Putting everything together...

[ScottSpitzley]

A couple other things that I can think of right now that no one else has mentioned yet.

1. Spending more time looking at aerial and topo maps before going to scout an area.

2. Slowing down and moving quietly when closing in on your destination of where you are hunting. Stopping for a couple minutes if you do happen to make a clunk or step on a twig for example.

[elk yinzer]

I was always a big believer in the "October lull". I still am to some degree, as a function of our season dates and pressure. But I now have some confidence if I can find enough beds and hunt smart I can give myself a better chance in that timeframe than I ever have before.

[jhpa]

1) Hunt the beds, or likely areas.

2) Pay attention to thermals.

I hunt hill country and have had far more buck sightings in the morning than the evenings. Now, I know that it is possibly because I hunt low in the evenings and was in my spots too early.

[consummatesportsman]

Great topic, Scott!

1) Learn where deer bed, and why, in different terrains. Know where to set up, how, and when.

2) Build a 'catalog' of (top secret) bedding/stand locations, while continually scouting to add more. This way I won't over hunt any one stand. An added bonus is If one goes cold, gets discovered by another hunter, or changes in some other way, it's no big deal- I've got more to choose from.

[Kraftd]

1. My first aha beast moment, and it's so stinking simple, is that big bucks spend very little time away from their core bedding area during day light that you have to be close to be in the game outside of the rut. No way around this one.

2. Know where you hunt as well as you possibly can. You can't scout too much. I still don't do this right, but it is the main take away the beast has given me in almost five years. There is no substitute for this. I'm still learning a lot of the public I hunt, but feel more connected every year. The private I hunt that I already knew very well, I saw almost immediate better results after applying a lot of the other beast style techniques. You can't solve the puzzle without having the pieces and you can't get the pieces without knowing the land.

[<DK>]

Besides what is stated already ill say

Mapping
Tracking
Confidence

[NYBackcountry]

Saturday I was placing a few cameras and almost placed the cameras where I would have in the past. A spot i've hunted before, always holds lots of rut sign on the edge of a bedding area. Almost placed the cam over the sign along the bedding, backed out and went a few hundred yards, and placed the camera up in a tree over looking a food source corridor between standing corn and thicket along the edge of the woods. I cant hunt the corridor because its on private but I can hunt the sign next to the bedding on public.

[Evanszach7]

Access- It’s better to take an extra hour moving in slowly, reading sign, than to be on stand for that hour.

Thermal Hubs- JoeRe and AutumnNinja have some great insights to these. Hadn’t put it all together until going through some of the historical threads, especially for bottom hubs.

[Ahawk116]

1. Leeward bedding. I’ve known where bucks bed for awhile, but never put it together when they are where they are.

2. Thermal hubs, the article from Joe was super informative. Made a lot of sense out of some of my best stands over the years.

[Tennhunter3]

1 Thermals I had heard of them but had no clue how important they were until I found the beast.

2 Where and how to locate hardwood buck bedding i used to think bucks just bedded randomly in a area they felt comfortable in.

[ScottSpitzley]

1. Leeward bedding. I’ve known where bucks bed for awhile, but never put it together when they are where they are.

2. Thermal hubs, the article from Joe was super informative. Made a lot of sense out of some of my best stands over the years.

Which article, Ahawk? I would like to give it a read if I haven't already.

[ScottSpitzley]

2 things I tell people.
Be within 100 yards of a bucks bed.
If you are in the middle of lockdown and the deer are not moving, go to the deer.

Being aggressive...I like it!

[Ahawk116]

I wish I could remember. It was one of the all time best tactical threads, it has several pictures illustrating them. I always assumed that an area where a bunch of ridges come together or drainages was good because it connected a bunch of different terrains. While true it also makes sense why bucks bed near those due to being able to smell just about everything in the area.

I haven’t figured out the ridge situation as well. The bottoms around here typically have water in them, so you can use them for the thermals that they provide. That’s lead to a couple of my bucks being killed over the years because if you know where he’s bedded and can get close in a creek you are in good shape because the thermals follow the creek as long as you stay close to it.

I took screen shots on my phone of the diagrams to help me. I could send them to you, but you’ll have to pm me your email or something. I can’t get the photo gallery to work for some reason.

[Rob loper]

A couple other things that I can think of right now that no one else has mentioned yet.

1. Spending more time looking at aerial and topo maps before going to scout an area.

2. Slowing down and moving quietly when closing in on your destination of where you are hunting. Stopping for a couple minutes if you do happen to make a clunk or step on a twig for example.

These both have helped me so much

[ScottSpitzley]

I wish I could remember. It was one of the all time best tactical threads, it has several pictures illustrating them. I always assumed that an area where a bunch of ridges come together or drainages was good because it connected a bunch of different terrains. While true it also makes sense why bucks bed near those due to being able to smell just about everything in the area.

I haven’t figured out the ridge situation as well. The bottoms around here typically have water in them, so you can use them for the thermals that they provide. That’s lead to a couple of my bucks being killed over the years because if you know where he’s bedded and can get close in a creek you are in good shape because the thermals follow the creek as long as you stay close to it.

I took screen shots on my phone of the diagrams to help me. I could send them to you, but you’ll have to pm me your email or something. I can’t get the photo gallery to work for some reason.

That'd be awesome! Is this the post you are talking about below?

viewtopic.php?f=3&t=34869&start=15&hilit=updraft

If so, I cannot see the pics for some reason either. I'll PM you my email. Thanks man!