Found MY first big woods public land bucks beds!

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BackWoodsHunter
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Found MY first big woods public land bucks beds!

Unread postby BackWoodsHunter » Fri Apr 29, 2011 2:47 pm

Went up north to spend Easter with my grandpa and family. We spent a lot of time at the hunting land where some family feuding broke out over the decision to sell the farm. The ownership is between my grandpa and his 9 brothers and sisters so obviously nothing is going to be easy. All the feuding lead to a realization in my mind that we have had some good hunts there but its probably unlikely I will get much more time to hunt there. So to deal with that, which is a little upsetting, I disappeared onto public land for the better part of the afternoon/evening on sunday. I have to admit I was wrong when I said bucks in big woods don't have patterns. They are harder to find but I take back to the comments I have made about how it doesn't seem that they bed in any specific spots. My eyes were opened on sunday. I found my first true big woods public land buck beds. I was scouting papermill/forest crop land in Oneida County, WI. I found 3, what I believe to be, buck beds. One tucked just into the timber on the edge of a recent clear cut, one on a slight ridge off the north end of an oak ridge/flat. The ridge points out to the north and the brush almost makes it feel like it has a bank and it drops off slightly and just past the drop off on the downhill side was a good bed. The last one was up on the point of a ridge about 20ft back from the point where he can literally monitor all of the movement/access to the area from one of the access lanes. I know technically ridge top bedding is for does but this one was all alone and I'm led to believe its a buck.

Here are a few pics-note all the hair in the beds!

The bed is to the right of the multistemmed tree and there are a bunch of gouges in the trunks of the tree they appear to be an attempt at rubbing. This whole piece is loaded with rubs but none very big in size. There are finally deer in the area but it may be a year or two before anything "big" shows up!

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Bed off the acorn ridge, just down from the top of the ridge with the blow down tree and thick bushes for a backdrop to hide him!
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Ridge top bed (bad picture but you get the idea)

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Hodag Hunter
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Re: Found MY first big woods public land bucks beds!

Unread postby Hodag Hunter » Fri Apr 29, 2011 2:56 pm

Cool find on the beds.....never an easy task to find buck beds in these parts, good job.

The trick is how to access and hunt the beds now.......something I'm still "learning" every season.
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Re: Found MY first big woods public land bucks beds!

Unread postby BackWoodsHunter » Fri Apr 29, 2011 3:04 pm

I'm thinking it shouldn't be too hard but I am obviously wrong :roll: This area gets a fair amount of activity I believe, a few seasons ago I was driving by and saw the neighborhood redneck riding his atv, beer in hand, with a bag of corn on the back into this area to "feed the deer". Since they haven't let us shoot does the pressure on this piece has dropped off drastically and the bedding there is better than its ever been. The trick is how do I figure out which deer is using which bed when!?!?!?! Grandpa always puts a small bait pile by his stand on our side of the road and this public is across the road.Trail cam pics show its pretty evident they all come from over there and generally after dark. I think when a nice buck starts showing up that is when I will make my move and hope he is bedded in one of those spots based on the wind. Luckily the logging roads through the area are maintained enough that approach even by bike should be silent and easy.
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Re: Found MY first big woods public land bucks beds!

Unread postby headgear » Sat Apr 30, 2011 2:47 am

BackWoodsHunter wrote: The trick is how do I figure out which deer is using which bed when!?!?!?!


This really is the hard part. Finding the beds can be a lot of work but they can be found if you put in the time/miles. The thing about bigwoods is you can't really shine all that easily to see if a buck is in the area and using a specific bed. The woods are either too thick or the clear cut is so remote that you just can't drive up and shine it without spooking the bucks before you get there. I think a lot of times you just have to take your best guess or get out early and scout on your way into the area, if you don' see the sign you might have to change plans in a hurry.
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Re: Found MY first big woods public land bucks beds!

Unread postby dan » Sat Apr 30, 2011 4:22 am

If you find good buck beds in an area like this just hunt them when you think they are getting used... Don't worry about which buck it might be.
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Re: Found MY first big woods public land bucks beds!

Unread postby virginiashadow » Sat Apr 30, 2011 1:23 pm

I used to walk past clumps of hair like that and think..."dang something got killed.....". And all the while they were bedding spots. LOL. I found some big clumps of white hair this year down way low on a hillside. I dismissed it. Now I am rethinking the situation.
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Re: Found MY first big woods public land bucks beds!

Unread postby BackWoodsHunter » Sat Apr 30, 2011 4:00 pm

I thought the same thing I was bummed to find dead deer but poking around proved no bones just hair that appears to have been shed. And if you get down close you can see any plants/tree sprouts/vegetation within reach of the bed tends to be browsed off. The first one caught me too because the tree appears to be gouged up by the tines of a buck.
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Re: Found MY first big woods public land bucks beds!

Unread postby BackWoodsHunter » Sat Apr 30, 2011 4:02 pm

dan wrote:If you find good buck beds in an area like this just hunt them when you think they are getting used... Don't worry about which buck it might be.



Good deal thanks dan. Now that I have them located I am going back mid may to prep a few stand spots and try to figure out which winds they use to bed in these spots and better pinpoint their exits. I have a good feeling about them.
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Re: Found MY first big woods public land bucks beds!

Unread postby BackWoodsHunter » Sat Apr 30, 2011 4:05 pm

Here's a better close up for you virginia...nothin but hair crazy stuff! I would assume the cold winter and deep snow had them really putting on the thick fur. Not to mention how cold it got here early on in the fall.

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Re: Found MY first big woods public land bucks beds!

Unread postby Dewey » Sat Apr 30, 2011 5:27 pm

That's interesting!! I never saw that much hair shed in a bed like that unless a dead deer was nearby.
Are you sure the porkies didn't eat all of the bones?? :lol:
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Re: Found MY first big woods public land bucks beds!

Unread postby Black Squirrel » Sun May 01, 2011 6:25 am

BackWoodsHunter wrote:Here's a better close up for you virginia...nothin but hair crazy stuff! I would assume the cold winter and deep snow had them really putting on the thick fur. Not to mention how cold it got here early on in the fall.

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This time of year, the deer are loosing their winter coats, and you can find hair pretty much any where deer spend a lot of time. My son found a clump in a splintered sapling while Turkey hunting yesterday.
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Re: Found MY first big woods public land bucks beds!

Unread postby BackWoodsHunter » Sun May 01, 2011 1:42 pm

There was so much hair in these spots I am pretty sure they were bedded there for some period of time to lose that much hair in one spot though. Although I agree, this is the first year I have taken spring scouting seriously and I am surprised at the amount of deer hair scattered throughout the woods. Like I said though there was so much in these spots and based on where they were located I'm pretty sure they are beds.
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Re: Found MY first big woods public land bucks beds!

Unread postby Singing Bridge » Mon May 02, 2011 12:35 am

Nice job on getting in the woods for some scouting, BWH. 8-)

One thing I would mention, if I find a bed that I believe has been used recently there will most likely be other buck sign around the bed. Specifically, tracks and droppings (along with deer hair in the bed itself) are usually able to be found close by.

Some buck beds are very seasonal, they are obviously a buck bed but have no recent sign around at all. When the right food source, weather/wind, rut stage, leaf-drop, hunting pressure or the like appears the buck will bed there.

Keep the reports rolling, BWH- I'm anxious to see how this all pans out for you.


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