Hunting Beech-Maple Mountain Land

[SamRudegeair]

Hello all,

This is the first year I am venturing back to NE PA to hunt mountain bucks since I was in my teens. I’ve been finding good sign and bedding, but for the life of me I can’t figure out what they’re eating. I have yet to find a single oak as the properties are 90+% Beech with the rest in Maple. It’s making figuring out how these deer walk and transition through here difficult. Does anyone have any experience hunting these types of woods from November through December?

[brancher147]

Those woods are tough. Deer will browse maple and eat beech nuts but nuts are gone by November December. It’s mostly natural browse and deer cover lots of ground. We have those forests in some higher elevations in WV. I have never hunted them a whole lot. I have had some luck hunting near primary scrapes that time of year or hunting terrain pinch points in between bedding. Doe bedding and cruising bucks during rut is your best bet from my experience.