Big Woods - Doe Bait (Debate)

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Singing Bridge
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Re: Big Woods - Doe Bait (Debate)

Unread postby Singing Bridge » Mon Jan 21, 2019 1:35 pm

No worries and no feeling of being attacked. You are putting words out there such as a doe seeking a mature buck, a specific mate... I am not saying the doe is seeking a specific mate or a mature buck, such a description if far too simplistic and unrealistic... there are countless other factors involved. I would offer that getting caught up in bucks and does "always" or "never" doing something is an exercise in futility.

I am hunting buck bedding areas and watching a doe (single doe, not every doe in the area) bee line into a known buck bedding area during the peak of the rut. The doe may not have any clue which buck is in there... mature buck or yearling, or none at all. What is interesting is that this is exactly what they are doing and it doesn't appear at all to be an accident.

Please don't get caught up in the specific mate thing... your words, not mine.


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Re: Big Woods - Doe Bait (Debate)

Unread postby magicman54494 » Mon Jan 21, 2019 1:45 pm

Singing Bridge wrote:No worries and no feeling of being attacked. You are putting words out there such as a doe seeking a mature buck, a specific mate... I am not saying the doe is seeking a specific mate or a mature buck, such a description if far too simplistic and unrealistic... there are countless other factors involved. I would offer that getting caught up in bucks and does "always" or "never" doing something is an exercise in futility.

I am hunting buck bedding areas and watching a doe (single doe, not every doe in the area) bee line into a known buck bedding area during the peak of the rut. The doe may not have any clue which buck is in there... mature buck or yearling, or none at all. What is interesting is that this is exactly what they are doing and it doesn't appear at all to be an accident.

Please don't get caught up in the specific mate thing... your words, not mine.

I will totally agree that if a doe is in heat and not tended, she will seek.
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Re: Big Woods - Doe Bait (Debate)

Unread postby NYBackcountry » Mon Jan 21, 2019 2:00 pm

ghoasthunter wrote:i see this often in the big woods areas i hunt. i setup for a buck bed and a doe gets up from the bed alot of the deer i see are lone does possibly with a fawn or two. she beds in same places as the bucks. with the amount of pressure on does where i hunt they have no choice but too bed like a buck or risk being shot. another thing i get alot in my areas is does hitting scrapes as much as the bucks they paw the ground and hit the licking branch pee on there hocks they do the whole thing. another thing i find alot is mature bucks bedding and watching these scrapes. they will sit there all day and wait for the does like they are hunting. i cant even count how many times ive found a scrape and decided too watch it and found a buck bed with tracks leading away right where i wanted too sit and watch it wind blowing from scrape right too the bed only 30 or 40 yards away. I killed my buck last year like this i setup so i could intercept the buck going from scrape too bed early morning. i ended up killing the smart mountain buck at 7 yards from the base of my tree. i literally found the scrape walking out in the dark the night before placed some cat eyes on the tree and setup the next morning on it. the scrape was hot and fresh when i found it. you have only hours too get on this kind of sign or end up having the buck miles away doing the same thing in a day or two. ive killed alot of bucks with this pattern you describe over the years. and will say most big bucks killed fell the same way even if the hunter did not know it at the time. im going too say anybody thats killed a mature buck go back too where they killed that deer and scout it you will find a buck bed not far away from most of the time.



This is an interesting observation, it's one I've been exploring in my head recently and was considering starting a thread on. I wont derail this thread but I have been noticing buck bedding in big woods hill/mountain terrain specifically set up to watch scrapes, not smell them.

To get back on topic, I know of a doe bedding area that overlooks buck bedding in a swamp. The does bed high and by the time the rut kicks in with foliage down they can see into the swamp, overlooking trails leaving bedding. The area they can see is close enough to the buck bedding to be considered a staging area. I think this provides them (does) some versatility, they can see when that bedding is being used, they can evade bucks when they arent in esterus and theyre in a good observation position to avoid hunters.
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Re: Big Woods - Doe Bait (Debate)

Unread postby Singing Bridge » Tue Jan 22, 2019 3:51 am

NYBackcountry wrote:
ghoasthunter wrote:i see this often in the big woods areas i hunt. i setup for a buck bed and a doe gets up from the bed alot of the deer i see are lone does possibly with a fawn or two. she beds in same places as the bucks. with the amount of pressure on does where i hunt they have no choice but too bed like a buck or risk being shot. another thing i get alot in my areas is does hitting scrapes as much as the bucks they paw the ground and hit the licking branch pee on there hocks they do the whole thing. another thing i find alot is mature bucks bedding and watching these scrapes. they will sit there all day and wait for the does like they are hunting. i cant even count how many times ive found a scrape and decided too watch it and found a buck bed with tracks leading away right where i wanted too sit and watch it wind blowing from scrape right too the bed only 30 or 40 yards away. I killed my buck last year like this i setup so i could intercept the buck going from scrape too bed early morning. i ended up killing the smart mountain buck at 7 yards from the base of my tree. i literally found the scrape walking out in the dark the night before placed some cat eyes on the tree and setup the next morning on it. the scrape was hot and fresh when i found it. you have only hours too get on this kind of sign or end up having the buck miles away doing the same thing in a day or two. ive killed alot of bucks with this pattern you describe over the years. and will say most big bucks killed fell the same way even if the hunter did not know it at the time. im going too say anybody thats killed a mature buck go back too where they killed that deer and scout it you will find a buck bed not far away from most of the time.



This is an interesting observation, it's one I've been exploring in my head recently and was considering starting a thread on. I wont derail this thread but I have been noticing buck bedding in big woods hill/mountain terrain specifically set up to watch scrapes, not smell them.

To get back on topic, I know of a doe bedding area that overlooks buck bedding in a swamp. The does bed high and by the time the rut kicks in with foliage down they can see into the swamp, overlooking trails leaving bedding. The area they can see is close enough to the buck bedding to be considered a staging area. I think this provides them (does) some versatility, they can see when that bedding is being used, they can evade bucks when they arent in esterus and theyre in a good observation position to avoid hunters.


Sounds like a great advantage for the does, interesting observation.
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Re: Big Woods - Doe Bait (Debate)

Unread postby Singing Bridge » Tue Jan 22, 2019 3:55 am

ghoasthunter wrote:i see this often in the big woods areas i hunt. i setup for a buck bed and a doe gets up from the bed alot of the deer i see are lone does possibly with a fawn or two. she beds in same places as the bucks. with the amount of pressure on does where i hunt they have no choice but too bed like a buck or risk being shot. another thing i get alot in my areas is does hitting scrapes as much as the bucks they paw the ground and hit the licking branch pee on there hocks they do the whole thing. another thing i find alot is mature bucks bedding and watching these scrapes. they will sit there all day and wait for the does like they are hunting. i cant even count how many times ive found a scrape and decided too watch it and found a buck bed with tracks leading away right where i wanted too sit and watch it wind blowing from scrape right too the bed only 30 or 40 yards away. I killed my buck last year like this i setup so i could intercept the buck going from scrape too bed early morning. i ended up killing the smart mountain buck at 7 yards from the base of my tree. i literally found the scrape walking out in the dark the night before placed some cat eyes on the tree and setup the next morning on it. the scrape was hot and fresh when i found it. you have only hours too get on this kind of sign or end up having the buck miles away doing the same thing in a day or two. ive killed alot of bucks with this pattern you describe over the years. and will say most big bucks killed fell the same way even if the hunter did not know it at the time. im going too say anybody thats killed a mature buck go back too where they killed that deer and scout it you will find a buck bed not far away from most of the time.


Great observations, especially the doe bedding when the pressure is on. The buck I shot this year was taken day 3 of the Gun season, their world had been shattered. Travel was restricted for the older deer that had played this game before.
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Re: Big Woods - Doe Bait (Debate)

Unread postby Edcyclopedia » Tue Jan 22, 2019 7:19 am

Did you guys (SB & MM) spend the night in the woods together or something...?
All this respect talk and uncomfortable feelings is making for some... :whistle:
Expect the Unexpected when you least Expect it...
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Re: Big Woods - Doe Bait (Debate)

Unread postby Singing Bridge » Tue Jan 22, 2019 8:57 am

Hey now, you leave MM out of this... ;)
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Re: Big Woods - Doe Bait (Debate)

Unread postby headgear » Tue Jan 22, 2019 9:42 am

MM is just like a doe trying to track down those bucks. ;) :lol:
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Re: Big Woods - Doe Bait (Debate)

Unread postby Singing Bridge » Tue Jan 22, 2019 12:28 pm

headgear wrote:In the bigwoods I hunt I see this from time to time, one time I recall seeing 3 mature does together moving at a good speed with their noses to the ground, mistook them for bucks at first. I had cut a large track in that exact area on the way into my stand and I couldn't help but wonder if they were tracking the mature buck. Sure enough they hit my entrance trail and locked up but eventually moved on likely on that same track as the buck who was heading in that same direction. No snow so I didn't attempt to follow but that was one of a few encounters with groups of does like that. Sometimes I think they could be tracking a buck but I also wonder if they travel to leave a good scent rail behind to help draw in a mature buck. I have also had good luck with running into some early hot does while hunting buck bedding areas, maybe the buck pulled her in but maybe she knew where he liked to hang out and found him when she was ready. No doubt in my mind and least in this neck of the woods that it is not just the traditional bucks seeking does but it can work both ways on a limited basis. This isn't as likely with places who have higher numbers of deer because there isn't a need to seek out a partner when you might have several bucks on your tail.


Great observations headgear!!
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Re: Big Woods - Doe Bait (Debate)

Unread postby Singing Bridge » Sun Jan 27, 2019 4:06 am

The buck bedding area I set up on to cover last year, on Michigan's gun season opener, was very remote. It was and is a great bedding area... last year I consistently found several different bucks using it but it was always one at a time. When the biggest buck bedded elsewhere one of the other two would use the bedding area. This was Michigan public land, big woods. The bucks consisted of a 2.5 year old 8 point, a 3.5 year old- bigger racked 8 point, and a 10 point that I estimated was 4.5

Right at midday, a doe went by me on a straight course to the buck bedding area. Less than a half hour later she fronted the buck I ended up taking, coming back out. We had a day long, steady rain and I believe the buck may well not have come out if it hadn't been raining. With the steady rain I saw several good bucks that likely would have holed up most of the day, everything worked out well with the conditions. There were almost no hunters in the woods on a day that otherwise would have had some serious hunting pressure.


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