Going back after the first sit

[dan]

I have a little over a dozen target bucks, but there are others I would shoot, and others I have not seen. Regardless, even when hunting just one buck, I might hunt 20 different beds, and still just be hunting that buck.

Can you describe a particular situation when you were hunting a buck with numerous beds say around the 20 mark? How large of area? What do you think was the advantage to numerous beds? How did you pick a bed to hunt? Did tracks tip you off this buck was using all the beds?

Sorry to be long winded, but this is interesting stuff I haven't seen discussed before!!!

[ Post made via iPhone ]

Behind my house is about a 3000 acre public marsh. A buck might be hanging any where in there based on food,. pressure, experience, etc.
Bucks in the area will use all the primary bedding areas. Knowing them all, or at least thinking I do gives me a good indication of where he could be. Tracks, sightings and rubs tell me the particular area. Then I might narrow it down from 200 possible beds to 30, SOMETIMES LESS.
I can think about one area I shine. If I see a big buck in that field before 9 pm early season, I know exactly where he is bedded. I almost always see the same buck the next day if the wind is right to hunt that bed.
Then if you have an idea which areas he is bedding you just hunt them one after another till you kill him. And if there are any beds that are low percentage to kill, you bump them to lower the number of beds you will have to hunt / up your odds percentage wise.

[Kraftd]

Dan,
Is this strategy really most useful when you can hunt the different beds consecutive days, or at least close, for a string of days? It would seem that if circumstance dictates the need to take a few days off between hunts, the chances of being able to systematically eliminate beds until you're on the buck would go down pretty dramatically.

This is obviously where the whole knowing you're area as well as you do is a huge advantage. Someday.....

[Swampbuck]

I have a little over a dozen target bucks, but there are others I would shoot, and others I have not seen. Regardless, even when hunting just one buck, I might hunt 20 different beds, and still just be hunting that buck.

Dan, could this type of approach be applied to an individuals bedding area?

Situation I have is 1-2 acre MB bedding area which is featureless flatland with 10-20 yd visibility max. I could hunt numerous beds based on winds. Could u bounce around this bedding area using your tactic above or would 1-2 hunts anywhere in the bedding area probably ruin it...

I have quite a few of these scenarios so I'm very interested in this approach as this is somewhat how I had planned on hunting them

[ Post made via Android ]

[dan]

Dan,
Is this strategy really most useful when you can hunt the different beds consecutive days, or at least close, for a string of days? It would seem that if circumstance dictates the need to take a few days off between hunts, the chances of being able to systematically eliminate beds until you're on the buck would go down pretty dramatically.

This is obviously where the whole knowing you're area as well as you do is a huge advantage. Someday.....

Yes. I believe hunting the spots as fast as possible consecutively will have the best results. Some Bucks change there patterns often. you need to get on em when they are there.

[dan]

I have a little over a dozen target bucks, but there are others I would shoot, and others I have not seen. Regardless, even when hunting just one buck, I might hunt 20 different beds, and still just be hunting that buck.

Dan, could this type of approach be applied to an individuals bedding area?

Situation I have is 1-2 acre MB bedding area which is featureless flatland with 10-20 yd visibility max. I could hunt numerous beds based on winds. Could u bounce around this bedding area using your tactic above or would 1-2 hunts anywhere in the bedding area probably ruin it...

I have quite a few of these scenarios so I'm very interested in this approach as this is somewhat how I had planned on hunting them

[ Post made via Android ]

I think 1st hunt usually burns it... Best to figure out which end he is coming out of first and get it right the 1st time in... But, that said, it might work... Guess it depends on the bucks tolerance level and whether or not he wanders over during the night and smells where you were.

[tgreeno]

I thought this would be a good bump, to go along with the "hunting too mobile" thread.

IMHO...Every situation is different. Some may work on multiple sits, and some may not. I think clean access is key along with the sign or animals I see during that first hunt. It might only be a large track in the mud, I see while walking in. Sometimes doing what's outside the common practice, is the right move.

[Bonehead]

Most of the time, I have a good idea which way the buck will go... Sometimes, every now and then they go the other way. When they do this, they are generally doing this for a reason. That reason will likely not change over night.
Bucks spen a lot of time within there safe area, both at night, and during the day, its pretty likely, unless you have a great stand set up with a blockade, that he will smell you have been there within a day or two. But then again, probably not, cause he did not come thru in the 1st place so he is likely not there....

In a lot of my set ups, I am close enough to see a buck if he back doors me, most of the time I don't get another chance, at least not for a month, but I do occasionally, so if I see one I would like to kill, I will try the next day. mOVING TO WHERE i SAW HIM. I don't see nothing? If he was not bedding there after no pressure, why would he bed there the next day? If he did not feed out in that direction the day before, why would he do it the next day?

Dan,
What percentage of your mature buck kills happen when you return the next day to set up on a buck you saw the
Day before.?

[dan]

Most of the time, I have a good idea which way the buck will go... Sometimes, every now and then they go the other way. When they do this, they are generally doing this for a reason. That reason will likely not change over night.
Bucks spen a lot of time within there safe area, both at night, and during the day, its pretty likely, unless you have a great stand set up with a blockade, that he will smell you have been there within a day or two. But then again, probably not, cause he did not come thru in the 1st place so he is likely not there....

In a lot of my set ups, I am close enough to see a buck if he back doors me, most of the time I don't get another chance, at least not for a month, but I do occasionally, so if I see one I would like to kill, I will try the next day. mOVING TO WHERE i SAW HIM. I don't see nothing? If he was not bedding there after no pressure, why would he bed there the next day? If he did not feed out in that direction the day before, why would he do it the next day?

Dan,
What percentage of your mature buck kills happen when you return the next day to set up on a buck you saw the
Day before.?

Probably about 25% opportunity when I set up on a buck I observed if the conditions ( like wind) are the same.. Probably about 10% if the buck came out of bedding im hunting and I make an adjustment. That percentage goes up though when the bucks are mature... Older bucks tend to not want to abandon the bedding as easy.

[Brokenarrow1980]

If location permits sometimes sitting right on a hiking trail will allow you to leave some scent and get extra sits. I have a few spots a hiking trail in the back of properties are within 150 yards of bedding. Deer expect to smell humans here and are a little less likely to spook.