I was schooled by the master
- Ridgerunner7
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I was schooled by the master
I had my a** handed to me the other evening in northern Ohio. I thought this might be a good learning example for anyone that hunts this type of terrain.
Area: Northern Ohio. One of Ohio's worst county for deer numbers and big bucks. Extremely wide open and flat as a pancake. Very, very low deer numbers in this general area. I've hunted this area for 4 years and have only taken one buck but have has some very close calls on great deer. It is by far the most difficult area I've hunted but I'm stubborn and just won't give it up.
Bucks/Deer: I see a deer about 1/9 sits or so. The farms I can hunt are all open, very little cover, and don't get hunted much by other bowhunters due to lack of cover and deer. When I do see a buck there is a good chance it will be decent.
This particular farm has about 5 acres of cover on it and the rest is agriculture fields (beans/corn). In fact it is the only woodlot( 5 acres) in 3 square miles. The rest is made up of thin tree lines and shallow drainage ditches and is wide open as far as you can see. When the corn is up there are some deer in the area but once it comes down this entire square mile gets very little use.
When I first acquired permission on this farm I marked up potential bedding on the aerial photo, one of which was this creek/ditch bend. Upon scouting it in the spring I found a bed right where I had marked on the map ( Pin mark on pic). It had definitely been used but didn't look like a bed that was used often as the grass was just matted down. I kept it in the memory bank but never intended on hunting that particular bed because of the infrequent use.
The Hunt: I set up on the ground (red dot) in case I needed to put the mohican sneak on a buck out of range. Wind was straight north (yellow arrow). I had a tree stand in the same spot but thought I needed the mobile advantage for this particular hunt. I was hunting a 10 pt that I had gotten pictures of a few days before along the corn edge on the West side of the wood lot and popping out into the beans in that corner. Up until this particular day I have never seen a buck come out of this bed (pin). About an hour before dark I look behind my location and see the buck rise out of the exact bed I had scouted. He started heading my way until about 50 yards out I believe he caught my wind. He did not spook badly but definitely knew something was up. He then crossed down wind of me and proceeded to walk though 1.5 miles of open ground and out of sight (blue line travel).
My access was just upwind of that buck..in fact I must have sneaked by within 50 yards of him. I'm not sure if he just didn't smell me or if he assumed I had vacated the area?
Anyway, it was really cool learning experience for me to the importance of knowing the bedding areas and never take for granted the satellite beds when accessing ground and playing the wind. The day prior I hunted close to the same spot and on my access in I crossed a big set of tracks heading from that creek bend into the standing corn). Tracks looked fresh and I assumed it was a buck heading to the corn for bedding that morning and set up appropriately for that. Now I know it was the buck leaving his bed in the evening from the creek bend. Had I waited for a NW wind and accessed from the east I probably would've tagged this buck.
This is a really good buck for this particular area and one you just don't see but every few years. Hope I painted a clear picture of this hunt and it helps somebody tag a buck this fall.
Area: Northern Ohio. One of Ohio's worst county for deer numbers and big bucks. Extremely wide open and flat as a pancake. Very, very low deer numbers in this general area. I've hunted this area for 4 years and have only taken one buck but have has some very close calls on great deer. It is by far the most difficult area I've hunted but I'm stubborn and just won't give it up.
Bucks/Deer: I see a deer about 1/9 sits or so. The farms I can hunt are all open, very little cover, and don't get hunted much by other bowhunters due to lack of cover and deer. When I do see a buck there is a good chance it will be decent.
This particular farm has about 5 acres of cover on it and the rest is agriculture fields (beans/corn). In fact it is the only woodlot( 5 acres) in 3 square miles. The rest is made up of thin tree lines and shallow drainage ditches and is wide open as far as you can see. When the corn is up there are some deer in the area but once it comes down this entire square mile gets very little use.
When I first acquired permission on this farm I marked up potential bedding on the aerial photo, one of which was this creek/ditch bend. Upon scouting it in the spring I found a bed right where I had marked on the map ( Pin mark on pic). It had definitely been used but didn't look like a bed that was used often as the grass was just matted down. I kept it in the memory bank but never intended on hunting that particular bed because of the infrequent use.
The Hunt: I set up on the ground (red dot) in case I needed to put the mohican sneak on a buck out of range. Wind was straight north (yellow arrow). I had a tree stand in the same spot but thought I needed the mobile advantage for this particular hunt. I was hunting a 10 pt that I had gotten pictures of a few days before along the corn edge on the West side of the wood lot and popping out into the beans in that corner. Up until this particular day I have never seen a buck come out of this bed (pin). About an hour before dark I look behind my location and see the buck rise out of the exact bed I had scouted. He started heading my way until about 50 yards out I believe he caught my wind. He did not spook badly but definitely knew something was up. He then crossed down wind of me and proceeded to walk though 1.5 miles of open ground and out of sight (blue line travel).
My access was just upwind of that buck..in fact I must have sneaked by within 50 yards of him. I'm not sure if he just didn't smell me or if he assumed I had vacated the area?
Anyway, it was really cool learning experience for me to the importance of knowing the bedding areas and never take for granted the satellite beds when accessing ground and playing the wind. The day prior I hunted close to the same spot and on my access in I crossed a big set of tracks heading from that creek bend into the standing corn). Tracks looked fresh and I assumed it was a buck heading to the corn for bedding that morning and set up appropriately for that. Now I know it was the buck leaving his bed in the evening from the creek bend. Had I waited for a NW wind and accessed from the east I probably would've tagged this buck.
This is a really good buck for this particular area and one you just don't see but every few years. Hope I painted a clear picture of this hunt and it helps somebody tag a buck this fall.
Last edited by Ridgerunner7 on Wed Oct 08, 2014 4:11 am, edited 1 time in total.
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Re: I was schooled by the master
Awesome post with great detail! Thank you. I hit some ground like that here in central indiana.
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Re: I was schooled by the master
Its not the ones you kill that teach the best lessons... Its the ones that get away. Great hunt.
- olivertractor
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Re: I was schooled by the master
sheeesh, that had to been little bit of a roller coaster ride! nice write up, great hunt!
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- JakeJD
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Re: I was schooled by the master
Ridgerunner7 wrote:My access was just upwind of that buck..in fact I must have sneaked by within 50 yards of him. I'm not sure if he just didn't smell me or if he assumed I had vacated the area?
Great story. Thanks for sharing. This is very similar to 90% of the ground around me in Nebraska is like. Very flat dominated by cultivated fields, only there are very few tree rows left and zero drainage ditches that will grow grass for bedding that are not right next to roadways.
Did you access from the west along the tree line? Were you expecting the buck to be bedded in the corn?
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- Stanley
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Re: I was schooled by the master
Thanks for sharing.
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: I was schooled by the master
Great hunt. I've struggled to kill a few bucks when dealing with this type of scenario. How would you have set up on him if you knew he was there? More importantly, how would you access? The only thing that has worked for me is a tractor ride from the farmer to a point where he doesn't have a sight or wind advantage. In this case, I would ask to be dropped off at the tip of the ditch/wood row east of the bed and sneak west.
- exojam
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Re: I was schooled by the master
Sorry he busted you but this part of your story did make me laugh "mohican sneak".
Hope you get to see him again under better circumstances.
Hope you get to see him again under better circumstances.
- Beartown18
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Re: I was schooled by the master
Cool story, and a great hunt.
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Re: I was schooled by the master
Great writeup and thank you for sharing
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- Spysar
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Re: I was schooled by the master
If the wind only had a little west to it....
A buck will see you three times, and hear you twice, but he's only gonna smell you once.
- Edcyclopedia
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Re: I was schooled by the master
Spysar wrote:If the wind only had a little west to it....
My thoughts also but you beat me too it!
Great story Andy!!! Thanks
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- hunter_mike
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Re: I was schooled by the master
Awesome write up
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- PK_
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Re: I was schooled by the master
Bummer. But great write up.
No Shortcuts. No Excuses. No Regrets.
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Everybody's selling dreams. I'm too cheap to buy one.
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- Ridgerunner7
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Re: I was schooled by the master
BassBoysLLP wrote:Great hunt. I've struggled to kill a few bucks when dealing with this type of scenario. How would you have set up on him if you knew he was there? More importantly, how would you access? The only thing that has worked for me is a tractor ride from the farmer to a point where he doesn't have a sight or wind advantage. In this case, I would ask to be dropped off at the tip of the ditch/wood row east of the bed and sneak west.
Good question. I actually hunted the very next day in hopes that he would return to that bed although I was fairly certain he wouldn't. I had a very similar wind NNE vs N. I snuck up the ditch very slow until the last 75 yards or so which I crawled on all fours. I set up right where the river begins to bend which was exactly 40 yards from where he stepped out. There was a 7 foot bushy tree right there which I sat behind in my guillie suit. He did not show. Access in blue from the west.
To answer the rest of your question. In the past the bucks have either bedded in the corn, the far east side of the woods (thickest part) or at the tip of the hedgerow to the north. There is a low spot around the tip of that hedge that cannot be planted and grows very tall weeds (swale) and creates a great bed. I've seen a big buck come from here in early October but he did not reach me before shooting light faded. Another very close encounter.
Last edited by Ridgerunner7 on Wed Oct 08, 2014 12:24 pm, edited 1 time in total.
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