When I finally reached the little swale, it was everything I had hoped for. There were three distinct trails leading in from the three steep and thickly wooded ridges. There were several big-buck scrapes and rubs. But one thing really caught my attention. The resident buck had broken off a large branch of an ivy (aka mountain laurel) bush and had thrashed the surrounding bushes and shrubs like someone had been in there with a bush axe. It was a violent looking scene, the sure sign of a big-bodied, heavy-horned buck

One of the several reasons that it took me three years to kill the deer was the unfortunate fact that on the way into the core area, I had found other tantalizing big deer sign that was much closer to the truck. Not the least among the tantalizing sign was a cedar tree the size of a telephone pole at the base of the mountain that had been vigorously rubbed from the ground up about 3 feet.

It took nearly two full hours of steady walking to get to the buck's core area, but only about 45 minutes to get to that spot. In addition, there were scrapes and other "hot" sign all around. What I didn't realize was that this sign was on the very outside perimeter of his core area and much too open for him to show up in daylight hours. I spent many lonely hours watching that cedar tree.

The lesson to be learned here is to scout smart. That means that when you find good sign in a big buck's territory, you have to put it in perspective of his overall core area. Ask yourself some questions:

"Is this place important enough to him that he would expose himself by coming through here during daylight hours?"

"Is it on the periphery of his core area or is this the epicenter of his home base?"

Finally, "Are there terrain features that make it highly likely that he would pass this way?" It was the third of these three factors that made for my memorable morning in the deer woods.

FINDING THE TRAILS
When you find good deer sign, how do you know whether it is a big mature deer or not? Big-buck trails are very different from generic deer trails. Generic deer trails are typically conspicuous and usually the most direct route from one food source to another or from food sources to bedding areas. Moreover, they tend to persist over time.

Big-buck trails, on the other hand, are obscure and anything but the most direct route to and from anything. They are often in the most rugged terrain in the area and often change from one season to the next. Big bucks hate to be out in the open, and they want some cover around them at all times. Big-buck trails may cut across the steepest slopes in the thickest tangles and may seem to amble around this way and that. If you follow a deer trail and you are constantly thinking, I'm pretty sure this is his trail but it's unhuntable, you have likely found a big buck's trail.

FINDING THE FOOD
Paradoxically, if you go scouting on any given mountain and find the best food source on the mountain, (say a food plot or a grove of white oaks dropping acorns), that is not necessarily where you will find the big buck of the mountain. It may seem to defy logic, but older bucks in the mountains don't necessarily take advantage of the best food sources, at least during the daytime.

Although that seems counterintuitive, the reason is simple: If using a particular oak grove where other resident deer regularly feed would expose him to danger, a big buck will make do with whatever is available in his little hideaway, at least until the sun goes down. Keep in mind that old, wary bucks know the areas in their territory that represent danger and those that are safe. He has at least 10 hours each day to go wherever he wants to under the cover of darkness.

Once you have located other big-buck sign, such as rubs, scrapes and tracks, begin trying to isolate that deer's favorite food sources. He may be eating red oak acorns in a thicket on the side of a bluff, while there are tons of good white oak acorns down in that pretty little flat place where other deer feed. On the other hand, it might be a lone white oak dropping acorns in an ivy thicket in a little pocket on a steep slope.

Every situation and every season are different, but year in and year out, you can bet that older bucks are living off whatever they can find, with the least amount of danger associated with it. It is your job to find out what and where that is.

HUNTING THE RUT
There are two considerations to take into account when hunting older age-class bucks in the mountains during the rut. First and foremost is that some older bucks may not even participate in the initial rut, which usually takes place from mid-November to the first week of December. They will often come into rut later in the season, sometimes as late as mid-December and even into early January. They are taking advantage of does that were not bred during the initial rut, which happens quite often since the deer density (and therefore the availability of mature bucks) in the mountains is low.

Second, when big, mature bucks do go into the rut, none of the rules apply. During that magical two-week period when the testosterone is flowing, a big, old buck is just as vulnerable as any young cowhorn buck. As a matter of fact, more trophy-class bucks are taken in the mountains during the rut than at any other time of the season.