Strategy when bucks beds on neighbors/non huntable land?

[johndeere506]

What do you do when you have observed or seen the bed first hand on NON huntable land?

Lets say a swamp borders a crop or clearcut but you cant hunt them, but you can hunt up to the clearcut or crop field edge. The buck goes from swamp to crops or cuts every day. What do you do? This isnt beast hunting since its not bed hunting, but I would think some of you have been in this scenario.

The options I thought of were:

1. Place a camera and small food plot or bait pile as close as possible. Camera will tell if its even possible to lure him near during daylight. Dont hunt unless cam confirms a daylight visit. Prep site and only visit once per month.

2. Wait til rut and hope to catch him cruising the edges, and/or possibly call him in when seen from swamp or crop. Hunt a few days hard during peak activity.

3. Wait until late season, and have a small plot or bait ready with camera again.

I have a few spots like this. Mostly these are my "just for fun" hunts because they are low odds, but right by my house. But, I see some HUGE bucks hunting from the edge , out in the open crop fields, or clearcuts. I feel like this is for sure lower odds hunting, but would be cool if I could find a way to produce. 2 years ago I had a 140" make it to me at 30 yards at end of legal light, no shot. Last year I had a 120" or better under my stand as I walked up late that day. None of these encounters included bait, cams or plots. Just hunted the edge before surrounding pressure set in.

Some of these spots are EXCELLENT observation stands to learn from, with a chance of shooting a giant. You just cant get RIGHT IN the action usually. Although, I have does within 25 yards every time.

[JoeRE]

I deal with that a lot, we probably all do that have hunted a lot of smaller parcels. What I do is approach it pretty much how I would on any other bedding setup. I will only hunt that spot if I think a buck is likely to come that direction in daylight to find food or does or both. If the buck is probably heading the other direction I would go somewhere else. I make that decision based on whatever sign I can find on my side of the fence the same way I would if the bedding was on my side of the fence. The further the buck is bedding from the fence the more you need going for you to have a high odds setup.

Once I shot a mature buck on a small property that bedded maybe 300 yards (as near as I could figure) on the other side of the fence. He routinely came through only at night, year after year. I did not waste much time hunting there, just kept a cam on the field edges to see what was going on. The timber I could hunt was maybe 15-20 acres. The third year I followed him by sign and trail cams, 2011, the farmer where I hunted had alfalfa new seeding that drew a ton of does feeding on it late October. I thought that just might swing the odds of getting him on my side of the fence in daylight in my favor as the pre-rut was surging. I shot him on the first sit on the property in late October right after a cold front rolled through - tried to stack the odds. It was the first time I had seen him in daylight in 3 years of following just night pictures and sign. I was pretty darn proud of getting that timing perfect - probably will always be one of my favorite hunts. Anyway, that's just what I would try to do.

[oldrank]

I deal with this alot also... gets to be very frustrating some times.I hunt alot of public that butts up to large unhuntable tracts. I asked Dan a simular question yrs ago on the old site.. he told me.. " find where he is bedding on the state land."

[ Post made via Android ]

[C&T Archery]

We deal with this and like Joere said. Food is what we found. We hunt in Northern Wisconsin and don't have the best bedding on our land, so the majority of the deer are on neighboring properties. We planted small food plots in secure areas, to try and lure bucks out earlier. It has worked all right during the bow season. Each season has its ups and downs. But we can tell when gun season is close, as the people drive north to scout and put out their bait piles, our activity slowly goes down.

[Stanley]

If you can't hunt close to the bed. The food source is the next best option. Some where in between works pretty good.

[Redman232]

If you've had two close encounters from that one stand, I don' t think I would call that a low odds spot. If you can go back and figure out what the wind/weather conditions were those days and only hunt it on those days, it sound like you've got a shot. If you had never seen a good deer cross the openings, I would move on. I had to do this last year after observing good bucks bumping does out of a bedding area I couldn't hunt basically all day. Eventually I had to recognize I was just stringing myself along with buck sightings that weren't going to materialize into a kill.

[dan]

I usually watch those spots from an observation stand and when the buck is getting far enough to shoot in daylight I move in for the kill, otherwise I stay away and leave that area scent free. If I can't observe from a distance I wait for a moon phase or weather front to move them a little farther in daylight... Or, as mentioned, find the spot(s) he beds on your property.

[johndeere506]

Yeah maybe is not a real low odds spot, but seems that way when watching them 200 yards out. I like it early on cold fronts or cool evenings. Its very cool to watch the big bucks and how the act w wind and evening thermals. Sounds like I should ditch the unconventional ideas, but maybe keep watching but definatly hang a couple cams. It has a nice corn edge to hunt in this one spot this year.

[ Post made via Android ]

[Edcyclopedia]

I would hire a good looking and strapping young man to clean his pool.

The wife will take notice and soon afterwards the land owner will take notice!

While they are divorcing you offer him his wife's half of the property so he can pay her off.

No need to thank me, I solve problems for a living...

[ Post made via Android ]

[goldtip5575]

If it were high pressured land especially farmland I would still hunt your random buck bedding near food, cover, or escape areas. Odds are very high bedded bucks off your property will get bumped into you by other hunters, farmers, dogs, coyotes, 4 wheelers, wood cutters, etc........at any time of day.

[hunter10]

I hunt a 50 acre farm that holds a good doe bedding thicket. I believe the mature deer use the neighbours land more often due to better ground. I have learned through hunting for a few years that Its not worth hunting the bedding thicket until late oct - november rut. Besides the obvious factor of the rut phases, the neighbour land gets hit with 4 wheeling which pushes the deer into my 50 acres.

[johndeere506]

Ed if they only had a pool...lol

I can tell some of you hunt similar setups. Its frustrating at times, but some spots like this offer some hunting while waiting to hit my better spots.

[ Post made via Android ]