The plan? I drove to a swamp that I have never hunted after looking it over with aerial maps. On the way in I encountered a couple of different groups of small game hunters on the high ground adjacent to the swamp. There are always guns going off here and human presence... pretty much the entire year.
After grabbing my gear I began walking the edge of the swamp, right where it butts up to the hardwoods and high ground. The first 3/4 of a mile I cut some old tracks and some fresh new tracks from does and fawns, maybe a small buck... but nothing to get too excited about. Finally I cut a track that belonged to a 3 year old that was fresh from this morning.
The track took me out into the swamp and I had to duck numerous tagalders before moving into and out of a patch of cattails. Walking further into the swamp I could see what appeared to be a small island with a few hardwoods ahead. The buck circled downwind of it and I was surprised when he didn't hook toward it. He continued on and I could see a much larger Island ahead. I was again approaching on his backtrail from down wind. When I first set foot on the island I did not see a bed right away... so I quietly nosed forward.
Bingo, there he is!! He ran right at me and broke hard off of my right shoulder and into deep swamp... this happens to me quite a bit, I am approaching from where they really want to escape to so they run right at me before angling off- I really get a kick out of it when they do this!
Last year I had a female hunter with me that I was showing the ropes to and when the big boy charged right at us before breaking hard off my left shoulder her eyes were 
, good stuff! The bed was on a small knoll that rose well above the surrounding ground.
I noted a much larger bed on the knoll from a bigger buck that had bedded there within the last week, likely when the prevailing wind direction was the wind of the day. Multiple bucks use this small bedding knoll. Will bucks bedded here bed there next deer season? No doubt about it. The beds are dented in the ground and solid, "black dirt" with no vegetation. I paid close attention to the new and old tracks in the snow, the direction they faced which indicated entry or exit from the bedding area. Before picking out some trees to hunt, I noted these rubs 15 feet off of the knoll:
A productive scout, indeed.
