Camera Just Picked up a YUGE Buck!!

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Just put out a new Stealthcam on Sunday. Nothing on Sunday, Monday, or Tuesday. I figured Wednesday night would have been a bust also so I grabbed the chip and brought it in the house to check. It took 27 photos. A couple of squirrel and other nighttime rodents. The last two pictures were a deer. A big deer. The biggest deer I have ever seen on our property. I have lived here for 24 years and have never hunted. I have seen deer here a lot over the years but nothing like this size. I can't wait for the 28th.

I can't figure out how to get the pictures from my phone to PC. So here is a poor-quality Instagram Pic.
https://www.instagram.com/p/BM660NYhMHX/?taken-by=willmacinnes

A few questions.
Can you start baiting the last day of Shotgun?
Where should the tree stand be in relation to where the deer was spotted on the camera?

Have a good day.

Will
 
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Connecticut allows baiting on private land in zones 11 and 12.

Your profile says you are in Millis so I am assuming that you are in Millis Mass. Baiting is illegal in Massachusetts.

Bob
 
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Follow the does or get into the impossibly thick shit while being quiet and not leaving scent. Use a grunt on the way in just in case. There is where the snart ones survive.
 
I'm pretty sure Mass law says baiting is allowed up to 2 weeks prior to archery season.

What you do on your own property is up to you. Besides, the epos' are too busy washing cars and inflating arm floaties.
 
I'm pretty sure Mass law says baiting is allowed up to 2 weeks prior to archery season.

What you do on your own property is up to you. Besides, the epos' are too busy washing cars and inflating arm floaties.

Close - any bait needs to be removed within 10 days of the start of the archery season.


BAITING OF DEER is prohibited during any deer season and any bait made available to deer must be removed 10 days prior to the opening of the first day of archery deer season. Bait includes any natural or artificial substance which may be ingested that is used to entice deer.

http://www.eregulations.com/massachusetts/huntingandfishing/deer/
 
I'd hang/set a stand as far enough away from where you predict he will be, but at the same time be within your comfort/accuracy range. I don't know your property but some places the wind will predominantly blow one direction. If that's the case where your at, then obviously set up-wind of where you think he'll most likely present himself. Also, trim your shooting lanes so that one shot for rackasaurus isn't blown by an errant twig that sends your arrow off its destined path.
 
Connecticut allows baiting on private land in zones 11 and 12.

Your profile says you are in Millis so I am assuming that you are in Millis Mass. Baiting is illegal in Massachusetts.

Bob

Its Totally illegal?? Even Corn or a salt-lick? Yes, Millis in MA. Zone 10
 
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Its Totally illegal?? Even Corn or a salt-lick? Yes, Millis in MA. Zone 10


321 CMR 3:00 Hunting

3.02(4): Hunting and Tagging of Deer

(a) Definitions: For the purposes of 321 CMR 3.02(4) and unless the context requires otherwise, the following words or phrases shall have the following meanings:

Bait means any natural or artificial substance, including but not restricted to, shucked or unshucked corn, wheat or other grains, hay, silage, apples or other fruits or vegetables, and salt or other chemical compounds of a like nature which may be fed upon, ingested by or which otherwise constitute a nutritive attraction or enticement to deer.

Baited Area means any area where baiting has taken place and such area shall remain a baited area for the period from ten days prior to the opening of the exclusive archery season as provided in 321 CMR 3.02(4)(b)2. to 12:00 P.M. on the day following the close of the exclusive primitive firearms season as provided in 321 CMR 3.02(4)(b)4.

Baiting means the deliberate placing, depositing, distributing, or scattering of bait so as to constitute for deer a lure, attraction, or enticement to or on any area where hunters are attempting to take them.

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(f) A person shall not make, set, or use any bait, decoy, torchlight or spotlight, trap, or other like device for the purpose of attracting, ensnaring, taking, injuring, or killing a deer, nor hunt by baiting or within any baited area, nor hunt, drive, worry, or disturb any deer with or by the aid of any noise-making device, provided that nothing in 321 CMR 3.02(4)(f) shall be deemed to prohibit the use of scents or of deer antlers or replicas thereof or of grunt tubes as callers or attractants by persons otherwise lawfully hunting deer.
 
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How long have you been hunting and you didn't know baiting was illegal? I don't want to break your heart but you should realize this is the rut and you may never see that deer again. I've shot deer that guys have had on Camera miles away during November.
 
Couple of things... It's a night time picture.. So that doesn't say if/when/where he's moving during shooting hours. So the pic has valuer from an inventory point - but next to no value when it comes to determining how to hunt him. So - don't hunt where you hung the camera as it's a lost cause. 1. No daytime movement. 2. You left scent when you got the card and he subsequently will now vacate the area. As others have said - baiting is a no go in Mass.

Look at aerial photos. Find the thickest nastiest swamps near by. then look at what the weather was doing that day. Which way was the wind blowing? Judging by the time of the photo he was likely headed back to bed. bucks like to walk to bedding with wind in their face so they can scent check it. So - now with the wind direction, time/location of the photo, and an aerial, you should be able to guess where he bed that day. Now look around at the other such areas on the photo and then look at the wind on the day you intend to hunt. You may then be able to make an educated guess where he'll be. That's the best shot you've got with no other intel to operate on.

But I wouldn't hunt the bedding in the AM. He's probably bed before shooting hours and if you trample in there in the AM you'll kick him off and he won't be back. Especially since you don't know the exact location of his bed(s). Go in early afternoon after lunch to where you think he may be bed, stay on the downwind side, scout around the thicket/tangle/swamp you suspect he's in, find a trail coming out of it and set up over the trail. Don't back track! If you move on from an area, then don't go back. You've already left a scent trail and a scent stream. Going back there after passing through is going to make for a lonely sit.

Animals like that are smart and you need to be mistake free to get a shot at one... You'll have to be quiet too. So pick a day when you have some cover noise - like a day with some wind or after rain so the leaves don't crackle.

.....and like others have said deer travel during the rut. He may have just been passing through and they;re right. You may never see that deer again. But that wouldn't stop me from trying once or twice. Even if you don't see THAT specific deer, getting on bedding will get you onto some deer. Provided you're smart and mistake free about it.

there are hunters and then there are people who hunt... you want to get on that deer, you'll need to be the first...
 
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Its Totally illegal?? Even Corn or a salt-lick? Yes, Millis in MA. Zone 10

Honestly dude and I'm not trying to be an @ss hole... but it's pretty irresponsible to head afield with no more knowledge of the laws then some quick Q&A on an internet forum... Read the regulations dude. Or be prepared to pay the price if you're caught breaking them.. Remember.... we deal with suitability in this state too...
 
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