The scenario: You've been watching your favorite bean field, and a few nice bucks plus one stud, are coming in from the same corner on a regular basis. You know they're bedding in the river bottom area, just off of the edge of the field. It's a steep, thickly wooded drop-off. And they are likely bedding within a couple hundred yards of the field edge, but who knows? They're coming into the field after shooting light fades. The main problem is that the river bottom is a couple of hundred yards across and over a quarter mile long, and they could be anywhere in there. One thing I've learned from experience is that waiting on or near the field edge does me no good. I know that I need to position myself between their beds and the field/food source, but the trail splits 5 different ways, just inside the wood line. They could be bedding ANYWHERE in there. What do you do in this scenario? How agressive do you get?
Tough question and I don't really have an answer lol. On one hand I'd be scared to death of getting busted and never seeing them again, but on the other hand if you don't take a risk you might not get a chance at them anyways. If it was a STUD of a buck I might contemplate sleeping in the woods overnight and trying to find the perfect time to sneak in?
lol... I always love the random pics to emphasize a point. The groundhog day one was the best though..Hands down
First you need to explain just how past shooting light they're coming into the field. This is your MOST important task. It will help dictate just how far you should go in. And of course note the wind direction they are comfortable with. It's not always about how aggressive you need to be when hunting a mature buck. You say you have 5 trails coming into that corner.. find out what trail "bests" your odds. As in.. which trail offers something a buck is in need of.. along the way to the field. Often their will be a trail with fresh rubs.. more than another trail.. obviously this may be the one. A pair of oaks dropping good acorns along another trail.. may be the best bet. My point is.. don't necessarily be aggressive.. just get off the field and pick the trail with the most amount of relative buck sign or preferred food source (along the way) or what have you. Don't look at the field as the only destination.. a buck meandering through the woods has other priorities too.. including food and slowing down.. which includes a bit of sign making along the way. Think of the line a buck would take to his destination.. in this case your field.. now find the line with the best buck odds.
So do I, Jeff :D. I'm willing to get agressive here though, because this property will be secondary when the rut approaches.
While we have this drizzly weather go learn thier path to the field. My experiance with most deer and bean fields is they will stage 10-20 yards insice the woodline and mill around a bit before they hit the beans. I would find out where that is happening, hang a stand this week, nice and quiet. probably wont have to be high since they are coming out of a draw. put yourself about 25 yards away from thier staging area just above the thickest thicket their is. Shoot one opening day.