Buck bedding areas on public land...

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Tennhunter3
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Re: Buck bedding areas on public land...

Unread postby Tennhunter3 » Tue Aug 20, 2019 10:05 am

The issue on southern wmas is we don't have parking areas we just pull off the side of the road. It's hard to find overlooked spots I've found a few but not many.

I focus alot on old clearcuts that are not near access.
The best bedding I've located often times is right off the roadside or in hard to access clearcuts.

We have very few rubs compared to most places very little competition between bucks.


Never give up Freedom for imagined safety.
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Re: Buck bedding areas on public land...

Unread postby Elite » Tue Aug 20, 2019 10:07 am

Awesome thread!
Brokenarrow1980
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Re: Buck bedding areas on public land...

Unread postby Brokenarrow1980 » Tue Aug 20, 2019 10:11 am

I have a handful of doe bedding areas with ditch funnels about 100-120 yards from them. All I have do is get to them quietly and I feel I have a good shot at a shooter buck (bigger than 100 inches). These spots are fairly close to hiking trails so Bush whacking will be limited. I'm also saving these spots for rut see if a fresh set will get me a deer. I may not be in the game for the boss buck but I'm in still in the game. We will see how I fare but this is the most confident I been in hunting post surgery. Somehow someway I'm going to get this done.
It's all fun and games till someone looses an eye..... then its just fun
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Re: Buck bedding areas on public land...

Unread postby Elite » Tue Aug 20, 2019 10:22 am

Dan,

When you talk about bucks bedding close to parking lots, are they using specific terrain features, or just finding a spot where they're able to observe and/or smell the parking lot?
Jamielukas
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Re: Buck bedding areas on public land...

Unread postby Jamielukas » Thu Aug 22, 2019 2:04 am

Swampthing wrote:
Singing Bridge wrote:
dan wrote:Hunter74,
I like to use aerials, topo's, and DNR maps to get a lay out of the land. I do drive bys when I am in the area too to get a better idea. The DNR maps and topo's often show hunter parking lots and access as well as boat access. They also often show hiking trails... Any easy access hunting ground is likely getting hunted and pounded, with the exception of the over looked spots. I scout stuff between parking lots not far from the road, I scout stuff where water, muck, or long distances of cattails need to be crossed.


This is a great thread, and Dan has shared a fraction of his knowledge of these bedding areas to keep
us in the game. One of his other very "profound" statements in this thread was that the mature buck population remains fairly steady in the marshes and swamps he hunts... when hunting pressure kicks in
the population goes up- but with younger bucks and does, for the most part.


That isn't "stuff" you read in a magazine... we are extemely fortunate to have a hunter of Dan's caliber sharing his insight with us, he never ceases to amaze me.



I figured I would add "mah two pennies" to this as well- remembering what Dan and others have contributed to this thread already I hope to add to it a little. Deep swamps and marshes are pretty self explanatory and great places to look for buck beds on public land- so are those overlooked areas between parking spots. Aerials and topos can help tip us off to these spots and others as well.

There are some heavily pressured areas where going "remote" is not possible because of the makeup of the land and the many roads that crisscross it. I recommend thinking "outside the box" when struggling to locate buck bedding as well. We as hunters are "programmed" to think "treestand hunting", and without a doubt most of us haul in treestands and treesteps of all types. These public land bucks are overrun with treestands above them, and all kinds of human scent in these areas. They quickly relocate to bedding areas that are not capable of holding a treestand, with a lack of human scent, whatever that area may be. Maybe a clearcut with puny little aspen trees, or a new pine growth thicket with six foot tall pine tree's... you get the idea. Maybe a little pothole of water with brush surrounding it, which allows a buck to put a barrier on his downwind side...

So- my suggestion is to add the thought, when mentally reviewing your hunting area, "where in my hunting zone of heavily pressured area can bucks hang out and have no fear of a treestand?" I have only mentioned a few of these areas. I should add that in heavily pressured areas if you waltz in and put up a ground tent... good luck with that. There are a few setups where this can be pulled off, and I have done it, but I can assure you from personal experience that truly pressured bucks will find the new "blob" in their bedding area dangerous even when the blind is brushed in so heavily no fabric is visible...

Most of the areas I have mentioned have to be located on foot, as aerials and topos do little to reveal them to us. Potholes of water are normally visible on aerials though. Even in these types of bedding areas Dan's tactics can pay big dividends when we "think outiside of the box."


Excellent post Bridge.

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Re: Buck bedding areas on public land...

Unread postby Jamielukas » Thu Aug 22, 2019 2:09 am

365buckin wrote:
oneflag wrote:Good advice. It's amazing what you will find when you avoid walking the path of least resentence and walk or ever crawl through the thick stuff.
Short story: I hunted this one saddle off and on for years, I had confidence in the spot and seen a lot of deer but never the big guy. I left my stand one day and thought I would walk up the ridge and circle back to the car. I walked 150 yards up almost to the top then the ridge got narrow. I found several trees blown over. I thought about turning around and going back but I decided to crawl through and over the downed trees. I threw my leg over one tree and stepped right into a buck bed. I stood there and looked down the ridge right at the tree I was setup in. I felt pretty stupid. How many times had that buck laid there and watched me come in and out of my stand. He was watching me and watching all the deer I was letting pass. Smart old deer. I learned a lot that day!


You gotta love those ahh haa moments!!!! I feel so much smarter after I make those discoveries!

I agree . When it clicks its like....ahhh ok


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