Im only a 2nd year bow hunter and i am have confliction with myself. I have a bunch of spots to hunt but I cannot narrow down what locations to hunt early season. I am banking on the low early season pressure to get on a buck before the heat turns up and bucks go nockturnal. I have one spot where I have 2 mature 5+ year old bucks on camera. My problem is i only have 3 cameras and around 10 hunting locations. No other location do I have mature bucks of that caliber, So im inclined to hunt that spot first. Its just in a really accessible area on public land and ive seen a treestand erected there within the last month so I know at least 1 person knows those bucks are there too. Im hoping I can stir up some conversation about early season strategies that I can learn from and narrow down a location to hunt for the first few weeks. If you guys would like, I can post some aerials to show a few of my more favorite areas I think there are definitely bucks in that area. Like I said ive only been hunting for TWO years and I hunt public land so I am having anxiety attacks daily debating about this.
Early season = Food/water sources. Simple as that. Hunt the edge, or even better find the travel corridor between their bed and the food. Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk
i disagrre with the others. on public land that gets pressure, go in deep right off the bat. get in the bedding area even if it take a lot of effort. public land bucks will feel the pressure even before opening day in some areas. GO IN FOR THE KILL.
This is my initial thought. I only set 1 stand on the edge. My other locations are in deep.... I figured even if they arent being hunted there will still be more human presence in the woods on Public ground. I know does and young bucks will probably come to the edges before sundown but those mature bucks arent going to is what my thought was.
Im really considering spending some dough on mock scrape stuff and getting those scrapes going back in the woods. Maybe I can build a routine for bucks coming to the scrape in daylight hours....
Bedding is key to hunting mature bucks, that's where they are during daylight and where you need to be to kill them.
Here is a link to an article I wrote that may give you some ideas. http://www.bowhunting.com/blog/2012/10/02/october-whitetails/
I know now they are bedding less than 100 yards from the food. I have kicked several bucks from the corn thats planted directly next to a bean field. so those bucks are going from corn/bed to beans/feed. Then today i kicked up another buck from a point that comes out into the beans. It was a point of really thick brush that poked out into the beans. Im pretty sure they wont be bedding in those same spots come opening day. So this is where my confusion comes into play.
You are killing your chances by walking the property. Do yourself a favor and do not walk the place again until you have a bow in your hand and a treestand on your back.
I agree, if you can glass the bean from a distance undetected that's the only thing I'd do on the property. Now that you know there are target bucks there I'd forget the cameras too.
Such a awesome write up!!! I think I just gained a little more confidence by just reading this article! Now my next problem lol Im still seeing massive amoutns of acorns on the ground and hardly any trees with acorns in them. Will they still feed on these "old" acorns or are they passing them up by now and waiting on the new crop. I now we had a bumper crop last year and that keep most of the deer back in the woods. so will this change this year? will the acorns not produce as well this year?
Most of these public land properties have no vehicle access close to these fields to glass them. What ive been doing is going in with a stand and a trail camera. ill put the camera on the freshest sign i see and then hang the stand somewhere sutible. Ive only been checking these cams once per location after 7 days just to inventory that location. If im not seeing a buck in 7 days ill remove the stand. ??????? How else can i scout without bumping a few deer. im still very green to scouting and locating bucks so im all ears!
It depends on what species of oak you have. White oak drop every other year. Most red oaks drop every year, but not all. Deer prefer white oak over red. Generally when you see left over acorns they are from red oaks. To have that many still present from last fall means that the property that you are hunting provides more forage than your herd needs to survive. Thus you should have a healthy deer herd and the potential for giant bucks.
gotcha! Yes the property where i have 2 mature shooters on cam i havent touched that place since i pulled the cam and got those pics. still havent decided where to hunt that spot or where these deer are actually living and bedding. So im curious to how to locate these bucks for a good chance to harvest them. I did have the camera about 60 yards from the field edge in the woods and i dont feel like those caliber of bucks will come that close to the edge during daylight so i have to move further back in the woods. But how to know where to set up if I cannot scout???
Stay out of the woods all together. Walk back to the fields with binos. Sit for the evening and watch the field. Note where you see the bucks enter the field. Establish a pattern. Set up accordingly once the season opens.
Most of the public land areas i plan on hunting are very thick with tons of browse. seems like they have more food than deer can eat. These are BIG woodlots but id still say its about 50/50 ag/woods
Sounds like a plan to me! Ive just been on the hunt for rubs and scrapes to locate bucks main territory. But your suggestion makes sense.
The best thing to do is scout in the spring or after season, if I haven't scouted a piece at all I'd think about hitting it hard for 1 day now to figure it out then let it rest until season. Otherwise all scouting would be maps and systematically hunting it during season hitting potential spots 1 by 1 from what I think is worth hunting from the maps.
