Pressure Bedding

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NorthStar
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Pressure Bedding

Unread postby NorthStar » Fri Aug 18, 2017 8:05 am

There is an area I like to hunt that is full of bluffs and hills and gets a lot of buck pressure specifically. On top of it, we have a bow season that starts in September, and two gun seasons that pretty much run the entire month of November. My hunting party refuses to hunt the first season even though this is the preferred time to hunt (due to the fact that it coincides with peak rut activity.)

I am tired of making excuses but I need your help. Some of those excuses that my hunting party and I use is “the second gun season has less hunters so less people in the woods to move deer around” and "most deer have been spooked already and have gone completely nocturnal.” I am starting to think I can use this pressure to my advantage somehow. I am assuming bucks are still moving in daylight near bedding in late November but my guess is that they have moved to pressure bedding locations.

What are some of your favorite pressure bedding spots to hunt? I have heard things like parking lot bucks and things like Marsh trumps Hill bedding. What else should I be considering?

I apologize if there is already a post out there for this. I looked through 10 pages of a “pressure bedding” search and didn’t find anything specific to my questions.

Thanks!


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‭‭Proverbs‬ ‭12:27‬ ‭NIV‬‬
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Re: Pressure Bedding

Unread postby dan » Fri Aug 18, 2017 8:27 am

My 1st suggestion would be not to worry about the rest of your party and make sure you are out there the 1st week. A lot of the bucks will get shot that week, that won't be there the second week, and they will indeed move less when pressure is heavy.... As far as "pressure beds" go, there pretty much the same as over looked or primary bedding. Big bucks always bed there, others may come in to when pressure rises. But, my suggestion would be to always look for the over looked. I beat the subject to death, but most of my bucks have been shot in over looked spots by the road, behind the barn, in a clump of brush, a small pothole, etc... You simply need to think about where people don't go that still has enough cover to conceal a buck.
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Re: Pressure Bedding

Unread postby NorthStar » Fri Aug 18, 2017 8:52 am

dan wrote:My 1st suggestion would be not to worry about the rest of your party and make sure you are out there the 1st week. A lot of the bucks will get shot that week, that won't be there the second week, and they will indeed move less when pressure is heavy.... As far as "pressure beds" go, there pretty much the same as over looked or primary bedding. Big bucks always bed there, others may come in to when pressure rises. But, my suggestion would be to always look for the over looked. I beat the subject to death, but most of my bucks have been shot in over looked spots by the road, behind the barn, in a clump of brush, a small pothole, etc... You simply need to think about where people don't go that still has enough cover to conceal a buck.


This is the advice I needed. Last year I had a nice mature buck within gun range the first season but I decided to use my bow as I already had a tag for the second gun season.

I know you are constantly answering the same questions over and over again and I truly do appreciate you doing this. I am pretty new to this and playing catch up for sure. I also know that I can ask all the questions in the world but personal experience is going to do me the most good.

The only problem is that I have a fever, and the only prescription is more Hunting Beast!
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‭‭Proverbs‬ ‭12:27‬ ‭NIV‬‬
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Jonny
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Re: Pressure Bedding

Unread postby Jonny » Fri Aug 18, 2017 10:01 am

What has worked for me, and some other family members in the past is hunting an area where there has been little to no human activity for awhile. The spot I hunted last season has been a traditional area for my family for probably 30+ years. It's a long walk, you will bleed, and that's why nobody is ever down there aside from one guy who bird hunts it on occasion, and a group who drives it around thanksgiving.

I wouldn't ever consider bow hunting the area since its been done and nothing good has come of it. It's just a river bottom with big maples and lots and lots of underbrush. Until all of that dies, you could be 6" from a deer on the ground and would never see it. And it's so far from any food and in a low pressure area so the deer are never pushed down there.

But just talking with my dad and uncles who have hunted down there, we have shot a heck of a lot of deer out of the river bottom. And I bet 90% of them come on the second day of the season. First day the deer hunker down wherever they can and feel safe. Once nightfall hits, they seek out an area they feel safe, which is thick, nasty, and very little human intrusion. We shoot lots of deer with corn in their bellies, and the nearest corn field is a minimum of 5 miles away. Probably closer to 7 or 8. Just my theory on the area.

My dad and I hunted down there last year and saw 7 deer. The other 7 guys in my group combined saw 2 hunting swamp edges or hardwoods. Rarely ever see any mature deer. The only mature deer we have shot came from an overlooked area by a parking lot, and a funnel between 2 swamps that was arguably the best stand we ever had in the area. My dad tagged out every year by noon on some big old deer. But that was logged 10+ years ago and is just a memory.

For me, I will keep hunting the river bottom for now. In a couple years I think I might go for more of a homerun hunting near more pressure and staying in the swamps, and then going to the river bottom on sunday.

But for you, I would be out the first weekend. Heck I bet 2/3 of the total deer killed in wisconsin are killed opening weekend of gun season. Seems a bit weird to wait to hunt later when the state is down close to 200,000 deer :think:
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Re: Pressure Bedding

Unread postby dirt nap giver » Fri Aug 18, 2017 10:22 am

My experience has been the same as stated above in regard to overlooked spots. I have also witnessed bucks get up and move after they observe vehicles leave parking lots late morning.
Mature bucks in these highly pressured areas are programmed to use these areas between 10-2 and after dark.

If there is mature buck sign, I set up after daylight, sit till 2 ish, then move to known bedding areas to exercise The Beast tactic.
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NorthStar
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Re: Pressure Bedding

Unread postby NorthStar » Sat Aug 19, 2017 1:38 am

So do bucks like these parking lot areas so they can see if people are coming in and move right away? Or do they hold tight to watch the parking lot while bedded all day?
“The lazy do not roast any game, but the diligent feed on the riches of the hunt.”
‭‭Proverbs‬ ‭12:27‬ ‭NIV‬‬
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Re: Pressure Bedding

Unread postby tgreeno » Sat Aug 19, 2017 2:21 am

NorthStar wrote:So do bucks like these parking lot areas so they can see if people are coming in and move right away? Or do they hold tight to watch the parking lot while bedded all day?


They will hold tight and bed all day if they aren't bothered by anyone. They are only bedding there because they feel secure because no one every goes in there. Being able to monitor public access, is just a perk for them. I'm sure if someone got a little too close an invaded their secure zone they would be gone out the back door.

I remember an area owned by the state on the corner of a country road. It was very thick and elevated maybe 20 feet above the road. One year there was a spot a nice 10 pointer would bed during the day just in the edge of the thick. And sit & watch the traffic go by all day. From down the road we could glass him. Just laying there watching traffic. Even people walking by on the road wouldn't spoke him.
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Re: Pressure Bedding

Unread postby Divergent » Sat Aug 19, 2017 4:20 pm

Like my dad always said...Can't kill 'em on the couch.
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Re: Pressure Bedding

Unread postby Boogieman1 » Sat Aug 19, 2017 7:14 pm

When I used to hunt with a lot of other hunters in a situation like u described, I only found 2 ways to get on deer. 1.) what Dan mentioned above. 2.) get into the nastiest thickest stuff on the property and get there early and stay all day. When the other hunters take to the woods they will unknowingly be moving deer, when they leave for lunch they will push em again, then when they head back for the eve hunt, u guessed it they will move em again. There's nothing glamorous about it, but it does work if u have the patience
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