Hunting Farm Land

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Sweet Shot 7
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Re: Hunting Farm Land

Unread postby Sweet Shot 7 » Fri Jul 26, 2013 4:37 am

Ridge great examples! Thanks for taking the time and putting those up. I will have some here soon.


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Re: Hunting Farm Land

Unread postby Sweet Shot 7 » Fri Jul 26, 2013 5:09 am

This was the first season I scouted and found buck beds. So I wont have any set ups where I killed one from the bed. I will put up a couple that I plan on hunting this year.


Red = Bed
Yellow = Rubline
Green = Scrape
White = Stand

Frome the way the rub line and trails looked. He leaves his bed hits the scrape under the apple tree and then moves into the crop field. I found this durring turkey season. I had no idea that it was there last year.


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Re: Hunting Farm Land

Unread postby Sweet Shot 7 » Fri Jul 26, 2013 5:32 am

This is a known buck bedding area year after year. I hunted it twice last year. Passed a 130 after he got out of his bed and came around at 15 yards. It was Oct 6th. Had a shooter Thanksgiving morning come in following 2 does. The wind had switched to SE instead of SW. The does came by at 20 yards. Big boy stood away and would not follow. I know he got my wind because of the switch. I hope this little woodlot can produce this year!


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Re: Hunting Farm Land

Unread postby trdtnlbwhntr » Fri Jul 26, 2013 5:48 am

Image

This was the first and only time I have ever tried the beast style and it worked out pretty well. Mostly got lucky that it worked so well because I had not thought about why he was bedding there or when, I just knew there was a wind that I could do this with and I tried it. The field was standing corn and the conditions were wet, windy, and more rain on the way that evening. I used the standing corn as my cover for my approach. I walked to within 150-200 yards of the bed then got down on all fours and worked my way slowly through the standing corn till I was within 75 yards of the bed. I put up a small folding turkey stool and waited. With the wind blowing from the SW (very rare here) the buck could smell anything coming from his back, he could hear anything crossing the ditch from his SE and he could visually watch the entire length of the buffer strip for anything approaching from the N. The bed is in a perfect location now that I have read more about the beast method. SO with wet windy conditions I snuck through the corn. With about 30 minutes of light left the buck stood from his bed and shook like a dog then followed the blue path right to me. Unfortunately this was not the buck that was supposed to be in there. With not much light left the target buck came from the north down the buffer strip heading into the bedding area. I promptly shot right under what would have been my first Boone and Crocket animal. I still get sick to my stomach just thinking about it.

Needless to say if the conditions present themselves again I will be making that move and this time hopefully things work out for the best.
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UntouchableNess
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Re: Hunting Farm Land

Unread postby UntouchableNess » Fri Jul 26, 2013 12:50 pm

trdtnlbwhntr wrote:
Needless to say if the conditions present themselves again I will be making that move and this time hopefully things work out for the beast.


Fixed it for ya. ;)
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jonsimoneau
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Re: Hunting Farm Land

Unread postby jonsimoneau » Fri Jul 26, 2013 1:21 pm

Ridge these examples are great. Even though you are the same age as me and I have been hunting just as long, you obviously have learned a ton. Great stuff.

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Re: Hunting Farm Land

Unread postby MOBIGBUCKS » Sat Jul 27, 2013 1:54 am

trdtnlbwhntr wrote:Image

This was the first and only time I have ever tried the beast style and it worked out pretty well. Mostly got lucky that it worked so well because I had not thought about why he was bedding there or when, I just knew there was a wind that I could do this with and I tried it. The field was standing corn and the conditions were wet, windy, and more rain on the way that evening. I used the standing corn as my cover for my approach. I walked to within 150-200 yards of the bed then got down on all fours and worked my way slowly through the standing corn till I was within 75 yards of the bed. I put up a small folding turkey stool and waited. With the wind blowing from the SW (very rare here) the buck could smell anything coming from his back, he could hear anything crossing the ditch from his SE and he could visually watch the entire length of the buffer strip for anything approaching from the N. The bed is in a perfect location now that I have read more about the beast method. SO with wet windy conditions I snuck through the corn. With about 30 minutes of light left the buck stood from his bed and shook like a dog then followed the blue path right to me. Unfortunately this was not the buck that was supposed to be in there. With not much light left the target buck came from the north down the buffer strip heading into the bedding area. I promptly shot right under what would have been my first Boone and Crocket animal. I still get sick to my stomach just thinking about it.

Needless to say if the conditions present themselves again I will be making that move and this time hopefully things work out for the best.



Excellent example! Where was the bigger buck bedded and in your opinion why?

I know that same sick feeling missing a giant like that. It never quite goes away does it?
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Re: Hunting Farm Land

Unread postby dan » Sat Jul 27, 2013 11:53 am

One very common and sometimes fustrating type of bed in farm country is the feeding field edge bed... However, keep in mind there are scenarios like with all types of bedding where they do this in all terrains....

It works like this:
The buck is feeding in the morning darkness in the field and approaches the bed wind to nose. does a slight circle hook to a bed where he can watch the entire field and smell anything from behind... When he gets up in the evening he feeds and stages in the field near his bed till darkness before moving on... This is a very common type of bed.

The way to beat him is to glass from a safe location untill he starts making it across the field in daylight to a position where you can kill him... Move to early and the buck will smell you and tighten its safe zone or relocate... Your move has to be precise. If you hunt this scenario you will start to believe in the power of moon phase cause daylight movements making it across the field have corrilated with the moon in my observations... Or weather.

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BigHills BuckHunter
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Re: Hunting Farm Land

Unread postby BigHills BuckHunter » Sat Jul 27, 2013 2:53 pm

Indianahunter wrote:
Stanley wrote:
BigHills BuckHunter wrote:
JoeRE wrote:Good thread! I hunt a good bit of farm country - areas where the cover consists mostly of small woodlots and thin fingers and draws.

Bedding is harder to pinpoint - I find bucks still stick to the isolated pockets of thick cover and points such as in other terrains but it is more difficult because there are more such areas, the bucks seem to pick from more options for any given wind. My experience is that buck bedding areas are more variable - repeated use of one core area by one buck is much less common. A lot of farm country bucks might bed in one grassy swale one day, an isolated thicket a 1/4 mile away the next day, somewhere else a 1/2 mile away the next day and so on not to return to the first bedding area for weeks. I think this may be a result of disturbance being commonplace for farm country bucks because there is more human activity in farm country - they are used to needing to move around and there is rarely even one spot that doesn't get human activity at some point.

Another thing to keep in mind is farm country deer really change their behavior when the crops come out - think about it this way, cover could be reduced by 90% or more when the corn gets picked. The later in the season it is, the less options for secure bedding a farm country buck has which is helpful to a hunter.



I hunt hills with farmland. This post about sums it up. Very good post. I have also seen bucks travel distances to bed somewhere else. Like you said whether or not the crops are picked in a huge factor. Thats why we like to use foodplots so there is a constant foodsource and can help pattern a buck more and hopefully keep him there. I have realized you dont need a HUGE foodplot to attract a big buck. We use 1 acre in size surrounded by bedding and thick cover.

Something I have observed in scouting and hunting is that bucks really like to enter fields at low spots in elevation. Bucks also like to enter the field on a point of trees that shoots out into the field. Double inside corners are also great spots on fields especially early season.


Great point.


That is a good point but you have to be cautious. They come out from those low points as an evening thermal advantage with virtually an entire field of scent draining to those spots. Definitely have to hunt those spots strategically or done enough wind checking to know how you can get in and out to hunt them...however if you can...they are awesome!


I realized that I must be very cautious as to what tree I put the stand in if Im hunting ravines on the edgework or if there are dips in the field. I need to consider thermals as well which work to my advantage now. Dan and Arrowbender really helped me to understand that. Using milkweed seed I can tell how to set up for example approach and what wind to use. BEst part is that they dont cost a dime.
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BigHills BuckHunter
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Re: Hunting Farm Land

Unread postby BigHills BuckHunter » Sat Jul 27, 2013 2:55 pm

dan wrote:One very common and sometimes fustrating type of bed in farm country is the feeding field edge bed... However, keep in mind there are scenarios like with all types of bedding where they do this in all terrains....

It works like this:
The buck is feeding in the morning darkness in the field and approaches the bed wind to nose. does a slight circle hook to a bed where he can watch the entire field and smell anything from behind... When he gets up in the evening he feeds and stages in the field near his bed till darkness before moving on... This is a very common type of bed.

The way to beat him is to glass from a safe location untill he starts making it across the field in daylight to a position where you can kill him... Move to early and the buck will smell you and tighten its safe zone or relocate... Your move has to be precise. If you hunt this scenario you will start to believe in the power of moon phase cause daylight movements making it across the field have corrilated with the moon in my observations... Or weather.

Image


Great post Dan! Thank you.
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Stanley
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Re: Hunting Farm Land

Unread postby Stanley » Sat Jul 27, 2013 6:16 pm

BigHills BuckHunter wrote:
dan wrote:One very common and sometimes fustrating type of bed in farm country is the feeding field edge bed... However, keep in mind there are scenarios like with all types of bedding where they do this in all terrains....

It works like this:
The buck is feeding in the morning darkness in the field and approaches the bed wind to nose. does a slight circle hook to a bed where he can watch the entire field and smell anything from behind... When he gets up in the evening he feeds and stages in the field near his bed till darkness before moving on... This is a very common type of bed.

The way to beat him is to glass from a safe location untill he starts making it across the field in daylight to a position where you can kill him... Move to early and the buck will smell you and tighten its safe zone or relocate... Your move has to be precise. If you hunt this scenario you will start to believe in the power of moon phase cause daylight movements making it across the field have corrilated with the moon in my observations... Or weather.

Image


Great post Dan! Thank you.

I agree those visual aids help everyone understand better.
You can fool some of the bucks, all of the time, and fool all of the bucks, some of the time, however you certainly can't fool all of the bucks, all of the time.
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Re: Hunting Farm Land

Unread postby kwaldeier » Sun Jul 28, 2013 6:55 am

Stanley wrote:
BigHills BuckHunter wrote:
dan wrote:One very common and sometimes fustrating type of bed in farm country is the feeding field edge bed... However, keep in mind there are scenarios like with all types of bedding where they do this in all terrains....

It works like this:
The buck is feeding in the morning darkness in the field and approaches the bed wind to nose. does a slight circle hook to a bed where he can watch the entire field and smell anything from behind... When he gets up in the evening he feeds and stages in the field near his bed till darkness before moving on... This is a very common type of bed.

The way to beat him is to glass from a safe location untill he starts making it across the field in daylight to a position where you can kill him... Move to early and the buck will smell you and tighten its safe zone or relocate... Your move has to be precise. If you hunt this scenario you will start to believe in the power of moon phase cause daylight movements making it across the field have corrilated with the moon in my observations... Or weather.

Image


Great post Dan! Thank you.

I agree those visual aids help everyone understand better.

x2!
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Re: Hunting Farm Land

Unread postby Sweet Shot 7 » Wed Oct 16, 2013 3:55 am

Bump this good thread for some of the newbies!
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Re: Hunting Farm Land

Unread postby wmihunter » Wed Oct 16, 2013 6:21 am

Visuals are great!

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Re: Hunting Farm Land

Unread postby SHoff10 » Wed Oct 16, 2013 2:01 pm

I can't believe how much information I can learn from this site. I don't post often because I don't feel like I can contribute much.

How would you hunt these farmland examples when going in blind? I will be returning to Kansas the second week of November and (besides google earth) will be going in blind. We will be hunting some private and WIHA land. Do you still try to pick out bedding on a map and hunt there? Do you look for funnels since it will be during the rut? Pinchpoints? Etc? Not only am I a rookie to beast style hunting, but I am a rookie to farm country. I usually hunt all big woods in Michigan. I am just sick of hoping to get lucky and have a hot doe wander in front of me in order to see a good buck. I shot a real nice buck in Kansas last year (couldn't find it), but I think that was more being lucky than being good.

Any advice would be great. Thank you.
“If some animals are good at hunting and others are suitable for hunting, then the Gods must clearly smile on hunting.” –Aristotle


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