Going after bedded bucks during the rut

[Jeff25]

Not a bedded buck but I had the opposite of most of these stories. I got set up on public land in a spot I found on an arial that looked like a great funnel. The first hour and a half of light I was seeing a lot of activity further down the creek and up the ridge. I kept telling myself I was going to stay where I was for another hour and if no deer came by in range I was going to move down to where I saw all the activity. 30 minutes later a 144” 8 comes right past me and arrowed him at 20 yards. I was glad I didn’t get down and move!

[Wetfoot]

Have you guys ever scraped your hunting plan for the day when you've seen a buck holed up with a doe along a fence line, on the edge of an open field, in a small patch of cover or on the edge of an unpicked corn field and come up with a stalking plan and gone after him? Or as you're in your stand you notice that there's a lot of chasing going on in an area quite a ways from your location so you get down and try to work your way closer to where the action is? I've had a few situations like these crop up the last several years but I haven't tried to take advantage of these opportunities. I'm thinking of getting more aggressive if something like this shows up.

My most memorable time was about 12 years ago. A really nice 13 pt was dogging a doe about a hundred yards to my west. I saw him follow the doe into some marsh grass and figured they might come back out towards the oak ridge where they came from early in the morning. Sure enough, at sunset she appeard. He followed about 15 minutes later, unfortunately, there was no shooting light left when he finally made it into range. Making the move put me close but being limited to climber cost me dearly. Lesson learned!!