How would you hunt this?

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570Beast
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How would you hunt this?

Unread postby 570Beast » Fri Mar 05, 2021 10:34 am

Hello everyone,

I’ve attached pictures of two areas that I plan on hunting next year in PA. I am not able to scout the areas right now because I live out of the area for the time being. I’ve been on some of the property a couple times in the past and I know deer can get mature because there is no hunting on the bordering property. You also have to cross a waist deep creek to access the property. I was hoping some of you might give some insight as to how you would plan on hunting it in early October.

What I know about the property: the bottom land is relatively thick with apple trees mixed throughout. I did find some doe bedding in the bottom, but wasn’t able to locate any definite buck bedding yet. I did however find some large scrapes and rubs. The mountainside and top of the mountain have red oaks and a few white oaks in some areas. There is thick laurel on the top of the mountain and the sides are open mature timber. There is also a big strip mine reclaim area on the no hunting property to the north. I’m assuming that the deer are bedding on the military crest with the mountain laurel to their backs looking down through the open timber. I haven't confirmed that yet though.

So being early October, without the deer being pressured yet, would you wait for a calm evening and try to catch the deer coming down to the apple trees or would you move up the hill and try to catch them staging in the oaks closer to their beds? The hard part about moving up the ridge is that the access is only from the bottom. If they are sitting on the crest, they will see me coming up the hill. My plan as of now is to hunt low in the early season so I don’t bust the deer out of the area. This seems like an area that the deer go to as pressure increases. When we get closer to the rut, I plan on pushing up towards the top of the ridge and using the drainage funnels to my advantage.

Sorry for the long read and I appreciate any advice anyone has for me. Thank you in advance!
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MikefromOH
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Re: How would you hunt this?

Unread postby MikefromOH » Fri Mar 05, 2021 5:16 pm

I would probably be using your plan for a hunt or two - probably evening sits? Sneak uphill as far as you dare though since they will still probably not be at the bottom until dark. If there was a cold front with any decent wind I would hunt right on top, on a high tree, in the morning. Wind or rain to cover you and you can sneak up those ridges in the ravines, hunt edges of the saddles. Good luck! Looks like a fine property.
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rfickes87
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Re: How would you hunt this?

Unread postby rfickes87 » Sat Mar 06, 2021 6:14 am

As a fellow PA hunter of areas just like this I would bet the farm that these benches I marked hold some mature buck bedding. These areas are right inline with the bedding elevation of that ridge. They need scouted. You might find some scrapes on those benches too that would be well worth sitting over.

That sign you found down low can be weird. I've found fresh scrapes in areas like that the size of my dining room table and put cameras on them, get several shooters on camera but only 1-2 shooters work it in daylight over the entire season. They typically hit those scrapes well before and after daylight b/c they are fairly far from their bedding. BUT! I will say if its afternoon/evening and you cross that waist deep creek in early season and as you're walking and scouting your way in and you walk across a big heavily use trail I wouldn't go any further and I'd sit right there. I've killed a couple nice bucks down low by doing that, that is a early season food,water to bed trail and they use quite often and there trails can be unmistakable. That's a good way to kill one in early season without prescouting. Just walk across that bottom until you cross a nice beaten trail. You could catch one right at dark coming down that trail from down off the hillside.

If it's rut you can just sit randomly anywhere up the ridge around where I marked the map. I think you could do well doing that too. Good luck man!

bedding 2.png
bedding 1.png
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"Pressure and Time. That's all it takes, really. Pressure, and time..."
570Beast
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Re: How would you hunt this?

Unread postby 570Beast » Sat Mar 06, 2021 6:56 am

rfickes87 wrote:As a fellow PA hunter of areas just like this I would bet the farm that these benches I marked hold some mature buck bedding. These areas are right inline with the bedding elevation of that ridge. They need scouted. You might find some scrapes on those benches too that would be well worth sitting over.

That sign you found down low can be weird. I've found fresh scrapes in areas like that the size of my dining room table and put cameras on them, get several shooters on camera but only 1-2 shooters work it in daylight over the entire season. They typically hit those scrapes well before and after daylight b/c they are fairly far from their bedding. BUT! I will say if its afternoon/evening and you cross that waist deep creek in early season and as you're walking and scouting your way in and you walk across a big heavily use trail I wouldn't go any further and I'd sit right there. I've killed a couple nice bucks down low by doing that, that is a early season food,water to bed trail and they use quite often and there trails can be unmistakable. That's a good way to kill one in early season without prescouting. Just walk across that bottom until you cross a nice beaten trail. You could catch one right at dark coming down that trail from down off the hillside.

If it's rut you can just sit randomly anywhere up the ridge around where I marked the map. I think you could do well doing that too. Good luck man!

bedding 2.pngbedding 1.png


Thanks for the info and for marking the map for me. How do you typically see them bedding on the benches? Are they usually on the uphill side or on the crest looking down the hill? The best sign I found last time I was on the property was on a bench towards the top. Right in line with what you said. Are these benches something that you would utilize outside of the rut?

I figured the stuff in the bottom was more than likely night time sign. I was actually planning on doing exactly what you said about walking that bottom and looking for sign of a mature buck to set up on in early season. If I get a chance to get up there this summer, I’m going to walk the bottom and mark where all the apple trees are and mark any mature buck sign coming down off the ridge. At least I will know where they are coming down even if they aren’t making it down in daylight.
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rfickes87
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Re: How would you hunt this?

Unread postby rfickes87 » Sat Mar 06, 2021 8:36 am

570Beast wrote:
rfickes87 wrote:As a fellow PA hunter of areas just like this I would bet the farm that these benches I marked hold some mature buck bedding. These areas are right inline with the bedding elevation of that ridge. They need scouted. You might find some scrapes on those benches too that would be well worth sitting over.

That sign you found down low can be weird. I've found fresh scrapes in areas like that the size of my dining room table and put cameras on them, get several shooters on camera but only 1-2 shooters work it in daylight over the entire season. They typically hit those scrapes well before and after daylight b/c they are fairly far from their bedding. BUT! I will say if its afternoon/evening and you cross that waist deep creek in early season and as you're walking and scouting your way in and you walk across a big heavily use trail I wouldn't go any further and I'd sit right there. I've killed a couple nice bucks down low by doing that, that is a early season food,water to bed trail and they use quite often and there trails can be unmistakable. That's a good way to kill one in early season without prescouting. Just walk across that bottom until you cross a nice beaten trail. You could catch one right at dark coming down that trail from down off the hillside.

If it's rut you can just sit randomly anywhere up the ridge around where I marked the map. I think you could do well doing that too. Good luck man!

bedding 2.pngbedding 1.png


Thanks for the info and for marking the map for me. How do you typically see them bedding on the benches? Are they usually on the uphill side or on the crest looking down the hill? The best sign I found last time I was on the property was on a bench towards the top. Right in line with what you said. Are these benches something that you would utilize outside of the rut?

I figured the stuff in the bottom was more than likely night time sign. I was actually planning on doing exactly what you said about walking that bottom and looking for sign of a mature buck to set up on in early season. If I get a chance to get up there this summer, I’m going to walk the bottom and mark where all the apple trees are and mark any mature buck sign coming down off the ridge. At least I will know where they are coming down even if they aren’t making it down in daylight.


Untitled1.png


You ask about how they bed on benches... I won't say for sure b/c I think it could always been different but I would assume mostly they would be on the down slope of the bench. Like in my map I have shown. Yes You can use these outside of the rut. That map i posted is a hunt from the second week of archery last year. Wind was from the North. I walked in from the west for an evening sit. See my foot trail? I never pre-scouted this area I just noticed the bench/knob on the map and assumed it to be good bedding so I went in blind. The whole area was cut years ago, hence all the logging roads so I knew it was thick too. When I dropped down to the bottom logging road I was sneaking in slowly, reading the sign. A large buck jumped up and took off, I was about 75 yards I'd guess from the bed. I walked up the logging road and found a fresh scrape he made from that day and then I walked down and checked out his bed. He could see down the hill and he obviously heard me coming thru that thick crap. But that's a sit that almost worked. I just got too close if I had set up on that bottom logging road I coulda had a chance. I should not have walked any closer. But that is just an example of what I see all the time.

I hunted another spot the first week that was just like this one. Same elevation. Now that one I did prescout in the early spring and found big worn beds on the crest edge. This was more of a knob or point than a bench. But its on that same elevation of the same ridge system. I walked in from the side again for an evening sit and just as I'm getting withing 100 yards of the beds I look over and on a flat I see a nice side scrape under a beech limb. So I instead of getting any close to the bedding I climbed a tree watching that scrap. I could shot a 14 inch wide 7 point that evening. Then I went back in the morning since I knew how to find that tree and I coulda shot a 12 inch wide 8. I was after 3 big 8's and a nice 10. I never laid eyes on them in 10 sits this year. That's all I got to hunt. I do think I jumped one of them in that first story i told you.

one thing I did wrong is I kept coming back to this scrape i just mentioned and i went 3 straight sits not evening seeing a deer. looking back I obviously abused that area too much. I should of gave it up and went somewhere else. But when i'd come back I'd look at that scrape and it kept getting bigger and the limb kept getting chewed on more. It clearly turned into night sign... I killed a few nice 100" bucks the last few years in spots like this and I was holding out for something nicer.

You say about scouting in the summer. I used to do that a lot and it can defiently pay off but the older I get to more I struggle with this. Struggle as in whether or not to do it. 2018 I killed on opening day, a 16" wide 8 pointer, big bodied deer. Killed him in a bottom on a really beaten trail that I walked across as I was entering. I had never scouted it before. I caught him by surprised. He came trotting down off the ridge to a corn field but stopped in his tracks b/c he smelled me. In 2019 I almost did the same thing on a fresh trail in an area I had never been to. But that one winded me and busted out right at dark. I really believe in early season hills, by just guessing the bedding and walking around it till you cross a trail. That time of year they seem to be on such a pattern that the trails are so obvious. It takes a lot of walking while not spooking the bedding but it works (evening sits). in early season you're either right on top of them or not even close b/c they don't hardly move in daylight.
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"Pressure and Time. That's all it takes, really. Pressure, and time..."
570Beast
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Re: How would you hunt this?

Unread postby 570Beast » Sat Mar 06, 2021 9:09 am

rfickes87 wrote:
570Beast wrote:
rfickes87 wrote:As a fellow PA hunter of areas just like this I would bet the farm that these benches I marked hold some mature buck bedding. These areas are right inline with the bedding elevation of that ridge. They need scouted. You might find some scrapes on those benches too that would be well worth sitting over.

That sign you found down low can be weird. I've found fresh scrapes in areas like that the size of my dining room table and put cameras on them, get several shooters on camera but only 1-2 shooters work it in daylight over the entire season. They typically hit those scrapes well before and after daylight b/c they are fairly far from their bedding. BUT! I will say if its afternoon/evening and you cross that waist deep creek in early season and as you're walking and scouting your way in and you walk across a big heavily use trail I wouldn't go any further and I'd sit right there. I've killed a couple nice bucks down low by doing that, that is a early season food,water to bed trail and they use quite often and there trails can be unmistakable. That's a good way to kill one in early season without prescouting. Just walk across that bottom until you cross a nice beaten trail. You could catch one right at dark coming down that trail from down off the hillside.

If it's rut you can just sit randomly anywhere up the ridge around where I marked the map. I think you could do well doing that too. Good luck man!

bedding 2.pngbedding 1.png


Thanks for the info and for marking the map for me. How do you typically see them bedding on the benches? Are they usually on the uphill side or on the crest looking down the hill? The best sign I found last time I was on the property was on a bench towards the top. Right in line with what you said. Are these benches something that you would utilize outside of the rut?

I figured the stuff in the bottom was more than likely night time sign. I was actually planning on doing exactly what you said about walking that bottom and looking for sign of a mature buck to set up on in early season. If I get a chance to get up there this summer, I’m going to walk the bottom and mark where all the apple trees are and mark any mature buck sign coming down off the ridge. At least I will know where they are coming down even if they aren’t making it down in daylight.


Untitled1.png

You ask about how they bed on benches... I won't say for sure b/c I think it could always been different but I would assume mostly they would be on the down slope of the bench. Like in my map I have shown. Yes You can use these outside of the rut. That map i posted is a hunt from the second week of archery last year. Wind was from the North. I walked in from the west for an evening sit. See my foot trail? I never pre-scouted this area I just noticed the bench/knob on the map and assumed it to be good bedding so I went in blind. The whole area was cut years ago, hence all the logging roads so I knew it was thick too. When I dropped down to the bottom logging road I was sneaking in slowly, reading the sign. A large buck jumped up and took off, I was about 75 yards I'd guess from the bed. I walked up the logging road and found a fresh scrape he made from that day and then I walked down and checked out his bed. He could see down the hill and he obviously heard me coming thru that thick crap. But that's a sit that almost worked. I just got too close if I had set up on that bottom logging road I coulda had a chance. I should not have walked any closer. But that is just an example of what I see all the time.

I hunted another spot the first week that was just like this one. Same elevation. Now that one I did prescout in the early spring and found big worn beds on the crest edge. This was more of a knob or point than a bench. But its on that same elevation of the same ridge system. I walked in from the side again for an evening sit and just as I'm getting withing 100 yards of the beds I look over and on a flat I see a nice side scrape under a beech limb. So I instead of getting any close to the bedding I climbed a tree watching that scrap. I could shot a 14 inch wide 7 point that evening. Then I went back in the morning since I knew how to find that tree and I coulda shot a 12 inch wide 8. I was after 3 big 8's and a nice 10. I never laid eyes on them in 10 sits this year. That's all I got to hunt. I do think I jumped one of them in that first story i told you.

one thing I did wrong is I kept coming back to this scrape i just mentioned and i went 3 straight sits not evening seeing a deer. looking back I obviously abused that area too much. I should of gave it up and went somewhere else. But when i'd come back I'd look at that scrape and it kept getting bigger and the limb kept getting chewed on more. It clearly turned into night sign... I killed a few nice 100" bucks the last few years in spots like this and I was holding out for something nicer.

You say about scouting in the summer. I used to do that a lot and it can defiently pay off but the older I get to more I struggle with this. Struggle as in whether or not to do it. 2018 I killed on opening day, a 16" wide 8 pointer, big bodied deer. Killed him in a bottom on a really beaten trail that I walked across as I was entering. I had never scouted it before. I caught him by surprised. He came trotting down off the ridge to a corn field but stopped in his tracks b/c he smelled me. In 2019 I almost did the same thing on a fresh trail in an area I had never been to. But that one winded me and busted out right at dark. I really believe in early season hills, by just guessing the bedding and walking around it till you cross a trail. That time of year they seem to be on such a pattern that the trails are so obvious. It takes a lot of walking while not spooking the bedding but it works (evening sits). in early season you're either right on top of them or not even close b/c they don't hardly move in daylight.


Great examples. Thank you!


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