Struggling...need your help Dan

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Hunter74
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Struggling...need your help Dan

Unread postby Hunter74 » Wed Oct 26, 2016 6:33 am

Ok so far this year I've put in a lot of sits on what I know is great bedding, we'll used for years but not seeing anything come out of the beds. So it's obvious that either nothing was using the bed when I sat it, the buck went out another way or it knew something was up and held tight till after dark. My question is how do I start figuring out what is happening? It's obvious if I hear or see a deer go out a different way but I'm not hearing or seeing anything. So would you bomb into the bed after you sat it to see if anything was bedded there or would you do something different? I know the areas are sound but what do I need to do to start figuring out what I'm doing wrong that I'm not seeing any bucks come out of them?

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Re: Struggling...need your help Dan

Unread postby Mschmeiske » Wed Oct 26, 2016 6:35 am

You can't hunt what's not there. I'd maybe try some sits elsewhere to be honest. If you keep going back to the same spot they'll catch on and won't stick around. Hopefully some of these other guys chime in... I'm a noob haha. Just telling you what I've been told/read. Good luck!

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Re: Struggling...need your help Dan

Unread postby headgear » Wed Oct 26, 2016 6:50 am

Hunter74 wrote:Ok so far this year I've put in a lot of sits on what I know is great bedding, we'll used for years but not seeing anything come out of the beds. So it's obvious that either nothing was using the bed when I sat it, the buck went out another way or it knew something was up and held tight till after dark. My question is how do I start figuring out what is happening? It's obvious if I hear or see a deer go out a different way but I'm not hearing or seeing anything. So would you bomb into the bed after you sat it to see if anything was bedded there or would you do something different? I know the areas are sound but what do I need to do to start figuring out what I'm doing wrong that I'm not seeing any bucks come out of them?

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I've had a few spots that have really thrown me for a loop, it looks like amazing bedding but hunt after hunt and in season scouting yeilds nothing. I have come to the conclusion that these areas could be rifle season beds, I don't hunt a lot of these areas I bow hunt rifle season so when the pressure is sky high and the rut is on a lot of sign can get piled into a small area in a short amount of time and turn some areas into pressured bedding/rut bedding. They look amazing but if your timing is off rest of the year the deer appear to be somewhere else.
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Re: Struggling...need your help Dan

Unread postby dan » Wed Oct 26, 2016 6:51 am

I sit tons of great buck bedding every season. Despite great spots, and great effort, the majority only have a dink, or nothing come out... Kenny Rogers once said: You gotta know when to hold em, you gotta know when to fold them, know when to walk away, and know when to run... Bottom line is if your there at the wrong time nothing walks out. sTAY MOBILE, AND FIND MORE SPOTS. Hunting the same one to much will ensure it never gets good... Try it again in a month or so...
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Re: Struggling...need your help Dan

Unread postby headgear » Wed Oct 26, 2016 6:52 am

You might just be getting unlucky too, if you don't have a good number of mature bucks in your area you just might be missing them by days or weeks. A buck might have a pile of great bedding locations over a huge area, you need to catch him in that bed on the right day, scouting helps let you know they are around but a little luck can play a roll too.
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Re: Struggling...need your help Dan

Unread postby Hunter74 » Wed Oct 26, 2016 10:31 am

I do move around a ton never hunting the same bed more than a couple times a year unless I think there's a chance he's going out a different way then how I first set up. I was just wondering how you determine when it should produce? Will you just hunt it and if it doesn't produce after a couple years abandon it? Do you go back and scout it after the season to see if it was being used? I know there isn't always gonna be a buck in a bed when I set up on it but there's gotta be a way to make the odds a little better to at least have a few encounters each season. The other part I'm not getting is a lot of the stuff I set up on has fresh tracks and sometimes rubs going in and out and still nothing...am I alway just a day late or am I setting up wrong? What I'm really after is how do I start finding the answers to these questions?

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Re: Struggling...need your help Dan

Unread postby Dingus » Wed Oct 26, 2016 10:41 am

Hunter74...I have been struggling with almost the same issues. I am definitely keeping an eye on this thread. Sometimes I can b a bit stubborn and think, oh well, I will figure it out eventually, and I keep on trying and I keep getting frustrated. At the same time, I have been reminding myself to stay super positive and enjoy the whole process of each hunt. However, it wud b nice to get a couple encounters each season. I have many of the same questions u are asking.

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Re: Struggling...need your help Dan

Unread postby PK_ » Wed Oct 26, 2016 10:45 am

Is the bedding wind-dependent and if so are you hunting it on the right wind for the bed of for you?

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Re: Struggling...need your help Dan

Unread postby john1984 » Wed Oct 26, 2016 10:52 am

Hunter74 wrote:I do move around a ton never hunting the same bed more than a couple times a year unless I think there's a chance he's going out a different way then how I first set up. I was just wondering how you determine when it should produce? Will you just hunt it and if it doesn't produce after a couple years abandon it? Do you go back and scout it after the season to see if it was being used? I know there isn't always gonna be a buck in a bed when I set up on it but there's gotta be a way to make the odds a little better to at least have a few encounters each season. The other part I'm not getting is a lot of the stuff I set up on has fresh tracks and sometimes rubs going in and out and still nothing...am I alway just a day late or am I setting up wrong? What I'm really after is how do I start finding the answers to these questions?

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You could buy a ton of trail cameras, set them out in late July and leave em soak till January. That should give you some info for the following years to come. I should try that.

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Re: Struggling...need your help Dan

Unread postby Hunter74 » Wed Oct 26, 2016 1:13 pm

I am toying with the trail camera idea...or getting a drone with a camera that I can fly over the beds. Anyway I believe most of the beds I'm hunting are not wind specific because there's several beds in a small area for different winds. Any that I believe are wind specific I hunt just off wind though I could be getting busted that way and not know it

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Re: Struggling...need your help Dan

Unread postby cbay » Wed Oct 26, 2016 1:49 pm

It wasn't that long ago i had similar results bed hunting. What worked for me was pinpointing the beds more accurately (in some cases) and setting up closer to them.
When things started to heat up (rut) what i was doing previously worked better. Otherwise i was striking out consistently.
Pushing it on how close i could set up on known beds has led to encounters. Not saying that's your case but just an example fyi.
Warm weather, pressure, etc, can also make them hole up past quitting time.
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Re: Struggling...need your help Dan

Unread postby iowa whitetail » Wed Oct 26, 2016 1:51 pm

dan wrote:I sit tons of great buck bedding every season. Despite great spots, and great effort, the majority only have a dink, or nothing come out... Kenny Rogers once said: You gotta know when to hold em, you gotta know when to fold them, know when to walk away, and know when to run... Bottom line is if your there at the wrong time nothing walks out. sTAY MOBILE, AND FIND MORE SPOTS. Hunting the same one to much will ensure it never gets good... Try it again in a month or so...

Am I the only weird one or did anybody else sing that as they read it? Lol.

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Re: Struggling...need your help Dan

Unread postby matt1336 » Wed Oct 26, 2016 1:56 pm

Part of the equation is missing if what you're saying is correct. My suggestion would be to find the specific beds, not just the "bedding area". The other being- hunt the just off wind. You can't really do one without the other. With that said- you should be seeing some deer if your in and around bedding areas. Is the deer population not where it once was? The only answer is more scouting. You'll narrow it down.

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Re: Struggling...need your help Dan

Unread postby dan » Wed Oct 26, 2016 1:56 pm

iowa whitetail wrote:
dan wrote:I sit tons of great buck bedding every season. Despite great spots, and great effort, the majority only have a dink, or nothing come out... Kenny Rogers once said: You gotta know when to hold em, you gotta know when to fold them, know when to walk away, and know when to run... Bottom line is if your there at the wrong time nothing walks out. sTAY MOBILE, AND FIND MORE SPOTS. Hunting the same one to much will ensure it never gets good... Try it again in a month or so...

Am I the only weird one or did anybody else sing that as they read it? Lol.

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I sung it as I wrote it... :lol:
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Re: Struggling...need your help Dan

Unread postby dan » Wed Oct 26, 2016 1:59 pm

You might be to far back? A lot of the deer I am seeing in bedding areas are up early, but don't move far in daylight. Sometimes they only get 75 yards... You gotta get within that window.


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