I always talk about the big bucks teaching me a little something all the time. Last night was a case in point. I was set up on the top of a long ridgeline in a saddle, right on the edge of big timber and 60 acre clearcut thats about 15-20 years old. So the new growth and vegetation is thick and up to 20ft tall... Being that my ridge top saddle stand is over looking this steep northern side mountain-side cut, I can see down into the tops of it pretty well with my binocs. Naked eye, not so good. Anyway, I had sat for a couple hours hoping to catch bucks coming from the south-side through my saddle to feed in the North facing cut. Just before dark after seeing NOTHING all evening.. I was glassing down in the cut and I caught a buck just standing up out of his bed. Immediately my heart jumped as I made out big tall tines and long main beams. Picket fence looking buggar! 200 yards from my bowstand though. I thought about grunting but knew I couldnt. The wind was a cross wind and if that buck would have made his way up to me he would have cut my wind. So with only about 15 minutes left of shooting light I just watched this impressive 5x5 or 6x6 ( it was hard to tell exactly what he was because he was in such thick stuff) stand up, stretch, scent check the wind and move about 150 yards down the mountain cutover before pitch dark.. He moved slowly down the slope ever so cautiously. It just reminded me that the big boys aren't in any hurry to move very far yet..Not here in Idaho anyway... I do hope he is bedding in this draw regularly though because he did walk down through the cuts bottom into a large tract of timber. A good stand site for Sat! The big sucker was bedded in a very unlikely spot.. imgane that! and again I got confirmation that the big ones don't move much in the daylight..
Troy, Why do you say he was bedded in a most unlikely spot? Unless you were being facetious... To me, it sounded like a VERY likely spot... thick, new growth 15 - 20 feet tall but you can't get a climber in there most probably -- and would bump anything out if you could and tried. Sounds like the perfect bedding area.
I just rarely see big bucks make a bedding area in this type of stuff, they usually prefer the big hvy standing timber with blowdowns and thick brush all in one. Stuff you cant even walk into without alerting every critter 500 yards in ear shot. I have hunted this cut for 8 years now and have never caught a buck of this caliber bedding in this cut. Younger bucks all the time.. this buck was at least 4 years old or older..very mature, big long hvy body.. hell of a rack on his head.. etc.. I guess you'd have to see this country and hunt it to understand where I am coming from. I know cut over are some of the best options for bucks in other parts of the country but here, the big forests are much better and its where I usually always find the biggest sheds.. Greg I need to add this.. its rifle season out here, bucks get killed in rifle season in these types of beds.. He was lucky I was bowhunting. With a rifle last night I probably could have killed him. Its rifle season right now till Dec 1.
Well I cant hunt tonight (gotta take my boys to their school carnival) or I would slide in there to the big timbered edge down below the finger ridge in the clearcut he worked down and set up there to see if he would come down through again tonight.. to be real honest I just cant see this guy bedding in this same spot over and over being its rifle season out here.. But.. he may for a few days.. Also he may like bedding up the moutain in the big timber and like this travel route down to the bottom big timber.. down through this cut.. so I could hang a stand at the bottom of this clearcut finger ridge where it enters the big timber, lot so trees and at the top of the finger ridge where it enters the top timber.. this clearcut is on a steep mountainside... its not flat.. very steep and bluffed out at the top but the bucks are like goats out here they run this stuff like its flat.. In the evenings i can catch a downslope thermal and most likely sw to west prevailing wind.. which would be perfect for a last hour or two evening set up down where the big timber intersects with the cc finger ridge he worked down .. Saturday thats my plan.. Hang it about mid day and hunt it the rest of the day.. giving plenty of time slip in get set up and let things chill. If hes bedded in the cut I would be about 150-200 yards away.. I could hunt that same stand in the a.m. but not until about 9 a.m. because of the downslope thermals.. So I doubt I would do that yet because hes not traveling yet .. He would be well back into his bed in the A.M. using that downslope thermal to crawl back up in there..at daylight.. or before. I may have to catch him in top of the CC at the timberline..if he shows me that hes not always bedding where i saw him yesterday.. My bet is he uses the big timber up top more often than not .. Or I would have seen him before.. The big timber up top starts right on the top of the ridgeline and runs down the southside for about 1000 acres.. big bedding area.. Hes got downwind morning thermals to get him back to his elevated bed. Hes got daytime upwind thermals to let him know if anything is approaching from downslope ..the only time he doesnt have the wind in his face is in that last hour of daylight.. when he heads downslope.. If I go in there i will have to wait for the wind to switch downslope.. last hour.. its gonna be a tight squeeze.. unless I have a prevailing west wind to blow my scent crossways through the bottom of the cut.. then I could go in early, set up and wait it out till dark.. Thats what I would like to do Sat.
Between the large bedding area and small window of time for a "good" wind...sounds like one heck of a challenge. Good luck!
Very neat! This sounds A LOT like an area I have on my property (except it's a south facing slope). It was timbered about 8yrs ago, and the new growth is THICK. In fact, I haven't walked through this area ever since it was timbered. I didn't seem like anything but a few doe were bedding in there, although every year during post-season scouting, I would come across a good rub line running the southern edge of this thicket where it opened back up in hardwoods. This is the exact area the buck I shot this year came out of. I know once the seasons are over, I'm going through there to find out if this is where they are calling home.
Good luck Troy. Sounds like you have a good plan. He must be big to take some attention away from Hoss
