I'll be hunting the rut for the first time this year and while I have scouted a few locations in the WMA I hunt....they were scouted in ignorance from a new hunter(me) and with gun season in mind (shooting lanes, good trees etc). The area is a normal VA/MD/PA forest with very few open fields, but a few large powerline openings (about 40-50 yds wide) running north and south. There ARE two small field openings in addition to those power line cuts however we are not permitted to shoot into them (that isn't to say we cant setup 20 yards off their edge). I don't know what kind of grass/vegetation is in these fields - though I don't think like alfalfa etc. They also have hunter access roads going through them or near them. With all of the research I've tried to do I haven't really found much on where to setup during the rut or post rut. My friends who are more experienced than me said it doesn't really matter and that the bucks will be everywhere. I just can't accept that...there has to be a default for these animals. With that said....I'm wondering what everyone's opinions on the matter? I'm thinking about breaking off from my regular spots that are deeper woods and trying to find spots I can setup off of those field edges. Thoughts?
I hunt pa and md.. mostly farm land. I have had all my success hunting the rut in regards to nice bucks and most of my harvest were late morning.. like 10-11 am. I hunt field edges in October but once Nov 1 rolls around I'm sitting in the woods near a bedding area. When the big ones start moving they will be checking bedding for hot does. The ideal spot is a narow wooded areally that leads into thick bedding. Even though a buck is rutting I found they still like to travel in cover so being in the woods is best. Lastly get in early and stay late. I got my biggest buck 15 minutes after thinking about packing up.. he was the only deer I saw that morning.. well him and the doe he was pushing into the bedding area.
I've gotten lazy, I don't even bother to scout much these days, I look for trails and scrapes/rubs and hunt within range but not on top of that area, seems to work out OK.
All good advice. One further clarification - set up DOWNWIND of doe bedding areas. Bucks will cruise the downwind edge scent checking for hot does. Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk
Thanks for the info. Unfortunately I have not been successful locating bedding ares. It may be my own ignorance and relative inexperience, but I just haven’t been able to find them. It may be too late in the season for me to find any?…especially without serious time to devote to scouting.
In a depression surrounded by brush with a 1/3 acre of clover and alfalfa and a gated community with no hunting covenants next door.
Wind is key. The bucks will be on the down wind side of bedding and feeding areas. Deer love alfalfa but as hunting pressure increases they will not enter the fields until after dark. So a stand located back in the woods a couple hundred yards along the normal trail will put you in a good place. The bucks will not be far from the does. The bucks will move 24 hours a day when they catch scent so sit as long as you can during daylight.
