Getting my kicked this week

[maukings]

Started hunting on Tuesday in IL hill country. I haven't seen a single deer while my very old friends both bagged 2 bucks. One really nice one. What's blowing my mind is that these 2 old guys are sitting on the same stands multiple days. They sit on funnels and tell me to disregarding bedding and wind direction. This completely contradicts what I learned from this forum. I'm setting up on points in the morning sometimes on the right lee side sometimes not. Even then I haven't seen anything. Lots of sign, runs and fresh poos but no deer sightings. Tonight we have a SSW wind and I'm set up on this point. My thinking is that they will cruise from the SW ridge to my area. There are beds and trails NE of where I'm sitting on that point. What am I doing wrong?

Should I be setting on the SW point instead? that way wind would be on my back

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[maukings]

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[Hawthorne]

If a spot has fresh sign and your wind is good you can break the rules and hunt it 3 days in a row during the rut IMO. I share a farm with 2 other guys.Our best funnel was hunted at least 5 or 6 time before a big 12 point was taken.

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[E72]

I think you can throw out quite a few of the general rules when it's really On in the rut. I've seen some pretty big bucks wandering around without any caution to wind when they are with out a doe or chasing one . It can be frustrating . Most times Rut = Right Place , Right Time.

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[Ryan]

I'd look to hunt the saddles if it's rut time down there vs right on the points

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[Bucky]

I'd sit the drainage tops next to the points... they bed on points cause they bail before you ever get close enuf..

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[PK_]

If up is North, you are on the wrong hillside! Also if you are sitting as far in as your waypoint you are too far into the point if they are using it for bedding IMO.

I would be at the head of one of those draws SW of you on the leeward hill.

You are hard pressed to get me out of a good funnel when the rut is cranking.

[Dewey]

Funnels are great rut spots but overhunting them becomes an issue if the does have you pegged. When it gets later in the rut and they are dragging bucks with them you can bet they will avoid the funnel you are in. A spot can go cold in a heartbeat if you hunt in wrong winds even during the rut.

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[maukings]

I'd look to hunt the saddles if it's rut time down there vs right on the points

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Could you mark it on the map please? Tomorrow we get W and SW winds.

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[Ryan]

I'd look to hunt the saddles if it's rut time down there vs right on the points

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Could you mark it on the map please? Tomorrow we get W and SW winds.

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I didn't see any on the map but if you have a zoomed out version I could unless that area is all you have access too..

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[Ryan]

I'd look to hunt the saddles if it's rut time down there vs right on the points

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Could you mark it on the map please? Tomorrow we get W and SW winds.

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West and SW I'd look at the hillside on the bottom left corner of your map

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[maukings]

Can you guys help figure out what went happened?

I sat on spot number one on a west wind. This spot is wide open with very little cover. I think the problem here was that the I was on the wrong point for a SSW wind also, I think i'm going to far down the ridge. This is a very gradual slope so i have a hard time telling to far down to go.

The following day I took my stand a moved it to spot number two for the evening hunt on a west wind. I sat on the ridge down enough where i could see the valley bottom. By the time I got up there I noticed the was another hunter in the valley bottom. A fawn ended up showing up and getting arrowed. I thought this was a good spot since I could see the valley and the ridge across the way but I knew I should be on the other side of the valley since that's the right ridge for a west wind. I left the stand there.

The following morning I came back to spot number 2 again and sat for the morning hunt. Still a west wind. At first light, I saw a doe walk up the valley and go up into my ridge (RED arrow). After 30 mins I saw a doe and fawn also coming up the same valley on they kept going up and then going up the lee ridge (purple arrow). There was a spike right behind them who came up the valley bottom and up on the lee side ridge. Questions: Is it common for deer to travel through the valley instead of the ridge? why go toward the open field direction in the morning. I would think that's where they would be coming from after feeding. Maybe they are bedding on the east/lee ridge next to the field which happens to be private ground.

Around noon I took the stand down and moved it across the valley. The wind changed from W to SSW. I thought it could still work but I didn't see any movement in the evening hunt. Interestingly, the field right up north had a many deer feeding when I drove past it. Somehow they got to it without coming my way. Did they avoid this ridge because the wind wasn't exactly a west wind?

I'm having a really hard time figuring out where are they going in the morning and in the evening.

Outside of the rut, does Dan's style of hunting near the bed work solely during evening hunts whey they are bedded already?
The hill country video says they will come up to the point then turn around and sit facing where they came from. If we are supposed to hunt them from the rear but the move down the point how do they ever come by you in the back?

[dan]

Hunting beds in rut works... But its mostly evenings or mornings. Sitting leeward sides 1/3 down works better for cruising bucks and you will see more doing that. Sometimes the biggest (oldest) ones don't do much cruising and bed hunting is all you got... If your interested in seeing more good deer, sit leeward side, and the tops of draws... If you continue to hunt morning beds, don't hunt up top, they are bullet proof at the bed, you need to hunt them down low where they swing up to the bed.

[maukings]

Thanks Dan,

So if I understand this correctly, deer are using the bottoms to get to their beds in the early morning. Based on what I saw that morning, they are coming from the south. I marked their predicted morning route on a West wind.

So based on this movement I would have to set the stand low to catch them as they come up to their beds and then set the stand high, behind their beds for the evening hunts. How do I know which way they are going to in the evening when they get up? Don't they have to get to the crop fields to the North and West of the property regardless of the wind?

Will this route only work strictly on a west wind or will the shift the path if it's SSW or NW winds?
So if I hunt above them, I'll never see them get to their bed, correct? Am I only able to catch them at first light because of the rut? Would they be bedded already before the sun comes during earlier or later parts of the year??

[PK_]

If I were you I would be hunting funnels/cruise trails. I would be setup near the yellow lines on a west wind, there should be cruise trails around those spots. I would hunt these spots all day or morning until 2 pm and then move into a bed hunt. Hunting beds blind in the am can be an exercise in futility…