Bucks using interior cuts.

[Tennhunter3]

I heard thp talking about this quite a bit but I haven't heard Dan talking alot about this.

Not sure if you guys have cuts like this up north.

Sometimes these staging areas the buck never reaches by dark. And if you try to go up the creek they are often thick with one main trail ,very few trees and rising thermal would bust you.

What do you guys do in these type of situations. Map is just random public near my house.

I wonder how Dan would handle scenarios like this that we often have in the south.

Do I have this right of how bucks are using these ?

Screenshot_20220420-161835_onX Hunt.jpg

[Tennhunter3]

Example one.

You can't really get up in their with them and its several hundred yards to a staging area sometimes.

Screenshot_20220420-162207_Painter.jpg

[Tennhunter3]

This one scenario 2 with the very long treeline in cut theirs no way a buck would reach staging by dark.

Screenshot_20220420-162008_onX Hunt.jpg

[Tennhunter3]

Blue stage where trails exit.
These are example maps but its the same situation I see alot in my areas.
But they never get from the beds to the blue in light.

Screenshot_20220420-163652_Painter.jpg

[Double Draw]

You could wait for a windy day and still hunt into the known beds. Even consider crawling when getting close.

[Tennhunter3]

You could wait for a windy day and still hunt into the known beds. Even consider crawling when getting close.

It would be very difficult to still hunt into.
Most of these locations have one main trail usually along a creek. Some are thick with alot of vegetation others are full of blackberry vines or saplings. Walking on the one buck trail is almost a necessity.

It also being hill country thermal rise and pulls uphill when the sun is out.

If I waited until thermal drop thats the last 30 minutes of the day and I doubt I could even make it a few hundred yards in that 30 minute period of time.A rainy day or cloudy day may extend the time not sure but it would also get low light earlier due to cloud cover.

It's pretty complicated due to the short amount of time vrs the amount of distance due to thermals.

[Stingray713]

Lots of these in Virginia. That first one is tricky for sure, just small enough to only have only one smz but too big to get into without sweating and busting deer.

If there’s any pressure in the area I’d make a trek way ultra early one morning around to the back side whichever side that may be.

That high spot in the NE corner catches my eye too especially if there is still some semblance of a 2 track still there. Sometimes you can wiggle your way through those a bit quieter.

Early season in these is tough stuff. I have had pretty good luck the past few seasons in them but only in cuts that have grown up enough to have some canopy to create some clearings.

[Stingray713]

In younger cuts, the creeks are the only way I can get in there. I try and get in there on days where the wind is going to blow directly downstream. So hopefully the wind and the water can push the rising thermals away from the buck. I find in spots where the terrain isn’t too steep, it usually works.

In this setup I’d be looking for any wind W to NW, but even SW could be ok if it was gonna blow pretty good.

Yellow=Bucks
Red=Entry and Setup

[Stingray713]

I heard thp talking about this quite a bit but I haven't heard Dan talking alot about this.

Not sure if you guys have cuts like this up north.

Sometimes these staging areas the buck never reaches by dark. And if you try to go up the creek they are often thick with one main trail ,very few trees and rising thermal would bust you.

What do you guys do in these type of situations. Map is just random public near my house.

I wonder how Dan would handle scenarios like this that we often have in the south.

Do I have this right of how bucks are using these ?

Screenshot_20220420-161835_onX Hunt.jpg

Can you hop in the creek and walk in the water? Usually if the loggers had to cut around it then it has enough water for a person to navigate it pretty quietly. All are different though, some have too many trees down across them to make it an easy walk.

[dan]

actually, I find that type of bedding much easier than some of the other beddings in that terrain... Pretty easy to know where they are bedded and how they will travel. When they bed on the down wind side of a cut and watch the open area below it can be real tough to get with the shooting window. In the examples you posted there is a clear distinct area they bed, and a clear travel wrought. Just have to find a kink in the bucks security system. generally a certain wind will work, and a falling thermal may pull scent down hill and away... Its a detectives game, go in now, find the beds, and follow the trail out looking for the 1st set you can make undetected, out of smell, sight, and hearing, and be patient for the day you have the conditions you need in the time frame you believe he is bedding there...

[oldrank]

I am struggling to understand the maps. Are those clearcuts? Are the little fingers of woods higher ground or lower ground? Why do they leave the little fingers?

[Stingray713]

Yep clear cuts. The loggers usually leave some trees along drainages for erosion control and a bunch of other reasons they have in their Best Management Practices books.

[Stingray713]

I am struggling to understand the maps. Are those clearcuts? Are the little fingers of woods higher ground or lower ground? Why do they leave the little fingers?

So the little fingers of trees are low spots that usually have a small creek running through em

[oldrank]

I am struggling to understand the maps. Are those clearcuts? Are the little fingers of woods higher ground or lower ground? Why do they leave the little fingers?

So the little fingers of trees are low spots that usually have a small creek running through em

Oh, ok. Got it...thanks.

[Josh_S]

Interesting terrain feature that I have either completely overlooked or maybe there are just not many in my area. I'll have to do some map work. Thanks for posting this.