So my question is for Josh Fletcher. I just watched S6E24 where you kill a giant buck on public land and also see a couple other nice bucks. I mainly hunt in the Upper Peninsula of Michigan where it is all big woods with limited deer numbers. We actually are not even able to harvest does, only bucks. But my question is what kind of set ups do you look for on public land? How do you typically scout it out and is there any key features to look for?
Watch this episode here - Josh gives some tips on what he looks for. https://www.bowhunting.com/video/bowhunt-or-die-season-7-episode-8/ And good look up there in the UP! My in-laws have a place in Crystal Falls and we typically spend 2-3 weekends a year up there. We see more turkeys than deer. I can imagine it's some tough deer hunting.
Awesome thanks! I'm glad to hear you've been up here though, I hunt more north around the Marquette area but you are 100% right I think there are more turkeys and even moose than deer right now
There are a ton of tactics to big woods hunting, and by no means have i learned then all, but one thing i key in on is the big picture. Start by looking for food. In big timber i look for young cutovers, oaks, and other food sources. I map those locations out. I then look for bedding areas. Deer can bed in many locations but an example would be a thick cedar swamp, grown up cutovers, benches off of ridges 3/4 of the way to the top. Once you figure out food and bedding and you now have a point A and point B. Now look for spots as close to the bedding as you can with out bumping deer. Does have a temdancy to bed closer to food sources and bucks tend to bed further away. What happens on most public land is that does head to food much earlier and the big boys lay back closer to the bedding waiting for dark before heading to an open area such as a cutover. Dont just hang a stand on an edge of a swamp, look for a terrain feature that will funnel deer. An example would be a cutover (food) that attatches to hardwoods (transition area) and that hard woods has a point that filters down into a swamp. Im looking to set up as far down into that point as i can closest to the bedding as deer tend to follow terrain and edges. Try to key in on edges, bottle necks, hogs backs, benchs and other terrain features that link food to bedding and set up as close to the bedding as you can. Also keep in mind that big woods deer can travel a long way from bedding to food depending on your area. So think big, look at the big over all picture when scouting. I hope this helps as atleast a starting point and keep us posted on your season!! Good luck to all of you!
Hey thanks for the advice I will incorporate that into my scouting. That is sorta what I've been trying to find but I struggle with finding bedding areas because I feel that the bucks can bed anywhere because 90% of the woods are thick and there aren't really areas that you can easily pick out as a bedding area like you can in agricultural areas. On top of that people are allowed to bait here so that influences deer movement and what they feed on. Thanks for the advice tips though I will keep you posted on my season!!
I used to live in Marquette and my last year I focused on bedding and once you figure it out bedding is predictable. I'd stay away from the areas that all the college people go, like Harlow Lake area. I think a lot of big bucks die of old age or natural causes up there, at least the ones smart enough to avoid the camp bait pile that gets shot at all night. Here is one I was chasing the last year I was there, a buddy had pics for two more years after I left then he vanished.
How'd you figure out the bedding areas? That's the main problem I have. I can find food sources relatively easily like other hunters bait piles and oak ridges or flats but I find it difficult to anticipate where they are going to be coming from. Haha I stay away from that area I do know quite a few people who hunt there though, I hunt more to the west just north of Ishpeming. That is an awesome buck! so far this year there hasn't been much on my trail cams I'm hoping it picks up as season gets closer.
The key are edges and points that get no human intrusion and are somewhat dead ends to deer not travel corridors. Bucks don't want to bed in areas does will be passing through throughout the day. Here are examples of actual beds that were present approx 4 years ago that I'd expect to be used today. Below is a series of points off a ridge, almost all these points had bedding on them which I have marked. Wind blows down the point and the bed overlooking below. There was bait hunters below on the flat and a few up on the ridge but little hunting pressure on these points that I noticed. This bed was obviously on the edge of the mine, it's marsh on three sides of this point and a well worn bed off the side of the point with escape into the marsh. He'd bed with a wind he could smell anything coming down the finger to him. This last bed is another marsh point extending into wet marsh he could escape into. This is a bed used be the buck I posted pics off. Notice how it's a dead end so when bedded no deer would pass past him or anything else for that matter. So that's what I focus on, get away from the easy access dry areas and think steep ridges and wet. Ton of baiting up there so you know where the pressure is and where they feed at night, once you figure out where they bed you can kill what everyone else is feeding.
So the bucks prefer to bed on ridges and points bordering swamps vs actually in the swamps themselves? Do you walk and find the beds or are you just assuming that the bucks will be bedding in those certain areas? These two pictures show the area that I am hunting with the red dots being bait piles and other hunters. I've been assuming that the bucks will be coming from that swamp to go feed up on the ridge but I haven't been able to find any buck sign, lot of deer sign but not many rubs or anything indicating bucks use it. I do know there are bucks in the area.
qleroy, I have to pass on commenting on that exact area because I have a buddy that hunts that area and has scouted it boots on ground and I know where he found buck bedding and I can't comment without feeling like I'm giving away his intel. Crazy of all the ground up there you posted this spot. As for the general questions, I do a lot of physical scouting but after a while you see patterns and your assumptions can be trusted to hunt areas without scouting. Deer like edges and transitions. Even in a large swamp bedding generally is on a transition, a lot of times its the edge of the swamp but it can be a vegetation transition in the swamps interior also. That areal of the bed that good buck was bedded on was where a mixed cedar/brush swamp transitioned into wetter brush swamp to wet to support cedars. Hard to see some of these with maps and boots are often needed to locate. I also see where bucks bed especially in lower deer number areas the typical buck sign we look for is sparse or nonexistent. Often there is much more sign in the UP where others are running bait, but this sign is put down at night.
That's crazy that out of all the area in Marquette county you know this area! Does your buddy still hunt there? I know most of the individuals who hunt there now so if he still does I'm sure I know who he is. So it looks like I have to figure this one out my self? Any tips without giving to much info away? I feel like that may be case here with the buck sign and I'm sure it will take me a couple years if hunting and looking for beds until I get it down. Thank you for all the information though it is very much appreciated and I'm glad there is at least one other person who has hunted the big woods of the UP
