Public Land Plateau

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headgear
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Public Land Plateau

Unread postby headgear » Sun Apr 27, 2014 1:02 pm

Hey guys, not having a great scouting season so far, hit about a half dozen new areas and covered a lot of ground. Just not finding the beds or sign of years past. A lot of times that is normal but some of these areas look really good and don't appear to get too much pressure. I have been spring scouting for 10+ years, and beast scouting for 5 years so the experience is there. Anyone else have anything like this happen?

I will try and answer my own question, at least say what I think might be happening. I do kind of wonder if I have found most of the better public bedding areas already, or at least picked off the low hanging fruit so to speak. Maybe I need to expand my range, right now anything within 45 minutes to an hour drive is fair game. I haven't hit all the public land but I have walked most of the stuff that has interested me while cyber scouting. I also kind of wonder about the buck population, we all know its down everywhere and the past couple winters have been harder than usual on the MN herd so maybe I just need to give it some time and hit some of these spots again. I do see some old sign out there but not enough to make me want to hunt that area, I should say I am a little picky when it comes to bedding area I hunt. I just feel on public its not worth hunting some spots because the sign is good, it needs to be great.

Hopefully it doesn't sound like I am complaining, I have found a ton of great spots to hunt. I did find one ok spot this year and even if I don't find anything else I will have more than enough beds to keep my busy this fall. Just seem to be having an unusual year. 8-)


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Re: Public Land Plateau

Unread postby Czabs » Sun Apr 27, 2014 5:56 pm

I hear ya. I've been doing a ton more traveling this yr though than yrs past. I've scouted a lot of new areas but have a only found a select few primo spots. I too also don't get excited about good spots but only focus my efforts on great spots. I think your right about the deer herd being down...just doesn't seem like there are a ton of deer where I'm scouting sometimes. I feel as though I am in the same boat as you are. There might be a ton of spots I never even covered because I overlooked them. I think you might have to go back over areas you think you have a good grasp on and reevaluate the area on a topo/aerial map. I am going to do that for a couple of my spots. I'm starting to expand my horizons a bit and get into hill country. Its always good to scout areas that you may think look like crap on a map but aren't too shabby when your actually on foot. It doesn't hurt, because once summer rolls around and you spot a big buck around that area your going to have somewhat of an idea how he's using the area or where he's bedding. Same as during the rut. Say you scout an area that looks alright, has a couple doe bedding areas...not too great, but you find out there's a buck in that area you want to kill. There might be a good chance he's going to be checking that doe bedding area at some point in time. Might be worth hunting, who knows. Either way, the more time I spend in the woods the more confident I am Im going to kill a bruiser. You never know, that not so killer spot you find, just might be a killer spot at some point through out the season.

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Re: Public Land Plateau

Unread postby headgear » Mon Apr 28, 2014 1:05 am

Funny you should mention that Czabs, I rescouted an area yesterday and plan on hitting some familiar ground today to see if I missed anything. Solid advice all around, just have to keep the boots on the ground. Might be time to break out the canoe too, couple of spots I haven't gotten to yet because I haven't had enough time.
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Re: Public Land Plateau

Unread postby Singing Bridge » Mon Apr 28, 2014 1:36 am

headgear wrote:Hey guys, not having a great scouting season so far, hit about a half dozen new areas and covered a lot of ground. Just not finding the beds or sign of years past. A lot of times that is normal but some of these areas look really good and don't appear to get too much pressure. I have been spring scouting for 10+ years, and beast scouting for 5 years so the experience is there. Anyone else have anything like this happen?

I will try and answer my own question, at least say what I think might be happening. I do kind of wonder if I have found most of the better public bedding areas already, or at least picked off the low hanging fruit so to speak. Maybe I need to expand my range, right now anything within 45 minutes to an hour drive is fair game. I haven't hit all the public land but I have walked most of the stuff that has interested me while cyber scouting. I also kind of wonder about the buck population, we all know its down everywhere and the past couple winters have been harder than usual on the MN herd so maybe I just need to give it some time and hit some of these spots again. I do see some old sign out there but not enough to make me want to hunt that area, I should say I am a little picky when it comes to bedding area I hunt. I just feel on public its not worth hunting some spots because the sign is good, it needs to be great.

Hopefully it doesn't sound like I am complaining, I have found a ton of great spots to hunt. I did find one ok spot this year and even if I don't find anything else I will have more than enough beds to keep my busy this fall. Just seem to be having an unusual year. 8-)


I am going through this, and it is very hard to accept- what I mean is my all time favorite hunting area has ended up with a nearly non-existent population of deer, including mature bucks. I think certain areas cycle up and down for a variety of reasons and when it is at its worst I believe we should strike out to other areas. This is what I am doing and I couldn't be happier. I spent the last few years shaking my head in my traditional areas and what a waste of time it was- being an optimist, I believed it would rapidly improve. It will get better, but it will take some time.

I would expand my range even farther than an hour from home, as a couple of hours will certainly put you in areas with improved buck populations when someone of your skill recognizes its potential. You may not get to scout it as much as you would like, but a distant lake full of big walleyes will always put a smile on your face when compared to the sterile pond near home with stunted perch. Hope that makes sense.
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Re: Public Land Plateau

Unread postby BigHunt » Mon Apr 28, 2014 1:54 am

headgear wrote:Funny you should mention that Czabs, I rescouted an area yesterday and plan on hitting some familiar ground today to see if I missed anything. Solid advice all around, just have to keep the boots on the ground. Might be time to break out the canoe too, couple of spots I haven't gotten to yet because I haven't had enough time.

kayak for me .....ive been kayaking since the rivers melted, looking for new spots were others might not be.
like czabs said....just keep walking and if you have to travel do it. ive been travel a couple county's over, up and down and all around to find new spots :lol: so far I found some good spots and a few great spots that I cant WAIT to dive in on :geek:
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Re: Public Land Plateau

Unread postby Czabs » Mon Apr 28, 2014 6:44 am

headgear wrote:Funny you should mention that Czabs, I rescouted an area yesterday and plan on hitting some familiar ground today to see if I missed anything. Solid advice all around, just have to keep the boots on the ground. Might be time to break out the canoe too, couple of spots I haven't gotten to yet because I haven't had enough time.


I gotta get out kayaking as well! Confirmed some bedding areas down in the river bottoms today on some private grounds I can hunt. Also put up another camera and put out some mineral. Next weekend will be all public swamp on new piece of ground. So far the farthest I've driven is about 3hrs. Talk about laying down some coin just to scout...my truck gets about 10mpg :cry:
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Re: Public Land Plateau

Unread postby BassBoysLLP » Mon Apr 28, 2014 12:39 pm

Nice to see a lot of guys elevating their game this year...Czabs, Big Hunt, Singing Bridge, and several more...you all have taken it up a notch since last year. I can't wait to hear your stories this fall.
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Re: Public Land Plateau

Unread postby KLEMZ » Mon Apr 28, 2014 1:28 pm

headgear, I think you are correct about having already picked all the low hanging fruit. It gets tougher finding buck beds after you have found all the ones where they are "supposed" to be. It is no coincidence that Dan's landmark videos are about hunting marshes (aerials), and hunting hills (topos). These are the easiest terrains to read from a map. Dan is one smart dude.

Some suggestions that hopefully help you...
-Instead of driving even farther from home to keep finding new spots, consider what you already have. Look back at your scouting and hunting notes. In my experience, certain properties ALWAYS have huge tracks in the mud. Other properties don't. If you aren't seeing pigs while hunting on the properties with the big tracks, I would go back and scout even more! Save the gas money and time. You WILL figure out how to kill him.

-Overlooked spots!!! This topic gets a lot of discussion on the forum. The older I get (54 yrs old) the more I LOVE overlooked spots. Some of them are EASY to access... if you only know where they are! Two suggestions here.... Water access (as suggested already). And... look at the edges (boundry lines) of the public lands you hunt. It is a consistent pattern in my scouting to find big buck beds VERY NEAR the property line of a public property. I don't know if this is because the private land is a non hunting sanctuary, or that hunters aren't really sure of the property lines and don't want to mess with it. Either way, use your knowledge of what buck bedding looks like (on a map), and check all possible spots near the boundry line on foot. Also, check EVERY property line that is a major highway... the buisier the road the better! I know of three different big buck bedding areas within 40 yards of a state highway!
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Re: Public Land Plateau

Unread postby Bucky » Mon Apr 28, 2014 2:11 pm

U almost plateau quicker on private because u have less of it and typically it is smaller. Im always hunting for the next spot... areas that were red hot 5yrs ago might be junk today. But things tend to cycle in hunting and fishing. The more u know... the better yours odds. Just takes time and research

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Re: Public Land Plateau

Unread postby Swampthing » Mon Apr 28, 2014 2:28 pm

Im experiencing the same, i've found less sign this spring than ever before. I started beast scouting 5 years ago as well. I am steadily improving each year. But i feel as if i am going backwards. The population is pretty decimated and the sign is showing it. I am 5 times better at scouting and work 5 times harder than when i first started but find virtually no mature buck sign. It's hard to get excited when your results are not meeting expectations.

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Re: Public Land Plateau

Unread postby PK_ » Mon Apr 28, 2014 2:43 pm

Not there yet, still on the upswing. But I feel I am going to be into the very best public in my state this fall, so I may experience this in a few short years…
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Unread postby dan » Mon Apr 28, 2014 8:42 pm

Bucky wrote:U almost plateau quicker on private because u have less of it and typically it is smaller. Im always hunting for the next spot... areas that were red hot 5yrs ago might be junk today. But things tend to cycle in hunting and fishing. The more u know... the better yours odds. Just takes time and research

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Thats an interesting point... I think a lot of guys stop learning because they only hunt one small private property and once they learn the spots there, there is nothing new to learn for them.

Venturing out and trying new areas and places "public or private" will help a hunter grow.
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Re: Public Land Plateau

Unread postby headgear » Tue Apr 29, 2014 1:58 am

More great advice guys, thanks and the wheels are starting to turn a bit. Klemz I think you hit the nail on the head for my area, I have long been an advocate of spreading out my scouting and finding as many great areas as possible but it might be time to circle back to the spots I know are good. Find those beds that are not as obvious and learn some of those areas inside and out. I was actually out scouting one of those area yesterday and hit 4 overlooked spots, didn't find much but I was able to cross some areas off the list.

I'm also going to pull out the canoe a little more, I have about half dozen areas that are canoe access now but no reason I can't double that number. Still have some spots on the "new" list I plan on working too. Just have to keep on truckin, no doubt we can never scout or learn enough.
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Re: Public Land Plateau

Unread postby whitetailassasin » Tue Apr 29, 2014 3:43 am

This got me to thinking, expansion seems to be the obvious answer for guys like us. If we already hunt pressured grounds, and for areas that have the "brown its down mentality" it makes it tough hunting our same old locations. Tons of great points made, always like hearing guys struggles and confusion. It helps me grow.

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Re: Public Land Plateau

Unread postby headgear » Mon May 05, 2014 1:51 pm

Thanks for all the advice guys, had a great weekend scouting. I went back to one of my best locations and really tore the place apart plus re-scouted some of my old stuff. Found 2 new killer bedding areas and confirmed the old beds I was hunting are sill getting used and used a lot. The one area where I shot my buck last season was loaded with sign that was not there when I got him on Oct 25th. Also found a few other "ok" beds I will let my buddies hunt ;) and crossed a lot of stuff off the list. Still a few more spots to hit but this was just what I needed.

For newer guys I can't stress enough how much re-scouting areas has helped me out, its nice to find old rubs but when you find old sign and new sign and you are able to do it year after in the same area you know you have a killer spot. Lots of the bedding areas I was hunting early in my beast career turned out to be one and done beds or beds that might only hold a buck once every 5 years. Very important to know not all beds are created equal.


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