Patterning Bucks on Small Properties with Mike Monteleone
John E. Phillips 09.05.13
Author’s note: Mike Monteleone lives in Westminster, Maryland, and has worn Mossy Oak camo since 1988 and has hunted deer since he was 13 years old. He also is a member of PSE’s Pro Staff and has been shooting a PSE bow for five years. Today he shoots a PSE EVO Max, while primarily hunting in Maryland, Pennsylvania, and Delaware.
At any given time, I’ll have 10 to 15 different pieces of property to hunt. The properties I hunt generally are small, primarily in suburbia, ranging in size from eight to 20 acres and sometimes even as large as 400-acre farms. In Maryland, the places I hunt are pinch points, funnels, and bottlenecks where wood lots are pinched down between horse pastures, barns, and houses. There may be a 20-acre wood lot that serves as a boundary between three or four small horse farms. I may have permission to hunt those woods from one landowner, but not from the others. Ideally, I want the permission to hunt the middle section of that wood lot. Then I have a real honey hole, because deer often travel and feed throughout the entire 20 acres. If there are two or three good acorn trees on the property where I have permission to hunt, the properties I can’t hunt on will serve as sanctuaries. What I have to do is find one spot in the wood lot where I can see a deer anywhere from 10 to 40 yards from my treestand.
I put out Covert trail cameras that run 24 hours a day, seven days a week, and 365 days a year, even on properties I’ve hunted for years. From my cameras, I learn where to put up my treestands, when to put them up, and when to move them, but I stay out of the areas I hunt as much as I can. During hunting season, I check my cameras every three days. The rest of the year I only check my cameras about every three weeks. I also use binoculars to observe deer during the summer, until just after crop fields have been harvested. I try to stay at least 300 yards away from them though, and I make sure I remain upwind. At the beginning of bow season I wear Mossy Oak Break-Up Infinity camo. When the leaves come off the trees, I’ll wear Mossy Oak Treestand.
In the early season (September and October), I already have my treestands hung based on trail camera information and long-distance glassing. My stands are on trails between bedding areas and feeding places at this time of year. The bigger bucks on these properties normally don’t like to move during daylight hours at the very beginning of bow season.
Another thing I’ve learned is that really big bucks want their bedding regions to be as close as possible to the places where they feed. Often older bucks will be bedded within 100 to 500 yards of a field, if they can find some kind of thick cover to bed in. I try to take these older bucks in the first few minutes of light as they’re coming from the field going to their bedding sites, or hunt them late in the afternoon when they are headed in the other direction. From the information I gather from my trail cameras, I can learn approximately at what time the bucks leave their feeding areas in the morning, and at what time they leave their bedding places late in the afternoon. If I’m hunting in urban communities without agricultural fields during the early season, the deer will be feeding on honeysuckle and a vine we call “sticky vine” that has pink flowers and berries on it.
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John, the 2008 Crossbow Communicator of the year and the 2007 Legendary Communicator chosen for induction into the National Fresh Water Hall of Fame, is a freelance writer (over 6,000 magazine articles for about 100 magazines and several thousand newspaper columns published), magazine editor, photographer for print media as well as industry catalogues (over 25,000 photos published), lecturer, outdoor consultant, marketing consultant, book author and daily internet content provider with an overview of the outdoors.
Phillips has been a contributor to many national magazines, has been affiliated with 27 radio stations across Alabama serving as their outdoor editor and wrote for a weekly syndicated column, "Alabama Outdoors," for 38-Alabama newspapers for more than 13 years. Phillips was Outdoor Editor for the "Birmingham Post-Herald" for 24 years. Phillips was also the executive editor for "Great Days Outdoors" magazine for 3 years.
The author of almost 30 books on the outdoors, Phillips is a founding member of the Professional Outdoor Media Association (POMA) and an active member of the Southeastern Outdoors Press Association (SEOPA). Phillips also is the owner of Night Hawk Publications, a marketing and publishing firm, and president of Creative Concepts, an outdoor consulting group.
Phillips conducts seminars across the nation at colleges in freelance writing, photography and outdoor education besides teaching courses in how to sell what you write to writers' groups. Phillips received his photography training as a still-lab photo specialist for six years in the Air Force. He was the chief photographer for Mannequins, Inc., a Birmingham modeling agency, for 11 years.
While serving as 2nd Vice President of the Alabama Wildlife Federation, Phillips was in charge of all press releases for the organization as well as serving as Chairman of Alabama's Big Buck Contest, which he founded more than 30 years ago. He also was president of the Alabama Sportsman's Association for three years.
Phillips is the recipient of a Certificate of Merit from the Governor of Alabama and the Department of Conservation for his work in the outdoor field. Phillips is vitally interested in the outdoors and travels the nation collecting personalities, stories and how-to information for his articles and features.
EDUCATION: B.S. degree from the University of West Alabama with a physical education major and a history minor.
EXPERIENCE: 10 years parttime and fulltime physical director for YMCAs and 34 years as a freelance writer, photographer, editor, book author, lecturer and daily-content provider for websites. Currently, Phillips is a field editor for Game and Fish Publications; serves on the editorial board of Grandview Media; is a regular contributor to 12 internet magazines and a daily content provider for 8 websites.
WRITING AWARDS: Runnerup - Best Outdoor Magazine Feature - 1981 - SEOPA; Certificate of Merit - Awarded by Alabama's Governor for writings on conservation; Most Outstanding Sports Writer in Southeast - 1983 & 1984; Best Outdoor Feature in Alabama, 1987 - Alabama Sportswriters' Association 3rd Place; Best Book of the Year - 1989 - SEOPA; 2007 - inducted into the National Fresh Water Fishing Hall of Fame as a Legendary Communicator; 2008 - received award naming him 2008 Crossbow Communicator of the Year from the Crossbow Manufacturers' Association; 2009 - GAMMA Honorable Mention for Consumer/Paid Best Essay for July/August 2008 in "Southern Sporting Journal."
