JUST SHOT: Patterning Trophy Whitetails with Bill Winke

First off, I want to introduce you to my new exclusive series for MOTV. I am excited to take you through ten weeks of patterning the bucks on my farm and ultimately finding a few that I want to hunt. The goal is not only to find them, but to come up with a strategy for hunting them based on this patterning process. In episode one, I dive into the differences between kwhunting kwwhitetail kwjust

Now that we are into this series, it is time to discuss what is realistic. What kind of success can you really expect from your efforts to pattern mature whitetails? In this episode, I dive into that question and use two bucks I hunted a few years back as examples of the two extremes. In the end, every buck is different and that is the real fascination of this process. Patterning is not one-si

This buck from the 2015 season highlights one of the most interesting patterning projects I have attempted. It took me about three weeks but I eventually narrowed down the buck's range to arrive very close to his core area. The next step was to start hunting him. Only I waited a few days too long!

The goal is to place your cameras in the locations where you can learn as much as possible about the deer without them knowing you are doing it. In this episode, I talk about how I find these kinds of spots.

I feature two more patterning case studies, these are from 2017 and 2018. These two bucks couldn't have been much different in their behavior and their patternability. I discuss one of the reasons why (the buck's age), but I also focus on strategies and offer a realistic mindset. Some bucks are easy to pattern and some aren't. Some may takes years until you can figure out how to be in the right

Time to change gears and focus on the coming season, but first I offer a look back at the three bucks I have hunted on my farm in the past three seasons. Then I switch gears and show you the two bucks I will be trying to find in the coming weeks. Both are fully mature bucks that should be really fun to hunt.

I am going to make a short departure from the normal themes in this series to talk specifically about the four best spots to hunt during the early season and how to find them. I will come back next episode with what I am finding on my farm since putting out my cameras.

After putting out my cameras roughly a week earlier, I have had time to look at the photos and make some plans. There were some very nice bucks in the photo pool, but one stood out as an older buck that would be a great target for my daughter. Here's what I found on my cameras and how I am starting to put the pieces together on this deer.

It can be really tough to find a pattern in the early season that holds up. The bucks are spread pretty thin eating acorns and spending time near their beds in seclusion. But occasionally, it does work out. In this episode, I take you along on two early season hunts that went well and explain how I patterned these bucks.

Though it is really hard to hunt a specific buck without using trail cameras to learn more about his range, you can have a successful season relying only on buck sign and woodsmanship skills. But, if you are determined to hunt a specific buck but don't have access to trail cameras, there is still one aspect of their behavior that you can fall back on.