“The older, smarter bucks have everything they need in the thick cover, and seldom leave that cover in the daylight,” Haag said.

He also sets up his stand the morning he hunts a specific site. Haag believes that if you leave a stand in place, it decreases your odds of taking an older buck. He picks out the tree he plans to hunt in the summer, does minimal trimming and figures out how he will approach the site. He then carries the steps and stand with him on the morning he hunts that specific tree, and he does not leave the tree stand or steps in place when he leaves.

When you are hunting this tight to where the big bucks spend most of their time, your approach is everything. Haag usually only hunts these type of locations in the morning.

“You can get into place in the dark prior to the bucks coming back into their bedding area without being detected,” he said. “However, it is almost impossible to approach these types of areas in the afternoon without being heard or seen.”

Haag also very seldom hunts the same tree within a given amount of time, usually only once every week or two. Haag said you hear the same basic thing about almost all big bucks concerning how they were taken, and that is the hunter usually saying, “The buck came from some kind of refuge where he is seldom disturbed,” and, “It was the first time I hunted that stand that season.”

Haag believes you have to analyze even the thick cover to understand how an older buck typically takes advantage of where he spends most of his time.

“If you really want to increase your odds of arrowing a giant buck, I think the best way to do it is to crowd him,” Haag said.

He has discovered that old bucks seem to lie up on the far east side of the thick cover. His theory is they like to be able to see across open fields or open timber while keeping the predominately west wind and thick cover at their backs.

“The best way to get a good look at the cover without running the big bucks out of the country is to start your analysis with an aerial photograph of your hunting ground,” Haag said. “If the aerial is taken during the winter, you can easily pick out the most likely spots where the big bucks are going to bed. It is going to be where they are virtually unapproachable.”

Haag looks for details that will affect wind direction and line of sight for the buck. A big, older buck won’t bed in exactly the same spot, but the same general area because it has served him well in the past. It is very likely he has escaped a hunter in the past while bedded in such an area. In these types of areas, a big buck can often slip out the back door before the hunter ever sees him or realizes he is there.

Then there is the timing factor.

“I normally do not start hunting these areas until the second week of November, when I am sure the does are coming into heat,” Haag said. “Almost every time I have a close encounter with an old bruiser, there is a doe involved.”

Bigger, older bucks have become set in their ways, and the only time they seem to make mistakes is when they are following does. Haag believes the very best time to kill a giant whitetail is during the two weeks between the Illinois firearms seasons. Most hunters believe this is too late in the season to take big bucks, but Haag thinks this is the perfect time to take advantage of how these older deer react to hunting pressure.