I'm hunting a public piece in Iowa this year with several shootable deer appearing on my camera almost weekly. The biggest of which only comes out at 9 at night or 5:30 in the morning. I'm scared he might be a fairly nocturnal deer. Any suggestions on locating his buck bed to try to get a stand closer to him for a shot in shooting hours?
Does he always come to your camera from the same direction? If so put another one farther away in the direction that he comes in from and get an idea where he is coming from to get to you.
Also if it looks like he's moving in the same direction, go for a walk and try to locate signpost rubs and droppings. Might be on the right track when you see those.
It's hard to tell. I found some beds today in the direction I'm guessing he came from but I don't know the difference between buck and doe beds. That being said I placed a camera right off of them and my second one in the same direction but closer to the river. No rubs to follow yet or at least that I could find.
Well that's the direction he will be bedding in most likely, keep scouting but if you were on top of the beds like you said then I'd back out of there and scout surrounding that area looking for trail that lead in and out of it
Sounds like your on the right track. I know it'll be hard but I wouldn't go check that camera for at least a couple weeks.
Yeah it's going to be a rough couple weeks. Just road scouted the area at sunset tonight. Got a good idea on my number two hit list buck's bedding area. First time I've actually seen him in person
Definitely might put a couple more cameras out to see if you can get an idea on their travel paths. Like Shocker said I wouldn't check the cameras for a little while. Good Luck!!
Unfortunately, I can only afford the 2 right now. Plus with it being public ground I always run the risk of getting them stolen.
I am sitting in the same situation for the past 2 years. What I found out this year was that I moved in the correct direction of his bed but ended up moving too far. So one day he would get out of his bed and go east and one day west. I kept moving because I was on top of his bed so he was going all over the place. Ended up pushing him out because I thought I couldn't figure him out. Turned out I had him figured out too well since I was in his bed. Changed my strategy this year and backed out of that area.
Did he have any set patterns? For example was his water source to the east or food source to the west?
There is Ag fields to both east and west of a huge block of timber and they bed in the timber. water is both ways but east is closer than west. Both fields with beans and corn. He had everything both ways so it was just whatever he felt like doing that day... Never did see him after the rut started.
That's what i'm afraid is going to happen with the buck i'm after. Going to hit early season fairly hard to get him before his patterns change.
When you do go in to find his bed. Buck beds look different than doe beds. Doe bedding will usually be not too far from where they feed, and most of the time you will find a cluster of beds close to each other (translated as a doe family group). Bucks are solitary, they will bed further back from the food, most often on the highest ground they can find (point of a ridge, grassy knoll, even a small patch of high ground in a swamp). The beds will be big and many times have a defined entry and exit trail leading to and from it.
You sir, have just accurately described the two different sets of beds i found yesterday. This is going to help me immensely.
If you are finding the beds, you are busting the deer out of them and stinking the place up. They wont put up with much of that. I wouldn't concern myself with hunting that close to the beds. Be mobile and hunt an observation stand until you get a better idea on his movement at last light during the early season. Then, when the wind is perfect, move in for the chance at a shot. Tromping around in the bedding areas is likely to mess things up.
Just saw you are in Iowa. What part of the state? I just moved to Iowa myself. I will be hunting some public ground also. Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk
