Early Season Sources-big woods

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cedarsavage
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Re: Early Season Sources-big woods

Unread postby cedarsavage » Tue Oct 09, 2018 1:53 am

brancher147 wrote:
headgear wrote:Sometimes in bigwoods you have to throw food sources out the window, I've watched deer feed for hours in swamps and bogs where you wouldn't think there would be much food. Certainly early season they can be on acorns and on cuttings but as the season moves on the food gets less important, stick to those bedding areas and you will find the deer.


I see just the opposite in big woods. Food is key especially later in the season. We have all mature timber and mountains with no browse so acorns are key. In places where there is more browse I would agree food is less important.

I like to find acorns in secluded areas and hunt near bedding or terrain features connecting buck cruising/ doe bedding.


I agree with brancher could just be my area but every property here has cover but without food I don’t find deer. The only way I consistently get on them is whips from snow/November on and snow tracking. Sometimes during the rut but I sit a lot of hours to see a buck. I usually beat my head against the wall in October. Food and deer are kinda ubiquitous right now. I don’t have much for oaks or apples in my area so it might be different for you in that regard


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Re: Early Season Sources-big woods

Unread postby headgear » Tue Oct 09, 2018 2:00 am

kfili wrote:Ok so this may be worth a new thread then but given looking for beds- should I begin on the ridges, points, or bottoms by the lake? It is a public property surrounding a lake with a bunch of ridges, all about 500ft elevation from parking to the lake (at least in one spot) is about a mile, private property surrounding public is hunted with dogs once gun season rolls in. Im thinking I should start closest to the lake?
One other thing is the wind is constantly changing direction On any given day it could be coming from an entirely different direction, looking at windfinder I cannot establish a dominant wind direction.


All of the above? :lol: In the bigwoods you need to be well versed because you will find them everywhere, sometimes the pressure will have them leaning more towards swamps and wet stuff so alwasy start there first but I am picking up on more hill country bedding and overlooks spots the more I scout. They can be as deep in the swamps as you can get or bedding right next to the road watching you access and just about everywhere in between. Every bedding area can be a little different and have their own unique characteristics, Dan's videos can really help guide you and show you the way but you have to find how the bucks are doing it in your woods. Focus more on buck bedding tendencies than single terrain features because you don't want to limit yourself to one kind of bedding area when the deer use all kinds of different beds to stay alive.

In your case they could be in the remote hills, close by in the hills watching you access or near the lake in the swamp. If there is a lot of pressure in the hills I might focus more on the swamp, if there are pockets of unpressured hill country they could easily be there. You just have to do the leg work and find them because guessing will drive you crazy. For every remote island I hunt I might have to scout 10 or 15 of them to find that one killer spot the bucks gravitate towards. Same thing in hill country, the little bucks and does can bed on every ridge or point but the older bucks will likely have specific spots they favor, you have to burn some boot leather to find them.
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Re: Early Season Sources-big woods

Unread postby kfili » Tue Oct 09, 2018 3:52 am

headgear wrote:
kfili wrote:Ok so this may be worth a new thread then but given looking for beds- should I begin on the ridges, points, or bottoms by the lake? It is a public property surrounding a lake with a bunch of ridges, all about 500ft elevation from parking to the lake (at least in one spot) is about a mile, private property surrounding public is hunted with dogs once gun season rolls in. Im thinking I should start closest to the lake?
One other thing is the wind is constantly changing direction On any given day it could be coming from an entirely different direction, looking at windfinder I cannot establish a dominant wind direction.


All of the above? :lol: In the bigwoods you need to be well versed because you will find them everywhere, sometimes the pressure will have them leaning more towards swamps and wet stuff so alwasy start there first but I am picking up on more hill country bedding and overlooks spots the more I scout. They can be as deep in the swamps as you can get or bedding right next to the road watching you access and just about everywhere in between. Every bedding area can be a little different and have their own unique characteristics, Dan's videos can really help guide you and show you the way but you have to find how the bucks are doing it in your woods.Focus more on buck bedding tendencies than single terrain featuresbecause you don't want to limit yourself to one kind of bedding area when the deer use all kinds of different beds to stay alive.

In your case they could be in the remote hills, close by in the hills watching you access or near the lake in the swamp. If there is a lot of pressure in the hills I might focus more on the swamp, if there are pockets of unpressured hill country they could easily be there. You just have to do the leg work and find them because guessing will drive you crazy. For every remote island I hunt I might have to scout 10 or 15 of them to find that one killer spot the bucks gravitate towards. Same thing in hill country, the little bucks and does can bed on every ridge or point but the older bucks will likely have specific spots they favor, you have to burn some boot leather to find them.


Thats a really good point for me i think- Im too focused on what the bucks are "supposed" to be doing, Ill make some loose notes and go see what I can find this week. Getting a bunch of rain on thursday and then a huge temp drop for friday and saturday so I should be able to find some good stuff-Thanks headgear
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Re: Early Season Sources-big woods

Unread postby headgear » Tue Oct 09, 2018 4:19 am

cedarsavage wrote:I agree with brancher could just be my area but every property here has cover but without food I don’t find deer. The only way I consistently get on them is whips from snow/November on and snow tracking. Sometimes during the rut but I sit a lot of hours to see a buck. I usually beat my head against the wall in October. Food and deer are kinda ubiquitous right now. I don’t have much for oaks or apples in my area so it might be different for you in that regard


If it works for you go for it. First 2-3 weeks of the season I key in on food/bedding but right about now I make the switch to more secure and remote bedding and have had better luck and more encounters, food can still be good but in my experience I was only getting on younger deer a majority of the time. Either way glad Oct is here and things will be ramping up as we move along.
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headgear
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Re: Early Season Sources-big woods

Unread postby headgear » Tue Oct 09, 2018 4:41 am

kfili wrote:Thats a really good point for me i think- Im too focused on what the bucks are "supposed" to be doing, Ill make some loose notes and go see what I can find this week. Getting a bunch of rain on thursday and then a huge temp drop for friday and saturday so I should be able to find some good stuff-Thanks headgear


The more you scout and more time you spend in the woods you start to get a feel for it, you still have to scout everything that could be bedding but you get a lot better at reading maps and predicting where the bedding is. After a while you start to get excited about spots you cyber scouted and a lot of the time when you show up you find the beds and the buck sign to back up your feelings about an area.
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Re: Early Season Sources-big woods

Unread postby Jonny » Tue Oct 09, 2018 5:35 am

Heres a good bigwoods thread. Not exactly what the OP was asking about but I think he would enjoy a good read. One of my favorites

viewtopic.php?f=4&t=1660
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Re: Early Season Sources-big woods

Unread postby cedarsavage » Tue Oct 09, 2018 6:11 am

You have a good point with the younger deer. Honestly in the big woods it’s really hard to tell if one thing works better than another imo. For me anyway I generally struggle to even get pictures of bucks outside of the rut here, using modified tactics that worked for me when I lived in high pressure marsh/farmland. I think like you say it’s important to do what works for you.
headgear wrote:
cedarsavage wrote:I agree with brancher could just be my area but every property here has cover but without food I don’t find deer. The only way I consistently get on them is whips from snow/November on and snow tracking. Sometimes during the rut but I sit a lot of hours to see a buck. I usually beat my head against the wall in October. Food and deer are kinda ubiquitous right now. I don’t have much for oaks or apples in my area so it might be different for you in that regard


If it works for you go for it. First 2-3 weeks of the season I key in on food/bedding but right about now I make the switch to more secure and remote bedding and have had better luck and more encounters, food can still be good but in my experience I was only getting on younger deer a majority of the time. Either way glad Oct is here and things will be ramping up as we move along.
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Re: Early Season Sources-big woods

Unread postby street28ss » Tue Oct 09, 2018 9:26 am

Jonny wrote:Heres a good bigwoods thread. Not exactly what the OP was asking about but I think he would enjoy a good read. One of my favorites

viewtopic.php?f=4&t=1660


Thanks for posting this. Maybe threads like this could be added to the all time tactical thread?
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Re: Early Season Sources-big woods

Unread postby Jonny » Tue Oct 09, 2018 9:32 am

street28ss wrote:
Jonny wrote:Heres a good bigwoods thread. Not exactly what the OP was asking about but I think he would enjoy a good read. One of my favorites

viewtopic.php?f=4&t=1660


Thanks for posting this. Maybe threads like this could be added to the all time tactical thread?

Copy link and post it there. A mod or dan will add it unless it’s there already
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Re: Early Season Sources-big woods

Unread postby kfili » Tue Oct 09, 2018 11:10 am

That thread was really helpful. Im picking a spot that will give me a ridge( that is already ruled out), two different points, a ravine (maybe two), and what i expect to be a swampy area for this fri/sat gonna go hunt it with the stand on my back and hunt wherever has the most sign.


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