Buck and a field edge.. (map)

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Mule Feathers
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Re: Buck and a field edge.. (map)

Unread postby Mule Feathers » Wed May 25, 2011 4:47 am

dan wrote:
The ridge top is not very wide. It's more like a spine if that makes sense. It is narrow and sloped off into the holler pretty sharply so I would be pretty close to the drop off... Also, same question I asked above. I don't know if I found the buck's bed or not and I do not know if I would know it if I walked right through it. Dan, why do think he was bedding close to the camera? Was it because he entered the field right at dusk?

You did not find the buck bed... You found a doe bedding area. Does bed differently than mature bucks, does tend to leave themselves more vulnerable however work as a group by bedding in a circyular fasion each looking a different direction. A mature buck will be in a location that covers most avenues of attack, where he will feel safe. The will bed based on wind direction, noise, or vision, and most often use multiples ( wind & vision etc. )
I believe the buck was bedded near where you were getting his pictures for two main reasons. 1st, they don't often move far from there beds in daylight unless they are where they feel safe which is generally within 200 yards of there bed. Seeing him in daylight on cam once or twice would be one thing, but often means your either close to his bedding or the buck is not very inteligent. 2nd, I believe he was bedded near your camera because the don't tend to bed low in the type of terrain your hunting. They bed in the top 1/3 of the hill. Generally there bed will be along the transition line right where the hill drops off the sharpest. If there is a point most likely the bed will be on the point...
With the buck bedding that close I would think your best time to kill him would of been morning. You said he was not consistant in the morning but there is a reason for that... Most mature bucks are bedded before daylight. The days that have the right moon phase for a morning hunt are the days the buck comes back to bed after sunrise. ( when the moon is directly above or below ) Or even better, the morning after an evening storm lasted till late at night and the buck got a late start on his routine.

I went back and looked at my pics. The mornings he was passing the camera in the morning during shooting light there was a Third Quarter moon. He was heading west. He crossed at 2:50 in the afternoon on the 29th and there was visible sideways rain on the camera on the night of the 28th that lasted until at least 4:00 on the morning of the 29th. I was amazed at finding that out after you said he would be travelling later if there was a storm the night before. I hadn't even thought of that. He then came out 4 1/2 hours later, heading east, at 7:24 pm on the 29th. So he is bedding for sure to the west/southwest of the camera I would think. My plan (thanks JRM6868 for the advice) would be to hunt close to the field edge (where I had the cam) along the ridge on the north side of his travel route when the first south/southwest wind presented itself. My only concern is entering the stand set. I would think it unwise to travel the left side of the field edge. On the aerial map you can see the barn where I park just to the north of the field. I think entering the woods to the left of the barn and walking straight down through the woods kinda parallel to the field would work? Climbing the hill where my stand would be set from the north side. I don't however know yet it the buck travels the north side of the ridge, the south side of the ridge or the top of the ridge itself. I guess I need to find that out before I make an intelligent plan but that's what I have so far... you guys, all of you are helping me more than you could know. If I only see this buck it will be because of what I have read so far. Many, many thanks.


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Re: Buck and a field edge.. (map)

Unread postby JRM6868 » Wed May 25, 2011 8:17 am

One thing on the field edge hunting. I should clarify that I'm hunting the staging area as the buck is in before the field edge. I c an usually set up in the staging area and still shoot into the field a little.This is where he will watch the field and the deer in it to make sure it is safe. With that you need to watch the field from a distance and see where the deer are coming out so when the deer are out there before him you don't get winded by them as they mill around. This is the evening hunt with a SSW wind if you hunt close to the field in the am I would say you need a NW wind with select stand placement.
I never saw dans post he's right on with that being the doe beds. I would do a little more scouting to locate the buck bed. If you have a spotting scope this field sets up nice to spot the deer and their entrances to formulate your game plan also with the spotting. You can see where he is entering and get a good feel of where he is bedding by that. Make sure you watch the wind and take a notebook when your spotting to mark where he came out each time and what the wind was doing that particular day for your future hunts.
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Re: Buck and a field edge.. (map)

Unread postby dan » Wed May 25, 2011 9:54 am

Mule here is a link to a post that listed all the "moon" times last season:

viewtopic.php?f=3&t=2439
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Re: Buck and a field edge.. (map)

Unread postby Mule Feathers » Thu May 26, 2011 12:53 am

dan wrote:Mule here is a link to a post that listed all the "moon" times last season:

viewtopic.php?f=3&t=2439

Thanks, Dan!
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Re: Buck and a field edge.. (map)

Unread postby dan » Thu May 26, 2011 11:43 am

I was having a hard time figuring out exactly where the camera and field were located in the topo, so im trying to go just off the aerial. I marked two spots on the aerial, one is blue, the other red... These are the locations I think might be where your buck bed is at. If you could mark the position of the camera on the topo I could be more sure... I was trying to mark the elevation drop where the bucks normally bed on ridges. The spot where the doe beds are is likely the right area. Often the does bed just a little higher than the buck where the terrain aint quite as steep. I like to call them the "satalite" deer.

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Re: Buck and a field edge.. (map)

Unread postby dan » Thu May 26, 2011 11:44 am

Mule Feathers wrote:
dan wrote:Mule here is a link to a post that listed all the "moon" times last season:

viewtopic.php?f=3&t=2439

Thanks, Dan!

How does it match up with your camera times?
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Re: Buck and a field edge.. (map)

Unread postby Mule Feathers » Thu May 26, 2011 1:14 pm

Dan, on the topo map the barn is the small white box directly below where I marked "barn". The house is the small black box that I marked. The "hill" is the island/hill in the middle of the field. The blue dot is where the camera is. The topo map is pretty old and I think it doesn't depict where the woodline actually begins against the field. I posted the aerial right below it so you can compare. The topo shows it being clearer on the south side of the field than what it actually is. The aerial depicts the current state of the field. The camera is located by a blue dot on the aerial, too. Oh, the red dots on the topo are spots that I was going to check for buck beds first. I plan on going this Sunday. Unfortunately, they are calling for 0-1 mph winds that day so I can't see how the winds react but hopefully I can still find his bed(s). If you have any more questions ask away. Also, I wanted to try those spots I marked because I think they are points. I am still trying to learn how to read topo maps.

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Re: Buck and a field edge.. (map)

Unread postby Mule Feathers » Thu May 26, 2011 1:18 pm

dan wrote:
Mule Feathers wrote:
dan wrote:Mule here is a link to a post that listed all the "moon" times last season:

viewtopic.php?f=3&t=2439

Thanks, Dan!

How does it match up with your camera times?


All times he was on cam during shooting light matched with the dates in the thread except two. The buck was there one day later than the "premium" dates on two separate occasions. It's pretty cool that they were that accurate. I wish I had known about that chart last year! lol
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Re: Buck and a field edge.. (map)

Unread postby DEERSLAYER » Thu May 26, 2011 6:24 pm

Mule Feathers wrote:...Also, I wanted to try those spots I marked because I think they are points. I am still trying to learn how to read topo maps...

The dot furthest north is a point. The next two are hollow's and the bottom dot is just about to the bottom of a point that goes into a long skinny ridge which then goes down to a long point. Your top and bottom dots look like good locations, but the two in the hollows are not likely spots. I think the top one is more likely to have a bed higher up, but it could in either or both. The bottom dot is the same deal, but I think the area around that dot is more likely to have a buck bed than where the top dot is. There a lot of nice spots out there for buck beds. It's a nice area. I figured I would do a mark up for you, but Photobucket is apparently down for maintenance. I bet Dan will have one marked up for you before I even get on here tomorrow though. ;)
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Re: Buck and a field edge.. (map)

Unread postby JRM6868 » Fri May 27, 2011 2:36 am

dan wrote:I was having a hard time figuring out exactly where the camera and field were located in the topo, so im trying to go just off the aerial. I marked two spots on the aerial, one is blue, the other red... These are the locations I think might be where your buck bed is at. If you could mark the position of the camera on the topo I could be more sure... I was trying to mark the elevation drop where the bucks normally bed on ridges. The spot where the doe beds are is likely the right area. Often the does bed just a little higher than the buck where the terrain aint quite as steep. I like to call them the "satalite" deer.

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Re: Buck and a field edge.. (map)

Unread postby KYBowhunter89 » Fri May 27, 2011 3:03 pm

I think Dan has a great point about the deer being bedded close to where your cam was set. There are two great potential bedding areas in close proximity to the cam location. Also, the cam is set right off of a saddle in the ridge. I would take a hard look at the points directly West, Northwest and Southeast of the cam. Also the big point two ridges NW of the ridge your cam is located on (the south-running point directly east of the highway looks like an awesome potential bedding ridge for a West-Northwest to a North-Northwest wind.
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Re: Buck and a field edge.. (map)

Unread postby DEERSLAYER » Fri May 27, 2011 3:12 pm

DEERSLAYER wrote:...I bet Dan will have one marked up for you before I even get on here tomorrow though. ;)

Some how I overlooked that Dan already had marked some spots. Duh! :oops: :roll:
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Re: Buck and a field edge.. (map)

Unread postby Mule Feathers » Sat May 28, 2011 4:46 am

KYBowhunter89 wrote:I think Dan has a great point about the deer being bedded close to where your cam was set. There are two great potential bedding areas in close proximity to the cam location. Also, the cam is set right off of a saddle in the ridge. I would take a hard look at the points directly West, Northwest and Southeast of the cam. Also the big point two ridges NW of the ridge your cam is located on (the south-running point directly east of the highway looks like an awesome potential bedding ridge for a West-Northwest to a North-Northwest wind.



Yeah, it does. The wind of primarily out of the North or West in that area with a combination Northwest winds. There are South winds occasionally but when they are out of the South it is usually the Southwest. That is the wind for the field but I don't know how they would react in that hollow. I was thinking that when he leaves the field to the West he runs South down the ridge and eventually works into the hollow and up the other point (the one to the East of the highway) and bed on one of those points. Then he can bed looking at the direction he came and into the hollow. The customary North/Northwest wind will be at his back. I think he would still use either of those points with a West wind because that ridge above him is super thick. My dad said he saw a buck bedded on the North side of that ridge several years ago when it was fairly easy walking. It is now grown up pretty thick. It's very thick in some places. Would he still bed there if the wind was directly behind him due to the thick cover?
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Re: Buck and a field edge.. (map)

Unread postby dan » Sat May 28, 2011 8:30 am

Mule, I was able to blow up your topo a little bigger and see it better... I am kind of surprised. There is much better bedding areas all over that Topo ESPECIALLY north of the house / barn...
I did mark some spots for you though where we are assuming the buck must be bedding based on photo's. The 5 dots in line on the points across the small valley to the West is my most likely guess.

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Re: Buck and a field edge.. (map)

Unread postby Mule Feathers » Sat May 28, 2011 4:27 pm

Dan, thanks a lot. I really appreciate the time you have taken helping me out. Oh, and that area north of the house is SUPER thick. There is a waterfall somewhere there that a nice nine pointer was taken years ago. It will be an area I check out for sure this winter... Hey, I also want to thank all the rest of you guys who have commented on this thread and gave me advice and pointers. I am going out scouting Sunday. I will update you guys about what I find. I will post any interesting pictures, too.


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