J-Hook
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J-Hook
Do Bucks( mature) use a J-Hook into their bedding areas and when entering doe bedding areas ALL year or is this typically during the pre-rut + rut time periods?? And If this done all the time how do you determine the distance that the buck will loop around you( I know thats a loaded question)? I ask this question because a couple weeks ago I located a nice mature buck bedding area( bed,rubs,faint trails everything). On my first sit w/a NW wind i got within about 50yds of his bed around 2:30 in the afternoon. I was also near a doe bedding area that was located about 50yds beyond my location and below me. I definitely got in their without spooking the does( I could see them from my stand). Around 4:00 a large 8pt buck came out and definitely looped around my stand then literally as he got below me- along the NW wind side just disappeared. Any thoughts on this would be appreciated!!!!
- DaveT1963
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Re: J-Hook
I almost hate the term J hook anymore - it simply means that many bucks will scent check an area and then turn and walk into it after they clear it. Most mature bucks will use the wind to their advantage as much as they can, especially when approaching bedding - that's one of the reasons they are a mature buck. But NO animal uses the wind 100% of the time - they simply cannot or they would never be able to travel back to their bedding areas. And the smart hunter will use that to his advantage. How, well when a big buck is forced to walk downwind or even cross wind they will either use super heavy cover, a depression, or more open terrain where they can rely on their eyes. So a buck returning to his preferred bed in the morning will tend to have a preferred route that gives him wind advantage - and a separate route that affords him better cover or visibility when they wind is not in his favor. Then its just a matter of figuring out these travel patterns and setting up off wind or down wind of them. Is it difficult, yes, especially since very few bucks use the same bed day after day unless they are extremely pressured or have very limited bedding cover.
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Re: J-Hook
Thanks for the response DAVET. That does clear a few things up for me!!!!
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Re: J-Hook
I agree but I think that the one thing being missed is that this behavior was imprinted at a very young age as a way to deal with coyotes and other predators. Deer will always scent check an area that is their destination and may or may not have the wind to their advantage along the way. The “J” hook just gives them the ability to see or smell something that was following them. That first year of life is a daily battle against predators that are cutting the deers track and following them. The deer know that when they bed down that predator can potentially close that distance. That is why I think you can hunt pretty close to beds cause the deer are so concerned with their back trail.
- Boogieman1
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Re: J-Hook
Typically yes a mature buck will scent check any point of interest he can not see b4 he commits. I look at it like this.... They are creatures of edge, one side the edge they can visually see the other is thick. It would make no sense to use both there eyes and nose in the same direction they can clearly see. So the nose covers the cover.
Landscape also plays a big role in how mature bucks move. In hill country where they bed high and feed low a buck can use the wind/thermal and the rest of the herd 100% of the time.
Landscape also plays a big role in how mature bucks move. In hill country where they bed high and feed low a buck can use the wind/thermal and the rest of the herd 100% of the time.
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Re: J-Hook
J-hook always a buck to smell the bedding area before he gets there. In a lot of cases it leads to the down wind area in a way as to be able to see anything following him. This is ingrained into their DNA from thousands of years of predators tracking them. When they walk into the bed facing the wind then turn around and watch the back trail it puts their wind born scent and their ground scent in-line so a predator can only detect them from one direction. They smell behind, and look forward-downwind. When approaching doe bedding during the day to look for does in heat, I do not see the down wind side use as much. In a lot of cases I see them use the side the does enter and exit from. They smell the trails. The way to tell is almost all good doe bedding areas will have historical rubs on the outer transition marking the trails historically used by bucks.
Does in groups don't enter bedding with wind in mind as much. Just as bachelor groups of bucks don't. They tend to bed in circles each covering a differing direction. But, old does will and bed in buck type bedding areas when alone, or very small groups.
Does in groups don't enter bedding with wind in mind as much. Just as bachelor groups of bucks don't. They tend to bed in circles each covering a differing direction. But, old does will and bed in buck type bedding areas when alone, or very small groups.
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