The author photographed this buck passing his stand because he was in an "earn a buck" area and hadn't shot his qualifying doe yet. After shooting his doe, he didn't hunt soon enough to take the bruiser before another hunter did.

At first light a group of five bachelor bucks appeared along the skyline on the adjacent ridge nonchalantly browsing for acorns beneath a couple of large white oaks. I brought up the binoculars for a closer look. The biggest in the bunch was a main frame 10 with split brows and forked G2s. I'd seen him once before in early September. The second largest was an 11 pointer and not a slouch by any means. The others were two-and-a-half-year-olds that needed at least another year of growing. Within minutes they had wandered from sight.

About 8 a.m. a bit of movement drew my attention toward a large buck standing in the sunlight on the ridge below. I recognized him as being the 11-point seen earlier.

The area I was hunting was public ground, but it was also a special unit that was on a draw. Legally hunting a buck, meant first harvesting a doe. Considering it was opening day, I hadn't so much as seen a doe yet, so you can only imagine how I was feeling right about then. To add insult to injury, the buck slowly moseyed up the ridge and stopped to work over a scrape within 15 yards of the stand. After five minutes of temptation, he finally continued on.

That afternoon I hunted a different stand and hadn't been there more than 20 minutes when a doe appeared below browsing for acorns. A couple of bleats brought her up the ridge to investigate. At 15 paces, my broadhead sent the 150-pound doe scrambling to her resting place 40 yards away. I now had meat for the freezer and was legal to hunt a buck. Unfortunately, the bucks would have to wait for my return.

Arriving back in the same area two weeks later, I learned another hunter had just shot the largest (split brows and forked G2s) buck from beneath my stand during the early muzzleloader season. Lady luck wasn't with me that first day, but I learned a lesson. If you've located a big buck, don't assume you're the only one hunting him!

This was just one of several times when hunting opening day either paid off or should have! There's no doubt, the first week or two of the season is a great time to hang your tag on a deer. Bucks haven't been pressured too much, so most are still leisurely traveling and feeding in summer patterns. The following are eight of the most common ways to up the odds of scoring early!

Continued -- click on page link below.