Gun hunting Beast style... ?

[whitetail_addict]

Well, gun season will be here before we know it in Wisconsin. I'm wondering if you veteran beast style hunters use the same approach for gun season as you do in bow season? Specifically, do you still concentrate on hunting bedding areas?

What do you do the same? What do you do differently?

[fishlips]

I am not a veteran, but I have been applying the same tactics during gun season. It has paid off. Been hunting beds. The cool part is that with the rifle your range is a lot longer, so it does allow for a bit more error. Still have to be quiet on the set-up, but when you see one, you can usually kill one...unless you are like me and get buck fever.

[Jay]

Works great in hill country! When the leaves are off it helps because you don't have to push that boundary of being close enough.

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[bigwoodsmn]

I'll be still-hunting the leeward side of ridges (according to prevailing wind direction) in the top third elevation and just above the wind tunnel on hills and ridges... a Hill Country tactic for bed hunting and locating bucks is to hunt the top third or what some guys here are calling the military crest. Also a great place to hunt is just above the deep ravines that run up the side of the same ridges because they become another type of natural funnel... where deer have to cross.

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[BigHunt]

I'll be still-hunting the leeward side of ridges (according to prevailing wind direction) in the top third elevation and just above the wind tunnel on hills and ridges... a Hill Country tactic for bed hunting and locating bucks is to hunt the top third or what some guys here are calling the military crest. Also a great place to hunt is just above the deep ravines that run up the side of the same ridges because they become another type of natural funnel... where deer have to cross.

[ Post made via Android ]

agreed.....I do target cirtin bedding points ...I know from past years theses are great pressure bedding points on the farm... when the pressure is on deer will flock to these points

[Singing Bridge]

Well, gun season will be here before we know it in Wisconsin. I'm wondering if you veteran beast style hunters use the same approach for gun season as you do in bow season? Specifically, do you still concentrate on hunting bedding areas?

What do you do the same? What do you do differently?

I absolutely use the Beast approach for gun season and on land that gets a lot of hunting pressure it keeps me in the game. High hunting pressure has the bucks I hunt seeking safety and security above all else during the daytime. It trumps the rut, a doe in heat, funnel travel by the bucks, being downwind of doe bedding areas... you get the idea. Most of the time the bucks will wait to play the rut game until after dark. When they don't they are routinely taken out by the hoardes of hunters (Michigan pushes around 3/4 a million gun hunters into the woods for the gun opener).

I concentrate on buck bedding areas and set up as close as I can without spooking out the buck. I have shot a buck when he stood up in his bed- and I've shot a buck when he moved 18 feet from his bed, among others. I spend most of my time in swamps and marshes.

[dan]

Most of my gun hunts are over the top of primary bedding... Often I am not in the same tree I bow hunt out of, but a lot higher, and often set back a little...

One of my most successful farm country and woods tactics has been to go from big buck bedding area to big buck bedding area sneaking into them and shooting the target buck as he jumps from his bed. I have killed several big bucks this way... Got my highest scoring buck by belly crawling to within range of his bed with a shotgun.

I also do real well on planed drives of buck bedding areas. The more the hunters you take, the more likely the big buck will be killed, but, at some point it also gets more likely someone else in the group will get it... There is also trust issues with showing others where your bucks are bedding. For those reasons my best drives are done as two to 4 man drives with only people I trust. It also takes someone who can understand and follow thru with instructions... Nothing like waiting all fall to kill a certain buck only to have the driver push the deer the wrong way or give him an escape rought.

Also noteworthy, I only push public land, never my private.

[May-39]

I echo Singing Bridges comments,, not coincidlentally we hunt the same super pressured state.
I see more deer the second day than the first in my marsh/swamp island bedding haunts.
One spot is so thick with tags I can't bowhunt, max visibilty is 10-15 yards in broad daylight and these are tiny holes, parked canoe, sat on bank with duck camo jacket and shot a nice buck at 10:30a second morn, saw mutiple does and smaller bucks.. At least 3 hunters were posted on the tag/hardwood fringe within 200 yads for first two days. Heard one shot, and this is a "if it's brown it's down" type area.

CAUTION--in the above mentioned spot I stand in the creek till about 9:00 and hang an orange vest from a tall tag alder branch..only my head is above bank level.. just in case somone on the fringe does see a deer and somehow the bullet manages to ping pong through 100+ yards of tag alders. BE CAREFUL nobody thinks anyone hunts in alot of these places.

[Singing Bridge]

I echo Singing Bridges comments,, not coincidlentally we hunt the same super pressured state.
I see more deer the second day than the first in my marsh/swamp island bedding haunts.
One spot is so thick with tags I can't bowhunt, max visibilty is 10-15 yards in broad daylight and these are tiny holes, parked canoe, sat on bank with duck camo jacket and shot a nice buck at 10:30a second morn, saw mutiple does and smaller bucks.. At least 3 hunters were posted on the tag/hardwood fringe within 200 yads for first two days. Heard one shot, and this is a "if it's brown it's down" type area.

CAUTION--in the above mentioned spot I stand in the creek till about 9:00 and hang an orange vest from a tall tag alder branch..only my head is above bank level.. just in case somone on the fringe does see a deer and somehow the bullet manages to ping pong through 100+ yards of tag alders. BE CAREFUL nobody thinks anyone hunts in alot of these places.

The relationship of the second day of gun season in high pressure areas and buck movement toward heavier security cover is little understood and seldom spoken of. Most of us "get" the fact that bucks and deer in general will move in to swamps and marshes, tag alder thickets, etc. when they are being overrun and shot at. But very few hunters understand the actual dynamics and specifics of what is taking place. Many times I have heard hunters comment that it is only young bucks that make this shift to heavy cover- supposedly the bucks that haven't established excellent security zones hightail it into swamps and heavy cover areas. The hunters often think that the really mature and big bucks are already in the heavy cover areas... and some of them are and reside there most of the year. But there are other mature bucks that have established security zones in higher and more open ground that get overrun. They may have been overlooked bedding areas in year's past for whatever reason- but with this many hunters someone finally blunders in to the overlooked spot and slings lead at them. There are other scenarios, obviously, but VERY mature bucks also shift toward heavy cover following the gun opener for safety.

So what is the significance of the second day of gun season and our discussion here? Let's take a look... I routinely drive around some very large swamps, river bottoms with heavy cover, and marshes following the opener. For many years I have done this in the late evening hours. All you have to do is drive in a big circle around these areas and you will see bucks pouring into the swamps and other large security areas following the opening day of gun season. I almost never see a buck going the opposite direction, toward the high ground. We even had one buck run right into the side of our truck while doing this, he was headed for deep swamp and does and he caved our passenger door in. While circling these areas you will see bucks of all ages, mature bucks included, heading for deep swamp. They hole up wherever they can on opening day, but once the hunters leave the woods and darkness has been well established they move out.

Earlier I mentioned that there are good bucks in the swamps already, but following the gun opener a couple of big rubs, oversized tracks and sometimes exceptional scrapes open up in bedding areas that haven't been active since the prior gun season. Could this activity be from a local buck that was already in the swamp? Of course, but it is just as likely the buck is transient and relocated from the hunting pressure. Some of these transient bucks have more than a few birthdays under their belt.

So- what is the greatest evidence of this hunting pressure impact and its relationship to the second day of gun season I have? Fortunately I have personal experience with observations that the most high tech. and expensive deer studies cannot duplicate. A friend of mine that I spent many years hunting with was the icing on the cake. He managed to take twelve bucks in twelve seasons from the same stand before he moved to a different area. All of these bucks were taken on the second day of gun season BETWEEN 9 A.M. AND NOON... every single one of them! We would tease him about it... "I'll be listening for your shot tomorrow between 9 and noon!" And the following day I'd hear that belted magnum roar at 10:30... or 9:17... or noon... It was uncanny! So lets quickly analyze this-

12 bucks, 12 years in a row- always on the second day of gun season and between 9 a.m. and noon.

THAT'S NO COINCIDENCE, FELLOW BEASTS! He was sitting on top of an interior travel corridor in deep swamp that the bucks wanted to use due to security, wind currents, other deer and a number of other contributing factors. A couple of the bucks he shot were mature and exceptional for that area- but he also shot the first decent buck that came along. I'm convinced that if he had held out he would have shot even more wall hangers on the years he shot that first buck that came by.

HE NEVER SAW A BUCK ON THE OPENER OF GUN SEASON... EVER.

To summarize, the second / third and fourth day of gun season has my swamps and marshes heated up with buck activity. Now remember, I'm not talking about any old swamp or marsh, but places that other hunters have no interest going into because of access difficulty and fear of themselves getting lost. I don't see other hunters in these areas and that is a critical point.

Our gun opener is always November 15th here in Michigan- the dates where things really get good are November 16, 17 and 18.

These are "transient" bucks that shift into the heavy security areas. The other "transient" buck shift that takes place every year in the riverbottom thickets, swamps and marshes is at the end of October when bucks shift into the area to be near the doe families. Once again, bedding areas that haven't been used for the last year show fresh tracks... but that is another discussion for another time.

mah two pennies.

[dan]

Bridge... I too have never taken a buck on opening day of gun season with the exception of doing drives. Beast style bucks have always come later in the week despite my greatest attempts.

[Stanley]

I echo Singing Bridges comments,, not coincidlentally we hunt the same super pressured state.
I see more deer the second day than the first in my marsh/swamp island bedding haunts.
One spot is so thick with tags I can't bowhunt, max visibilty is 10-15 yards in broad daylight and these are tiny holes, parked canoe, sat on bank with duck camo jacket and shot a nice buck at 10:30a second morn, saw mutiple does and smaller bucks.. At least 3 hunters were posted on the tag/hardwood fringe within 200 yads for first two days. Heard one shot, and this is a "if it's brown it's down" type area.

CAUTION--in the above mentioned spot I stand in the creek till about 9:00 and hang an orange vest from a tall tag alder branch..only my head is above bank level.. just in case somone on the fringe does see a deer and somehow the bullet manages to ping pong through 100+ yards of tag alders. BE CAREFUL nobody thinks anyone hunts in alot of these places.

The relationship of the second day of gun season in high pressure areas and buck movement toward heavier security cover is little understood and seldom spoken of. Most of us "get" the fact that bucks and deer in general will move in to swamps and marshes, tag alder thickets, etc. when they are being overrun and shot at. But very few hunters understand the actual dynamics and specifics of what is taking place. Many times I have heard hunters comment that it is only young bucks that make this shift to heavy cover- supposedly the bucks that haven't established excellent security zones hightail it into swamps and heavy cover areas. The hunters often think that the really mature and big bucks are already in the heavy cover areas... and some of them are and reside there most of the year. But there are other mature bucks that have established security zones in higher and more open ground that get overrun. They may have been overlooked bedding areas in year's past for whatever reason- but with this many hunters someone finally blunders in to the overlooked spot and slings lead at them. There are other scenarios, obviously, but VERY mature bucks also shift toward heavy cover following the gun opener for safety.

So what is the significance of the second day of gun season and our discussion here? Let's take a look... I routinely drive around some very large swamps, river bottoms with heavy cover, and marshes following the opener. For many years I have done this in the late evening hours. All you have to do is drive in a big circle around these areas and you will see bucks pouring into the swamps and other large security areas following the opening day of gun season. I almost never see a buck going the opposite direction, toward the high ground. We even had one buck run right into the side of our truck while doing this, he was headed for deep swamp and does and he caved our passenger door in. While circling these areas you will see bucks of all ages, mature bucks included, heading for deep swamp. They hole up wherever they can on opening day, but once the hunters leave the woods and darkness has been well established they move out.

Earlier I mentioned that there are good bucks in the swamps already, but following the gun opener a couple of big rubs, oversized tracks and sometimes exceptional scrapes open up in bedding areas that haven't been active since the prior gun season. Could this activity be from a local buck that was already in the swamp? Of course, but it is just as likely the buck is transient and relocated from the hunting pressure. Some of these transient bucks have more than a few birthdays under their belt.

So- what is the greatest evidence of this hunting pressure impact and its relationship to the second day of gun season I have? Fortunately I have personal experience with observations that the most high tech. and expensive deer studies cannot duplicate. A friend of mine that I spent many years hunting with was the icing on the cake. He managed to take twelve bucks in twelve seasons from the same stand before he moved to a different area. All of these bucks were taken on the second day of gun season BETWEEN 9 A.M. AND NOON... every single one of them! We would tease him about it... "I'll be listening for your shot tomorrow between 9 and noon!" And the following day I'd hear that belted magnum roar at 10:30... or 9:17... or noon... It was uncanny! So lets quickly analyze this-

12 bucks, 12 years in a row- always on the second day of gun season and between 9 a.m. and noon.

THAT'S NO COINCIDENCE, FELLOW BEASTS! He was sitting on top of an interior travel corridor in deep swamp that the bucks wanted to use due to security, wind currents, other deer and a number of other contributing factors. A couple of the bucks he shot were mature and exceptional for that area- but he also shot the first decent buck that came along. I'm convinced that if he had held out he would have shot even more wall hangers on the years he shot that first buck that came by.

HE NEVER SAW A BUCK ON THE OPENER OF GUN SEASON... EVER.

To summarize, the second / third and fourth day of gun season has my swamps and marshes heated up with buck activity. Now remember, I'm not talking about any old swamp or marsh, but places that other hunters have no interest going into because of access difficulty and fear of themselves getting lost. I don't see other hunters in these areas and that is a critical point.

Our gun opener is always November 15th here in Michigan- the dates where things really get good are November 16, 17 and 18.

These are "transient" bucks that shift into the heavy security areas. The other "transient" buck shift that takes place every year in the riverbottom thickets, swamps and marshes is at the end of October when bucks shift into the area to be near the doe families. Once again, bedding areas that haven't been used for the last year show fresh tracks... but that is another discussion for another time.

mah two pennies.

Great post as usual SB. Great learning informatory. This is why the Beast is best, from contributions such as yours.

[addisonlee]

With the WI gun opener near... thought I'd bump this thread for everyone. Great posts SB!

[James]

I have always taken a completely different approach during gun season and it has always paid off. I rely on my neighbors laziness to kill big bucks. I plant myself in a known travel corridor that will be the thickest and most cover for a pressured buck to travel through while still offering some distance to shoot since I gun hunt in a rifle zone. The key for me is to arrive in my stand at least an hour prior to first shooting light. I do not leave my stand for anything other than an emergency.

This is farm country. I believe with all of the hunters walking to stands early in the morning a lot of deer are displaced and forced to lay low in places they would rather not be. When the hunters get antsy and start moving around at 10 or 11 in the morning that is when I capitalize on the big bucks relocating either because they are pushed or they have a gap in pressure.

All expect for one of my mature rifle bucks has come during mid-day in said travel corridor, and they usually come on opening day as well. After opening day I believe the mature bucks have the pressure somewhat figured out and they figure out how to lay low in areas that hunters are not moving through. The number of deer I see from opening day to second day often cuts in half and then again and again in the days following.

[Dewey]

Great stuff SB. Makes me want to skip gun hunting up north and instead dive into the local marshes after the opening weekend craziness is over.

Never had much luck after opening weekend but after reading your post I believe it's because I have been using the wrong approach.

[HoosierG5]

Wow...great post. I am not a gun hunter, but I'm thinking Saturday's gun opener and my buck tag might go hand in hand in a nasty thicket!

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