That's awesome you took the time to realize what happened. Next time you hunt that spot, setup for what you saw that day and not pay much attention to the wind and more what the thermals will do. There is a small sliver between the two that will allow you sneak in there and setup, then shoot him when the thermals fall. Other option is to get even closer to his bed. Then it takes the thermals out alittle. I often use the wind for my entrance and my setup is for killing the buck. It's a crazy game, but when you beat a buck at his game, it's all worth it. Sent from my SM-S901U using Tapatalk
For sure. I hunt over 5k acres of private land. And it all looks the same. pines and cutovers. very few oaks. And those acorns don't fall every year. I live and hunt in deer hound country, these deer are run by dogs 12 months a year. Big bucks and even deer in general don't move a heck of a lot. These deer here bed anywhere they want and the wind is never in your favor because they can bed 360 degrees around you. They don't have to leave a cutover to eat in daylight. You talk about a needle in a haystack!
One of the things I read was that 90% of the deer use 10% of the land at any given point. Now, since we're talking about just mature old deer, I wonder how that applies to them?
This...this is the stuff that motivates me to hunt, even though I never really do it. This kind of hunting makes the most sense, business-like. Go to them and make it happen instead of hoping tonight is the night. I just need to actually do it instead of half-assing it. I really need to go full beast mode to kill deer/bucks where I hunt. Even the small bucks where I hunt are mostly nocturnal. I've gotten good at identifying terrain features where I hunt, and have seen a LOT more deer movement and bucks during the rut, but I have not attempted to really find buck beds. I've never put in the effort during the off-season and it's a damn shame because I have the drive and willpower during the season to do what it takes. I do not know what is stopping me from doing it, it makes so much sense, and hunting any other way where I hunt is now dumb (but yet I continue to do it?). It truly makes me feel stupid for hunting the old way for 2 plus decades. Sure I have many amazing memories, but now with my career, hunting my old way is not efficient and not a productive use of my time. I need to either fully commit or hit the easy button and travel back to my DIY outfitter in Illinois every year for a week. Option 2 is tempting, but doesn't seem satisfying to me. I'm thinking of scouting the rest of the season and having my bow with me just in case. Start my next year hunting plans, this year....Find buck beds that will be in use for this time next year. Will I do it? Million dollar question.
That's the thing. Deer don't use the same stuff year after year. So the stuff you find this year, may not help next year. But it usually gives you a starting point. Just as easy to walk and scout with bow in hand and setup when you find what your looking for. Don't fall back into hunting old spots because you saw a deer there 2 years ago. Sent from my SM-S901U using Tapatalk
Fun one last night. One of the things i'm really focusing on right now is learning how to hone in on and hunt clear cuts. We have a ton of them on public ground here in PA. I found, by aerial imagery, a cut that was on top of a knob that had a nice east facing ridge on one side. Most of the cuts here are on the tops as its too steep to cut the sides of these mountains in many places. Within that ridge, there were several areas that looked like they had small hollows coming up from the creek bottom below. So, I went in to this area and stayed on the edge of the ridge/cut and followed it back in approximately 1/2 mile. We had a wsw wind that blew over the cut, creating that leeward bedding situation along the cut/ridge that everyone talks about. I almost got to the first small hollow and a racked buck jumped up and flew into the thick clearcut. I don't know how big he was, but he looked big enough for sure. So it was somewhat of a success. This is something I find really challenging. Its really easy to keep walking and walking and get too close. I had him fooled wind wise I think, but I just went too far. I was focused on looking for sign that it may be a bedding area close by of one of these types of bucks but I didn't find a single thing. I went to where the buck was bedded and found where he was laying, but there is zero evidence other than the bed. Mature deer, in my experience, don't leave a ton of sign behind it seems. At least not where I"m hunting. I'm guessing this has a great deal to do with the low density of mature bucks and lack of competition. These deer truly are ghosts. But nonetheless, that idealogy of getting close to the bedroom or suspected bedroom does work. Try again another evening.
Preach! I know that deer are amazing creatures and built for survival, especially older ones…BUT…we 100% give them entirely too much credit for “critical” thinking.
