Locating Bucks

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H2archer
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Locating Bucks

Unread postby H2archer » Sun Mar 12, 2017 6:47 am

As winter starts it's transition into spring and then summer, I'm looking for ways to be able to locate bucks worth hunting once they start growing antlers again. Unfortunately, in Ohio we are not able to spotlight. I hunt all public land near my house. there are a lot of crops planted on these pieces but most of the fields are not visible from the road. any recommendations on how I should go about glassing in this type of situation without putting unnecessary pressure on the deer before the season starts? There are heavily used access trails to all of these interior crops, so my plan as of now is to use these trails where the deer are used to encountering human scent to get close enough to climb a tree and observe from a distance. I just ordered a pair of Vortex 12x50 binoculars so I'm hoping this will let me get a good look at the deer without having to get too close... I'm hoping to spot bucks, find out where they're entering these crops and then cut their tracks and hopefully determine a few good spots for the first week or two of season before the pressure hits.


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Re: Locating Bucks

Unread postby whitetailassasin » Sun Mar 12, 2017 11:39 am

Sounds like you have a good plan in place already.
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Re: Locating Bucks

Unread postby tgreeno » Sun Mar 12, 2017 3:21 pm

Sounds like a plan!

After you find out where they're entering the field, then you want to try to figure out where he is bedding. You want to hunt him where he's bedding or staging. Because as it gets closer to season he may not get to the field till after shooting hours.
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Re: Locating Bucks

Unread postby mike perry » Sun Mar 12, 2017 4:19 pm

Maybe I just do things backwards but I'd go in now, get familiar with the terrain, find the bedding and staging areas,old sign trails etc find trees you want to hunt those areas then put mineral stations up by the fields with a camera on them and or glass to find out if the type of buck your after is in there. If he's not there this year At worst it will come in handy for future hunting. My experience with mature bucks on public is you may only have one day to hunt them while they are still coming into a field to feed while it's still daylight. Most times other hunters scouting before the season will screw that up for you. Good luck
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Re: Locating Bucks

Unread postby Lockdown » Sun Mar 12, 2017 5:51 pm

mike perry wrote:Maybe I just do things backwards but I'd go in now, get familiar with the terrain, find the bedding and staging areas,old sign trails etc find trees you want to hunt those areas then put mineral stations up by the fields with a camera on them and or glass to find out if the type of buck your after is in there. If he's not there this year At worst it will come in handy for future hunting. My experience with mature bucks on public is you may only have one day to hunt them while they are still coming into a field to feed while it's still daylight. Most times other hunters scouting before the season will screw that up for you. Good luck


x2

I'm with Mike. I think if you don't go in there now and figure out as much as you possibly can you're going to be hurting yourself. Like Mike said try and pin those beds down now and get kill trees picked and prepped. Multiple trees if you don't know what wind will put him there (he might bed there regardless depending on the scenario) or if you don't know which direction he'll leave his bedding area. If you aren't sure where to set up just guess!

Imagine watching a buck leave bedding you found this spring and head right past one of your kill trees. You'll have a way better chance of killing him that way rather than trying to wing it on hunt day.

Even if your kill trees end up useless you'll still have a much better knowledge of the bedding area(s).
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Re: Locating Bucks

Unread postby H2archer » Mon Mar 13, 2017 12:12 am

mike perry wrote:Maybe I just do things backwards but I'd go in now, get familiar with the terrain, find the bedding and staging areas,old sign trails etc find trees you want to hunt those areas then put mineral stations up by the fields with a camera on them and or glass to find out if the type of buck your after is in there. If he's not there this year At worst it will come in handy for future hunting. My experience with mature bucks on public is you may only have one day to hunt them while they are still coming into a field to feed while it's still daylight. Most times other hunters scouting before the season will screw that up for you. Good luck


Thank for the advice. I've more or less walked every inch of this public land so far this post season. I'm still working out the bedding, (very new to this) but in many cases there are multiple areas that a buck could be coming to food from. I would never consider hunting anywhere near one of these fields during the season. this piece gets a lot of hunters, but not a lot of pressure. they all hunt the field edges so I get very little intrusion into the timber beyond the crops.
My reason for wanting to sit on the fields is to glass and see what's on the land before the season is because I will NOT put cameras out this year. I've had 6 stolen in the last 2 seasons.
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Re: Locating Bucks

Unread postby tgreeno » Mon Mar 13, 2017 1:09 am

The sign from your scouting should tell you if there's a buck in there worth your time.

Large tracks, large poo, high/large rubs, scrapes near bedding & large beds. This is mature buck sign we are all looking for while scouting. You don't need a camera picture of the buck with that kind of sign! I have pictures of very few bucks I'm setting up on. I'm reading the sign he's leaving and trusting my instincts!

Sure If you can get a peek of him while glassing or an observation sit, all the better.
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Re: Locating Bucks

Unread postby mainebowhunter » Mon Mar 13, 2017 2:11 am

H2archer wrote:
mike perry wrote:Maybe I just do things backwards but I'd go in now, get familiar with the terrain, find the bedding and staging areas,old sign trails etc find trees you want to hunt those areas then put mineral stations up by the fields with a camera on them and or glass to find out if the type of buck your after is in there. If he's not there this year At worst it will come in handy for future hunting. My experience with mature bucks on public is you may only have one day to hunt them while they are still coming into a field to feed while it's still daylight. Most times other hunters scouting before the season will screw that up for you. Good luck


Thank for the advice. I've more or less walked every inch of this public land so far this post season. I'm still working out the bedding, (very new to this) but in many cases there are multiple areas that a buck could be coming to food from. I would never consider hunting anywhere near one of these fields during the season. this piece gets a lot of hunters, but not a lot of pressure. they all hunt the field edges so I get very little intrusion into the timber beyond the crops.
My reason for wanting to sit on the fields is to glass and see what's on the land before the season is because I will NOT put cameras out this year. I've had 6 stolen in the last 2 seasons.


Yikes...6 stolen. Guess it's time to hang em high! Or not hang at all. Observation sounds like your best bet. Find the sign preseason...travel, beds, staging ...use your observation in summer to know who is around. Make your plans accordingly.
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Re: Locating Bucks

Unread postby <DK> » Mon Mar 13, 2017 3:40 am

Lockdown wrote:
Imagine watching a buck leave bedding you found this spring and head right past one of your kill trees. You'll have a way better chance of killing him that way rather than trying to wing it on hunt day.

Even if your kill trees end up useless you'll still have a much better knowledge of the bedding area(s).


Great post Lockdown! You just described majority of my thoughts :D It gives me confidence. Congrats on getting your buck last season!
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Re: Locating Bucks

Unread postby H2archer » Mon Mar 13, 2017 4:54 am

tgreeno wrote:The sign from your scouting should tell you if there's a buck in there worth your time.

Large tracks, large poo, high/large rubs, scrapes near bedding & large beds. This is mature buck sign we are all looking for while scouting. You don't need a camera picture of the buck with that kind of sign! I have pictures of very few bucks I'm setting up on. I'm reading the sign he's leaving and trusting my instincts!

Sure If you can get a peek of him while glassing or an observation sit, all the better.


Good stuff. I guess i'm just trying to extend my time in the deer woods more than anything. that, and i'm a little concerned about what's going to happen when the squirrel hunters hit the woods pre-bow opener. I guess I just need to trust that i'm finding the right stuff and they're using it because it gets them away from that sort of pressure.
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Re: Locating Bucks

Unread postby H2archer » Mon Mar 13, 2017 4:57 am

mainebowhunter wrote:
H2archer wrote:
mike perry wrote:Maybe I just do things backwards but I'd go in now, get familiar with the terrain, find the bedding and staging areas,old sign trails etc find trees you want to hunt those areas then put mineral stations up by the fields with a camera on them and or glass to find out if the type of buck your after is in there. If he's not there this year At worst it will come in handy for future hunting. My experience with mature bucks on public is you may only have one day to hunt them while they are still coming into a field to feed while it's still daylight. Most times other hunters scouting before the season will screw that up for you. Good luck


Thank for the advice. I've more or less walked every inch of this public land so far this post season. I'm still working out the bedding, (very new to this) but in many cases there are multiple areas that a buck could be coming to food from. I would never consider hunting anywhere near one of these fields during the season. this piece gets a lot of hunters, but not a lot of pressure. they all hunt the field edges so I get very little intrusion into the timber beyond the crops.
My reason for wanting to sit on the fields is to glass and see what's on the land before the season is because I will NOT put cameras out this year. I've had 6 stolen in the last 2 seasons.


Yikes...6 stolen. Guess it's time to hang em high! Or not hang at all. Observation sounds like your best bet. Find the sign preseason...travel, beds, staging ...use your observation in summer to know who is around. Make your plans accordingly.


Never really thought about putting them up in a tree... I did get a set of climbing sticks this year, might be another way to practice using them and get my few remaining cameras out of easy reach.

That was pretty much the plan I was trying to get across in the original post but I think my meaning was confused and a few people thought I was trying to hunt a field edge. What I guess I should have asked was for observation stand tactics and tips.
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Re: Locating Bucks

Unread postby mainebowhunter » Mon Mar 13, 2017 5:30 am

I use a tree step. Then take it out when I leave. Or one stick should get it out of reach of most.

I dont do it often. ..but this year guys were taking my sd cards. I was far off the beaten path...but rifle guys wandering found them. 1 cam took card 2x. Even when I moved cam.

One peg up would take care of most of it.
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Re: Locating Bucks

Unread postby Lockdown » Mon Mar 13, 2017 11:00 am

Yeah I was thinking you were doing minimal scouting this spring and were more on the field edges and watching fingers of trees, fencelines, islands in the ag, etc.

Sounds to me that there is enough pressure in the area to put them in pressure beds by opener. If you think you have the best of the best already located, I'd set up trying to observe "the good stuff" just before the season. (Usually when I observe mid summer it's for inventory... There's really no chance of them holding pattern for a month or 6 weeks. The week prior to season you actually have a chance.)

I found out last year that I have much better luck when I observe with directive intent. i.e. Watch a specific secluded field or bedding area. Driving around and scouting from the comfort of the vehicle isn't near as effective for me.

I'm starting to become a firm believer that big bucks know how to stay out of view from the roadways, and they do so with regularity.
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Re: Locating Bucks

Unread postby H2archer » Mon Mar 13, 2017 11:28 am

Lockdown wrote:Yeah I was thinking you were doing minimal scouting this spring and were more on the field edges and watching fingers of trees, fencelines, islands in the ag, etc.

Sounds to me that there is enough pressure in the area to put them in pressure beds by opener. If you think you have the best of the best already located, I'd set up trying to observe "the good stuff" just before the season. (Usually when I observe mid summer it's for inventory... There's really no chance of them holding pattern for a month or 6 weeks. The week prior to season you actually have a chance.)

I found out last year that I have much better luck when I observe with directive intent. i.e. Watch a specific secluded field or bedding area. Driving around and scouting from the comfort of the vehicle isn't near as effective for me.

I'm starting to become a firm believer that big bucks know how to stay out of view from the roadways, and they do so with regularity.


Makes sense. I guess I'll find out whether or not I found the good stuff come season. Either way, I'm learning and having a good time doing it. The exercise walking this hill country every chance I get isn't hurting me either.
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Re: Locating Bucks

Unread postby Edcyclopedia » Tue Mar 14, 2017 12:00 am

mainebowhunter wrote:I use a tree step. Then take it out when I leave. Or one stick should get it out of reach of most.

I dont do it often. ..but this year guys were taking my sd cards. I was far off the beaten path...but rifle guys wandering found them. 1 cam took card 2x. Even when I moved cam.

One peg up would take care of most of it.


I'll send you your pics soon:)
Expect the Unexpected when you least Expect it...


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