First Beast Style Sit

[vincke07]

I found the hunting beast forum during deer season last fall. I learned a lot of information that I never thought of about bedding and wind directions and wanted to put it to the test. I bought the DVDs and scouted a few sections of public land and wouldn't you know it, the beds where right where Dan and everyone else said they would be! Everything started to make sense.

One section of public swamp was in the middle of a large grass field. I found some good belly to chest high rubs that looked very promising and I knew I was in a bedding area, I just couldn't locate a specific bed. I knew I could set up on the south east side and have great access.

Fast forward to this year and I find myself with an alpha and sticks and a WNW wind. I get about a hundred yards from the swamp and throw on my suit then ease through the grass toward my tree, matching my steps with the wind gusts. I ended up setting up in a 10in diameter willow abiut 100yds from suspected bedding, 3 sticks up.

About an hour before dark 2 does and 2 fawns come out of the swamp and come right in to 7 yds. Then I see about 4 more does/fawns off on the private. Right at last shooting light I heard some grass swooshing where the does came from. It's pretty dark so I throw the binos up and there is a decent 8pt 50 yds out. He looked to be a 2.5 yo but could have been 3.5, regardless he was a pretty good Michigan buck, especially for public ground. He took the same trail the does did through the grass 30 yds away and ended up behind me. I was hoping he would continue on the way they did but he didn't. His body was tough to see in that tall grass from my low angle so I didn't feel confident in the shot.

Long read but I just wanted to share my awesome experience on a first time hang and hunt. It's a great feeling knowing everything you scouted and planned for worked out to "perfection". Almost. Thanks to Dan and everyone else for sharing information. It has really opened my eyes and made me a better hunter for it.

[vincke07]

Forgot to add, the does and that buck both left the bedding with the wind to their back. Not sure how common that is but I'm sticking it in the memory bank.

How long would you wait to sit this area again, trying not to blow him out of there? I did see another tree stand about 150 yds SW of me but I'm not sure how often it's hunted.

[justdirtyfun]

Congrats on the hunt. This stuff is the real deal and you saw the proof.

Now go get em! lol

[Tufrthnails]

Nice. It sure is nice when the plan comes together and you get to see something. For me it depends on how many places you have to hunt. If you got plenty of other places then jump in further the next good wind you have. If you do blow him out that is one less place he can be. If you don't have a lot of places I hear a lot of talk and I use the method of one sit per season. One arch, One muzz, One gun. I will say once gun season is in for me that is the last season and I get froggy. Last season I was pushing the limit on every spot I remotely thought this one buck might have moved to. And no I didn't kill him, but I saw him 3 different times and If I had another week I think I could have killed him. I also got a ton of in season info on the area.

[Divergent]

I find them wind to back most of the time when feeding. They will leave bedding and head in whatever direction they want to though.

[vincke07]

2 for 2. Cyber scouted a different piece of state land and went out there yesterday. Made a fair amount of noise getting back there between the brush and grass. Ended up having a 1.5 yo 6 pt come through at 10 yds about 25 mins before dark. I need to put a lot more time in scouting in the offseason to hopefully find a few spots that hold mature bucks. Pretty awesome to see the results!

[dan]

Good hunt.

[BKMississippi]

Great read, thanks for sharing. Good luck!

[Lockdown]

[Tennhunter3]

[docwaters]

Nice work!

[Whitetailaddict]

Nice. Keep at it. Sounds like you're getting the hang of it

[Kokes]

Congrats on a good hunt thx for sharing

[MedicineMan15]

Sounds like an awesome sit! Keep it up! It's amazing, you'll start recalling things you've seen deer do in the past (pre-hunting beast discovery) and it totally makes sense.

Since I have been turned on to the beast, I have looked at deer in a totally different way. Every time you see a deer, whether it's in the stand or driving down the road, think about what way the wind is blowing, terrain features, etc. Ask yourself "why are they there, and what are the factors that could change, and how do I think that would affect their movement?".

Sounds like you found a pretty awesome spot. Now lets see you on the kill thread.

Thanks for posting!