Early Season Sources-big woods
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Early Season Sources-big woods
Im new to big woods hunting but went out on a piece a buddy scouted a few weeks ago (on public), I sat an oak ridge that had been getting torn up for a few weeks and then shut off a week ago, obviously I didnt see anything last night. So how do I start trying to get ahead of the deer? I will be out next week which should be right after a heavy rain and this time I will not set up unless its over fresh sign (I know that i should have done that last night).
How do I go about trying to find the next source- should I just mark out a few ridges and go from one to the next hoping there is hot sign? or is there any common trend about oak trees I dont know about? I appreciate any help and will gladly give more info if needed.
How do I go about trying to find the next source- should I just mark out a few ridges and go from one to the next hoping there is hot sign? or is there any common trend about oak trees I dont know about? I appreciate any help and will gladly give more info if needed.
- headgear
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Re: Early Season Sources-big woods
You might have to put on some miles to find them, even that doesn't work as I can scout huge sections of woods and still not find them in early season. Things should get a little easier as the leaves fall and the "lull" gets here, that helps narrow down the bedding locations.
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Re: Early Season Sources-big woods
headgear wrote:You might have to put on some miles to find them, even that doesn't work as I can scout huge sections of woods and still not find them in early season. Things should get a little easier as the leaves fall and the "lull" gets here, that helps narrow down the bedding locations.
good point- I am looking forward to the "lull" it seems like a such a good time to kill them if your willing to put in the effort-leaves dropping will help too- its so thick in so many places right now
- ghoasthunter
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Re: Early Season Sources-big woods
well you said your buddy scouted it a couple weeks ago and it was getting torn up a couple weeks ago. my thoughts are you guys blew the deer out when you scouted. in big woods you get one crack at a buck. scout in spring heavy and scout in fall stand on back dont worry about food sources i promise the big bucks are only going too be one place 95% of the time in there beds. pick a possible buck bedding normally high grounds points and upper 1/3 if your hunting food right now your hunting does fawns and yearling bucks. if you blow a big buck out of a bed scouting your way in too setup put your stand 20 too 30 yards from the bed and get in and hit it early the next day. big bucks no matter the size of woods prefer certain beds so he could come right back. he might of not even known what spooked him. sometimes they will even go right back in that afternoon if its early. sometimes a big buck will getup and run a short distance and stop and just stand there. so you should freeze and not move for a good while wait a hour for things too settle and get up a tree down wind of where you were. the buck could circle too try and figure out what spooked him.
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Re: Early Season Sources-big woods
ghoasthunter wrote:well you said your buddy scouted it a couple weeks ago and it was getting torn up a couple weeks ago. my thoughts are you guys blew the deer out when you scouted. in big woods you get one crack at a buck. scout in spring heavy and scout in fall stand on back dont worry about food sources i promise the big bucks are only going too be one place 95% of the time in there beds. pick a possible buck bedding normally high grounds points and upper 1/3 if your hunting food right now your hunting does fawns and yearling bucks. if you blow a big buck out of a bed scouting your way in too setup put your stand 20 too 30 yards from the bed and get in and hit it early the next day. big bucks no matter the size of woods prefer certain beds so he could come right back. he might of not even known what spooked him. sometimes they will even go right back in that afternoon if its early. sometimes a big buck will getup and run a short distance and stop and just stand there. so you should freeze and not move for a good while wait a hour for things too settle and get up a tree down wind of where you were. the buck could circle too try and figure out what spooked him.
We had trail cam photos showing it was getting used regularly until last week-so the scouting is not what turned off the movement.
Either way though obviously the spot is off now- so its on to the next- so my question is should I just start picking spots off a map and then walk in until I find the fresh sign? the whole place is ridges and ravines should I just keep going ridge to ridge and point to point? or is there something else I might be missing based on terrain/food
- headgear
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Re: Early Season Sources-big woods
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.
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Re: Early Season Sources-big woods
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.
Got it Thanks ill switch to looking for he bedding areas and place less importance on food
- Jonny
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Re: Early Season Sources-big woods
Keep walking and scouting. Acorns are usually the only predictable food source I have found. Everything else is super streaky and honestly I haven’t had luck with good sources. Only thing that has had decent luck is pounding ridges with acorns and every couple of years you might luck into one. A small one usually.
Best bet is to keep scouting and moving. The deer don’t leave, and they don’t quit putting down sign. By me they hit fresh clear cuts in the summer (figured it out last week) and hit oaks the first 2 weeks (very typical by me). Now is when scouting trumps everything else. Gotta keep moving. They eat everything they can digest. Look for the better bedding habitat and they won’t be far from there
Best bet is to keep scouting and moving. The deer don’t leave, and they don’t quit putting down sign. By me they hit fresh clear cuts in the summer (figured it out last week) and hit oaks the first 2 weeks (very typical by me). Now is when scouting trumps everything else. Gotta keep moving. They eat everything they can digest. Look for the better bedding habitat and they won’t be far from there
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- street28ss
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Re: Early Season Sources-big woods
I spent the last two days scouting the big woods. I put on a lot of miles and I didn't see any bucks, only some month old rubs. Where I hunt, tracking them is almost impossible without snow because of all the pines and finding bedding is also very hard this time of year.
I do agree with headgear about the leaves dropping. This time of year also seems more difficult where I am because all the oaks (which are very rare) are bare, so that source is gone.
I'm still trying to hammer out the details of where these bucks are bedding. It is not easy from my experience. This is my first year being extremely mobile and I feel like it's paying off. Although I haven't figured out the area yet, I feel like I have significantly deduced some of my theories about how they use the area through my scouting.
I do agree with headgear about the leaves dropping. This time of year also seems more difficult where I am because all the oaks (which are very rare) are bare, so that source is gone.
I'm still trying to hammer out the details of where these bucks are bedding. It is not easy from my experience. This is my first year being extremely mobile and I feel like it's paying off. Although I haven't figured out the area yet, I feel like I have significantly deduced some of my theories about how they use the area through my scouting.
- street28ss
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Re: Early Season Sources-big woods
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.
Hey headgear, what kind of vegetation and tree cover do you see for bedding where you are this time of year? Do you see them in birch/aspen brush patches? Now that the tall grass is starting to die I think they are starting to shift to different types of bedding. A few weeks ago I noticed they would bed in the tall grass and brush.
- brancher147
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Re: Early Season Sources-big woods
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.
Some do. Some don't. I just might...
- headgear
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Re: Early Season Sources-big woods
street28ss 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.
Hey headgear, what kind of vegetation and tree cover do you see for bedding where you are this time of year? Do you see them in birch/aspen brush patches? Now that the tall grass is starting to die I think they are starting to shift to different types of bedding. A few weeks ago I noticed they would bed in the tall grass and brush.
I find them on those remote islands, points, river bends, swamps near lakes, some of the hill bedding works or a mess of blow downs on a ridge. Any big swamp should hold some good bedding and of course I am finding more overlooked spots every year. I really find them all over and every bed is a little different but I have been scouting and hunting this way for 8 years now I have a pile of land I have walked, just keep putting in your time and you will find them.
- headgear
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Re: Early Season Sources-big woods
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.
That is probably the difference, we have a ton of browse up here so they can feed almost anywhere. And they might still have some preferred food sources they hit but they could bed a mile or more away so this time of year I try and forget about food and focus on secure bedding.
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Re: Early Season Sources-big woods
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.
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.
- brancher147
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Re: Early Season Sources-big woods
Buck bedding-Upper 1/3 elevation on points or thick cover. If the wind swirl and switches a lot I would not look for leeward bedding, swirling winds will also cause bucks to bed in the head of a draw. Or sometimes they will bed up high where the wind is most consistent with wind and cover to back looking into more open woods.
Doe bedding-Also upper 1/3 but could be anywhere, especially if there are thickets.
I have found good bedding in a similar sounding area upper 1/3 above the lake where the deer can watch the lake and lay wind to back or with swirling winds.
Doe bedding-Also upper 1/3 but could be anywhere, especially if there are thickets.
I have found good bedding in a similar sounding area upper 1/3 above the lake where the deer can watch the lake and lay wind to back or with swirling winds.
Some do. Some don't. I just might...
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