Overlooked Bed?

[mibowhunter]

I was bored last night and doing some aerial map scouting on some heavily pressured MI land. I came across what I think may be an overlooked area but wanted some input. I drew a little drawing in paint - this is really heavy pressured land - and was wondering how to pull off a bed hunt.

So here is the scenario - the black lines represent heavy traffic roads. The green triangle with the red star at the tip is a small patch of trees with a brushy point where I suspect there might be a bed. However, this is only about 50 yards from the road. The surrounding yellow is all cattails/marsh. And then on the north side of the road is private woods and crop fields, which would be my suspected destination from the bed.



Would this bed be wind based (north wind), or do you think it would be used regardless of wind because it is so isolated - and I guess I am assuming there will be a bed there, correct me if I'm wrong. The nearest parking lot is almost a mile away (rare in MI). In trying to be sneaky, I was thinking about having someone drop me off by the triangular woods and setting up just off the road (as close as i can legally). But is the bed so close to the road that it would spook a deer if a vehicle stopped? And I would have to be silent, but would want to be "quick" to get off the road and not be seen....

Anybody had a scenario like this before? Thoughts?

[Groundpounder]

I had a few beds last season that were similar. About 50- 75 yards from parking areas and about the same distance from public foot trails. Both were on small fingers that dumped into a swamp. I found one was used in the morning. With wind blowing over the back they could monitor the foot trails and see/hear the parking area.

I did not have success on these beds. I suspect my time would have been better spent hunting the bed that the bucks retreated to in the swamp once they were bumped. This spring I found one of these swamp beds and may give it a hunt around the gun opener when i know they will get pressure and be pushed off of that bed in the morning.

I would confirm there is a buck bed there, then search the cattails for a secondary bed as well. I've also seen does use small road side islands like the one you have depending on the area. I see these beds more as pressure/food source(corn still up) based beds than strictly wind based. Just my two cents. Good luck

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[dirt nap giver]

I hunt beds like this here in Michigan as well.
A few years ago, I started placing trail cams 12-15' up in a tree pointing down on the bed and left it there for the season. This gave me Intel for the following season.
Rather than guessing on the time of use and wind direction, you now have specific info.
1) set it well after dark, just before or during a good rain.
2) aim it to watch that bed only(or 2 beds close to each other)
3) leave it all season.

It is a personal challenge to not check these cams, but man what a treat once you pull it.

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[PK_]

That isn't going to be easy to hunt. 50 yards ain't much room to wiggle near a bedded buck, especially with no intel. I suspect he will bed in a way to know if anyone steps foot onto that little patch of dirt.

[KLEMZ]

You could wait for a southerly component wind and ride by on a bicycle to see if there is sign of a buck crossing the road to feed. If there is, you could hunt the favored trail on a wind you expect him to be there (anything except SW,S,SE?) by being dropped off a ways up the road and walk in out of sight in the cover next to the road. Set up would be very tricky with no previous scouting. I am imagining a ground sit (and you may be waving at passing motorists:)

You may want to do the bike "ride by" a few different times during the season, because if there is a buck using that point, it surely is only seasonal, depending on pressure and food etc. I don't see that being a primary spot for a mature buck.

[KLEMZ]

Not to hijack this thread, but I would be very interested to hear what dirt nap has learned by monitoring beds with cams!!

[dan]

You could wait for a southerly component wind and ride by on a bicycle to see if there is sign of a buck crossing the road to feed. If there is, you could hunt the favored trail on a wind you expect him to be there (anything except SW,S,SE?) by being dropped off a ways up the road and walk in out of sight in the cover next to the road. Set up would be very tricky with no previous scouting. I am imagining a ground sit (and you may be waving at passing motorists:)

You may want to do the bike "ride by" a few different times during the season, because if there is a buck using that point, it surely is only seasonal, depending on pressure and food etc. I don't see that being a primary spot for a mature buck.

Your "probably" right about the bed not being primary, but I have seen some like this that were...
My thought is you need to scout the spot. Michigan don't open for a month, watch the forcast and go in on a rain day before the rain. Preferably scout with a south wind cause the bed is likely best used on a north wind. If you hunt off the ground in cattails you will need a trail to get to your set up quietly, and you will need a pre-made shooting trail. You can not penatrate cattails with an arrow... You have to have a clean shot.

I would come in on an angle, not directly from the road where he expects, north wind is the most likely used. As mentioned a stroll down the road dressed like a jogger to check for tracks prior to the hunt is a good idea.