If you are hunting for a particular buck, what are the first few things you gather as far as tactical data? GregH? GregMO? Rob? Duke? Anyone else?
I should not be singled out here. Many other hunters better than I. I just get lucky once in a while. Let some of these gents answer this... they have my attention.
Duke, you have done well enough for people here to respect your insight. I am one of those people. Your humility is commendable, but not necessary, "to me".
Where he sleeps Where he likes to eat/Drink(drink is often over looked) Where are his exit and entrances to his bedding areas, food and drink Most important to me, and I suck at it is the "WHEN" he is going to be at the above places. If you can get the "WHEN" down you're good. The dude that owned LoneWolf is pretty good at the "WHEN" from what I have read. I also remember the "WHEN" is the rocket science part
I can only speak for farm country but I agree with Germ. Number 1 thing for me is where he's bedding.
You guys are all probably better at this than I am. But, I think Germ hit it on the head with the WHEN. This seems to be my problem too. I have had some luck with this by leaving my trail cams out tho. I also think we underestimate how important it is to hunt our specific locations in the right situations. By this I mean if the timing (time of day) is right and the food source is there, ie: acorns, persimmons, berries or other food sources are falling. We've got them patterned pretty well. We've identified their bedding or sactuary areas and travelling corridors. But, the wind isn't right, or one of the other key elements that help us succeed isn't right. We, or me personally, sometimes get over zealous and think "well the wind isn't right but....." and we really hurt our chances by going anyway.
First of all, I wholeheartdely agree with Duke... But to give you any insight into how I go about it, I'll key in on one aspect of your question: the first few things... If I can, landowner sightings help a lot. Oftentimes, these guys are monitoring their fields religously if nothing else than to watch their crops and how they're progressing. I've gained more than one tip from these guys who've been able to pinpoint a buck's summertime feeding pattern. Same goes for local mailmen and UPS drivers... Hanging around your local convenience store/coffee shop in the mornings when farmers gather can be a real goldmine. As I've heard others state, I put in a lot of boot-leather time. I absolutely want to know where the gnarliest, thickest places on or around my hunting grounds is located. Sometimes, it's a combination of thick stuff and a slight rise in elevation that gives an old warlock the ability to survey his dominion and catch the wind coming over the hilltop and bringing any danger with it over his back. I've been able to pinpoint a few big bucks also by the LACK of information -- when combined with the SURPLUS of another kind. For example, if I'm hunting a spot that's just tore up with sign and I see doe after doe after doe ... but no buck, I'll start looking around that area for likely bedding areas. Again, I'll look for impenetrable-type growth if I can find it. When I find such an area, I really like hunting the EDGE of such a place. Rarely do I move inwards unless I'm going for broke at the end of a season.
I don't know how it is in Montgomery, LA but I have hunted the marsh deer in south LA near Houma, if thats the case GOOD LUCK thats the hardest hunting i've ever done. I hunt in the south as well (BAMA). The guys on here are all on the money with there answers, but In the south most everything we hunt is pine thickets that you can bearly crawl through. We don't have open country with huge crop fields to observe deer. That makes it very difficult to pattern our deer without getting close. I know alot of guys don't like to use cameras close to the season opener but its the best way to pattern bucks for time of day in the south. Its also alot harder to locate funnels and pinchpoints you really have to use a topo to start. The deer here in the fall hammer the acorns in the deep bottoms and hollows b/c thats the main food source that we have other than food plots. Lets face it mature bucks here just don't like to step out in food plots before dark. That being said, I'll set up in an area were hollows intersect. It seems that the bucks are more comfortable there b/c they have more than one way out. I know that sounds funny but we have very steep bottoms. Also the deer here love to walk edges just like everywhere else, but instead of the edge of a corn field try the using the inside edge along the top of a deep hollow. Often times there will be a buffer of large mast bearing timber separating a pine thicket from a hollow. In these places you have a food source that is close to bedding and also a travel corridor the deer can feel safe in. These are great places to find scrapes and rubs. If there is a buck in the area you'll know it.
I agree as well not only with Duke but with Germ, First, I have to assume you/I have found a mature buck, or any buck and upon first sight, ask this question, what is he doing and WHY? Specifically early season is bedding area. If a buck has any kind of pressure on him, he's usually in his bed before light and stays in it or near it after last light. If your looking to score him pre rut, you need to know where he's bedded. If not pressured, Next, where is he feeding and what route does/will he take to and from if you were to catch him on his feet. I didn't catch all the responses but also, where does this buck summer vs winter. Many times a mature buck you've been watching all summer may not even be there when the season rolls in. Take PA's, our season starts the first weekend in Oct. Many times bucks are off their summer patterns already, beans have turned brown and they may have moved. In states where a season may open in Sept, one very well can still catch a mature buck in his bachelor group in his summer pattern. Later, as the does come into estrous, one can start looking for doe bedding areas and travel routes.
First of all, thanks for the responses guys. Re-enforcing the knowledge I already have is helping me become better at locating these animals, and helping me to learn the "why" they are there "when" they are. (Does that make sense?) Good stuff here people. Thanks for everyone taking thought and time. rbclark, you are absolutely correct. If you have never hunted the South, you really don't know what you are missing.:D Amen brother. rb, in a nutshell, I do a lot of this type hunting. I have found this to be a great travel route scenario. But, when trying to home in on the bedding, it gets a lot tougher. I am getting there though.
It would be very cool, that is one thing I have a very hard time with. Bedding areas, and finding them. Looking forward to the replies!
Kyle one thing to look for a down tree with the roots that came up. The hole created by the up-rooting makes a perfect bed. Some guys even make these beds themselves. See the down tree here, this is where I first so the log splitter buck in 2003, he was bedded next to the roots of that fallen tree. I now know how many ecsape routes are back here. Cool secluded and he can sneak out of there without anyone knowing. I shot a 10 about 10yds in from that spot. I had the log splitter at about 7 yds in 2004, Siman I have no proof of him either:p But I do of that 10
It seems like there is a bedding theme going here, so I'll throw a few ideas out there. Bucks don't always bed in the thickest nastiest cover, but they do bed in places that offer them great protection. On the farm I used to hunt there were a few non-typical bedding areas that I found. One I liked to hunt was a small marshy spot at the end of a brushy ditch, no bigger than an acre. There were a few willows and some cattails growing there along with one cottonwood tree big enough to hang a stand in. Those willows had a hard time growing because the bucks liked to bed there and they really tore them up. The only way to approach this spot was thru the ditch, it was in the middle of crop fields and any deer in there would see you coming or smell you from a long ways off. I saw a lot of good bucks there but only managed to kill one of them. Another spot the bucks liked to bed at in the winter was a grassy South facing hillside. It was between a pasture and crop fields (too steep to farm). The grass and weeds were 3-4 feet tall and they would bed in there and soak up the warm rays of the sun out of the wind on cold days. You could only see them when they stood up. I tried to catch them coming and going from that spot but never made any connections. They mostly waited till after dark or I was on the wrong trail. There were also a few sink holes in the middle of some of the fields. Bucks and does love to bed in them because they can see or smell you coming from a long ways off and leave before you ever get close. Don't overlook any small weed patch or small brushy out of the way area where a buck could hide and feel safe. It doesn't have to very big, but it needs to be off the beaten path where noone else disturbs the area. They need to feel safe there. Here is a picture of a farm I used to hunt. The red circle is the marshy area and the yellow is the weedy hillside. This was a 640 acre farm with main woods being about 125 acres. These are by no means the only bedding areas on this farm just a couple of unique ones. The deer would bed just about anywhere in the woods. It was very thick with underbrush. Bush Honeysuckle had really taken over the understory. The sinkholes were on a different farm.
If I am the previous poster you were writing about, I said I used a topo for funnels and pinchpoints not bedding and feeding areas.
Not looking at anything now. i'm sitting at work. I can pull an aerial up on google but don't know how to post it.
Germ: Great tip! Here is my issue: This is a pic of our farm...outlined in red is our property, but I can literally hunt what you can see on this map....[bow hunt that is]. See that HUGE swamp around mud lake? I'm pretty positive a majority of the deer bed in any little high spot [not even visible on arials, or topos] in that swamp. Hard to hunt real close to their bedding areas. They stay real close to the "humps" just past the "finger", Long way to walk to get to the crops to feed. They get to the fields pretty late!
I love GregH answer I get some of the best info year to year from our land owner as the crops change so does the bedding area on our farms. With his help we now know where to put trail cams and then boot leather.. Being on the same farm for three years now also helps because we know every pinch point and when they are going to start running them. Germs answers are spot on you need to know where the bedding food and water and where the thickiest nastiest cover is and then it is up to being there at the right time and that is the hard part. Walt
If you want to spend the cash, this guy is the master at buckbeds. I am pretty sure he owns 50 some acres here in MI. He shoots some whoppers http://tonysulm.com/
