(north) winter vs. primary bedding help???

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remmag
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Re: (north) winter vs. primary bedding help???

Unread postby remmag » Fri Jan 23, 2015 5:41 pm

You in Michigan whitetailassasin? Just curious

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Ack
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Re: (north) winter vs. primary bedding help???

Unread postby Ack » Fri Jan 23, 2015 7:25 pm

My scouting right now is the same as DNG and WA. It's a good time of the year to break down the woods and determine the areas that don't require a second look come spring.
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Re: (north) winter vs. primary bedding help???

Unread postby dirt nap giver » Fri Jan 23, 2015 11:45 pm

Lockdown wrote:
dirt nap giver wrote:Finding beds now shows me they are winter beds. As mentioned, I am looking more for big rubs togetheror in a line which leads me back to the bedding area. Nailing down the exact bed location comes more in early spring as the snow is melting and before green up. Rubs, transition lines are clues and only part of the picture. This time of year I am rapidly scouting new areas that I have located through cyber scouting. Only after my rapid scout through the transition lines will I determine if the area is worth breaking down.

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DNG do you ever find clusters of rubs with the bedding nearby? Maybe 100 yds away? I found some insanely big rubs yesterday, but they were all in a cluster with no obvious bed near by. Snow didn't help anything :lol: I plan on going back in the spring to search more, but I'm wondering if you ever come across groups of big rubs that don't have bedding very near. Something that would make a rookie think he's hunting his bedroom when he's really not. If so, an example or two would be great. (that goes for any of the beasts as well)

I had a hard time finding rubs at this place, but when I found them they were HUGE.

A few questions need to be answered before coming to any conclusion. For example, are there heavy deer trails in close proximity to these rubs? Something that would lead me to believe that this spot might have multiple bucks cruising through it. If there isn't a lot of trails, then there is a reason that buck has spent enough time there to rub the area up the way he does. Often times, areas like this are staging areas.
Findings such as this have me using Google Earth, Bing Birds Eye, Caltopo etc to look at the big picture. Both maps are equally important, but they don't always give me the small details. I would print both a topo as well as aerial to bring them with me the next time I scouted the spot. Mark those maps up wth info such as small humps that aren't shown on the topo, rubs, scrapes, food, treestands, human traffic, anything that I find is marked. Usually after I have done this, I can now start to see more of the big picture as to where I think he is going after bedding or how he is accessing his bed.
After watching Dans videos, my mind conveyed that bedding has to be very defined almost as though every bed was used to the point of exposed dirt and belly hair in large amounts. That isn't or should I say hasn't been the case for me and the beds I have found.
One thing that Dan has said that sticks with me more than other statements was, "what has your investigation revealed to you?" That was in a post he made. For some reason, that question stuck with me and has driven me to take multiple trips & perspectives when I am really investigating a bedding area.
Hope this helps

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Re: (north) winter vs. primary bedding help???

Unread postby dirt nap giver » Fri Jan 23, 2015 11:53 pm

To answer your question, yes I have found clumps of rubs without beds nearby. Looking back on those, some were close to feeding areas(fields) and some were where multiple trails came together which led me to believe that more than one buck was using those rubs.

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Re: (north) winter vs. primary bedding help???

Unread postby whitetailassasin » Sat Jan 24, 2015 12:39 am

Yes I am

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Zona
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Re: (north) winter vs. primary bedding help???

Unread postby Zona » Sat Jan 24, 2015 2:40 am

whitetailassasin wrote:Agree with DNG, once I can pinpoint beds it becomes determining whether or not it's early season, late season, rut based, pressure, wind. I find access routes, trees where runs go and come from. If you hunt public state land like I do, so many things can alter how you hunt a place. I like to use winter scouting to locate where hunters go and come from and head into places that no one will go once season starts because it's overlooked or too remote or there is "no easy way there" :lol: I like trying to put the pieces together and also have back up plans if another hunter fouls up my hunt or if he's moved beds. [glow=red]The more your in the woods and learning your area the smaller it really becomes and the more you will see how the bucks are using it and why.[/glow]
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