Staging areas

[mheichelbech]

Like to see some experience about staging areas. Difference between buck and doe staging, etc. how to identify a staging area, etc do you normally hunt the staging area itself or the trails leading to it? My thinking is that if you hunt a staging area where deer hangout, you put yourself at risk for being picked off...I.e. The longer they hang around you the more likely they are to see or possibly smell you (if they browse to an area in your scent stream).

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[Hawthorne]

In my experience doe staging areas are closer to the food source. Bucks will usually stage very close to their bed. Probably within 50-200 yds. Look for big rubs and tracks in a concentration near their bed. You have to figure out were they are heading be it food, water, or does.

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[blizzardhunter]

I believe a staging area for a buck is almost one in the same with his bedding. When you move in to hunt a bed you are essentially sneeking into his primary staging area. It's roughly going to be the first 50 to 100 yards from his bed he feels comfortable moving through in daylight. He will linger there and wait for dark.

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[iowa whitetail]

I think a staging area for a buck veries. If you have a crop field next to a timber they will hang out on the point that drifts farthest into the field. I think they can see the field a little better plus their is a little grazing to be had also. Then you have the bucks that just don't get up till dark. I have found bucks do not like to be near does unless it's rut or pre rut but they also don't like to get to far away they will stay back and observe the doe movement and behavior and determine if it's safe to come out I don't think they like to be near thim because it seems a doe will draw more attention to herself it seems as if they act like there's less worries and more often than not their a several of them together witch will always draw more attention. I think if you figure out how and ware they stage their is good opportunity.

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[JoeRE]

I have to admit I don't really like the term staging area - partly because everybody seems to have a different definition of it. Bucks naturally pause for a little while before entering fields or crossing open areas and also before traveling away from their beds. That's all you really need to know. Sometimes its just pausing for a minute or less, sometimes they hang out for a longer time.

I really haven't seen a whole lot of consistency in where and how long bucks do what is called "staging" which is the other part of the reason I don't find the term all that useful. I mean, yea they have preferred travel routes from beds and entry points into fields but its simpler to me to look at it that way - in terms of travel routes and how and when a buck will use that travel route - instead of trying to identify an area as a staging area.

[mheichelbech]

In part the point of the post was to inquire about is it wise to hunt a doe staging area? My experience with them is that it can be dicey in the sense that the longer the does are around your stand, the more likely it is you will get picked off either by Scent or visual. Obviously the buck staging area, to the extent one exists....the buck will likely end up being shot if you can get near it.
I also agree that there seem to be different definitions of a staging area. As relates to my question it would be a small area where deer hang out for an extended period of time prior to moving on to their intended destination.

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[dan]

The way I describe it is this, the deer is bedding in a bedding area. He has a "safe zone" which is an area around his bedding area where he feels safe that no threat can get into without him smelling, hearing, or seeing. As he leaves his bed he takes a trail out, where that trail crosses over the "safe zone" is what I call the staging area. Staging is not something that is really well locked down... Its just kind of the deer slowing down and timing hitting that area at dark. They feel safer under the cover of darkness.
Kind of if you lived in a bad neighborhood in the inner city. Your house would be your safe zone, your porch might be your staging area... You just don't throw caution out the window and get up from bed and go straight out to your car at night or you will end up another statistic.

[Stanley]

Some really serious answers on this one. Lot of really good points by many posters. I also think a lot of hunters have a different description/definition of a staging area. So for a concise explanation of the meaning, there may not be one but many.

In my opinion a staging area would be anywhere a buck is on his feet in between bed and food/water during daylight hrs. That is where we can kill the buck.

[stash59]

Good question. Even better answers.

[Wlog]

When I find a well used bed there are usually a few well defined trails in and out of that bed. It makes it easier IMO to only concern yourself with how close you can get to that bed along one of those trails than trying to define a staging area. Picking the right exit route out of the bed is going to be your best educated guess at which trail the buck would be using based on seasonal timing.

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[JoeRE]

[glow=red]In part the point of the post was to inquire about is it wise to hunt a doe staging area? My experience with them is that it can be dicey in the sense that the longer the does are around your stand, the more likely it is you will get picked off either by Scent or visual.[/glow] Obviously the buck staging area, to the extent one exists....the buck will likely end up being shot if you can get near it.
I also agree that there seem to be different definitions of a staging area. As relates to my question it would be a small area where deer hang out for an extended period of time prior to moving on to their intended destination.

[ Post made via iPhone ]

Yea hunting areas where does congregate can be tough for those reasons so I try to look for specific ways bucks come and go from those spots when they are scent checking does and set up on that. If you have half a dozen does milling around chances are one will end up down wind sooner or later. In the chasing and seeking phase of the rut bucks looking for does tend to go from one spot to the next in a pretty systematic fashion till they find a hot one so they tend to enter and exit those areas relatively predictably.

[dan]

When I find a well used bed there are usually a few well defined trails in and out of that bed. It makes it easier IMO to only concern yourself with how close you can get to that bed along one of those trails than trying to define a staging area. Picking the right exit route out of the bed is going to be your best educated guess at which trail the buck would be using based on seasonal timing.

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And thats exactly how you should look at it...

[Bayshorebuck8]

Excellent info

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