Hunting Beds/Private Land Opinions

[johndeere506]

How did you determine the exact bedding?

[ Post made via iPhone ]

Several trail cam pics the last few minutes of light on several evenings exiting the area, and 1-2 morning pics going back in at first light. 7 years worth of experience here knowing where big bucks come from but never quite new where exactly. I scouted the swamp and found rubs that were very large in a bed. I found 2 other beds out there about 60-80 yards away. I believe several decent bucks bed in this swamp in the separate areas. A couple big ones that I shot were called out of this exact area of the swamp, and I killed them. I never quite completed the puzzle until now. There are usually a 2-6 GOOD bucks in this area, local. There are other beds Ive found tracking deer, but I cant hunt those areas.

How does that sounds in your experience? I enjoyed the long thread you were doing over the summer about your lands...

The corn field starts about 120 yards from where he exits the swamp, to the east. The hay field is farther north, and my plots are farther NE. He could go any of the 3 ways, but my bet is the close corn field. If you see it on an aerial it makes it look that way also. Its a tough area for observation stands, its almost like you pick one spot to hunt and observe same time. Hit him the next day if you dont connect first night. I cant do any improvements in this area, its leased with no ability to change things.

[BassBoysLLP]

Sounds promising for sure, pinpointing beds in cattails is probably one of the easier habitat types to do so. If its private and you are allowed to do anything you should try to stack the odds those bucks will come by your stand. Bucky has a situation where he is able to narrow down the bucks coming out of a swamp that he may be willing to share thru strategic lane/food placement.

I don't hunt swamps much but sounds like a potential great area for early season, and yes I think you should get on them when they are there for sure.

Bucky, I would like to hear this too. I have 40 acres of private primarily marsh that I hunted the last two seasons. We had several big bucks on cam, but we never got on them during the season. There are so many beds in the cattails, its hard to pinpoint.

Jeff Sturgis covers a lot of these strategies in his books. Worth the read if you are going down this path.

[BassBoysLLP]

How did you determine the exact bedding?

[ Post made via iPhone ]

Several trail cam pics the last few minutes of light on several evenings exiting the area, and 1-2 morning pics going back in at first light. 7 years worth of experience here knowing where big bucks come from but never quite new where exactly. I scouted the swamp and found rubs that were very large in a bed. I found 2 other beds out there about 60-80 yards away. I believe several decent bucks bed in this swamp in the separate areas. A couple big ones that I shot were called out of this exact area of the swamp, and I killed them. I never quite completed the puzzle until now. There are usually a 2-6 GOOD bucks in this area, local. There are other beds Ive found tracking deer, but I cant hunt those areas.

How does that sounds in your experience? I enjoyed the long thread you were doing over the summer about your lands...

The corn field starts about 120 yards from where he exits the swamp, to the east. The hay field is farther north, and my plots are farther NE. He could go any of the 3 ways, but my bet is the close corn field. If you see it on an aerial it makes it look that way also. Its a tough area for observation stands, its almost like you pick one spot to hunt and observe same time. Hit him the next day if you dont connect first night. I cant do any improvements in this area, its leased with no ability to change things.

The improvements don't necessary have to be fixative. You can do a lot with snow fence and moving dead trees, etc. on the ground. And as far as I know, there are no rules against moving fallen trees on public land.

[johndeere506]

How did you determine the exact bedding?

[ Post made via iPhone ]

Several trail cam pics the last few minutes of light on several evenings exiting the area, and 1-2 morning pics going back in at first light. 7 years worth of experience here knowing where big bucks come from but never quite new where exactly. I scouted the swamp and found rubs that were very large in a bed. I found 2 other beds out there about 60-80 yards away. I believe several decent bucks bed in this swamp in the separate areas. A couple big ones that I shot were called out of this exact area of the swamp, and I killed them. I never quite completed the puzzle until now. There are usually a 2-6 GOOD bucks in this area, local. There are other beds Ive found tracking deer, but I cant hunt those areas.

How does that sounds in your experience? I enjoyed the long thread you were doing over the summer about your lands...

The corn field starts about 120 yards from where he exits the swamp, to the east. The hay field is farther north, and my plots are farther NE. He could go any of the 3 ways, but my bet is the close corn field. If you see it on an aerial it makes it look that way also. Its a tough area for observation stands, its almost like you pick one spot to hunt and observe same time. Hit him the next day if you dont connect first night. I cant do any improvements in this area, its leased with no ability to change things.

The improvements don't necessary have to be fixative. You can do a lot with snow fence and moving dead trees, etc. on the ground. And as far as I know, there are no rules against moving fallen trees on public land.

Its private land that I lease one small parcel. They hunt the rest of the farm parcels and have told me I cant change anything. Plus, if they see Im onto some big bucks, they will hunt the spot. Ive tried for years to help their hunting strategies, but they wont listen and learn. I am the only one killing good bucks with consistency year after year here. Private land sometimes has more problems, secrets, vandals, etc than public. Ive learned that being stealthy w bucks and people are almost equally important. Its unfortunate, but comes with the hunting on some private lands. Most of my neighbors shoot anything. Just last year (2013)they killed 2 FAWNS that ran on my land and died. Its amazing anything good can survive, but its the habitat and me keeping them alive until they are decent.

Ive talked to about 12 neighbors around me. Only 2 said they wait for big bucks, and Ive seen both of them violate that when the first forkhorn came their way. A little off topic but also probably sounds familiar to some private hunters...