Is it too late for Scouting Beds

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Terry
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Re: Is it too late for Scouting Beds

Unread postby Terry » Sun Aug 03, 2014 9:17 am

I would go in and do all your scouting in one day, then back way off till prime time. Is it ideal, no. But it's better then going in blind IMHO.


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Re: Is it too late for Scouting Beds

Unread postby superblackhawk » Sun Aug 10, 2014 1:51 pm

Stanley wrote:If your objective is to find some buck beds, you can't find them if you don't look. Earlier in the spring may have been the best time I agree with that. That said if you look now and bump a buck you'll know where a bed is that gets used. Bucks share good bed so you might bump one buck but another buck may also like the bed.

I don't like bumping bucks now but it is better than not hunting the spot. Look at it like this, you could be scouting for next year with a chance this year. 2 months from now is marginal, but you may find some beds that you don't bump a buck out of. I am all about low impact and percentages.


Do you feel the same way in regards to public land?

I guess what Im asking is as much as I may stay out of an area, what if someone else is in there knocking around? I just always seem to like to get alook, and with public ground, I am always confused. (75 percent of what i hunt is public(
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Re: Is it too late for Scouting Beds

Unread postby dan » Sun Aug 10, 2014 9:18 pm

Do you feel the same way in regards to public land?

I guess what Im asking is as much as I may stay out of an area, what if someone else is in there knocking around? I just always seem to like to get alook, and with public ground, I am always confused. (75 percent of what i hunt is public(


If the spots your scouting/hunting on public are invaded by other hunters, your in the wrong spots... Seek out the spots where others rarely go.
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Re: Is it too late for Scouting Beds

Unread postby TN Whitetail Freak » Wed Aug 13, 2014 8:46 am

Well after waiting for a good time i finally got time between rains.....and a wsw and nw alternating winds yesterday i was able to get in and take a quick look at spot and succesfully setup on my first bedded deer!.....i would probably deem this spot a rut stand but maybe

I first walked down toward where the swamp funnels into the pinch and found trails leading into it(orange) i also found huge deer droppings even bigger than the swamp rabbits after getting a possible tree i backed out....i wanted to check the pond.....i got downwind and stalked to the northside at 40 yds a catch a huge doe feeding while laying down......she had her back to the wind and facing me slightly.......the ground was wet enough i slipped back out and hopefully undisturbed as far as i know that buck was another 20 yds left....i am just pumped that i cyber scouted made assumptions on where deer may bed and was correct though it wasnt a buck

The red is the deer bedded
Orange is trails coming from the rivet
Green outline is 8-10ft tall thick grass (Tn cattails i refer to it as)
The arrow is wind direction.

I plan on giving it a go Nov 22-Dec 1
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Re: Is it too late for Scouting Beds

Unread postby chasemukluk » Fri Aug 15, 2014 11:34 am

Good find!
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hunter_mike
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Re: Is it too late for Scouting Beds

Unread postby hunter_mike » Thu Jun 18, 2015 1:59 pm

I am going to set up a camera tomorrow morning and am contemplating scouting an inside creek bend that looks like it should have a buck bed on it. Hmmmmmm......... :think: not sure if it would be worth the risk at this point.

Did you ever hunt this spot TN Whitetail Freak?
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Re: Is it too late for Scouting Beds

Unread postby JoeRE » Thu Jun 18, 2015 2:58 pm

I will chime in a year late or so....I don't think its ever too late to look for beds - keep an eye out 365 days a year. If you bust a buck out of his bed ONCE in June, July, or even August and he doesn't come back to that spot in the fall I would say he wasn't going to come back anyway for other reasons - your one disturbance probably had nothing to do with it.

However, the issue I have found with scouting for FRESH beds in the summer in farm and hill country is they are often only summer bedding, not fall. I am out in the woods a lot in the summer and find lots of heavily used beds in more exterior cover that will become too exposed once fall hits. If you can hunt in September that might be OK because they still may be using summer bedding but as the plants, underbrush, and leaves thin out as you get to October I find a lot of bedding changes. Good fall bedding can be hard to spot because it may get no use all summer long, have to try and see the old sign under all the plant life - always worth a shot to do a little scouting though.
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Re: Is it too late for Scouting Beds

Unread postby whitetailassasin » Fri Jun 19, 2015 9:29 am

In my experience most of the bedding I find in these months is not fall range and beds. It's based of soft crops coming up and no pressure. I get a inventory of bucks using the area and can get a direction they are coming from to use the food sources. But because my season is oct in my home state, mature bucks have moved away from the fields and crops due to time of season, pressure, etc. 95% or more of the guys out hunting these areas pound the crops because they see young bucks and does still using them. But the mature bucks are seldom and I mean seldom using them. They have moved to more secluded areas, and eating crops like acorns, grasses, and other foods that are plush and plentiful in places safe. So for me in season scouting, winter scouting, and cyber scouting potential good areas is how I go. In season, after my confirmed bedding has been hit and my secondary beds to these areas have as well, I scout and hunt(scunt) and I read sign and tracks and search out secure bedding or overlooked areas with low impact but food and water. I also look for upcoming doe bedding that is holding deer for the rut and good ambush points.

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Re: Is it too late for Scouting Beds

Unread postby BHC » Fri Jun 19, 2015 12:12 pm

Didn't Andrea say it's almost in impossible to get a mature buck to abandon his bed? Remember that mature deer are bedded where they bed for a reason..
I have a qu about the shifting... I hunt hill country (3300acres) about 15 guys hunt it. And the either hunt bottoms or food plots. So I am not worried about them really.. I know they get picked off walking into the bottoms and setting up in there, most kill on the plots... Now we have limited number of N,W,S wind bedding.. It's obvious where hot trails lead out to points.. I think they will utilize or a deer shifting in will bed here..? I could see the bedding nearest to plots getting used less..?

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