jackpot rut spot

[Singing Bridge]

Hit a new spot for some scouting today and blundered into some interesting stuff. After spending many hours scouting this morning with little to show for it I was beginning to think I was going to have to chalk it up to being one of "those" days where you don't find jack! Then it happened- while busting through some tagalder swamp I stepped up onto a ridge... one of those low ones that rises up out of the marsh but doesn't show on the topo or aerial. "Wow", I thought as it was about thirty feet wide and running east and west, appearing to go some distance. There was an absolute cow path of a deer trail meanderning along the "hidden" ridge. With nothing but brush on both sides it offered deer tremendous security with no trees for a stand. I followed it for almost a quarter of a mile when it intersected with another, nearly identical type of hidden ridge coming down from the north. I glanced to the southeast and saw a "normal" ridge that appears on a topo that dropped to the marsh edge and died just fifty yards away... with quite a trail approaching the hidden ridges. The ridge from the north also had a cow trail coming down it. Where all three of these major trails meet, there are a couple of nice sized rubs and four large scrapes... one of those overlooked spots I'm going to have to hunt when the conditions are right. There is no sign of anyone hunting this area, amazing for public land. I decided to have my cake and eat it too, as I noted a mature, triple trunked maple twenty yards from the rubs and scrapes due east from the spot. I'm definitely going to have to hunt this once or twice next fall.

I found a buck bed north-northeast a quarter of a mile from the spot, found his staging area and will have to return to finsih my prep for hunting the bed. The buck that beds there most of the time appears to be a three year old for the coming fall.

Here's the triple trunk maple due east of the major rut spot, what my neighbors would call a primary scrape area- thats my badlands pack in the foreground:

[magicman54494]

Nice!

[JRM6868]

Very nice. I love triple trunked trees.

[Gardner Swamp]

Soon you will have enough hunting spots for each member of the Beast


My money is on you this year!!
Good stuff SB!!

[DEERSLAYER]

Nice find Bridge!

[Dewey]

Looks like a nice spot. I found an awesome spot similar to what you are describing up in northern WI. All of the biggest bucks I have seen up there over the years were there. It is similar very slight ridge that is surrounded by swamp and absolutely no hunting pressure.

[Wrinkleneck]

Man you have put down some boot leather this spring!!! Kudos to you, as you know it will pay big in the fall.

[Black Squirrel]

SB, your a true Beast! You sure are paying you dues! Another great find.

[PLB]

SB, your a true Beast! You sure are paying you dues! Another great find.

X2!!!

[headgear]

Sounds like a great spot SB, I would wish you good luck this fall but I don't think you will need any.

[Haus86]

Nice work Bridge. I hope it pays off this Fall.

[DropTyne]

Wait, was this a subliminal advertisement for Badlands Packs? So your saying I can also find hidden ridges loaded with big bucks if I own a Badlands Pack!

Great Find! Congrats, I'm off to the store to buy a Badlands Pack!

[BackWoodsHunter]

Dang man you are just piling up the spots...you should see if you can just take off all of fall otherwise you won't be able to hunt them all. At this rate I think you may even have the buck contest locked up as long as that new bow of yours shoots straight on one of those old public land slobs


May be a better question to ask in your journal where all of the scouting info is together but with all these spots how are you going to decide which spots to hunt first. Aside from the winds because obviously you will have multiple spots that work for the same wind. Just curious what your selection process will be.

[Singing Bridge]

Soon you will have enough hunting spots for each member of the Beast

I'm trying, GS!

Looks like a nice spot. I found an awesome spot similar to what you are describing up in northern WI. All of the biggest bucks I have seen up there over the years were there. It is similar very slight ridge that is surrounded by swamp and absolutely no hunting pressure.

That sounds great, Dewey- if there was some way I could be assured all the hunters would keep out of this spot I'd rest a lot easier!

Wait, was this a subliminal advertisement for Badlands Packs? So your saying I can also find hidden ridges loaded with big bucks if I own a Badlands Pack!

Badlands packs are pricey, but man are they tough! I've beat the crap out of mine for a number of years now, and its still going strong.

Dang man you are just piling up the spots...you should see if you can just take off all of fall otherwise you won't be able to hunt them all. At this rate I think you may even have the buck contest locked up as long as that new bow of yours shoots straight on one of those old public land slobs

Don't be jinxing me, BWH- We've got some real contest bucks around here, the "wannabe" bucks that occasionally make it to three years old and 106" typical!

May be a better question to ask in your journal where all of the scouting info is together but with all these spots how are you going to decide which spots to hunt first. Aside from the winds because obviously you will have multiple spots that work for the same wind. Just curious what your selection process will be.

Great question, BWH- most of the bucks I have prepped on the heavy pressure public will be three year olds this fall, which are relatively rare as the majority of the bucks never make it to that age. I do have several that are alive and well that have made it past that threshold, and when the conditions are right I will hunt them first. The older bucks have repeatedly eluded me on the heavy pressure public land, they definitely know the game!
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On a sidenote, I sure appreciate all the support my fellow Beasts have offered during the scouting season. In the interest of preventing "SB Scouting Burnout" for the rest of the spring I'm going to limit my scouting entries to my journal and Beast Blog. I'll still be "tracking" the rest of you though, keep the scouting rolling.

[Casper]

Wow, sounds like a killer spot!!! I can't wait for this season when we hear that you killed a buck from one of these spots, you surely have done your homework!!!!