Wind based morning bed hunts

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mainebowhunter
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Wind based morning bed hunts

Unread postby mainebowhunter » Mon Apr 25, 2016 6:07 am

I know Dave has mentioned he likes to hunt mornings because of the consistency of the bucks approach to the bed. I do not do a lot of morning hunting early in the season and I know a lot of guys here don't either. But it interests me to hear the theory behind the consistency of bucks heading back to bed based on the wind. I know bucks leave there bed to head for food with wind at there back, crosswind, wind in their face.


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Re: Wind based morning bed hunts

Unread postby dan » Mon Apr 25, 2016 6:59 am

In the morning they head to bed wind to nose. Thats the consistent part. Killing the older ones doing this is the hard part... Everywhere I have hunted big bucks are often bedded well before daylight in early season and morning hunts really don't pick up till mid October. I think its much harder to kill a big buck in the am near bedding than evening... To me, consistent exiting in the same mannor regardless of wind is what makes evenings much easier.

1st you need him to come back in daylight killing hours...

2nd, You need to set up where you can arrow him without him getting down wind, which means you need to know where he is coming from and about where he will hook towards the bed.

3rd, your approach has to come from a direction that won't cross paths with his approach..

In my opinion it takes a more advanced hunter to pull this off... Not saying a guy shouldn't try. I know I put in a decent effort. Attempting, and keeping track of results is what makes us better.
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Re: Wind based morning bed hunts

Unread postby mainebowhunter » Mon Apr 25, 2016 7:19 am

dan wrote:In the morning they head to bed wind to nose. Thats the consistent part. Killing the older ones doing this is the hard part... Everywhere I have hunted big bucks are often bedded well before daylight in early season and morning hunts really don't pick up till mid October. I think its much harder to kill a big buck in the am near bedding than evening... To me, consistent exiting in the same mannor regardless of wind is what makes evenings much easier.

1st you need him to come back in daylight killing hours...

2nd, You need to set up where you can arrow him without him getting down wind, which means you need to know where he is coming from and about where he will hook towards the bed.

3rd, your approach has to come from a direction that won't cross paths with his approach..

In my opinion it takes a more advanced hunter to pull this off... Not saying a guy shouldn't try. I know I put in a decent effort. Attempting, and keeping track of results is what makes us better.


Agreed. Personally, I do much better in the evenings Sept and Oct. And with my work schedule, I prefer it. So I do not place a lot of effort into setting up for morning hunts.

That being said, I do have a couple beds that setup premium for a morning setup if I can get the access from a homeowner. 100yds off the back of someones house on public land. Food source is half mile away. Lots of IFs...
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Re: Wind based morning bed hunts

Unread postby TNstalker » Mon Apr 25, 2016 8:19 am

Dan

I was looking at this yesterday bc it will be very hard to get in on a bedding area I found in the evening without getting picked up or at least at first glance. Do the jhooks or hooks vary at how far out from the bed they will make the turn bc of terrain? Or is it close to the same with all bucks? An is there a consent elevation u seem them come back to the the bed in hills with the wind in there face?

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Re: Wind based morning bed hunts

Unread postby dan » Mon Apr 25, 2016 9:17 am

TNstalker wrote:Dan

I was looking at this yesterday bc it will be very hard to get in on a bedding area I found in the evening without getting picked up or at least at first glance. Do the jhooks or hooks vary at how far out from the bed they will make the turn bc of terrain? Or is it close to the same with all bucks? An is there a consent elevation u seem them come back to the the bed in hills with the wind in there face?

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It varys with where your hunting (terrain wise) and with individual animals. Marsh is the easiest for me, cause within the cattails they can't just bust a new trail, so they come in on an existing one making it easier to predict. Flat ground can be real tough if the terrain is all simalar, but often water or an obstacle can give you a good idea of how they will funnel. In hills the heagt of the hill can make a difference. Small hills can be relatively consistent, but larger ones can have different bucks bucks j-hook in at differing elevations.

Sometimes you can see a light trail and entering rubs, and sometimes the obstacles and/or terrain give up some clues... If you can't get in there in the evening I would try a morning for sure.
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Re: Wind based morning bed hunts

Unread postby TNstalker » Mon Apr 25, 2016 12:12 pm

I small hills will they stay high as they pass then drop low or stay low then hook back to the bed?

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Re: Wind based morning bed hunts

Unread postby DaveT1963 » Mon Apr 25, 2016 1:48 pm

I've already explained my thoughts on this and how I go about it.

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Re: Wind based morning bed hunts

Unread postby VA5326 » Mon Apr 25, 2016 2:03 pm

You should watch some of Andrae D'acquisto morning hunts. He's probably one of the best morning hunters I know of.
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Re: Wind based morning bed hunts

Unread postby Hawthorne » Mon Apr 25, 2016 2:21 pm

I've done my best in mornings. Some properties the way they are laid out makes it difficult to get in undetected in morning. Many times I've heard one deer crash off and just knew it was the buck. I think the best time is that last week of October for morning ambush near their bed. Its when the bucks are coming back to their beds late from checking does but haven't left their core areas to be with esterous does.

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Re: Wind based morning bed hunts

Unread postby mainebowhunter » Mon Apr 25, 2016 2:44 pm

DaveT1963 wrote:I've already explained my thoughts on this and how I go about it.

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What thread was that that you posted the j-hook diagram with the pond?
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Re: Wind based morning bed hunts

Unread postby DaveT1963 » Mon Apr 25, 2016 2:50 pm

Ive explained it on several threads and my journal.... Ive even posted several videos on J hooks, how i set up....

This whole idea that pressured bucks will never expose themselves in the morning during daylight and yet have no problem doing so in the evening is flawed IMHO.... I just think it's easier to do it in the evenings and most won't put in the effort required in the AM. Like I said before if I found a buck that bedded in the same exact bed day after day, and left that area in the same exact way day after day, I feel pretty sure I'd kill that buck pretty easily with my longbow.... With a rifle I can not even image not doing so.

I also believe a lot of people that hunt a bed in the evening, and a buck does not show up, make a very faulty assumption that the buck was not in that bed or in another bed close by they don't know about. Telemetry studies are showing that many deer do not get up in the evening until aftet nightfall in many cases, so there is a good chance that they are spooking just as many deer when they leave these unsuccessful hunt in the evening.

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Re: Wind based morning bed hunts

Unread postby mainebowhunter » Mon Apr 25, 2016 3:14 pm

DaveT1963 wrote:Ive explained it on several threads and my journal.... Ive even posted several videos on J hooks, how i set up....

This whole idea that pressured bucks will never expose themselves in the morning during daylight and yet have no problem doing so in the evening is flawed IMHO.... I just think it's easier to do it in the evenings and most won't put in the effort required in the AM. Like I said before if I found a buck that bedded in the same exact bed day after day, and left that area in the same exact way day after day, I feel pretty sure I'd kill that buck pretty easily with my longbow.... With a rifle I can not even image not doing so.

I also believe a lot of people that hunt a bed in the evening, and a buck does not show up, make a very faulty assumption that that buck was not in that bed. Telemetry studies are showing that many deer do not get up in the evening until aftet nightfall in many cases, so there is a good chance that they are spooking just as many deer when they leave these unsuccessful hunt in the evening.

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I was not all that interested in it till I came across some areas this past week or 2 that will work well for morning hunts. Just not something I have had much success with outside of the rut. But it does not mean I do not think its a viable method. If there is a tool that I think I can utilize, I am going to use it. Many of my best spots now work much better for evening hunts...but I have a lot of new ground this season.
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Re: Wind based morning bed hunts

Unread postby JoeRE » Mon Apr 25, 2016 11:46 pm

I wouldn't disagree on any of the challenges mentioned but I also have had a lot of success with morning bed hunts on mature bucks, mostly during the pre-rut as bucks travel more and more at night and therefore are likely to get back near the bedding just late enough, and I know around here has moderate to low hunting pressure as well. I like to pair up favorable conditions no matter what time of day I am hunting....cold front + pre-rut, that sort of thing. Whether to hunt a bedding location morning or evening is mostly determined by access. I pick whichever time offers higher odds to get in there undetected. My average is probably right around 50/50 morning vs evening, I have found a lot of locations a person doesn't stand a chance getting into in the evening

As far as setups go, I like to setup right downwind of where I think a buck will bed, OR back off from the bedding if I can't pinpoint an exact bedding location and set up on the travel route into the bedding cover. The j-hooks I see in hill country usually are pretty small, say circling 40-50 yards downwind, and when I set up about 30 yards downwind that makes for a nice close shot. Like I said if I don't think I have a exact bed pinpointed, and often I don't because in the hills there are often a number of beds in a bedding area too far apart to cover all them with a bow, I will back off 100-200 yards along the travel route to the bedding to avoid the j-hook near the bed. Say on a ditch crossing or a fence crossing a little ways along the ridge. Then of course you have to guess the correct approach the buck will take. I would agree that the j-hook makes for very consistent approaches into a bed, nearly every buck I have watch has done one, and the ones I have seen are small like I said, in the 50 yard range. Maybe in other parts of the country j-hooks are bigger but that is what I have seen. Obviously if a deer is coming in from a long distance downwind that would be challenging to set up on, but mostly that's not what I have seen. One big issue I have run into is occasionally bucks coming back after the thermals switch from falling to rising, so pretty late in the morning. I have been busted a couple times because I set up for falling thermal + wind combination, good for the first hour or two, but the actual air current was different as the sun rose higher and all I saw was a snort and a big rack bounding off.
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Re: Wind based morning bed hunts

Unread postby DaveT1963 » Tue Apr 26, 2016 12:17 am

Excellent post Joe. I see a lot of mid morning movement around 9:00.

One other thing I want to address is the faulty assumption that big mature bucks are always bedding some place far from where does bed. That simply is not true. I often find the big bucks use does for added scurity and will place doe bedding areas between their bed and where they think danger will come from. They also use smaller bucks in this fashion.

There is no hard and fast rule to any of this IMHO.... There are generalities but as soon as you become reliant on "the norm" I believe you take yourself out of the game. EVERY SITUATION IS DIFFERENT.

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Re: Wind based morning bed hunts

Unread postby DaveT1963 » Tue Apr 26, 2016 12:17 am

Excellent post Joe. I see a lot of mid morning movement around 9:00.

One other thing I want to address is the faulty assumption that big mature bucks are always bedding some place far from where does bed. That simply is not true. I often find the big bucks use does for added scurity and will place doe bedding areas between their bed and where they think danger will come from. They also use smaller bucks in this fashion.

There is no hard and fast rule to any of this IMHO.... There are generalities but as soon as you become reliant on "the norm" I believe you take yourself out of the game. EVERY SITUATION IS DIFFERENT.

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