“Being scent-free is important for the big bucks,” he said. “I think you can get away with some scent in the region when it comes to the 2 1/2-year-old and 3 1/2-year-old bucks. But when you decide to start targeting the 5 1/2-year-old trophy bucks, if they catch one whiff of you, it’s going to make them harder to kill.”

Urbas is careful not to keep the cameras in the areas for extended periods of time. His goal is just to locate a trophy.

“I leave the camera in an area for two weeks,” he said. “I’m not one of those guys that keeps putting them back out in a spot. If there’s a big deer there, you’ll spot it in that two-week period. Why keep potentially adding scent to an area? If the camera shows there is a big buck in that zone, you’re much better off watching it from a distance.”

And it’s not only big deer he looks for. “If the camera has picked up a smaller buck or a doe with a fawn or two, I watch them carefully as well,” Urbas said. “The reason for this is because they are all likely using the same food source, and there is a good possibility that they are all moving to that food source on the same trail. The younger bucks and does can tip you off to where this is happening and can direct you to the big buck. Some guys throw away all the photos of the smaller bucks, but I make notes on them to see if they are using the same routes as the big buck I’m going to target.”

What if the cameras don’t record that deer he’s looking for? “If a camera doesn’t pick up a big buck, I might put them back in a different location in that same zone to see if there are any big bucks there using a different trail, or whatever, but once I photograph an animal that I should try to shoot, I leave that area alone until the season begins,” Urbas said.

Once Urbas locates the buck he plans to target, he will watch the area from a distance.

“I never go back into an area after I pull the cameras because I don’t want to change the deer’s habits by my presence,” he said. “I always know where I’m going to set up the stand, based on the fact I have gotten pictures of the buck, have been watching him for the past couple of months from a distance with binoculars and I know his habits. I’ll know which tree I’m using, where to put the pegs and which direction to place the stand.”

During some seasons, Urbas is fortunate to have more than one big buck to target, but that is not always the case. “To have more than two options is very rare,” he said, “and having two to go after is not all that common.”

From opening day until the rut, Urbas only hunts the evening period.