First Scout of the Season!!! High Hopes.

Discuss the science of figuring out our prey through good detective work.
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First Scout of the Season!!! High Hopes.

Unread postby TN Whitetail Freak » Fri Jan 30, 2015 2:59 pm

Today I went into a really thick ridge top that i discovered last week while squirrel hunting. While walking it i found Rub #6 on the very outside of this thicket where the ridge starts to fall off....i made it a point to get back and scout this thick ridge. Well today I got off work early headed back. I decided to walk down the southern edge from East to West to begin starting at Rub #1 and walk back the north edge West to East. Today there was a NNW wind so I assumed if he was using this bed that he would be in it today. All of these rubs where on the southern edge of this thicket that just so happen to be (just like Dan's videos mentioned) at the top 1/3 of this N to S running ridge side. I didn't find his bed I looked really hard for one and the closest thing that looked like a bed was at Rub #3 but i didnt find any hair confirmation. This deer had been rubbing this pine at Rub #3 so long that the tree is beginning to look as if a beaver has gotten a hold of it...i measured it and the tree is 6.5" and the center part of the rub is 4.5" so its been rubbed on so long 2" of wood is gone and not just on one side.....all way around it!!!!! I found droppings 2' from Rub #3 and Rub #4....the center of the pellets were still moist and they weren't dried out so Im making an assumption this deer made it through deer season. Each rub is 22" to center and 43" average to the very top markings. my .22 rifle is 39.5" in length so you guys can get an idea. Im excited but would like to get some of your guys opinion how to approach some of this ridge thicket. Its rather small area of thicket

Image Rub#1
Image Rub#2
Image Rub#3 and possible bed not real sure.
Image Rub#4
Image Rub#5
Image Rub#6


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Re: First Scout of the Season!!! High Hopes.

Unread postby TN Whitetail Freak » Fri Jan 30, 2015 3:05 pm

thicket is roughly 7 acres on the outside of borders of a few thousand acre public swamp grounds
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Re: First Scout of the Season!!! High Hopes.

Unread postby Southern Man » Sat Jan 31, 2015 12:53 am

Good find. Kill any squirrels?
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Re: First Scout of the Season!!! High Hopes.

Unread postby Zona » Sat Jan 31, 2015 4:35 am

Rub #3 definitely looks like a bed location. Personally I would keep looking for more sign/beds of the buck to gather more info before deciding on a setup. If you didn't find a well used bed on the ridge, he may only use that bed as a secondary bed.
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Re: First Scout of the Season!!! High Hopes.

Unread postby Stanley » Sat Jan 31, 2015 5:53 am

Nice.
You can fool some of the bucks, all of the time, and fool all of the bucks, some of the time, however you certainly can't fool all of the bucks, all of the time.
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Re: First Scout of the Season!!! High Hopes.

Unread postby TN Whitetail Freak » Sat Jan 31, 2015 6:24 am

No squirrels were seen i spent most my time walking this thicket very very slow....like it took me 2-2.5 hrs to walk 275 yds slow.....zona this was my first beast scouting trip and i may have over looked it but i found other deer beds back in october and hair confirmation on other public lands but they were more defined and "easy" to determine....i didnt find anything like that i found suspect matted spots but no hair found but there was droppings in the 2 suspect spots i found which was at the base of rub #3 and #4...is there a BEST time to go find beds? Where distinguishing them is much easier? Maybe dan will tune in

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Re: First Scout of the Season!!! High Hopes.

Unread postby TN Whitetail Freak » Sat Jan 31, 2015 6:36 am

No squirrels were seen i spent most my time walking this thicket very very slow....like it took me 2-2.5 hrs to walk 275 yds slow.....zona this was my first beast scouting trip and i may have over looked it but i found other deer beds back in october and hair confirmation on other public lands but they were more defined and "easy" to determine....i didnt find anything like that i found suspect matted spots but no hair found but there was droppings in the 2 suspect spots i found which was at the base of rub #3 and #4...is there a BEST time to go find beds? Where distinguishing them is much easier? Maybe dan will tune in

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Re: First Scout of the Season!!! High Hopes.

Unread postby Zona » Sun Feb 01, 2015 1:03 am

TN Whitetail Freak wrote:No squirrels were seen i spent most my time walking this thicket very very slow....like it took me 2-2.5 hrs to walk 275 yds slow.....zona this was my first beast scouting trip and i may have over looked it but i found other deer beds back in october and hair confirmation on other public lands but they were more defined and "easy" to determine....i didnt find anything like that i found suspect matted spots but no hair found but there was droppings in the 2 suspect spots i found which was at the base of rub #3 and #4..[glow=red].is there a BEST time to go find beds? Where distinguishing them is much easier?[/glow] Maybe dan will tune in

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Any time before spring leaf out, but there is no "easy" time to go. Snow helps me find a few more than usual, but that is due to tracking them to their beds. Hopefully Dan will chime in for you and give you his opinion.
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Re: First Scout of the Season!!! High Hopes.

Unread postby JoeRE » Tue Feb 03, 2015 9:57 am

Don't get too down about not finding beds. In hill country bucks often don't use the exact same bed every time....they might move 20 feet this way and 100 feet that way each time so there is no single worn bed. It looks to me like you found a prime bedding area. The best buck bedding is often small thickets on points like that...larger thickets have more does than bucks in them outside of the rut. I would look at the most likely directions a buck would exit and enter the thicket toward whatever food is around. That rub line you found would be something to key in on...its clearly a travel route going/coming somewhere. Good luck!

Those trees rubbed year after year is a great sign too.
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Re: First Scout of the Season!!! High Hopes.

Unread postby TN Whitetail Freak » Tue Feb 03, 2015 6:12 pm

there is one main trail that goes into this thicket and the rubs run along that mostly....can the direction of wind help me "guess" which direction he will leave the bed or does his appetite decide that....there was corn to the North of Rub#6 and the field where Rub#1 is seemed to be wild clover or maybe planted clover the state put in. and just east of that was a bean field that i park at the edge of that i seen many does in during june and july
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Re: First Scout of the Season!!! High Hopes.

Unread postby Zona » Thu Feb 05, 2015 3:21 am

IMO, it's all about the preferred food at the time you are hunting him. A south wind isn't going to stop him from hitting the corn field to the north. Dan has mentioned many times about seeing bucks leave their beds with the wind at their back and using their eyes to scan for danger as they move to the food source.


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