In the big woods public land I hunt in PA there are very few to no fields. The land consists of hardwoods, mountain laurel, and thick swamps. I feel like I do a good job finding doe beds and the occasional buck bed outside of those doe beds making them prime time late October early November spots. I want to start focusing my scouting on beds I could hunt in the early and middle parts of October. These deer have lots of browse and a lot of areas to bed. Is there anything I could do to narrow my search for early season buck beds? What types of sign do I look for to determine a bed is being used during early season?
The 2017 season will be my first hunting specific beds. I've gathered loads of information from this site that has been very helpful. I look at google earth, maps, and the woods completely different than I ever have. Kind of an eye opening experience really. So any help on this would be greatly appreciated.
Early Season Hill Country Beds
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Re: Early Season Hill Country Beds
I have done very little early season hill country hunting but when I did, acorns ruled all. If acorns are everywhere, browse is everywhere and not enough pressure to put the bucks where they are supposed to be it can be real tough.
One thing I would do is stay away from areas that have diverse terrain. Hunt swamps with no hills around or hills with no swamps around. That way the bucks only have one choice of where and how to bed and makes your life easier. It may sound counterintuitive but i believe it helps tremendously.
One thing I would do is stay away from areas that have diverse terrain. Hunt swamps with no hills around or hills with no swamps around. That way the bucks only have one choice of where and how to bed and makes your life easier. It may sound counterintuitive but i believe it helps tremendously.
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Re: Early Season Hill Country Beds
To me it seemed swampy areas were more predictable in early season. It's definitely easier to set up close to a bed in swamp terrain. I had my best buck encounters around wet stuff, and I hunt all terrain types in PA. This past year was my first hunting beds after a full offseason of scouting, so I'm not nearly as experienced as many on here. I would say dive in and find as many beds in your hunting area as you can regardless of terrain. Bucks will use different beds on different days on different winds at different times of year for different reasons. Figuring out WHEN beds are being used and huntable is the hardest part in my opinion. Dan's new dvd is coming out soon, it should help many of us fine tune our hill country skills.
What part of PA are you from?
What part of PA are you from?
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Re: Early Season Hill Country Beds
In NH we don't have a huge presence of Mtn. Laurel, but whenever I find it, it holds deer...
Expect the Unexpected when you least Expect it...
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Re: Early Season Hill Country Beds
I'm thinking on focusing my efforts on the swamps and any acorns I find during in season scouting. With this being my first year hunting beds I'm sure it's gonna be a lot of trial and error before I really get to nail anything down. It is with anything you try that's new, right.
Josh_S I'm from NE PA. 3C/3D
Josh_S I'm from NE PA. 3C/3D
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Re: Early Season Hill Country Beds
I've only nailed down one pattern in early season hill country and it's not what you'd expect. You might not know why they're doing something in early season, just know when. If you're in the woods and you see a buck, you better be hitting the save button. You need to be there every year after that sighting...at the same time, under the same conditions. I'm a firm believer in summer patterns and replicating them year after year.
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Re: Early Season Hill Country Beds
Divergent wrote:I've only nailed down one pattern in early season hill country and it's not what you'd expect. You might not know why they're doing something in early season, just know when. If you're in the woods and you see a buck, you better be hitting the save button. You need to be there every year after that sighting...at the same time, under the same conditions. I'm a firm believer in summer patterns and replicating them year after year.
Great Answer Divergent!
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Re: Early Season Hill Country Beds
Divergent wrote:I've only nailed down one pattern in early season hill country and it's not what you'd expect. You might not know why they're doing something in early season, just know when. If you're in the woods and you see a buck, you better be hitting the save button. You need to be there every year after that sighting...at the same time, under the same conditions. I'm a firm believer in summer patterns and replicating them year after year.
Spot on!! And I will add that when you get a buck on that pattern to strike fast and get the job done. Things change quickly that time of year and you may only have a few days to make it happen.
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Re: Early Season Hill Country Beds
flinginairos wrote:Divergent wrote:I've only nailed down one pattern in early season hill country and it's not what you'd expect. You might not know why they're doing something in early season, just know when. If you're in the woods and you see a buck, you better be hitting the save button. You need to be there every year after that sighting...at the same time, under the same conditions. I'm a firm believer in summer patterns and replicating them year after year.
Spot on!! And I will add that when you get a buck on that pattern to strike fast and get the job done. Things change quickly that time of year and you may only have a few days to make it happen.
It's funny you guys say this. I've ran a camera in one location for 3 years now. Early season there is always one buck I'd be more than happy to put my tag on feeding on acorns. Between October 15th-20th they disappear. I try every year to capitalize on this but never can unfortunately due to work. With only one day off a week during all archery season it's tough to make it happen and it drives me nuts.
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Re: Early Season Hill Country Beds
flinginairos wrote:Divergent wrote:I've only nailed down one pattern in early season hill country and it's not what you'd expect. You might not know why they're doing something in early season, just know when. If you're in the woods and you see a buck, you better be hitting the save button. You need to be there every year after that sighting...at the same time, under the same conditions. I'm a firm believer in summer patterns and replicating them year after year.
Spot on!! And I will add that when you get a buck on that pattern to strike fast and get the job done. Things change quickly that time of year and you may only have a few days to make it happen.
It's funny you guys say this. I've ran a camera in one location for 3 years now. Early season there is always one buck I'd be more than happy to put my tag on feeding on acorns. Between October 15th-20th they disappear. I try every year to capitalize on this but never can unfortunately due to work. With only one day off a week during all archery season it's tough to make it happen and it drives me nuts.
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Re: Early Season Hill Country Beds
PAHUNTER570 wrote:flinginairos wrote:Divergent wrote:I've only nailed down one pattern in early season hill country and it's not what you'd expect. You might not know why they're doing something in early season, just know when. If you're in the woods and you see a buck, you better be hitting the save button. You need to be there every year after that sighting...at the same time, under the same conditions. I'm a firm believer in summer patterns and replicating them year after year.
Spot on!! And I will add that when you get a buck on that pattern to strike fast and get the job done. Things change quickly that time of year and you may only have a few days to make it happen.
It's funny you guys say this. I've ran a camera in one location for 3 years now. Early season there is always one buck I'd be more than happy to put my tag on feeding on acorns. Between October 15th-20th they disappear. I try every year to capitalize on this but never can unfortunately due to work. With only one day off a week during all archery season it's tough to make it happen and it drives me nuts.
That certainly makes it tough. Luckily I live five minutes from my main hunting property so I can act quickly to take advantage of a buck if I see a pattern. Even then it's hard! Work has saved many a bucks life i'm sure
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