Buck cruizing trails

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Buck cruizing trails

Unread postby bh bowhunter » Mon Apr 16, 2018 2:53 am

I'm new to Beast tactics, and I know you guys concentrate on finding and hunting buck beds. I have been scouting some new big woods areas and have found many beds, but it's gonna take some time to figure out which beds mature bucks are using. I scouted a trail that runs along the south slope of a tall ridge with rim rock at the top and cliffs that drop 60 feet down to several benches.

I left a camera soak last October thru Feb. and was surprised to see the amount of buck activity along that trail that connects some benches for about 300 yards or so. The first mature buck appeared Oct 28 and he showed up on cam 3 more times during Nov. The second mature buck showed up Nov 5 and I got the last pic of him on Dec 10. Had several other bucks on cam and some days three different bucks in one day. There is one other trail that runs next to main trail and I found where the two meet. This is where I plan on hanging a treestand.

Would like to hear your thoughts on how often to hunt a spot like this? My concern is my ground scent, since the spot is difficult to reach, I have to cross some deer trails to access my stand. I also plan on doing some in season scouting after hunting the stand, this is a big mountain and there is much more to scout.


UofLbowhunter
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Re: Buck cruizing trails

Unread postby UofLbowhunter » Mon Apr 16, 2018 5:09 am

Your trail cameras have done some serious work it sounds like! Now its your job to take the intel and make sense of it. Sounds to me you need to get you a journal and set you up some kind of chart, note the direction of travel, wind direction for each pic, temp, time of day, and other things. JoeRE has some post you may search for and there are some other post on how people go about this. Dont get discourage gather this type of info may take a year or two to make some sence. Use all this info and work backwards from there till you start to figure it out bedding locations!

To me its sounds like you have found a great rut crusing ridge! I would try to find doe bedding ares as well. You will know when you in a big bucks bedding area by his beds,they will be pretty big compared to doe beds in most cases! There isnt always great sign like rubs that scream big buck, but tracks and big scat usally will tell the tale of a big buck. Pressure and deer density also play a role for big sign and bedding locations. Doing your homework and some boots on the ground is what its gonna takes! Dont give up!

As far as hunting a spot like that, that its kinda hard to aproach from the top, you should sneak up a valley or deep cut and get as close as you can to the trail and try to get high enough to get out of the wind tunnel or figure travel drection and come in the oppisite direction they are coming from and loop out far enough and get to the high side and work you way back to a stand site! If this makes sense!
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brancher147
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Re: Buck cruizing trails

Unread postby brancher147 » Mon Apr 16, 2018 6:08 am

If you can get in walking mostly on rock and cliffs then you shouldn't leave much ground scent. I would hunt it as much as possible if it is a hot spot, but just be sure to hunt it only on days you will not get winded when hunting it or accessing it. Hunting above the trail on a south slope should keep the thermals in your favor most of the day. I would not hunt it until around the dates your trail camera caught bucks, and would then look for high pressure days, and good moon times. I just started paying attention to pressure and moon overhead and underfoot times last year, and it is a game changer in my opinion.
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Jonny
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Re: Buck cruizing trails

Unread postby Jonny » Mon Apr 16, 2018 6:48 am

Maybe try zooming out and see if there is a good way to access it. Good probably won't mean good for you. Might be a mile or two detour, climbing a steep drainage, etc.

Find the access, then find the spot to hunt. You can have the greatest spot in the world, but it won't produce if you can't access it without alerting every deer that you are there.
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Re: Buck cruizing trails

Unread postby mauser06 » Mon Apr 16, 2018 4:47 pm

Hill country I assume?


You can likely find most the bedding from your computer.


Get Dan's videos (all of them of you can) and watch them on repeat.

Hill county is just so easy IMO. You can literally mark the beds online and plug them in a GPS and walk right to them. I've done it in 2 very different states.


Sounds like a rut cruising trail. Get on Wunderground and look at the weather history for the dates you have the most buck pics. Probably on the leeward side. This stuff is all pretty dang predictable from your computer. So much that you can go in sight unseen and expect to be on deer.


Leaving trail cams soak all season undisturbed on good sign can give awesome Intel. I'm doing it more and more. It won't help THAT season...but it'll show how and when deer use that area through the season without you in there hunting and pressuring them.


Good luck!
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Re: Buck cruizing trails

Unread postby Divergent » Mon Apr 16, 2018 10:18 pm

UofLbowhunter wrote:Your trail cameras have done some serious work it sounds like! Now its your job to take the intel and make sense of it. Sounds to me you need to get you a journal and set you up some kind of chart, note the direction of travel, wind direction for each pic, temp, time of day, and other things. JoeRE has some post you may search for and there are some other post on how people go about this. Dont get discourage gather this type of info may take a year or two to make some sence. Use all this info and work backwards from there till you start to figure it out bedding locations!

To me its sounds like you have found a great rut crusing ridge! I would try to find doe bedding ares as well. You will know when you in a big bucks bedding area by his beds,they will be pretty big compared to doe beds in most cases! There isnt always great sign like rubs that scream big buck, but tracks and big scat usally will tell the tale of a big buck. Pressure and deer density also play a role for big sign and bedding locations. Doing your homework and some boots on the ground is what its gonna takes! Dont give up!

As far as hunting a spot like that, that its kinda hard to aproach from the top, you should sneak up a valley or deep cut and get as close as you can to the trail and try to get high enough to get out of the wind tunnel or figure travel drection and come in the oppisite direction they are coming from and loop out far enough and get to the high side and work you way back to a stand site! If this makes sense!


This is very important. Every buck might be different, but they usually have their own patterns.
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Re: Buck cruizing trails

Unread postby Boogieman1 » Mon Apr 16, 2018 10:32 pm

Lots of good advice so far. In experiences like described where bucks routinely use a route, it has been my experience u gotta make that first sit count! After first sit there gonna know about it. Set u up a well thought out entry, throw some milkweed around and figure out exactly what the wind is doing and what u need and stay out! Crunch your data best u can to figure out what gives u the highest odds then give it your best shot.
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bh bowhunter
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Re: Buck cruizing trails

Unread postby bh bowhunter » Tue Apr 17, 2018 1:48 am

Thanks for the replies, all solid advice! I have the day off work and my plan is to scout in there all day. I just hope most of this last round of snow will be gone. Checked google maps and found an old logging road that comes up the back side of the mountain and connects to a forest service rd. This road is not in use and I expect to find a berm at the beginning. I use a lot of these old logging roads to access some of my other spots. The deer like to use them also. Gonna find a way down thru the rocks, I saw a saddle on goggle maps that should get me down to the trail.

I already know there are a few doe groups that bed on those benches and that I will need a S or SW wind to hunt that connecting trail. I will try to identify any buck beds in there today also. If the bucks are bedding on the benches near the does, a stand there would be difficult. Its thick 4-6 inch pole timber with some taller ponderosa pines that don't offer much cover.

Unless I find a better spot today, I will either hang a stand or build a natural blind, later this summer, along the connecting trail and access it from the top without crossing any trails. Do you guys have spots like this where you have a solid access route that doesn't tip off any deer in near by bedding areas? I'm thinking that as long as the wind is right I should be able to hunt there many times in November. What are your thoughts or experiences?
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Re: Buck cruizing trails

Unread postby Divergent » Tue Apr 17, 2018 3:34 am

As long as the access is good you can hunt them til you see a noticeable difference in deer sightings. It all depends on how good the access is


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