Farmland Scouting 1/17 to 1/20

[KLEMZ]

I was just going to look for it. If it isn't there it needs to be! (Nice bump Klemz.)

The credit for the bump goes to Darkknight54 and his "Buck Bedding 101" thread. He has a link to this thread on there.

Ill put some stuff together and and give some updates. My early season recurve buck from last season was from this area.

That would be great MOBIGBUCKS!

[365buckin]

If its not too much work, I would love to see some new pictures since the old ones are not showing up anymore. Great thread and congrats on the recurve buck MOBIG! Did you shoot him from one of the beds???

[MOBIGBUCKS]

If its not too much work, I would love to see some new pictures since the old ones are not showing up anymore. Great thread and congrats on the recurve buck MOBIG! Did you shoot him from one of the beds???

Yes. However, it wasn't at the old bedding spots. I have since found new bedding tendencies that I had never noticed back when this thread first started. This was an interior drainage that was off the main crop fields. One of those places it takes boots to ground to find. Buck tracks were how I found that spot two years before when it was in corn.

I know some of the old pics aren't showing up but some of mine are working with photobucket but some not. Over time I will try and add back if you guys are interested. Likely be after season though.

I will add my recurve buck setup and another setup for what I called the Buck mound. I posted about it years ago but think its lost in the site somewhere. Great setup in a small micro marsh habitat in farm country. Pretty cool

[mheichelbech]

Be interesting to hear how and why you set up on these beds and when and why you hunted them (wind, cold front, moon?). I have a farm I hunt where I have access to one of two wood lots. It's been hard to tell where the bucks beds when but I know bucks uses both of them for bedding. I am pretty sure the bedding in the woodlot I hunt is probably rut based but couldn't swear to it. The problem is the woodlot is small (under 60 acres) so before I figure them out it gets burned if they don't come through where I think they will.

I've tried observation stands with no luck so far...very thick and hard to see into the woods as it is covered with autumn olive.

[hunter10]

I have noticed much of the same with these isolate pockets and weird spots for buck bedding. I think I need more practice with interior edge bedding and finding out the best spots

[<DK>]

If its not too much work, I would love to see some new pictures since the old ones are not showing up anymore. Great thread and congrats on the recurve buck MOBIG! Did you shoot him from one of the beds???

Yes. However, it wasn't at the old bedding spots. I have since found new bedding tendencies that I had never noticed back when this thread first started. This was an interior drainage that was off the main crop fields. One of those places it takes boots to ground to find. Buck tracks were how I found that spot two years before when it was in corn.

I know some of the old pics aren't showing up but some of mine are working with photobucket but some not. Over time I will try and add back if you guys are interested. Likely be after season though.

I will add my recurve buck setup and another setup for what I called the Buck mound. I posted about it years ago but think its lost in the site somewhere. Great setup in a small micro marsh habitat in farm country. Pretty cool

[MOBIGBUCKS]

I wanted to add a couple setups to this thread since you guys gave it a bump.

Here is my farmland early season buck bed setup last year--9/17/16.

The light blue is a creek I came into the area access wise. My path is the yellow and it ends where I set my treesaddle in the kill tree.

The buck came in on the orange path from the standing corn last season. He came around into his bed and I lost sight of him for a long time. Another smaller buck had him infuriated and thats when he came on my side of the ditch snort wheezing at the smaller buck. The buck actually swung downwind and came right by my tree around 10 yards. He ran just west of me and died right in his original entry point from the corn.

The conditions of the hunt were what made this possible. There was a full moon that morning that I believe kept him out later that night. In addition, a small weak early season cold front had him out moving and the N-NW wind made the setup possible. Typically, morning setups aren't the most popular but there was no way you were getting to this buck bedded where he was in the evening. Tough to access without getting busted in the afternoon.

The bedding spot here is an isolated erosion ditch coming off the upper crop field. It's basically a deep wash all the way to the creek. These spots are overlooked by most guys or just not picked up on. I found this spot by tracks two years before when there was corn at the time. The buck likes to bed with his back to the ditch looking out ahead of him into the small woodlot. Pretty cool little spots when you can get stuff lined up and kill them like this.

[Lockdown]

Good buck, early season, morning, over his bed, with a recurve. RESPECT!

How far from his bed was your set? Or was it more of a bedding area...

[MOBIGBUCKS]

8-)

Good buck, early season, morning, over his bed, with a recurve. RESPECT!

How far from his bed was your set? Or was it more of a bedding area...

50-60 yards but you weren't shooting over that ditch. The hope was he'd come by me and then head into his bed from my side. Obviously, some luck involved on this hunt too but that seems to be the case hunting these big deer in general.

[<DK>]

Wow! He actually traveled further from the crops that I imagined. When you first told the story I though he stepped from the corn into the bedroom.

Thanks for sharing that MO! Im gonna give it a try

[<DK>]

What kind of camo are you wearing there?
What kind of bow do you shoot?

[MOBIGBUCKS]

Wow! He actually traveled further from the crops that I imagined. When you first told the story I though he stepped from the corn into the bedroom.

Thanks for sharing that MO! Im gonna give it a try

Well, you cant see it there but he actually traveled a "corn corridor"(stan's nickname) all the way to the woods. After crossing the ditch on the high side, he had the wind in his nose as he turned up into his bed. Basically, that was his bedroom from that point on as he was comfortable with what he was smelling. It was a perfect spot for him in reality.

[MOBIGBUCKS]

What kind of camo are you wearing there?
What kind of bow do you shoot?

Predator Deception

That's just a $139.00 Samick Jouney 64" 43 pounds@ 30." Great bow. I killed both my turkeys in the spring with it too.

A new custom is on the way but wont be here until late November though

[MOBIGBUCKS]

Found this place and was planning on hunting it right before I last updated this old thread years back. I ended up losing the spot before I could ever bowhunt the area, but figured I'd share as it's importance in farmland and other habitats. It's a micro marsh habitat in the middle of farm country created by a leaking small lake. It's a spot I called the "Buck Mound." I made a thread years back on the forum but I'm sure it's lost out there somewhere. Just one of those things you should look for that's possibly overlooked in an otherwise more dominant habitat.



Aerial view with my setup and other beds I found in the area besides the mound.



The mound itself is fascinating. It's down in a low marsh type habitat and this mound sits up above everything else. I'm sure the area floods quite often and his view overlooks a small 1-2 acre small cattail area that is loaded with big buck tracks and trails. The whole mound was loaded with deer hair and right down to bare earth.



His view



Another view of the bed itself



Likely the big bucks staging area not 30-40 yards away heading towards the stand spot I had marked



An old warrior I found dead in the area

A pretty neat area overall. I never got to hunt this spot and that's a tragedy!! LOL However, what I learned from this spot has helped me over the years finding other big buck bedding areas. Not everything is a loss in life...Sometimes we learn things from places and experiences that help us down the road.

Just thought I'd share and make you guys think about micro habitats and how they might be hiding your next big buck..

[hunter_mike]

Thanks for sharing that setup. nice work