I'm struggling with hunting bucks. The spots I have picked this year and other years have good deer activity but usually only see young bucks. I know spots to look at for traffic but is there certain things you guys key in on that produce buck sightings? Hunting beds is common it seems but I struggle to locate beds in the hill country of the Appalachian mountains.
Jake, I find most of my beds in the hill country after the season closes and I'm shed hunting... walking the ridge lines out. Most of the time I find them about 3/4 of the way up a big ridge, where the deer can look down and see the whole valley below him with the wind coming over his back to protect his exposed side. Makes 'em awfully tough to hunt, especially with the swirling winds that typically exist in those conditions.
Sounds like you are doing some beast mode bowhunting Greg. Do you ever slip in on them in their beds?
The winds are the problem. I try to account for what it will be doing but 80% of the time it's constantly changing. Hard to know if you're in a bad spot or you're just stinking up the place. Realize that bad winds make for a bad spot but unless you're sitting on mountain top, good luck finding a consistent wind.
this is actually in city limits where I hunt. Not another stand within sight! Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk
I've not tried to slip in on them with them there, but a couple times I've hung stands at 2 a.m. in what I thought was their bedrooms and waited them out... It hasn't clicked for me yet, but ... hey, it was worth a try, right? :D
Jake, are you hunting funnels such as saddles and or saddles flanked by thickets? Seems to be a great set up once they start cruising hard.
I snuck up on a couple in their beds last year but didn't kill either one of them. One left with a doe and the other was a 2.5 year old. Its definitely a rush, and definitely not easy. I'll be doing a lot more scouting this off-season, especially in some public in Illinois in the hills. I have a lot to learn about the hill hunting over there before next season, but I'm stoked about it.
I feel like I am. Guess I'll have to be patient then reevaulate if things don't improve. For those of you that are always looking at typos, etc. Was on the hunting beast forum today and ran across a good website suggestion for online scouting. http://www.hillmap.com Gives you a two window view where you can see topo and aerial.
So here is my dilemma. I only hunt public land. I have couple of places scouted pretty well. I will be in a stand on Saturday morning. Both of these spots have recently had/will have managed hunts on them which I believe was for shot gun. The first a pretty large area gets a fair amount of hunters for archery. This area had a managed hunt Saturday. The other much smaller but from what I can tell does not get the pressure from archery hunters. However, this area has a managed hunt scheduled for this Thursday. So to my point....do I A: hunt the larger area knowing there will be more hunters but a week since the managed hunt or B: hunt the smaller area with less hunters but a managed hunt that was 2 days prior? Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk
For me the first few weeks I usually hunt areas I scouted in the spring and summer then I will make adjustments as the season goes on depending on the amount of sign and activity I see.
