Your biggest buck while road hunting

Wyo_Roadhunter

Wyo_Roadhunter

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Let's ruffle some feathers I want to see your biggest buck taken while road hunting ?. This ones my biggest road buck and biggest to date. Parked the truck to walk over and glass. I made it just to where i could see the whole draw and was going to set up my binos when a antelope jumped up and took off about 50 yards away which then jumped my deer about 10 yards further.

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Almost every deer I've taken out here in Nevada could be considered road hunting. My favorite strategy is to drive to good vantage points where I can glass endless country. Once a buck is spotted, I figure out how to get in position for a shot. Killed 4 solid deer in the last 5 years this way. -------SS
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A mile from camp in NF. Had headed back to camp early after day in snowstorm. 2-day storm had just broke ~20 minutes before coming across him. Saw his twin 3 years later 1 1/2 mile in from where I got this one…. for all of 3 seconds at 80 yds (not along NF road this time)……no shot opportunity —hunted area for next 3 days without sign of him. I can’t wait to spend more time in the area when I can draw again.

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Used to work at a butcher shop. Sooo many people would tell me the same story “was on my way to my spot and there he was right off the road”.
It happens a lot and there is no shame. There are plenty of hunts where road hunting is a legit strategy. Love it or hate it
 
HuntnProf said:
A mile from camp in NF. Had headed back to camp early after day in snowstorm. 2-day storm had just broke ~20 minutes before coming across him. Saw his twin 3 years later 1 1/2 mile in from where I got this one…. for all of 3 seconds at 80 yds (not along NF road this time)……no shot opportunity —hunted area for next 3 days without sign of him. I can’t wait to spend more time in the area when I can draw again.

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So cool, good for you!
 
I’m not sure why some hunters look down on road hunters. A big buck that lives close to a road is 10x smarter than a high country buck. Anyone can hike way back and kill a big buck. But to beat up your body driving down 2 tracks with hundreds of other hunters? That takes a special person. Road kill bucks should get 20” added to their score. They are the smartest bucks out there!
 
SS! said:
I’m not sure why some hunters look down on road hunters. A big buck that lives close to a road is 10x smarter than a high country buck. Anyone can hike way back and kill a big buck. But to beat up your body driving down 2 tracks with hundreds of other hunters? That takes a special person. Road kill bucks should get 20” added to their score. They are the smartest bucks out there!
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Our rule is if you can get a deer out whole, it counts for an extra 10”, and if you can get an elk out whole, it counts for an extra 20”.
 
The most skillful road hunter I ever met would have his wife drive a minivan down the road. He hang in the back with the sliding door open with his bow. Spot a deer or elk from the road, he’d slip out while the van was still in motion. Animal would fixate on the moving car and he’d get set and bury an arrow in it. I don’t recall him ever killing anything big. But he filled a bunch of tags that way.
 
Chesterwyo said:
The most skillful road hunter I ever met would have his wife drive a minivan down the road. He hang in the back with the sliding door open with his bow. Spot a deer or elk from the road, he’d slip out while the van was still in motion. Animal would fixate on the moving car and he’d get set and bury an arrow in it. I don’t recall him ever killing anything big. But he filled a bunch of tags that way.
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Yep this is very effective. I’ve killed a few bucks like this, distracted by the vehicle that keeps moving on slowly. Hard part is spotting them in the thick stuff in certain forests.
 
I swear the most consistent way to bag a california blacktail is to road hunt in the middle of the day when it's hot and dry. Most hunters are back at camp and deer get up and move for whatever reason. You can't walk hunt in the dry crunchy woods. You'll get busted every time. There's enough year around vehicle traffic that often the deer won't panic. Slowly driving around beats trying to sleep in the heat of the day.
 
Well only road hunted once and shot a 2x2 muley when I was 13.

But this buck I can say counts. Place I hunt in montana I was parked by some pine trees and made a fire to pass the time. Just a good spot to rest and determine a new game plan when the previous drainges didn't produce. Truck was 20 yards away. Spotted some deer moving though the burnt timber. Then a group of SxS hunters came down a 2 track road. The muley buck laid down. The hunters stopped to look at all the does. After they left I decided to go get rifle. Debated to not shoot but a upcoming elk hunt was coming up. Passed on this buck 3 other times when I hiked a couple miles in. I scout and hunt several drainages and this guy always seemed to appear every time.

Can ya see him laying down?
3rd picture is him going crap here comes some hunters.

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Chesterwyo said:
The most skillful road hunter I ever met would have his wife drive a minivan down the road. He hang in the back with the sliding door open with his bow. Spot a deer or elk from the road, he’d slip out while the van was still in motion. Animal would fixate on the moving car and he’d get set and bury an arrow in it. I don’t recall him ever killing anything big. But he filled a bunch of tags that way.
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I used to kill tons of whitetails back east doing this. Key is to exit vehicle on opposite side from deer and immediately draw your bow.
 
eelgrass said:
I swear the most consistent way to bag a california blacktail is to road hunt in the middle of the day when it's hot and dry. Most hunters are back at camp and deer get up and move for whatever reason. You can't walk hunt in the dry crunchy woods. You'll get busted every time. There's enough year around vehicle traffic that often the deer won't panic. Slowly driving around beats trying to sleep in the heat of the day.
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my grandpas last few years of hunting used this strategy, the deer counting cars. took his biggest spread deer 20 yards off the road.
 
Cahunter805 said:
That’s a cool buck! Congrats.
Bullet clip the left antler?
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Yeah, I loaned my rifle to a couple Mexican buddies a couple days before. Their hunter killed a deer, and they brought it right back. What they didn’t tell me is they had adjusted the turrets. Both my elevation and windage were off quite a bit, and it got pretty western for a moment. My fault for not double checking.
 
Colorado I found this buck at first light in my pajamas and flip flops while glassing from the road. debated passing him, went and had a delicious breakfast at the local cafe for a few hours then said f it he’s big enough. Luckily he was still there as he’s bigger than I thought
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Y'all know the difference between a trophy elk/deer and non trophy elk/deer? ..... The trophy elk/deer is killed on the uphill side of the road.
I would be lying if I said I never road hunted from a motorized vehicle.
I actually like still hunting 2 track roads or creeping down them, the deer use them just like we do. I've seen lots of deer walk right down the road, they hear a sxs, atv, or vehicle they move into the trees 30-40 yards then back out on the road when they drive by. I have filled lots of tags this way but nothing big.
This one was on the road, while I was off the road 20 yards

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one_dryboot said:
Colorado I found this buck at first light in my pajamas and flip flops while glassing from the road. debated passing him, went and had a delicious breakfast at the local cafe for a few hours then said f it he’s big enough. Luckily he was still there as he’s bigger than I thought View attachment 104866
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Nice dark buck! Do you have any normal photos of him? Could be 140 or 180 from that pic ?
 
SS! said:
Nice dark buck! Do you have any normal photos of him? Could be 140 or 180 from that pic ?
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Gorgeous buck regardless but I agree with SS!, scoring that picture could embarrass someone, low or high. I’d have had trouble passing on him……. based on the choices there are on most units now days.
 
SS! said:
I’m not sure why some hunters look down on road hunters. A big buck that lives close to a road is 10x smarter than a high country buck. Anyone can hike way back and kill a big buck. But to beat up your body driving down 2 tracks with hundreds of other hunters? That takes a special person. Road kill bucks should get 20” added to their score. They are the smartest bucks out there!
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I will add to this thought process. I really don’t like hunting with other people watching other people in areas you cross paths continually. Having said that, I do believe some of the biggest and oldest bucks live within 2 miles of commonly traveled roads. Is this because many roads are located in lower country that due to the lay of the land, are thicker and less accessible to the wandering eye or two mile high glasser with 10k in optics? They are there for a reason, we won’t dive down that rabbit hole but I’ll just go with out of sight, out of mind.

I’ve actually found one 200 incher while driving in Wyoming. I pulled to a stop, got out of the truck and put a pack on the ground then pulled the trigger.
I didn’t recover the buck until
My buddy came to help me two days later. The shot was only 245 yards but the buck was facing me at the shot and the bullet glanced off the leg bone and didn’t do the intended damage. I put two rounds into him when we finally relocated him.

I found another in Colorado while long glassing from the pickup. Turn back tag to boot. One of the coolest sequence of events on a hunt I’ve had. I made my play and killed him in his bed after relocating him from my truck 2 hours later and a 45 min stalk.

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Road hunting is actually a pretty solid method of finding big muley bucks when they are in the middle of the rut. Driving from doe group to doe group, checking for a new big buck to move in on the ladies, is a great way to catch an otherwise cagey old critter looking for love. I seldom use this tactic because I seldom have a tag during that time of year, but that is how I found this one.

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I live in SE Montana, road hunting capital of the world. Roadhunting is popular and can be quite effective. @liecabucks talks about the best bucks living with in two miles of a road, That is a given here, There is almost no land that is more than two miles from a road and the land that is is targeted by every fit hiker that can read a map. You can cover a lot of ground with all the roads in SE Montana. The other reason roadhunting is effective here is the long season that lasts the entire rut. That two miles of roadless country is about 30 minuets of walking for a rutting buck on the move. One of the biggest bucks I have ever seen on the lived all summer and most of the fall in one of the most remote places on the forest. He was killed by a lucky roadhunter in mid November five miles as the crow flies from where I saw him in mid October. That buck had to have crossed multiple roads to get to where he was killed. With the rut keeping the bucks on the move there is 100% chance he will be crossing a road soon. hunters just have to get lucky, no skill involved.
That being said, I am not much of a roadhunter and have only killed one good buck that way. A friend from out of state was out hunting with me. He is mostly a whitetail guy and had taken a nice whitetail the day before. We had a few days to kill before he needed to fly back home so the plan was to set on some high vantage points above the river bottoms and maybe find a potential buck for next year. Morning came and it was raining, I made the decision that it would be better to stay in the truck and see what kind of bucks we could find from the road. Setting on a hill with poor visibility and getting soaking wet just didn't sound that appealing. On the way out of the house I grabbed my 243 just in case we saw a coyote as an after thought. Most of the roads we would be driving were on private land where I could not shoot a deer by coyotes were fair game. It was getting late in the morning when we stopped to look over a large alfalfa field. There was about 30 mule deer does and a few small bucks chasing a hot doe. I was just about to leave when my friend spots a lone buck entering the field. This one made me look twice. Not wide, but very tall, good forks and some extras. The buck heads out to the herd of does and cuts the hot doe and heads for the hills. I knew he was headed for some Public so we got to the access point and caught up with him 3/4 of a mile form the road.

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littlebighorn said:
Road hunting is actually a pretty solid method of finding big muley bucks when they are in the middle of the rut. Driving from doe group to doe group, checking for a new big buck to move in on the ladies, is a great way to catch an otherwise cagey old critter looking for love. I seldom use this tactic because I seldom have a tag during that time of year, but that is how I found this one.

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Probably one of my dream bucks right there, heavy boxy typical with big eye guards mmmmh ?
 
Figured I'd add a couple more that road hunting paid off for me. I will say though the reason road hunting worked for alot of them was because I watched them all summer, knew their habits and knew every road in the area. There's been a few that have been dumb luck but most I knew about all summer.

Glad everyone's been posting though makes me excited for this year's hunts!

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My son holding my buck--it was his to lose. I told him to kill it and he missed. The buck then started to bolt quicker than Sam Brinton toward a luggage carousel (at an any airport)--so I killed him at about 40-50 yards. I felt bad...for about 1/2 a second.

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The next day he redeemed himself and busted this old, regressed, big-bodied bastard at 25 yards for his first buck. I'm holding his buck, which had 2" thick fat layer on his rump. He was a chunker.

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Is there extra credit awarded if someone shot while hanging out of the driver's window on the interstate? :ROFLMAO::ROFLMAO::ROFLMAO: (No, I've never done that but just wondering)

Nothing wrong with a little road spotting/hunting.

Zeke
 
Zeke said:
Is there extra credit awarded if someone shot while hanging out of the driver's window on the interstate? :ROFLMAO::ROFLMAO::ROFLMAO: (No, I've never done that but just wondering)

Nothing wrong with a little road spotting/hunting.

Zeke
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Funny story about that, Zeke. My dad (I’m sure you knew him) was right handed but shot left handed all his life. Said he learned by shooting rabbits out the truck window with a .22, riding with his dad as a young kid in the early 40’s. I believe him, he was a crack shot and always shot freehand with open sights. Just a few months before he died, I watched him shoot a cow elk in the back of the head with his .270 at 450 yards from the passenger seat of my truck?
 
I'm proud of all of you guys!

Funding a hunter that will admit on a forum or social media that they have killed deer road hunting is like finding someone who admits to killing and eating human babies....

Finding backcountry studs that only start hunting when they're 6 miles from the road with their 6.5 cm on social media and forums, well that's different they're like vegetarians or vegans, you don't even have to ask and they'll tell you ALL about it...

I think this thread shows progress.... we are evolving as a cohort...
 
Horsecorn said:
You always get a good dead rest across the hood of the truck. Just watch the center ridge of the hood. I’ve seen a good friend shoot a hole through it. (Three times. ) He couldn’t figure out where he was hitting
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Don’t forget to shut the truck off and pull the keys out of the ignition before you jump out to take a shot. When you’re busting shoulders at 800 yards off the hood or mirror you want to be as steady as possible!
 
Those are some beautiful bucks. I could have shot my biggest buck at about 15 yards in central Montana in 2005, but it wasn’t legal and I wouldn’t have felt right about. Thankful I didn’t shoot.
This past season me and my boy spotted a buck off the county road that we first thought was a bull elk, we were focused on ek hunting in a limited district, so we didn’t pursue him, but he was an honest 170” or larger but, very wide and thick. He was using a strip of private along an irrigated creek bottom and bedding up on the Forest Service with another buck. This was the 3rd week of Oct so they were still in the pre-rut. I’m hoping he is still using this area this fall if he wasn’t shot. The private property doesn’t allow hunting to my knowledge. It would require a several mile hike up over rim rock and staying adjacent to the private to reach him. In the past I have seen mule deer bucks use a particular area in late September and mid Oct every year. Preston
 
Zeke said:
Is there extra credit awarded if someone shot while hanging out of the driver's window on the interstate? :ROFLMAO::ROFLMAO::ROFLMAO: (No, I've never done that but just wondering)

Nothing wrong with a little road spotting/hunting.

Zeke
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I used to kill the hell out of them that way (mostly from the passenger window) and a lot of the time it was while driving truck pulling doubles with a buddy:eek:. They were almost always black bucks standing in a field of yellow. I've actually shot whitetails in Utah using this method. Never had time to stop and put a tag on 'em though.

This was long, long ago in another life. I have repented and made amends since then. Went back, JB welded and painted every one so you couldn't even tell. ;)
 
I was on a guided hunt in Wyoming years ago and was riding in the guides truck one morning and we came around a corner and a nice 3X4 was bedded in the bottom of a draw. It was the last day of the hunt, so I decided to take it. I rolled the window down and stuck the gun out the window. The guide said "NO! it's illegal to shoot out the window. You'll have to step off the road" So I did. They have some goofy laws in Wyoming.
 
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SS! said:
I’m not sure why some hunters look down on road hunters. A big buck that lives close to a road is 10x smarter than a high country buck. Anyone can hike way back and kill a big buck. But to beat up your body driving down 2 tracks with hundreds of other hunters? That takes a special person. Road kill bucks should get 20” added to their score. They are the smartest bucks out there!
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Hell the only place I can seem to find big bucks now are close to the road. All the high country bucks have been sniped ?
 
Lots of great bucks!! Having worked in back country pack-in horseback camps for my 20s and early 30s, I can say without reservation that after 15 years of that, I love me some road hunting!! It is a legitimate form of western hunting and in a lot of units it is the way to go. Drew a pretty nice Gunnison basin MD tag this year. Ill be road hunting.
 
The biggest buck I have ever killed from the truck was a fork. The season was over for me and I was headed home. I couldn't resist the meat--what little there was!
 
TKMulePacker said:
Lots of great bucks!! Having worked in back country pack-in horseback camps for my 20s and early 30s, I can say without reservation that after 15 years of that, I love me some road hunting!! It is a legitimate form of western hunting and in a lot of units it is the way to go. Drew a pretty nice Gunnison basin MD tag this year. Ill be road hunting.
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Awesome good luck! Been tempted to use my points in the basin area but haven't committed yet. Curious to see how your hunt goes
 

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