Scouting large CRP fields

[backstraps]

I don't have areas that are swamp or marsh. I have read where you guys mention in swamp or marsh areas, that if you look across these areas and see a single large tree, there are usually a bed located under it.

Do any of you guys have this same experience with large tracts of CRP fields, that may have a single large tree growing within in it? Or maybe a small 1/2 acre plot of trees that are surrounded by 100 acres of crp.


Any advise or tips for scouting large CRP fields. Many of the fields I have tried to look at, are almost unable to walk through.

I have scouted the transition line along these fields, but I think the fields are so large, bedded bucks are not making it to the transition line until after dark

[Stanley]

I was checking out a CRP field 6 weeks ago. Jumped a nice buck out of a bed under a small 4 inch diameter 10 feet high Black Locust tree on a hill side facing North. Wind was from the south. This was a 300 acre field. So yes they do bed in the CRP. Tough buck bed to set up on. No cover, open fields, wind check from the south and visual check from the front. The buck ran to the North West when I bumped him. Mainly to duck out of sight.

[dan]

Yes they will bed at tree clumps... But they also bed based on elevation and wind currents that follow terrain. It can be hard to predict because we can't smell the wind currents like a deer, but they bed the same spots or very close to them year after year within these CRP fields. There is an over grown field on Daves farm that has buck beds that are used the last couple of weeks of Octoberber thru the 3rd week of November and whats interesting is there were years it went from Crp to crop, or to mowed and the beds went away, but as soon as it goes back into CRP the new generation of bucks bed in the exact same spots... There is obviously an advantage to those beds. Some of you may re3member me discussing that at the Scouting workshops.

[backstraps]

That's a good illustrated example Stan thanks. Id like to find some tracts of land like that to scout and hunt :)


Dan, when you say "they also bed based on elevation and wind currents that follow terrain" do you mean I should be able to also follow the same rule of thumb as locating beds via topo maps? 1/3 down, on points, on the crp fields?

I located some beds throughout the crp, but is really seemed like random bedding locations. I found bedding inside the small woodlots, but they were mainly doe beds.

[Redman232]

Most the CRP ground I hunt is pretty flat so the majority of buck bedding that I know about seems to be security bedding, for example, the down wind side of a thicker area of vegetation, or next to a couple small locusts or sumac growth(these two seem to squirt up thru the grass before any other woody growth does). The CRP I hunt, hunts basically exactly like the marshes I hunt. If their are not beds(a lot of the time there is) next to the single or small group of larger trees, the deer seem to use them as sign posts (usually where there is a washout, where a buck wouldn't have much of an advantage). I think as they travel thru the taller grass they have limited sight straight ahead but if they look up slightly they can see those singular or small group of trees and they use it a location marker. I bet if you walked all the way around the group of trees you were talking about you would either find a bed or several trails converging on the location. In my experience these are great locations to see a lot of deer but the bigger bucks always seem to cross cut the trails going to and coming from these islands of trees, never getting within bow range. It took me a few year to figure out where I need to set up to take advantage of the bucks cross cutting the main trails.

[backstraps]

Most the CRP ground I hunt is pretty flat so the majority of buck bedding that I know about seems to be security bedding, for example, the down wind side of a thicker area of vegetation, or next to a couple small [glow=red]locusts[/glow] or sumac growth(these two seem to squirt up thru the grass before any other woody growth does). The CRP I hunt, hunts basically exactly like the marshes I hunt. If their are not beds(a lot of the time there is) next to the single or small group of larger trees, the deer seem to use them as sign posts (usually where there is a washout, where a buck wouldn't have much of an advantage). I think as they travel thru the taller grass they have limited sight straight ahead but if they look up slightly they can see those singular or small group of trees and they use it a location marker. I bet [glow=red]if you walked all the way around the group of trees you were talking about you would either find a bed or several trails converging on the location[/glow]. In my experience these are great locations to see a lot of deer but the bigger bucks always seem to cross cut the trails going to and coming from these islands of trees, never getting within bow range. It took me a few year to figure out where I need to set up to take advantage of the bucks cross cutting the main trails.

This is exactly the same situation here. There are trails converging from every direction to the small woodlot. However the woodlot is full of doe bedding. The wood lot is all honey locust trees.

Do you have a tactic to get a buck in bow range that may be scent crossing the doe trails in the middle of tall crp?

[backstraps]

Here are maps of the area, what do you guys think?

[backstraps]

I have seen so many bucks over the pass 7-8 years come off this hilltop and cross the road just minutes after dark.

The aerial picture doesn't even compare to how thick and nasty this plot is

[dan]

Dan, when you say "they also bed based on elevation and wind currents that follow terrain" do you mean I should be able to also follow the same rule of thumb as locating beds via topo maps? 1/3 down, on points, on the crp fields?

Yes...
Redmans comments were also very accurate.

[Redman232]

Most the CRP ground I hunt is pretty flat so the majority of buck bedding that I know about seems to be security bedding, for example, the down wind side of a thicker area of vegetation, or next to a couple small [glow=red]locusts[/glow] or sumac growth(these two seem to squirt up thru the grass before any other woody growth does). The CRP I hunt, hunts basically exactly like the marshes I hunt. If their are not beds(a lot of the time there is) next to the single or small group of larger trees, the deer seem to use them as sign posts (usually where there is a washout, where a buck wouldn't have much of an advantage). I think as they travel thru the taller grass they have limited sight straight ahead but if they look up slightly they can see those singular or small group of trees and they use it a location marker. I bet [glow=red]if you walked all the way around the group of trees you were talking about you would either find a bed or several trails converging on the location[/glow]. In my experience these are great locations to see a lot of deer but the bigger bucks always seem to cross cut the trails going to and coming from these islands of trees, never getting within bow range. It took me a few year to figure out where I need to set up to take advantage of the bucks cross cutting the main trails.

This is exactly the same situation here. There are trails converging from every direction to the small woodlot. However the woodlot is full of doe bedding. The wood lot is all honey locust trees.

Do you have a tactic to get a buck in bow range that may be scent crossing the doe trails in the middle of tall crp?

Yes and no, I've killed one off the ground that I just happened to run into as he was cutting the doe trails. I also have been waiting literally 5 or 6 years for one particular red oak to get big enough to get a stand in. I was able to prep it for my lone wolf this spring, I have seen at least a half dozen shooters pass by this tree over the last 10 years. Like I mentioned before my ground is pretty flat (only 6-8' elevation changes), and it is so thick the bucks don't have a visual advantage like appears they will with your property. One thing you could probably count on is that most CRP is warm season grasses and it usually dries out by early fall. Meaning the deer aren't going to get hardly any water from eating it, so that pond on the hill top probably gets visited during the day or early evening before they drop down the hill across the road.