Late season archery on JBLM

[jtrammell]

I will be spending most of my late season archery on JBLM. I live on JBLM and the training area I will be hunting is open most days. With that said, I saw a MASSIVE buck a few weeks ago. Had I had a rifle tag, he'd be at the taxi right now and I wouldn't be typing this....but here we are. I waited for him to walk by then walked where he was and saw that he was using a WELL USED trail With that said, I planned on trimming a few trees and using a climber and just camping out every day after work until sunset. I'm assuming the rut is over and that last light will be my best bet, especially during the week when I can't camp out all day. Just wondering if anyone else had any suggestions on petting this big boy.

[Seabass]

That was AWESOME!

[jtrammell]

......What was awesome? My question haha?

[Seabass]

Watching d-bag thieves squirm is always awesome...referring to the video under your post.

[Jake Dogfish]

I’ve seen a lot of nice Deer especially on the north fort.

[brokentrail]

I would do as you said initially but if you have some cameras available, I would put one on the trail at your stand location and see if you get him on that trail at all.  If you do and it's after shooting light, I would work the cameras up the trail from the direction he is traveling and try to get closer to where he is bedding.  Once you have him on cam with shooting light, I'd move my stand to that location and make sure to hang the stand to use the prevailing wind in that area and only hunt it with that wind.   Once he goes back to normal routines and out of the rut, this is how I would hunt him.

[jtrammell]

Trail cameras aren’t allowed on base (for some stupid reason). I went yesterday and cut some shooting lanes and got two  trees ready for the climber. I decided to set up on two different trees because there are so many great tracks. Fingers crossed... and good luck to all the late seasoners!

[Dan-o]

I can't help you with JBLM, but I love that video, and I especially love how you handled it and followed thru.    Warms my heart.     

[fishnfur]

Good luck on that hunt.  As you know, you can't pattern a BT.  He might not use that trail again till next November.  I'd probably hang a scent wick and possibly use a drag rag prior to climbing up.  It sure won't hurt.  A grunt tube or a bit of rattling too?  It gets dark quickly this time of year.  You've gotta work fast and have a bit of luck.

[brokentrail]

Since you can't use cameras to see how often he uses that trail, I'm with @fishnfur, maybe some grunts/rattling before the rut is too far gone to do any good?  Any natural funnels in the area that you saw this deer in by chance?