Anyone here have experience hunting mountain laurel thickets? I know that I usually find lots of trails into and out of, but I have never ventured deep into one. Can you take a similar approach to swamps in hunting the trails and the edges leading to oak flats that surround these thickets?
In trying to apply beast tactics to dense forests, it would seem that the deer would use them regularly as they are typically very dense and difficult for hunters to move around in, but very easy for the deer.
The most dense areas of cover are clearcuts and laurel thickets on the public land in my area.
Laurel Thickets
- Ghost Pointer
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Re: Laurel Thickets
Great question, I'm curious what every one thinks too. I'm hunting PA for the first tone this year and the public ground I'll be on is down right gnarly with laural and blueberry
- elk yinzer
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Re: Laurel Thickets
Don't tell the non beasts, but yeah, they are awesome. I've found in archery season there is a "right" amount of thickness. Deer tend to avoid the gnarliest ones but love bedding and traveling in patchy laurel. In rifle season they lay up in the thickest rockiest patches they can find.
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Re: Laurel Thickets
Same principles apply. On mountains they will be bedded on leeward sides and in flat areas look at the transition areas. Some of the best beds I've found in the mountains of pa where I hunt are on a leeward side where a transition begins near the military crest with laurel below and sometimes laurel at their back with open hardwoods below.
- Ghost Pointer
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Re: Laurel Thickets
Thanks for the replies. The backside of 2 ridges I hunt are mostly laurel, one is very rocky as well. I have seen bear heading in and out, but need to check them out more after the season for beds. For now, I may push the envelope a little bit and push in for hot sign to setup on.
- flinginairos
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Re: Laurel Thickets
In my area, laurel is what I look for and target! Lucky for me, it grows on the leeward side of the area I hunt and theres a bench that sits right at the 1/3 elevation line. I have one patch of laurel that sits on the leeward side and is a small point off the edge of the ridge and I can almost bet my paycheck there will be a buck (sometimes more than one) bedded there with a SW-W wind. Last year I slipped into this area just off of the transition line where a rub line had opened up and one of my target bucks got up out of his bed 70 yards away and walked down giving me a perfect shot. 5.5 year old buck in a highly pressured area 45 minutes before dark on October 1st!
- Ghost Pointer
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Re: Laurel Thickets
That's awesome. Really gets me thinking about how to access and where to setup . You guys have confirmed my suspicions. Hopefully, I can share a kill story before the end of the season!
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Re: Laurel Thickets
Laurel thickets on shorter skinny ridges and points are money. I found a mature buck bed in a new area I found two days ago in a location like I just explained. If the whole ridge is covered in laurel i dont find it as productive for bedding. If it is just on the point and ball of the ridge its going to hold deer from my experience.
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