Ep. 515: Why the Best Funnels for Mature Bucks Have No Sign w/ Jeremy Ballantine
Beau Martonik sits down with Jeremy Ballantine at Huntstock. Jeremy grew up in southern Vermont tracking big bucks on snow, has guided moose hunters for over 25 years, and hunts Vermont, New Hampshire, and Massachusetts. Years of following mature bucks through the mountains showed him they don’t use the country the way other deer do. They parallel the trails, cut through saddles on one contour, and scoot through the funnels without leaving much sign. That’s where he kills them now. This one is tactic heavy, from rattling in crunchy leaves to sitting one spot for a week. In this episode: Hunting Vermont, and why tracking and stand hunting feed each other Why bucks love to bed above their own backtrack Using rattling antlers to get a buck’s attention when he can’t hear a grunt Two bucks he wouldn’t have killed without antlers in the tree Why the brawlers die young and the true giants are mellow Wide Clyde: a three year chase, a hot doe, and eight seconds on snow Frustration rubs, and why not every rub means something Doe groups, trail camera history, and four day rut windows on some mountains Bucks that winter 15 to 18 miles from where they rut Why you have to treat mature bucks like a different species Why the best funnels have the least sign Sitting one funnel five or six days dark to dark Why he shuts his cell cams off during the rut Swirling wind in a funnel, and his favorite rut dates https://act.wilderness.org/a/26bcpledge-eastwest-1 Jeremy's YT - https://www.youtube.com/@InPursuit365 Jeremy's IG - https://www.instagram.com/inpursuit_365/ Instagram: @eastmeetswesthunt @beau.martonik Facebook: East Meets West Outdoors Shop Hunting Gear and Apparel: https://www.eastmeetswesthunt.com/ YouTube: Beau Martonik - https://www.youtube.com/channel/UCQJon93sYfu9HUMKpCMps3w Partner Discounts and Affiliate Links: https://www.eastmeetswesthunt.com/partners Amazon Influencer Page https://www.amazon.com/shop/beau.martonik Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices