Scouting flat farm land.....

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dan
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Scouting flat farm land.....

Unread postby dan » Sun Jan 23, 2011 7:44 am

The recent post about hunting a ghost buck has inspired me to post how I look at relitivly flat farm land.
I like to scout in spring before green up, and after snow melt. I print a map of the land and then disect the map and scout it by sections. grid searching each section. Each section is searched very thorough.
I try to find every buck bed on the property as well as doe bedding areas. I take great care to really look close and disect each bedding area. I ask several questions at each buck bed.
1) why is he bedding here?
2) When is he bedding here?
3) What wind is he requiring to bed here?
4) How far can he see when bedded here?
5) How does he access and leave this bed?
6) Where is the best ambush as close as possible to the bed?
7) How can I access my stand position?
8) Do I need secondary, or third tree locations for differing winds?
9) How can I tell if the buck is bedding here without tipping the buck off?

I also want to know where the feeding areas, and travel roughts are, but bedding is always what I key in on...
The travel wroughts to and from food, funnels, and doe bedding areas are great rut areas, and are what most hunters key in on, but if your after the huge old buck that has survived to be 4 years old or older, your likely not going to kill him unless you hunt very close to his bedding area. They just don't travel much in daylight under most hunting pressure situations.


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Black Squirrel
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Re: Scouting flat farm land.....

Unread postby Black Squirrel » Sun Jan 23, 2011 7:54 am

Good info Dan. What size section do you break the maps down to grid search?
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Re: Scouting flat farm land.....

Unread postby BackWoodsHunter » Sun Jan 23, 2011 1:10 pm

I guess everyone's farmland that they hunt is different but where I hunt on farmland, Fon du Lac County, the areas with any form of habitat that aren't agriculture fields are tiny. I usually don't have to do much breaking down but I also cannot find a real pattern where the deer bed. I know why at least for one bed that appears to be a buck bed can see all of anyone's access points to the land. Also where we hunt the deer bed in the neighbors tiny swamp maybe 100yards by 100yards and then come out to feed by us. We hunt the line as close as we can but there's just not much a guy can do about that.

Dan, what are your views and thoughts on mature bucks bedding in crop fields. I know they will bed in overgrown CRP fields, and things like that but I am wondering about standing corn. The land we hunt in Fon du Lac is hit or miss based on the crops planted there. The deer follow the crops or so it would seem. For the last 3 years beans were planted and harvested on the land we hunted and the only time the hunting was ever good over them was when they were green opening weekend of bowseason after that they got brown and harvested and the deer sign disappeared. This year they planted corn and even after it was cut we saw tons and tons of deer. I definitely notice they follow the crops based on what is "ripe" and what is available. In the late summer/early fall its beans then its corn til seasons close. Do you think the bucks are bedding right out in these prime crops?


SOrry for being so long winded!
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Re: Scouting flat farm land.....

Unread postby dan » Sun Jan 23, 2011 1:24 pm

Black Squirrel wrote:Good info Dan. What size section do you break the maps down to grid search?

Small enough to search in one outing... 40 acres or so...
If you try looking at to big of areas you will start missing stuff.
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Re: Scouting flat farm land.....

Unread postby dan » Sun Jan 23, 2011 1:30 pm

BackWoodsHunter wrote:I guess everyone's farmland that they hunt is different but where I hunt on farmland, Fon du Lac County, the areas with any form of habitat that aren't agriculture fields are tiny. I usually don't have to do much breaking down but I also cannot find a real pattern where the deer bed. I know why at least for one bed that appears to be a buck bed can see all of anyone's access points to the land. Also where we hunt the deer bed in the neighbors tiny swamp maybe 100yards by 100yards and then come out to feed by us. We hunt the line as close as we can but there's just not much a guy can do about that.

Dan, what are your views and thoughts on mature bucks bedding in crop fields. I know they will bed in overgrown CRP fields, and things like that but I am wondering about standing corn. The land we hunt in Fon du Lac is hit or miss based on the crops planted there. The deer follow the crops or so it would seem. For the last 3 years beans were planted and harvested on the land we hunted and the only time the hunting was ever good over them was when they were green opening weekend of bowseason after that they got brown and harvested and the deer sign disappeared. This year they planted corn and even after it was cut we saw tons and tons of deer. I definitely notice they follow the crops based on what is "ripe" and what is available. In the late summer/early fall its beans then its corn til seasons close. Do you think the bucks are bedding right out in these prime crops?


SOrry for being so long winded!

Personally, I have not seen many mature bucks that bed right in corn fields. I do believe it happens in some places where bedding cover is lacking, but I do not think its a preffered way for a mature buck to bed in most cases.
The reason I believe this to be true is in the nature of a bedding buck. He trys to find a spot that is very diffacult for a person or predator to sneak up on him. Bedding alone in corn would make him vulnerable to attack with blocked vision and scent from several directions.
When I have seen bucks bed in corn its usually in a draw or weed patch within the corn. Drainage canals with lots of brush are good spots within corn.
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Re: Scouting flat farm land.....

Unread postby wmihunter » Sun Jan 23, 2011 1:32 pm

dan, how long is an outing. are you talking 8 hours or a couple hours. just curious-so i can gauge how fast to scout
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Re: Scouting flat farm land.....

Unread postby dan » Sun Jan 23, 2011 1:38 pm

wmihunter wrote:dan, how long is an outing. are you talking 8 hours or a couple hours. just curious-so i can gauge how fast to scout

2 TO 5 hours for a 40 acre chunk Im guessing... Depends on how many bedding areas you find and how much time you spend deciphering them. I would not worry much about the time it takes, and more about doing a thorough job.
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Re: Scouting flat farm land.....

Unread postby BackWoodsHunter » Sun Jan 23, 2011 2:16 pm

Thanks dan! I asked because its a common debate between me and a few buddies. The one kid I hunt with on this particular chunk of land is clueless as to what a bedding area even is yet tries to tell me how to hunt :roll: It's his land and we've been friends for ever so I just let it be. Anyhow those are good points about the drainage canals and brushy points that go into the field. I have one I know that they bed on and another I would expect bedding to occur on but it never does. Anyhow thanks for the help I have found the farmland some of the trickiest land to hunt because the deer sign seems to be "erased" often by machinery, stray pets, and human activity. Also where we hunt there are no areas with timber/marsh that is consistent 40acres. Its mainly ag fields with 10or so acres of brush and oak and hickory trees.
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Re: Scouting flat farm land.....

Unread postby cornfedkiller » Mon Jan 24, 2011 4:35 am

Maybe a stupid question, but do you ever find beds that are just impossible to hunt? There is no way to get close without being seen or heard, and no way to hunt it?

There is a grove (maybe 4 acres) on a long abandoned farmplace near home that I had permission to hunt a couple years ago (before I knew anything about hunting beds), and looking back, Im 98 percent positive a big buck I was after bedded in there, because I had a camera in there and would get daytime pictures of him. The problem is that Im pretty sure its impossible to get in there to hunt him without getting busted.
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Re: Scouting flat farm land.....

Unread postby DEERSLAYER » Mon Jan 24, 2011 5:56 am

cornfedkiller wrote:Maybe a stupid question...

No stupid questions here. Only the one you don't ask.

You may have been able to hunt that particular spot by dressing in ALL white (including equipment) and stalking him during a blizzard.
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Re: Scouting flat farm land.....

Unread postby dreaming bucks » Mon Jan 24, 2011 6:02 am

cornfedkiller wrote:Maybe a stupid question, but do you ever find beds that are just impossible to hunt? There is no way to get close without being seen or heard, and no way to hunt it?

There is a grove (maybe 4 acres) on a long abandoned farmplace near home that I had permission to hunt a couple years ago (before I knew anything about hunting beds), and looking back, Im 98 percent positive a big buck I was after bedded in there, because I had a camera in there and would get daytime pictures of him. The problem is that Im pretty sure its impossible to get in there to hunt him without getting busted.


Just a thought on this situation.
Maybe you could set up on this buck on an early morning hunt. One of those mornings when they are expected to come back to his bedding late, during daylight. Maybe do the bump and dump trick ? Bump him out in late afternoon the day before. Set up your stand, and kill him the next morning when he returns to his bed.... I don't know, just a thought.
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Re: Scouting flat farm land.....

Unread postby cornfedkiller » Mon Jan 24, 2011 6:07 am

DEERSLAYER wrote:You may have been able to hunt that particular spot by dressing in ALL white (including equipment) and stalking him during a blizzard.


That is an excellent plan, and one I hadnt thought of. I can see how that would work well in some situations, but unfortunately for me and this particular spot, the deer seem to disappear from the area once the crops are harvested in october..
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Re: Scouting flat farm land.....

Unread postby cornfedkiller » Mon Jan 24, 2011 6:11 am

dreaming bucks wrote:Just a thought on this situation.
Maybe you could set up on this buck on an early morning hunt. One of those mornings when they are expected to come back to his bedding late, during daylight. Maybe do the bump and dump trick ? Bump him out in late afternoon the day before. Set up your stand, and kill him the next morning when he returns to his bed.... I don't know, just a thought.


Ah yes, I forgot about bump and dump..That would probably work in a situation like this..

Anyone have beds that are truly unhuntable? And what do you do then? Wait until he moves to a bed that is huntable?
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Re: Scouting flat farm land.....

Unread postby dan » Mon Jan 24, 2011 12:33 pm

Anyone have beds that are truly unhuntable? And what do you do then? Wait until he moves to a bed that is huntable?

There is no such thing as an un-huntable buck bed. I have several that are in the middle of an ocean of cattails or brush and you can't approach in most cases while the buck is bedded there.
Sneaking in when its raining, or snowing, or wind is covering your noise works. As does bumping the deer to a different bedding area where you can hunt them. Get in there in the morning before he gets back to bed maybe.
All else fails a small forced movement can pay off too...
Where ever they bed, a hunter with an open mind to try new techniques is still in the game if he knows where the bed is and has patience to wait till the time is right.
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Re: Scouting flat farm land.....

Unread postby DEERSLAYER » Mon Jan 24, 2011 12:36 pm

cornfedkiller wrote:...Anyone have beds that are truly unhuntable? And what do you do then? Wait until he moves to a bed that is huntable?


Another option is to get in there before he dose. This may mean 3-5 hours before daylight or more. Sometimes you have to get in there at 12am-1am. It just depends on the situation. I think that almost any buck is killable. You may have to come up with an unusual set up in the off season to do it, but there is almost always a way. The hardest part is finding him in the first place.
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