Anticipating points to intercept bucks leaving bedding...

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Clevinger
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Anticipating points to intercept bucks leaving bedding...

Unread postby Clevinger » Tue Jan 15, 2013 8:03 am

I have a buck bed in which he has multiple options of cover for leaving, and there are fields in 3 different directions. Without glassing is there a way to anticipate which way they will leave their beds and where they will be staging? Do you just look for rubs and subtle trails?

How far inside the treeline (off a field) do bucks generally stage and wait for darkness?


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Re: Anticipating points to intercept bucks leaving bedding..

Unread postby dan » Tue Jan 15, 2013 10:58 am

Clevinger wrote:I have a buck bed in which he has multiple options of cover for leaving, and there are fields in 3 different directions. Without glassing is there a way to anticipate which way they will leave their beds and where they will be staging? Do you just look for rubs and subtle trails?

How far inside the treeline (off a field) do bucks generally stage and wait for darkness?

Knowing where all, or at least most of the buck bedding on a property is, is the 1st step... Scouting the food sources is second, especially if your not willing to glass. Finding buck sign at a food source, such as tracks, rubs, scrapes, etc. Will tell you where he is feeding, then, you set up on the side of the bedding that leads towards the food...
How far inside the treeline (off a field) do bucks generally stage and wait for darkness?

Bucks, especially mature bucks, usually stage within a couple hundred yards of there bed. It varys at different times of the year, and it varys on differing terrains and pressure.
I think tree lines or open areas close to bedding shorten the distance, and thick cover makes it a little larger.
I personally would not worry much about treelines at food sources, I would focus my concern as to where the buck beds and how close you can get to him.
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Re: Anticipating points to intercept bucks leaving bedding..

Unread postby Clevinger » Tue Jan 15, 2013 11:54 am

dan wrote:
Clevinger wrote:I have a buck bed in which he has multiple options of cover for leaving, and there are fields in 3 different directions. Without glassing is there a way to anticipate which way they will leave their beds and where they will be staging? Do you just look for rubs and subtle trails?

How far inside the treeline (off a field) do bucks generally stage and wait for darkness?

Knowing where all, or at least most of the buck bedding on a property is, is the 1st step... Scouting the food sources is second, especially if your not willing to glass. Finding buck sign at a food source, such as tracks, rubs, scrapes, etc. Will tell you where he is feeding, then, you set up on the side of the bedding that leads towards the food...
How far inside the treeline (off a field) do bucks generally stage and wait for darkness?

Bucks, especially mature bucks, usually stage within a couple hundred yards of there bed. It varys at different times of the year, and it varys on differing terrains and pressure.
I think tree lines or open areas close to bedding shorten the distance, and thick cover makes it a little larger.
I personally would not worry much about treelines at food sources, I would focus my concern as to where the buck beds and how close you can get to him.



I know where a couple are, and frankly the one I have no idea how to go to without setting off all sorts of noise...which was his intention I'm sure.

How do bucks with big racks get through brush that I have trouble crawling through?

Do staging areas tend to be small open areas near the food source or does it matter?
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Re: Anticipating points to intercept bucks leaving bedding..

Unread postby dan » Tue Jan 15, 2013 12:09 pm

I know where a couple are, and frankly the one I have no idea how to go to without setting off all sorts of noise...which was his intention I'm sure.

The bucks job is to find the best spot to keep you from getting close undetected... Your job is to find his mistake.
How do bucks with big racks get through brush that I have trouble crawling through?
I have no idea... Just know they do.

Do staging areas tend to be small open areas near the food source or does it matter?

In magazines yes, in my definition of a staging area, No. Staging is done within the bucks safe zone. Imagine a circle around the bucks bed. the outer edge of this circle is out of site, sound, and smell of the buck... He believes he knows what is going on within the safe zone while bedded. When he rises, he fears nothing cause while bedded he could hear, see, or smell what was going on in that circle. He slowly makes his way to the edge of the circle as the end of shooting hours gets closer. Sometimes he stages farther than he should, sometimes within the circle. Your job is to get to the edge of that circle, as close as you can get undetected. Thats the area I refer to as the staging area...
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Re: Anticipating points to intercept bucks leaving bedding..

Unread postby dan » Tue Jan 15, 2013 12:23 pm

Here is an actual buck bed that I have had success hunting...
The red dot is the bucks bed right on the point.
The blue circle represents the safe zone.
The yellow line is the bucks travel rought.
Thr Green dot is my hunting spot where the buck can't quite see cause of the thicker edge trees blocking his view...
Distance from bed to stand, about 75 yards.

Image
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Re: Anticipating points to intercept bucks leaving bedding..

Unread postby Clevinger » Tue Jan 15, 2013 1:46 pm

dan wrote:
I know where a couple are, and frankly the one I have no idea how to go to without setting off all sorts of noise...which was his intention I'm sure.

The bucks job is to find the best spot to keep you from getting close undetected... Your job is to find his mistake.
How do bucks with big racks get through brush that I have trouble crawling through?
I have no idea... Just know they do.

Do staging areas tend to be small open areas near the food source or does it matter?

In magazines yes, in my definition of a staging area, No. Staging is done within the bucks safe zone. Imagine a circle around the bucks bed. the outer edge of this circle is out of site, sound, and smell of the buck... He believes he knows what is going on within the safe zone while bedded. When he rises, he fears nothing cause while bedded he could hear, see, or smell what was going on in that circle. He slowly makes his way to the edge of the circle as the end of shooting hours gets closer. Sometimes he stages farther than he should, sometimes within the circle. Your job is to get to the edge of that circle, as close as you can get undetected. Thats the area I refer to as the staging area...


I feel like something clicked. Really appreciate you spelling it out for me. I was thinking about it as a secondary area on the way to the food source, rather than a circle around his bed.
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Re: Anticipating points to intercept bucks leaving bedding..

Unread postby Clevinger » Tue Jan 15, 2013 1:54 pm

dan wrote:Here is an actual buck bed that I have had success hunting...
The red dot is the bucks bed right on the point.
The blue circle represents the safe zone.
The yellow line is the bucks travel rought.
Thr Green dot is my hunting spot where the buck can't quite see cause of the thicker edge trees blocking his view...
Distance from bed to stand, about 75 yards.

Image


You are a good teacher. I get it.

The only problem is, in your example, there is essentially one predictable direction of travel for him (away from the point he was bedded on). I have a bed like that I found in the swamp, where I know what direction he is heading. Where I get confused is when they have food sources in different directions.

When they have options it must be hit-and-miss, to a degree. I assume this is why you always stress getting as close to the bed as possible. I recall in the Marsh Bucks video that is the phenomenon you guys were talking about, where the further you get from his bed the more your odds of intercepting him go down.
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Re: Anticipating points to intercept bucks leaving bedding..

Unread postby huntinsonovagun » Tue Jan 15, 2013 3:02 pm

Dan- how did you figure out the buck in your example was bedding there own that wind? I thought he would bed there on a SW wind??

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Re: Anticipating points to intercept bucks leaving bedding..

Unread postby Buckfever » Tue Jan 15, 2013 5:37 pm

"In magazines yes, in my definition of a staging area, No. Staging is done within the bucks safe zone. Imagine a circle around the bucks bed. the outer edge of this circle is out of site, sound, and smell of the buck... He believes he knows what is going on within the safe zone while bedded. When he rises, he fears nothing cause while bedded he could hear, see, or smell what was going on in that circle. He slowly makes his way to the edge of the circle as the end of shooting hours gets closer. Sometimes he stages farther than he should, sometimes within the circle. Your job is to get to the edge of that circle, as close as you can get undetected. Thats the area I refer to as the staging area..."

Apply, lather, rinse, repeat. With the exception of funnels on the downwind side of doe bedding during the rut, this is our game.
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Re: Anticipating points to intercept bucks leaving bedding..

Unread postby dan » Tue Jan 15, 2013 9:02 pm

huntinsonovagun wrote:Dan- how did you figure out the buck in your example was bedding there own that wind? I thought he would bed there on a SW wind??

[ Post made via iPad ] Image

On "edge" or "transition" beds they often bed up against thick cover (the cattails) with wind to back, watching the open area down wind. As soon as you enter that point he sees or hears you and slips into the cattails. Its the complete opisate of what you would see on a hill type bed with wind over the point. The only thing similar is they like looking towards the open area. Wind to back.
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Re: Anticipating points to intercept bucks leaving bedding..

Unread postby wmahunter » Thu Jan 17, 2013 2:41 am

dan wrote:Here is an actual buck bed that I have had success hunting...
The red dot is the bucks bed right on the point.
The blue circle represents the safe zone.
The yellow line is the bucks travel rought.
Thr Green dot is my hunting spot where the buck can't quite see cause of the thicker edge trees blocking his view...
Distance from bed to stand, about 75 yards.

Image



Dan's sample of a bed on a point going out into a marsh is exactly like several locations I have found down here.

Great example.

Dan what software or accessories are you using to edit these aeriels? Yours are clean where when I am using the mouse, my lines are not that straight.
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Re: Anticipating points to intercept bucks leaving bedding..

Unread postby dan » Thu Jan 17, 2013 11:03 am

Dan what software or accessories are you using to edit these aeriels? Yours are clean where when I am using the mouse, my lines are not that straight.

Just using the basic paint program.
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Re: Anticipating points to intercept bucks leaving bedding..

Unread postby dan » Thu Jan 17, 2013 11:22 am

Here is a spot that has two ways the buck can and dose go... You might need to click on the pic to enlarge it. The red dot is the actual buck bed. The white circle the safe zone, the blue dots are my hunting positions. To know which side to sit on, or whether or not to sit that bed at all, I simply check the mud on the trails crossing the road to see if the buck is using the bed. The crossing with the buck tracks will help me decide which side to hunt... Its not always that easy... Sometimes you need to look at physical sign like rubs around the food sources the trails lead too, or take an educated guess based on what food source they are currently feeding on... And in some cases, where you have no clue... Hunt one side one day, the other the next.
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Re: Anticipating points to intercept bucks leaving bedding..

Unread postby MOBIGBUCKS » Thu Jan 17, 2013 1:02 pm

dan wrote:Here is a spot that has two ways the buck can and dose go... You might need to click on the pic to enlarge it. The red dot is the actual buck bed. The white circle the safe zone, the blue dots are my hunting positions. To know which side to sit on, or whether or not to sit that bed at all, I simply check the mud on the trails crossing the road to see if the buck is using the bed. The crossing with the buck tracks will help me decide which side to hunt... Its not always that easy... Sometimes you need to look at physical sign like rubs around the food sources the trails lead too, or take an educated guess based on what food source they are currently feeding on... And in some cases, where you have no clue... Hunt one side one day, the other the next.
Image


What wind direction is he utilizing here Dan?
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Re: Anticipating points to intercept bucks leaving bedding..

Unread postby dan » Thu Jan 17, 2013 1:18 pm

What wind direction is he utilizing here Dan?

I believe he beds in the last situation regardless of wind direction. Deer sightings at that bed, also confirm this conclusion.


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