Ok here goes my first...

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howboutthemdawgs
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Ok here goes my first...

Unread postby howboutthemdawgs » Thu Feb 25, 2010 8:45 am

attempt to solicate some help from you guys!!! As I said in my intro I'm going to be bothering you with questions, so here is one.

I have not seen any of the videos that were done by Dan and the others yet but I will order them soon so forgive me if this has been covered many times. Let me preface all this by describing where I hunt. In the south they have hunting clubs which is a group of hunters that pay for the hunting rights to a particular property. Hardly just family and friends but usually people who get together with managment and price similiarities. I belong to a club near Athens, Ga (qdma headquarters) which is 1600 acres. We have 18 memebers but we may have 5-10 show up on the wknds throughout our ridiculously long rifle season (I bow hunt all year though). Our club has a strict 125" min. and a one buck limit, even though Ga allows two. We do the best we can witht the resources we have when it comes to managment. We have pretty strong ties with QDMA and have been discussed in their magazine before. The last two county record bow kills have come off our property-a 137 net and this year a 145 net. I took a 130" 8pt off of this property with my bow 3 yrs ago.

Through discussions with futuredoc and reading on the other site I realized I have a lot to learn about deer hunting. Not the deer hunting that the majority of hunters do but the kind where you are hunting a specific spot (and buck usually) with a definite reason why. Before I get any more long-winded here is what I am wondering.

As common throughout Ga we have a lot of planted pines in different stages of growth and density. They usually are inpenetrable till about 8-9 yrs old then they choke out all the sunlight and become "deserts". A couple yrs later common practice is to thin every other row which cause new growth and allows the remaining pines to grow big until harvest. It is always assumed that the deer will bed and hold up in these thick pines (3-9 yrs old) like a sanctuary until they feel comfortable to move. After discussing with futuredoc I am beginning to question that theory. It would seem that they are not able to use all of their senses in these thickets. I am beginning to believe that the deer will bed on the edge of the pines and hardwood bottoms which allows them to use their sight, smell and hearing. Now I think the spot has to be right, like a point, that gives them a good vantage point. I believe they use the pines to retreat to whenever they feel threatend. I would think they could bed with the pines to their back and the wind coming from the pines and then they could face the hardwoods and see and hear as well as play the thermals to their advantage. This seems so contrary to everything you hear from hunters down here. They get frusterated when they are not seeing deer and assume they are holding tight to the thickets when in reality they are retreating to them after being run out of there beds by the majority of hunters who hunt the wide open bottoms.

I could go on and on (believe it or not) but I am really curious on what y'all think. I will post some photos in a minute.


howboutthemdawgs
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Re: Ok here goes my first...

Unread postby howboutthemdawgs » Thu Feb 25, 2010 8:54 am

Here is most of my property.
howboutthemdawgs
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Re: Ok here goes my first...

Unread postby howboutthemdawgs » Thu Feb 25, 2010 8:58 am

Here is a close up on a particular area I have in mind. The circles are beds I have found and the ? marks are areas I would think they would bed.
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Re: Ok here goes my first...

Unread postby howboutthemdawgs » Thu Feb 25, 2010 9:07 am

Here are two pics that I took last weekend standing in the bed I found. First is looking forward into the hardwoods and the second is looking back into the pines.
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Re: Ok here goes my first...

Unread postby futuredoc » Mon Mar 01, 2010 4:36 am

Let's see if someone will take a look at this if I push it up toward the top.

Definately a different world hunting the thickets of the southeast vs the river bottoms/ag and big woods of the north and midwest. Well, I can't speak for the big woods of the north.

fd
dan
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Re: Ok here goes my first...

Unread postby dan » Mon Mar 01, 2010 8:50 am

Your maps and markings are kind of small and hard to see... But, your logic is right on the money. Bucks will often bed near the edge ( transition line ) with wind coming from the thick back cover and will face to open area to use there eyes to catch movement.
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Casper
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Re: Ok here goes my first...

Unread postby Casper » Mon Mar 01, 2010 2:14 pm

Sounds like youre well on your way to figuring them out. Keep scouting, find beds and ask yourself why they are bedding there, with what winds will he use them, and how can you get set up on him without him seeing or smelling you.
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