early season scouting/ hunting

[lungpuncher1]

Here in Tennessee or season opens the last Saturday in September. Usually I'm on the deer quick but the 2.5+ bucks are another story. I get pictures of several I'd love to shoot but never seem to get on them before they split up and start acting like bucks. My question is how do you all find what food sources a certain buck is using with trail cameras when you don't have any available crops or fields to watch late summer in the evenings? Also no shining allowed in Tennessee. I know my best chance around here at a decent buck is early because of the early November gun hunter pressure. I just got to figure out how. Thanks in advance. This sight keeps me reading 12hrs straight on my night shifts and I've learned a ton from you guys already.

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[HoosierG5]

Couple different thoughts
1. Start bed searching all you can- will be hard now but not too late. Log all your findings for years down the road
2. Bait and trail cam...start working backwards from a bait site. If I do this I use video and see where they enter and leave the frame. Follow the tracks as long as you can.
3. Start making track catchers- rake out barespots all around suspected bedding if you cant find bedding to help the search.
4. Use the top 1/3 of ridges only this year to hunt and scout as much as you can during season for next season

Good luck!

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[lungpuncher1]

I have one mineral sight that year after year I get pictures of at least one good buck on a farm I hunt. In the past it's only got me excited, I didn't know where or how to act on it to learn enough to kill him. Should I start working my cameras back towards the way he's coming from once a good buck shows? Also when do I know when I've got close enough with the camera's and I should stop and find a tree for a future hunt?

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[MACHINIST]

I would,I have done this before and it definitely adds pieces to the puzzle.

[HoosierG5]

As hard as it is to find beds, that is the key to beast style hunting. I have found a handful, but even if you havent you can still be closer to the terrain features that hold more beds and more deer stage in before dark obviously raising your odds.

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[Southern Man]

Here in Tennessee or season opens the last Saturday in September.

Where in Tennessee are you?

[cbay]

Good suggestions posted. Some oaks such as chinkapins drop acorns early and can be solid feeding locations. An early dropping burr oak is like a candy store here. Prior to acorn drop or in the absence of acorns grown up fields / thickets are important browse. I like to slow down and pay attention to what is snipped off in different areas to see what the deer are eating. Many times there seems to be no rhyme or reason to it but if there is a lack of browse in an area it can be useful.

[dan]

expect bucks to be in bedding areas, learn what type of areas the local bucks bed in, look for areas like that in early season, walk the surrounding ridges near suspected bedding looking for fresh sign such as rubs, tracks, and food sources with heavy browse. Hunt it the same day you find it.

[lungpuncher1]

Here in Tennessee or season opens the last Saturday in September.

Where in Tennessee are you?

East Tennessee, too far East haha

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