Scouting Beds and not Bumping Bucks?

[Landonk]

After a whole lot of reading on this site, pouring over tons of topo maps and figuring out where I THINK I need to be looking, I still have not been able to answer this question....

How are you guys getting into areas where you think beds are located without bumping bucks out of their beds in the middle of the day? A lot of what I have read indicates that mature bucks will be back in their bed before daylight and exit late in the day. I think this is the case considering my lack of mature bucks on trail cameras during the day, but having tons of photos at night.

So are you guys going scouting with the thought that it is OK to bump one out of his bed if that means finding the bedding area?

[Zap]

Scout in off season.

[Landonk]

I gathered that off season is the time to put in the work, but will a buck return to the bed that he was spooked out of?
I have never heard anyone really discuss the topic.

[Zap]

A bucks instinct will tell him that laying in a spot that enables him to detect and escape danger is a good thing.

He will use that spot again.

[fishlips]

Sure, they will return to the bed at some point. Most times though when you bust them out, they will relocate for a while. One thing I have observed is that once you bust them out of there, they become a lot harder to kill out of that spot. It's burning that bridge so to speak.

[dan]

Once you start looking close at buck beds you will realize that they ate in exact locations for the best survival by utilizing wind, thermals, sight, sound, and hearing... There are only so many spots like that in a given area. They get bumped a lot. Coyotes, wolves, dogs, small game hunters, shed hunters, hikers, other hunters, etc. Yes, they come back. As a matter of fact, several people I know shot very large bucks the day after, or even the same day they bumped them out of the bed... You should check out the Marsh bucks DVD for sale in the store on this website, it goes into great detail about the system.

[backstraps]

[quote="Landonk"]How are you guys getting into areas where you think beds are located without bumping bucks out of their beds in the middle of the day? [quote]

This is probably one of the most important parts (IMO) of learning the Beast method. Lets assume your scouting has predetermined where the buck is bedding under the given wind you are wanting to try and kill him.

Dan mentions many times in his videos, finding the bed is just one of the pieces. Once you find the bed you want to investigate the bed. Get into the bed, and look around. See what the buck is seeing. From that bed determine a particular tree or two that you can get... just as close to his bed as possible without tipping the buck off.

Plan your entrance route to that tree so that your wind/scent doesn't tip him off. Getting to your planned tree of attack, takes some consideration and good planning . You need to be sure it takes you some time getting there. You are not in any kind of race to leave the truck and get to that tree, and set in a record time. Move slow and stealthy. Set up slow and silent.

Dan's videos will go in more detail and depth and you will pickup a lot of information from them.

Welcome to the BEAST!

[Country]

Yes, buy the DVDs. Dan is not just trying to "make a sale." Best DVDs I have ever watched. I re-watch them all the time and I learm something new every time.

[Robert]

Yes, buy the DVDs. Dan is not just trying to "make a sale." Best DVDs I have ever watched. I re-watch them all the time and I learm something new every time.

X2

[Landonk]

Just ordered them

After a whole lot of frustration this year and thousands of trail cam pics of good shooter bucks this site seems to be pointing my tactics in a new direction. Now as soon as this ice storm clears out I hope to go have a look in a few areas I suspect they are bedding!

[Country]

Just ordered them

After a whole lot of frustration this year and thousands of trail cam pics of good shooter bucks this site seems to be pointing my tactics in a new direction. Now as soon as this ice storm clears out I hope to go have a look in a few areas I suspect they are bedding!

As Dan told me before I bought the DVDs, they will totally change the way you hunt. I have to agree. I actually have confidence I am in the right spot when I go set up now. Can't wait until next season when I can apply all of my real scouting knowledge. Season still isn't over though...waiting to apply some Beast tactics on a late season buck.

Good luck and watch those DVDs over and over. Well worth it!

[Landonk]

Just thought I would follow up on this topic. I decided to go for a walk in the woods today with my pup. Didn't even have my bow with me. (this is an area near my house that I can not hunt, but has some nice deer) We had a lot of sleet and some snow a few days ago and a fairly constant north wind. I went out to the woods where I have a camera with corn and backtracked the deer tracks from the camera/corn up on to the side of a hill where, after much reading here, I figured the beds to be located with a North wind. In just a few hours I located 4 obvious beds in three different locations. Two beds were within 40 yards of each other, but the other two were further down the hill without any additional beds near them. The two that were closer to the peak of the hill were on the leeward side behind some cedars with an unobstructed view of the downhill / south side of the hill. Lot of urine and droppings present in the areas. Lots of tracks going in and out of the feeding and bedding areas. There were an estimated 20-30 rubs scattered throughout the hillside that are all months old. Every one of the old rubs had fresh tracks in the snow within 50' and leading from one rub to another. Basically they were a rough outline of the trail to and from feed / bed. The trails all had prints coming and going. I have several different bucks, some small and some large, on camera with only 2 does that show up every day. I am fairly confident that the beds I found were for the bucks because the does I have on camera always travel together and from a slightly different area, where the bucks on camera came right through the tracks I followed to the beds and entered the camera frame from the same direction about 7:40pm last night. The beds were about 1/4 mile away so I a bit more scouting will tell me if they are leaving their beds in daylight.

Needless to say I was pretty excited about finding the beds exactly where I thought they should be!!

[Bucky]

I have bumped "mature" bucks out of the same bedding area weekly all winter long shed hunting.... i.e. they don't leave. Kill one and that buck bedding area fills in with the next most dominant buck in the area. Those are the kind of mature buck bedding areas you are looking for when scouting. This particular area is thick brush that opens into expansive marsh on the back side along with a creek that remains open throughout winter on the backside. It ALWAYs has a mature buck bedding in the vicinity.

[Stanley]

Just thought I would follow up on this topic. I decided to go for a walk in the woods today with my pup. Didn't even have my bow with me. (this is an area near my house that I can not hunt, but has some nice deer) We had a lot of sleet and some snow a few days ago and a fairly constant north wind. I went out to the woods where I have a camera with corn and backtracked the deer tracks from the camera/corn up on to the side of a hill where, after much reading here, I figured the beds to be located with a North wind. In just a few hours I located 4 obvious beds in three different locations. Two beds were within 40 yards of each other, but the other two were further down the hill without any additional beds near them. The two that were closer to the peak of the hill were on the leeward side behind some cedars with an unobstructed view of the downhill / south side of the hill. Lot of urine and droppings present in the areas. Lots of tracks going in and out of the feeding and bedding areas. There were an estimated 20-30 rubs scattered throughout the hillside that are all months old. Every one of the old rubs had fresh tracks in the snow within 50' and leading from one rub to another. Basically they were a rough outline of the trail to and from feed / bed. The trails all had prints coming and going. I have several different bucks, some small and some large, on camera with only 2 does that show up every day. I am fairly confident that the beds I found were for the bucks because the does I have on camera always travel together and from a slightly different area, where the bucks on camera came right through the tracks I followed to the beds and entered the camera frame from the same direction about 7:40pm last night. The beds were about 1/4 mile away so I a bit more scouting will tell me if they are leaving their beds in daylight.

Needless to say I was pretty excited about finding the beds exactly where I thought they should be!!

Good deal.