Complicated setup.

[Tennhunter3]

Just found a really good spot with 4 big bedding areas around a point.

This is a similar point not real.
I tried to draw it up best I could.

Pink is buck trails.
Blue dot is a car sized scrape.
Red dots are buck beds very large but not bean shaped just bare circles about 3x3.

There was probably 3-5 beds per area of red dot and 1 bed appeared bare dirt.

The area of pines is extremely thick if i sat in it i couldn't see 15 yards.

The area by the scrape is a mixture of oaks, pines and fallen trees.

If I sat that green dot I'm between 70 and 90 yards from each of those beds. I think I can get to that spot clean.

Their is a trail from each bed going to that scrape. The southeast bedding area was really tore up. I think it is tge most used. Beds were just huge bare spots on hillside.

I'm thinking of sitting the green dot on a wind blowing from southwest to northeast.
Thermal rise pull back up the other slope?
And fall down the ravine?

Should I hunt on a wind directly out of the south?
Should I change my planned tree?

Screenshot_20200909-152556_Painter.jpg

[Tennhunter3]

This is Tennessee public.
Just found the spot scouting this morning in middle TN.

Probably won't hunt it till late October.
I know I just got my scent all over the place.

I'm not entirely sure what my wind will do when it hits that wall of pines . I like a fool didn't have milkweed on me to test it. And I really don't want to go put my scent in it more.

[venisonassassin]

It sounds like you have a pretty good plan thought out. Likely more than one buck using it. I'd think you could hunt it with multiple winds. I would just hunt it before someone else stinks it up. Good luck!

[Tennhunter3]

It sounds like you have a pretty good plan thought out. Likely more than one buck using it. I'd think you could hunt it with multiple winds. I would just hunt it before someone else stinks it up. Good luck!

Due to its location people don't like crossing that swamp water to enter.
There's usually pressure east of it several hundred yards. Same guys hunt same spots every year. They stop at the other side swamp edge.

[RidgeGhost]

I think I'd set up around the yellow dot on a west or south west wind. I drew in a yellow entry line but not sure if you can access through the pines.

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20200909_162736.jpg

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[Hatchetman]

I think I'd set up around the yellow dot on a west or south west wind. I drew in a yellow entry line but not sure if you can access through the pines.

[img]20200909_162736.jpg[/img]

I'd try a little east of ridgeghost's spot (NNE of the scrape) right on the pine edge.You would be close to the farthest north bed but oh well...

I'd try it on a South to SW wind. Preferably a SW. Should get any bucks getting up out of any of the beds and swinging down wind of the scrape to check it.
I'd also check very close for a faint trail paralleling just inside that pine edge and make sure you can shoot to it. I could see an old smart one using the thick cover to approach the scrape incognito...

[Tennhunter3]

I think I'd set up around the yellow dot on a west or south west wind. I drew in a yellow entry line but not sure if you can access through the pines.

[img]20200909_162736.jpg[/img]

Yes I can walk through pines it is thick though.
Their is another ravine on that side and a buck trail that goes down in that pine bottom where it meets swamp after they leave the scrape. Though I'm not sure how anything with big antlers could walk and not hit trees.

It is thicker over their and im not sure if i can see the scrape or not or shoot to it.The difference about 25 yards from green dot.

The green dot to the primary scrape is 37 yards.

[Tennhunter3]

I think I'd set up around the yellow dot on a west or south west wind. I drew in a yellow entry line but not sure if you can access through the pines.

[img]20200909_162736.jpg[/img]

I'd try a little east of ridgeghost's spot (NNE of the scrape) right on the pine edge.You would be close to the farthest north bed but oh well...

I'd try it on a South to SW wind. Preferably a SW. Should get any bucks getting up out of any of the beds and swinging down wind of the scrape to check it.
I'd also check very close for a faint trail paralleling just inside that pine edge and make sure you can shoot to it. I could see an old smart one using the thick cover to approach the scrape incognito...

Their is 2 buck bedding areas directly on that spot a east facing and north facing . North facing isn't shown on topo lines but it is the their.
They are bedded by a fallen large oak tree.

I couldnt get any closer then ridge ghost and not bump them i would be in sight of beds. Unless I setup further north which isn't on this map but is on the real one. Their is no visible trail up their tho just pines and wet swamp.

You are correct their is a trail in that pine edge north of the scrape though it cuts up high again by ridgeghost spot due to the ravine then drops down again.

[Drenalin]

I like your original plan for hunting that southeast bed. Do you get a lot of does bedding in the pines there? I would think coming in on top you'd blow them all over the place if they are, and I wouldn't want to do that unless I absolutely had to.

[Tennhunter3]

I like your original plan for hunting that southeast bed. Do you get a lot of does bedding in the pines there? I would think coming in on top you'd blow them all over the place if they are, and I wouldn't want to do that unless I absolutely had to.

Along the pine edges yes.
I think our pine thickets here are similar to dans tamarack or dogwood thickets that go on a long ways. Our clearcuts almost always come back as really thick pines mixed with briars.
Most are 40-300 acres in size a few near 500 or so acres.

On a rising thermal in the afternoon I don't think I would spook them that bad.

[Drenalin]

On a rising thermal in the afternoon I don't think I would spook them that bad.

Agreed, I was more speaking to if you changed up and came through the pines. I assumed you're planning on coming up the gully right below your stand? That seems the cleanest way to me.

I also think you could hunt this on anything from SW to straight S. SSW would be about perfect. Maybe a stiff wind day would be ideal so you're sure your scent is dumping off the other side?

May I ask why you're waiting till late October to hunt it if the beds are so heavily used now? Just a matter of keeping pressure low?

I'm not picking apart your plan, just trying to learn.