Beds close to parking lot

[TNstalker]

So went to a public swamp decide to check around the parking lot first. The sign read that there was a safe zone at the north end do to house bc this place is in city limits. To the far west of the property where 5 beds 2 big rubs fresh turds couple days old enough to say it was bucks using it. Now here is the question. There is a path that leads buy this spot the Bucks can watch u walk down it, approach where they bed or hear come in the parking lot. I'm guessing people might from time to time walk by this spot but not in there to disturb. If this is so depending ton the conditions they want to stay there in will the tolerate people walking by this spot.

[ Post made via iPhone ]

[Mathewshooter]

On the public land I hunt, the deer will sit there and watch you walk right by as long as you're on the trail and keep moving. The minute you stop or step off the trail, they take off. Based on this, I've come to realize that the deer must watch an aweful lot of people walking the trails to have figured this out. My guess is that they bed where they can watch the trail walkers alot more than we think. If you can somehow walk past this spot on the trail and double back without being seen and set up it should work. Another option is to figure out an alternate route other than the trail.

[dirt nap giver]

I usually access places like this from a different parking area. Parking in the adjacent lot, rarely works for me. It's almost as though they know the difference in a hiker versus a hunter.
Knowing the path they take to leave the bed is extremely important. If cars are in the lot or someone is walking through close to dark, the exit route will be different than when no one is around.
I recommend an observation stand using binos and a non visual entrance.

[ Post made via iPhone ]

[Hawthorne]

I went in blind and set up this year on some public where the human trail made a 90° turn along some cattails. I could tell nobody ever hunted that spot it looked overlooked my lone wolf was in a scraggly tree. I saw some rubs in that group of trees. Right at dark had two does then a 6 point come out of some tamaracks into the cattails. They stood there and stared at the trail where it made the 90 for a good 10 minutes. I let them pass. They where heading to a crp field behind me with a crop field beyond that on private. No hunters walked in that night on that trail I knew the deer were bedded there to monitor hunters.

[ Post made via Android ]

[IkemanTx]

One of the bucks in my area has a bed 150 yards downwind of one of the parking areas. I watched his sneak away route from an observation stand one morning. A car went by at almost a standstill and not 5 minutes later, he went tip toeing by. His setup is perfect. There are only certain designated parking areas, and he can monitor the only one inhalf a mile from his bed. I am going to have to hike a mile from another lot to have a crack at him. He will be 3.5 this year (which is a rare thing on that property) and may just be worth it. That makes a 3.5 yr old and a 4.5 yr old bedding within 200 yards of a parking lot I have found just this year.

[ Post made via iPhone ]

[TNstalker]

Well there is only one parking area to the place. It's not a huge place maybe 300 ac track. I would have to look around for another parking spot. Observation stand would be tough maybe from the truck but not sur how much I can see from that. I have to the route planned out to travel south an come back north to the bed. Might have to get dropped of if I can't find a spot to park.

[ Post made via iPhone ]

[dirt nap giver]

Well there is only one parking area to the place. It's not a huge place maybe 300 ac track. I would have to look around for another parking spot. Observation stand would be tough maybe from the truck but not sur how much I can see from that. I have to the route planned out to travel south an come back north to the bed. Might have to get dropped of if I can't find a spot to park.

[ Post made via iPhone ]

Sounds like you need to keep pondering over this spot. Maybe go back to the bed and think it through.
Not all spots work.

[ Post made via iPhone ]

[TNstalker]

Yeah there is a a way to approach it with out tipping the buck just gotta to see which is the best option.

[ Post made via iPhone ]

[justdirtyfun]

Just get dropped off... rolling vehicle with 30lbs. of gear, in the dark.


What could possibly go wrong??
LOL.

[ Post made via Android ]

[dan]

Certain beds are specifically set up to watch hunter access... Once you look at enough beds you will agree with that. They will sit tight most of the time and let the hunter pass. You can either walk past then loop back around to hunt them, or park up the road and sneak in.

[TNstalker]

Dan

I bet they are back before light ever breaks in most case correct?

[ Post made via iPhone ]

[IkemanTx]

Just get dropped off... rolling vehicle with 30lbs. of gear, in the dark.


What could possibly go wrong??
LOL.

[ Post made via Android ]

Just tuck and roll!

[ Post made via iPhone ]

[dan]

Dan

I bet they are back before light ever breaks in most case correct?

[ Post made via iPhone ]

Yea... Most of the time. I have shot a couple real big bucks next to parking lots.

[Singing Bridge]

Here's a great example of a buck watching hunter access. The red is a buck bed on the end of the finger, he beds there quite a bit with prevailing winds coming down or angling down the point. The bed is one of the biggest I've located in this particular region, huge and worn right to the dirt. There are a couple of good rubs right next to the bed. He likes to bed with the wind to his back and he watches the hunters on the road downwind.

The road has a lot of water on it, but the hunters access this area by this road and it is absolutely pounded with trucks, hunters and hunters yelling, walking hunters... on and on. No one has a clue that a big buck is watching them. No one is set up to cover the finger or the other exit routes.

Why is this such a great bed? It is completely overlooked. You can see the entrance and exit trails to the bed like spokes on a wheel. The swamp has very good, thick, nasty and wet brush all around the finger and the buck can disappear almost without a trace in multiple directions. I can almost hit the road with a thrown rock from the bucks bed...

The other red colored bed is in a small clump of trees with a tiny micro-island of high ground. The buck can bed there in various wind directions and appears to be there a lot when prevailing winds are not blowing on a given day. The entrance and exit runs, again like spokes on a wheeel, are plainly visible in the marsh.

[Jackson Marsh]

Great example SB!

[ Post made via Android ]