Locating Mature Bucks Without Sign

[Evanszach7]

Same observations for me in southern Ohio with lack of sign. After keeping really detailed maps for a few years I’ve got a handful of pre-rut bedding areas that heat up around mid October. I’m pretty confident a lot of mature bucks are living in nearby ag then traveling 1+ miles to the does around that time. Same travel pattern for a good amount of them post rut. Have yet to find more than a couple velvet rubs from mature bucks in Ohio; have found many in KY this year.

Most of the areas I find with a good amount of rubs/scrapes are thermal hubs or overlapping ranges. Using tracks from there.

[bowfreak8]

Thanks for all the responses guys. Some great stuff in here.

[<DK>]

I grew up in Ohio hill country and live in the Missouri Ozarks now. Hill country don’t show sign well, it swallows it up. Tracks are hard to locate when its been dry and harder now that the leaves are falling. I usually cut tracks in creek crossing and access road/forestry roads after a rain.

Most sign I do find is 1/3 from the top or on the exit trails coming off points. I usually start by scouting the bottom of the point. I usually find a trail and follow, it usually goes up the point or diagonally to the side of the ridge. I mark these on maps. I look back to see if there’s rubs on the backs of trees (which would be from buck exits). Trails will disappear and reappear, mark them on maps. I like to find a North or East facing slope with a ditch or cut on the ridge funneling deer movement. I can usually find a solid trail there and rubs if a buck is or has used it, and I mark them on maps.

After a few scouting trips I can figure out what elevation on the ridges they use the most. This helps me decide where I scout next. In an area of 320 acres of big woods hill country I can usually come up with 3 dynamite buck bedding areas, and about 7 other “ify” areas. Those dynamite spots are HB style, no questions asked buck beds.
Food sources dry up quick in hill country, without large ag fields deer will have to be moving to new locations as soon as one dries up. Which also give inconsistency to patterns.

Scrapes are harder to find and less consistent in Hill Country, well at least for me. I can sometime find them on old logging roads.

x2 Good post neighbor