problem comes when your greatest strength becomes your biggest weakness.

I think this goes back to personality. Details matter when it comes to consistency. However, there are no absolutes in the deer woods. Every buck has a different personality. I've always compared mature bucks to dogs. Every dog has a unique personality.

We always hear that old bucks are smart, but maybe we should flip that around. Smart bucks get old. But even that isn't always true. Sometimes it's simply a personality trait that has kept them alive.

Think about this: if you're hunting a particular property and willing to kill the first target buck that presents itself, the one that survives to the next season is often the one that didn't cooperate.

Honestly, I think some of this comes down to personality. Not luck in the sense that the deer got lucky, but rather that something about the way that buck lives and moves helped keep him alive. He may not bed in the traditional "big buck" spots or move the way we expect mature bucks to move.

I've hunted older bucks that were extremely patternable, and I've hunted others that seemed to have larger ranges and were far more visible. Ironically, I've had a harder time killing the latter.

In fact, going into this season, I hope to wrap my tag around a particular buck that is photogenic and spends most of his life where I can hunt him. Yet he's one of the most random bucks I've ever chased. If I were hunting heavily pressured ground full of gun hunters, that randomness might not be beneficial. But in this case, I only bowhunt, and although he's had several close calls, his unpredictability has likely been one of the reasons he's still alive.

Generally speaking, it seems like the older a buck gets, the smaller and more defined his range becomes. This deer appears to buck that trend. He travels quite a bit, uses multiple bedding areas, and shifts locations enough to make him difficult to predict.

The point is, I'm not convinced this buck is any smarter than the next mature deer. But his random personality and willingness to do things differently have served him well. Sometimes survival isn't about being the smartest buck in the woods—it's about being the hardest one to figure out.

Which brings me to the biggest buck of my life.

I started hunting when I was 13 and I'm now 46. I killed my largest buck at 45 years old. What's funny is that deer ultimately forced me to break some of my own rules.

For years, my family and I had used a system that had been incredibly successful on that property. We had killed multiple mature bucks following the same blueprint. In fact, while chasing this particular deer, we killed other target bucks using those same methods. The problem was that this deer wasn't cooperating.

Eventually we realized something important. The same methods that had helped us kill all those other mature deer were not going to kill this one.

In this case, I ended up using a baby pool as a water source that I could access and maintain without putting pressure on the area. I had never done anything like it before. Honestly, if you had told me I would kill a 9-year-old, 200-inch deer coming into a baby pool, I would've laughed.

But that small adjustment ended up being the difference.

What I don't want anyone to take away from this article is that baby pools are now the secret to killing giants. The point is exactly the opposite. Too often hunters have success with a tactic one time and then try to turn it into a universal rule.

The lesson wasn't the baby pool.

The lesson was adaptability.

For most of my hunting career I've become much more detail-oriented than I naturally am. I'm not a spreadsheet guy by nature, but when it comes to mature deer, I use as much information as possible. My process is pretty simple. I identify target bucks, determine likely bedding areas, circle red moon dates, and then look for weather fronts that overlap those dates.

When annual patterns, recent camera photos, red moon dates, and a cold front all line up, those are the days I want to be in a tree. I've probably killed ten-plus mature bucks using some variation of that approach.

It works.

When you have annual patterns on a particular farm and the stars start aligning a week before, I almost get giddy. You can see the opportunity coming. If you've hunted mature deer long enough, you know how rare those moments can be.

But here's what I've noticed.

When those conditions don't materialize, I've struggled at times to adapt. Confidence comes from seeing the pieces fit together. Mature bucks are already difficult enough to see during daylight. When cameras support what I'm seeing and weather conditions line up, it's easy to be aggressive.

The challenge comes when they don't.

That's where I think a lot of hunters get stuck.

I've listened to hunters I greatly respect say things like, "I can only hunt this spot on an east wind." I understand the discipline. In many situations they're probably right. I have spots with rules too.

But sometimes I wonder if we accidentally box ourselves in.

If a particular buck only gives you a short window and your rules prevent you from hunting him, are you helping yourself or hurting yourself? Obviously every situation is different. If you own the property, have multiple targets, or are playing a long game, maybe you're perfectly fine letting that deer walk into another season.

But if the goal is to kill that particular deer this year, there comes a point where you have to ask yourself if your rules are helping or limiting you.

I think the very best hunters live somewhere in the middle. They have principles. They pay attention to every detail. They control the controllables. But they also know when a particular deer requires something different.

The older I get, the more I realize mature deer hunting is a balance between principles and adaptability.

You need principles because otherwise you're just guessing. But if you become so attached to those principles that you can't adjust when a particular buck demands something different, those same principles can become the very thing keeping you from punching your tag.

Not all bucks are created equal.

Not all properties are created equal.

Not all situations are created equal.

The mistake I've made in the past is trying to force proven tactics onto a deer that required a completely different approach. Sometimes I've become stubborn because a method had worked so many times before. What I've learned is that past success doesn't guarantee future success when you're dealing with a completely different deer.

What I want you to avoid this fall is allowing your system to become a limitation.

Your greatest strength can also become the thing that holds you back.

The most successful hunters I know pay attention to every detail. They control the controllables. But they're also self-aware enough to recognize when their tendencies are limiting their success.

The last thing I'll leave you with is something that applies well beyond hunting.

I used to fight everything I couldn't control. Weather. Deer movement. Neighbor activity. Conditions. Over time I've learned to focus on controlling what I can control and letting the rest go.

When you become grateful simply for another sit, something changes.

I once heard Mark Drury say that when you get back to the truck, the hunt is over.

I've tried to live by that.

Be grateful for another sit.

Then get ready to adapt for the next one.