Cover and pressure

[JDS]

Another poster in another thread (Motivated) posted a link to a site and I started clicking around and found a couple of things I thought I would share. It was an AHA moment for me.

The first link shows several pictures of collared buck movements during the rut and late in the year, generally Sep - Jan. However my AHA moment here had nothing to do with the purpose of the article in showing miles traveled per day but in the routes taken. When you look at these pics you can clearly see where the bucks avoided open fields even to the point of their movements showing hard lines in some pics and then in other pics they walked straight lines up fence rows or other cover to get from A to B or how they cling to the transitions. Even as beginner hunters we are told they cling to cover but I never had it click like I did when seeing these pics.
https://www.qdma.com/galleries/rut-rela ... -movements


The second link was a study done of 114k acre public forest in PA. It clearly shows how the average hunter is, well I don't want to say lazy so how about not willing to go the extra mile. It shows how for every 550yds from a vehicle of for every 5 degrees in slope the hunter population thinned out drastically. It was calculated that out of this 114k acres 87% of the hunters only hunted 56% of the land and that number correlates to the amount of land about 1/3 of a mile from any road. I personally found this hard evidence to back what Dan and other have stated about getting off the beaten path to find the deer.
https://www.qdma.com/articles/finding-un-pressured-deer


Some of you have probably already seen these pages but I thought I would share them and my AHA moments as I am a newer hunter and still learning. Thanks to Dan for sharing his hard earned knowledge as well to all HB guys who also share and teach. Just so you know there are us new guys trying to learn and drinking this up.

[Bigburner]

Thick and nasty hard to approach areas is where they spend there time. If you aren't in it you aren't in the game. The hunting media fantasy land doesn't exist on public land. where I hunt If you can walk up right in it or don't sink in it odds are a buck isn't spending much time in it. So you can easily eliminate a whole bunch of ground that you shouldn't be spending your time in looking for the right kind of sign and beds. Bucks aren't very random creatures. So go have some fun and dive into it head first. And this is the place to ask as many questions you may have. Everybody wants to see everyone succeed here. No secrets here just secret spots

[mainebowhunter]

Thick and nasty hard to approach areas is where they spend there time. If you aren't in it you aren't in the game. The hunting media fantasy land doesn't exist on public land. where I hunt If you can walk up right in it or don't sink in it odds are a buck isn't spending much time in it. So you can easily eliminate a whole bunch of ground that you shouldn't be spending your time in looking for the right kind of sign and beds. Bucks aren't very random creatures. So go have some fun and dive into it head first. And this is the place to ask as many questions you may have. Everybody wants to see everyone succeed here. No secrets here just secret spots

JDS -- what part of the country are you from?

Bigburner -- And this all depends on what part of the country your in and how much pressure you deal with. I scout a lot of ground here in the Northeast in a season and the deer tend to bed more in the open timber around water rather than in thick, hard to get to areas OR in tag alders that are easy to walk through. And, deer tend to move a lot more, travel much more. Just not so apt to bed in the same area because security cover is abundant. I used to make that assumption that it was always the nasty thick stuff that you can barely walk through. But after picking briars out of my fingers and wiping the blood off my hands, came to realize they use the edges of it ...but if I cannot walk through it, for the most part, they are not doing it either. Mainly because there is no pressure during Sept and Oct to make them do so.

BUT, I have very low hunting pressure, low deer densities and an abundant amount of cover. Many times, deer rarely ever leave the cover because there is no need to. They can move 2miles and never leave the timber. Some places, they can move 10 miles and never leave the timber.

What you will learn on this site are the different methods guys use to kill big deer. However you can locate it and however you can hunt it. What is common...its all about bedding. Then its using the method that works most for you to kill the deer using those beds.

[JDS]

JDS -- what part of the country are you from?

I'm in TN. Thnx guys for the input and willingness to help.

[mheichelbech]

I think it is property and pressure dependent and the type of pressure. One place I hunt, the deer move from woodlot to woodlot across completely open ag fields. I think this is due to 2 things:

1). No gun hunting.
2). Primarily coyotes and secondarily hunter pressure within the wood line.

As per usual, hard to make generalized statements.

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[blizzardhunter]

What part of TN

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[Bigburner]

Thick and nasty hard to approach areas is where they spend there time. If you aren't in it you aren't in the game. The hunting media fantasy land doesn't exist on public land. where I hunt If you can walk up right in it or don't sink in it odds are a buck isn't spending much time in it. So you can easily eliminate a whole bunch of ground that you shouldn't be spending your time in looking for the right kind of sign and beds. Bucks aren't very random creatures. So go have some fun and dive into it head first. And this is the place to ask as many questions you may have. Everybody wants to see everyone succeed here. No secrets here just secret spots

JDS -- what part of the country are you from?

Bigburner -- And this all depends on what part of the country your in and how much pressure you deal with. I scout a lot of ground here in the Northeast in a season and the deer tend to bed more in the open timber around water rather than in thick, hard to get to areas OR in tag alders that are easy to walk through. And, deer tend to move a lot more, travel much more. Just not so apt to bed in the same area because security cover is abundant. I used to make that assumption that it was always the nasty thick stuff that you can barely walk through. But after picking briars out of my fingers and wiping the blood off my hands, came to realize they use the edges of it ...but if I cannot walk through it, for the most part, they are not doing it either. Mainly because there is no pressure during Sept and Oct to make them do so.

BUT, I have very low hunting pressure, low deer densities and an abundant amount of cover. Many times, deer rarely ever leave the cover because there is no need to. They can move 2miles and never leave the timber. Some places, they can move 10 miles and never leave the timber.

What you will learn on this site are the different methods guys use to kill big deer. However you can locate it and however you can hunt it. What is common...its all about bedding. Then its using the method that works most for you to kill the deer using those beds.

I whole heartedly agree Maine. I'm so heavy in it hear that me and TN are on separate universes. definitely focus on the beds. I neglected to factor in region.
Where I live, the 18-35 demographic all drive jacked up noisy trucks with, DU, realtree and mossy oak stickers plastered all over the back window and wear rebel flag belt buckles. Side note, DE is north of the Mason Dixon Line. Today at the grocery store I saw a guy with a rocker over his windshield that had an outline of DE and written in camo across the whole length said "Backwoods Outlaw"
Not to point out a hunting stereo type, but you to get off the beaten path due to the pressure the public gets due to ease of access and hunter sign here. So.... when I'm not tripping over empty buck bombs walking through the woods and getting poked in the eye with scent wicks the majority of my bed finds are in the hard to access cover. They creep on the edges in heavy perimeter cover for sure. Unfortunately my scouting usually involves getting wet and losing blood

[mainebowhunter]

Thick and nasty hard to approach areas is where they spend there time. If you aren't in it you aren't in the game. The hunting media fantasy land doesn't exist on public land. where I hunt If you can walk up right in it or don't sink in it odds are a buck isn't spending much time in it. So you can easily eliminate a whole bunch of ground that you shouldn't be spending your time in looking for the right kind of sign and beds. Bucks aren't very random creatures. So go have some fun and dive into it head first. And this is the place to ask as many questions you may have. Everybody wants to see everyone succeed here. No secrets here just secret spots

JDS -- what part of the country are you from?

Bigburner -- And this all depends on what part of the country your in and how much pressure you deal with. I scout a lot of ground here in the Northeast in a season and the deer tend to bed more in the open timber around water rather than in thick, hard to get to areas OR in tag alders that are easy to walk through. And, deer tend to move a lot more, travel much more. Just not so apt to bed in the same area because security cover is abundant. I used to make that assumption that it was always the nasty thick stuff that you can barely walk through. But after picking briars out of my fingers and wiping the blood off my hands, came to realize they use the edges of it ...but if I cannot walk through it, for the most part, they are not doing it either. Mainly because there is no pressure during Sept and Oct to make them do so.

BUT, I have very low hunting pressure, low deer densities and an abundant amount of cover. Many times, deer rarely ever leave the cover because there is no need to. They can move 2miles and never leave the timber. Some places, they can move 10 miles and never leave the timber.

What you will learn on this site are the different methods guys use to kill big deer. However you can locate it and however you can hunt it. What is common...its all about bedding. Then its using the method that works most for you to kill the deer using those beds.

I whole heartedly agree Maine. I'm so heavy in it hear that me and TN are on separate universes. definitely focus on the beds. I neglected to factor in region.
Where I live, the 18-35 demographic all drive jacked up noisy trucks with, DU, realtree and mossy oak stickers plastered all over the back window and wear rebel flag belt buckles. Side note, DE is north of the Mason Dixon Line. Today at the grocery store I saw a guy with a rocker over his windshield that had an outline of DE and written in camo across the whole length said "Backwoods Outlaw"
Not to point out a hunting stereo type, but you to get off the beaten path due to the pressure the public gets due to ease of access and hunter sign here. So.... when I'm not tripping over empty buck bombs walking through the woods and getting poked in the eye with scent wicks the majority of my bed finds are in the hard to access cover. They creep on the edges in heavy perimeter cover for sure. Unfortunately my scouting usually involves getting wet and losing blood

I only said that because one of my farms, I have been searching for the bedding, found some buck beds, but not many. Than I found a dead 2.5yr old next to a bed with rubs. Kind of clued me in that I was looking for the bedding "in all the wrong places". I crawled through the thickets...covered probably 100+ acres of thicket looking for beds. Just never found them. Left me scratching my head. Till the end of last year. Once I started finding the beds, I just kept finding them. By the end, I had marked 30+ beds. Some were doe beds. Some were beds with rubs in them. Some of the beds were on the edge of the thick stuff...some which I have a pretty good idea who is using them.

What I have found...alders are a different story. Its very easy to walk through most alder thickets. Killed a target buck this year that was bedding in an alder thicket. Always a big bedding draw in this state.

Just really interesting to me, all of the different places everyone hunts. Pressure seems to be a key ingredient most guys deal with and how they work with it. I was scouting with a guy last night...classic spot for bucks to bed on 2 points that were against a swamp. I mean...PERFECT. BUT, only found a few beds, nothing that knocked my socks off. Figured maybe they would push off the point onto some of the islands. NOPE. I just think, if a deer is not pressured, he is not going to go through chest deep water to find a bed. We left, the noob I was scouting with was pretty discouraged. He had high hopes of "striking gold" lol. But with only 4-6 hours of offseason scouting, your not going to have much luck.

I have walked SO MANY transitions around swale, swamp and cattail looking for runs / rubs. Just never find them. Or find very little. I turn around, head to a cut over that is fairly open...I start finding beds on all of the elevation spots. With 1000s upon 1000s of acres of timber and very few guys in the woods except during rifle, bucks just are not pushed all that hard. It does not mean they DON'T do it, but its just not as prevalent.

Around here....opening day of bow season does not look any different than any other normal day. Archery is just not a big deal in this state.

[Wlog]

Its all relative. Factor in pressure, Hunter density, deer density, property size, etc. One good thing about this part of the country (mid-Atlantic region) is I've got many different terrain types within an 80 mile drive. The constant that I see everywhere is that the deer move on edges or transitions whatever you want to call them as much as possible. Of course there are exceptions. The bedding varies depending on the lay of the land.
You can tag a property with a name like farmland, swamp, big woods, marsh or hills but many places are a hodge podge. A mixture of terrains. There are elements of all these on some of the public I've hunted and scouted.

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