Hill Country
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Re: Hill Country
Great discussion here! I think those of us looking to figure out this bedding situation thing, want a "reciepe" for finding beds, at least I know I do. And what I am finding is, that while mature bucks have tendencies, they are still very unpredictable, because they never randomly select a bed, there is always a purpose, and this purpose gives the buck the advantage over the hunter. Until we can get inside the bucks head, we may never know for sure why the select the bed they do. That being said, I think there are some guys on here, who have a lot of the pieces to this puzzle, and can consistently get on these deer. A status, I hope to some day achieve. Thanks for sharing all of your knowledge, guys!
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Re: Hill Country
I am finding is, that while mature bucks have tendencies, they are still very unpredictable, because they never randomly select a bed, there is always a purpose, and this purpose gives the buck the advantage over the hunter. Until we can get inside the bucks head, we may never know for sure why the select the bed they do
The one thing I always try to get across is that a person should scout often. Even if you walk a park or property where you can't hunt if none are around. The more you look at buck beds, the more you get an eye for where they will be.
Taking a close look at the beds you do find and really thinking about wind, cover, and sight. Why is this buck bedding here? After a while you will walk onto propertys and be able to know where several beds should be based on past knowledge.
It don't matter how much I put into this forum, video's, or articles. You still gotta go out and learn it for yourself. Not everything can be covered or portrayed in a way to make it click. My advice is merly a starting point.
I have been doing this most of my life and am still learning.
- Hodag Hunter
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Re: Hill Country
headgear wrote:Good stuff guys, I think it's good to have an open mind when applying these kind of tactics. Speaking in general terms works some of the time but I don't think you can ever put anything in stone, especially when individual bucks and properties can be so different.
I can't find a lot of cattail marshes where I hunt but I have found some buck beds on small islands in floating bogs or other swampy/wet areas. These area both very similar and very different at the same time to the marshes in the video.
In the bigwoods areas I hunt I use both Hill Country and Marsh tatics depending on the location. Both videos have the best info I have ever seen on hunting mature bucks but they can only take you so far. Getting out in the woods and customizing those tatics to your own area is the key.
This should go up for post of the year.
With all the knowledge the videos offer, there is a ton, one still must apply it to their own specific property. Nothing will ever replace "hands on" experiance ie. walking your own areas.
All this "new info to me" is great but one must learn to apply it to each different property. I can be open minded and stubborn at the same time, if that makes sense, and learn best from visual first hand knowledge. I really would love and plan to have Dan walk some of "my" areas this spring.... To shorten the learning curve, if you will.
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Re: Hill Country
Buckfever,
I have a bedding area that holds several shooters in the early season; My area is much like the one you describe. When I get home tonight, I will write a detailed description of my findings.
In my opinion, Dan's videos will not explain how to hunt everyone's areas. However, it does decribe most in their respective habitats. On my properties, there are instances when you must use what you have learned to identify the what, when, and why a buck is bedded in a certain spot. It takes good old fashioned boot leather and no one can do it but you. This website is an extension of those videos and is a real resource when trying to figure out things on your hunting areas.
I have a bedding area that holds several shooters in the early season; My area is much like the one you describe. When I get home tonight, I will write a detailed description of my findings.
In my opinion, Dan's videos will not explain how to hunt everyone's areas. However, it does decribe most in their respective habitats. On my properties, there are instances when you must use what you have learned to identify the what, when, and why a buck is bedded in a certain spot. It takes good old fashioned boot leather and no one can do it but you. This website is an extension of those videos and is a real resource when trying to figure out things on your hunting areas.
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Re: Hill Country
That whole 1/3 from the top elevation is pretty much spot on for the area's that I have been scouting.All I have been doing is going down about a 1/3 from the top. Going at it slow,walking about 10-20 feet and stopping,scanning checking up and down for sign.And if you are in an an area that you have predetermined that could have a possible bed.And it is a steep area, usually within that steep area there are a couple of level spots. That's were I have been finding the beds.
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Re: Hill Country
Hodag Hunter wrote: To shorten the learning curve, if you will.
That is exactly why dans two videos are so addictive. When you watch them you feel that what you have just watched will absolutely "shorten" the learning curve. Not every tactic applies all the time,but in general you have just saved yourself a pile of time when scouting new, or old for that matter, properties. Kind of gives you a new "platform" to work off of.
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Re: Hill Country
Buckfever wrote:...He actually beds in the cut and uses the debris and deadfalls for cover and he has his bed on a little shelf behind the cover. From that vantage he can see the entire ravine in both directions and all the way 200 yards to the east of the doe bedding. There is seldom a wind over the top,but he's unapproachable from the top. His bedding is up against a 100 ft gorge to the east again he's unapproachable from that side. Multiple escape routes...
It is the concept that people need to grasp that will help them the most when finding mature buck beds. In Buckfever's example the buck beds there without the "correct" leeward side referenced wind because he dose not need it. It is unnecessary for his safety. He is in a situation that gives him the safety he needs with out it. This is the underlying concept behind mature buck beds. If a hunter can fully grasp the concept that any situation which can provide the buck with the belief that he is safe is a potential bedding spot, then that hunter will be much better equipped to recognize potential mature buck bedding spots that would other wise be overlooked IMHO. Bucks bedded on the "leeward side, usually in the top third" is only a piece of the puzzle and a tool in finding big buck hide outs.
headgear wrote:...especially when individual bucks and properties can be so different...
And this can throw a wrench into any "recipe". Some bucks are so unique and can do the darnedest things.
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Re: Hill Country
We're snowed in so I went through marsh buck for the second time and while I think it's near perfection, I actually like this Hill Country better. And I think the depth of the discussion that it generates as evidenced by this thread kind of highlights why I feel that way. There no way to go through it and it not forcing you to parse your obsevations to a different level.
- BackWoodsHunter
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Re: Hill Country
being new to the whole public land, buck bedding areas hunting style I too wouldn't mind a "cheat sheet" if you will. I feel that between the two videos it sure narrows things down. Hill country is something I do not hunt. I've hunted the hills of the southern kettle moraine a few time but thats about it.
My main focus is marshy spots. Until I get good at identifying these areas I've picked out a handful of spots either ones I have seen and scared deer from first hand or are very obvious on topos as being high spots in the marsh. I know there's a million other conditions as to why bucks bed where they do but for the most part they won't bed in standing water far as I can tell. It doesn't bother me that they are obvious as long as they are in deep enough where I don't have to worry about other guys busting my hunt or being in my spot. I'm young and like to learn the hard way anyhow so this next season should be interesting to say the least!
My main focus is marshy spots. Until I get good at identifying these areas I've picked out a handful of spots either ones I have seen and scared deer from first hand or are very obvious on topos as being high spots in the marsh. I know there's a million other conditions as to why bucks bed where they do but for the most part they won't bed in standing water far as I can tell. It doesn't bother me that they are obvious as long as they are in deep enough where I don't have to worry about other guys busting my hunt or being in my spot. I'm young and like to learn the hard way anyhow so this next season should be interesting to say the least!
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Re: Hill Country
Good stuff men...
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Re: Hill Country
It's pretty much impossible to cover every situation nor are you going to get everyone to agree on a "rule" when it comes to hunting because we all may observe something different. If the rules could be laid out so easily and concise, we really would run out of things to talk about.
I would look at what was covered in the video as a tool and it's up to you to apply it to your situation. Even on one of the farms that Dan's past associate hunted there are couple bedding areas that do not follow the video model. Slope, available cover, visibility and pedator activity are all going to be variables in the hunting equation. I use the general tools as a starting point where I might find the beds and the corresponding travel routes in an out of them.
Deer also have different personalities and I've seen deer of the same age class do totally different things in the same area to survive. When you wrap it all up, that's what makes this such a fun sport!
I would look at what was covered in the video as a tool and it's up to you to apply it to your situation. Even on one of the farms that Dan's past associate hunted there are couple bedding areas that do not follow the video model. Slope, available cover, visibility and pedator activity are all going to be variables in the hunting equation. I use the general tools as a starting point where I might find the beds and the corresponding travel routes in an out of them.
Deer also have different personalities and I've seen deer of the same age class do totally different things in the same area to survive. When you wrap it all up, that's what makes this such a fun sport!
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Re: Hill Country
i am hunting an area that is flat land but has huge ravines 200-300' deep down to a reservior. Since there are ravines there are also points.
My question is....are the rules different if there is only one side to the ridge that is, the top of the ridge is flat for a long ways?
My question is....are the rules different if there is only one side to the ridge that is, the top of the ridge is flat for a long ways?
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Re: Hill Country
wmihunter wrote:i am hunting an area that is flat land but has huge ravines 200-300' deep down to a reservior. Since there are ravines there are also points.
My question is....are the rules different if there is only one side to the ridge that is, the top of the ridge is flat for a long ways?
Yes... The same general rules apply.
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Re: Hill Country
It seems to me that just applying the general idea that the buck wants to be able to have two of his senses being utilized for his protection. I have been able to pinpoint beds in urban areas with this method. The buck wants to smell his backside and see in front of himself. I found a bed on the corner of a powerline field. It was cool because I thought if a buck bedded there he could see the whole field and smell the thicket behind him. Sure enough, when I checked it out, a large bed right on the edge in the corner of the field. Tough spot to hunt but I pretty much know he is bedding there with the prevailing wind.
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Re: Hill Country
GRUD wrote:It seems to me that just applying the general idea that the buck wants to be able to have two of his senses being utilized for his protection. I have been able to pinpoint beds in urban areas with this method. The buck wants to smell his backside and see in front of himself. I found a bed on the corner of a powerline field. It was cool because I thought if a buck bedded there he could see the whole field and smell the thicket behind him. Sure enough, when I checked it out, a large bed right on the edge in the corner of the field. Tough spot to hunt but I pretty much know he is bedding there with the prevailing wind.
Very true... but in hill country that bedding spot is at a certain elevation 90% of the time, and I have ran into quite a few beds that were in spots where the defense was solely being in thick stuff that someone could not possibly enter without alerting the buck. Using your method should find a lot of beds quickly though, but not all of them.
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