Didnt locate the Bedding
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Didnt locate the Bedding
So I am new to the ways of the hunting beast but I have soaked up everything so far from all the videos on youtube and reading here. So I have a "what would you do question. So I found rubs galore & doe bedding on this single finger that is in this public marsh I found. I wasn't able to scout the whole marsh yet but with it getting so close to the season I dont want to go back in unless I can get in there during the rain. So to paint a picture of the land imagine a circle of cattails in the middle. The outside edge is all super thick dogwood and goes out a couple acres in every direction with some smaller non sit able trees here and there.Then there is a finger that comes straight down from the north dead center of the cat tails where I found all the sign. I coudnt find any buck beds from the north east or south. The west is all I have yet to scout but there is one small island with 2 trees maybe 20sq feet. The other is a bit bigger island about 1/8 acre.So my thinking is bedding can be on there. Also Possible food source to the north on private land but unsure due to having no access. So if you were me with no more scouting would you...
A) Hunt the finger with a wind that is coming out of nw sw w with a chance of over looking a bed from the other directions?
B) Go back and scout during the rain or pre rain day?
C) Sit in a different spot and try to observe if possible?
D) Not sit there and scout out of season?
I have a lot to learn in the ways of the hunting beast. Just sucks I found out the hunting beast just at the end of July. I knew about Dan but I didn't dive into his ways till finding the forum/youtube
A) Hunt the finger with a wind that is coming out of nw sw w with a chance of over looking a bed from the other directions?
B) Go back and scout during the rain or pre rain day?
C) Sit in a different spot and try to observe if possible?
D) Not sit there and scout out of season?
I have a lot to learn in the ways of the hunting beast. Just sucks I found out the hunting beast just at the end of July. I knew about Dan but I didn't dive into his ways till finding the forum/youtube
- Lockdown
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Re: Didnt locate the Bedding
Keep in mind you don’t need rubs IN the bed for it to be a buck bed. If the rubs in the area (especially rub lines) make sense in conjunction with the beds, you’ve got a buck bedding area.
- Boogieman1
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Re: Didnt locate the Bedding
My opinion is go into this season with the mindset of I wanna learn something. If u kill something great but if not don't look at the season as a failure if u paid attention and kept moving things should start coming together. Rubs/scrapes etc.. Can confuse anyone especially those of us who don't know exactly what a killer bed looks like. Stay at it and stay mobile and I like your odds. Getting your hopes up on a series of good rubs is often a great recipe for disaster. The best spots I hunt are void of any deer sign yet they produce every year, being mobile and not getting hung up on text book sign found these spots.
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Re: Didnt locate the Bedding
Lockdown wrote:Keep in mind you don’t need rubs IN the bed for it to be a buck bed. If the rubs in the area (especially rub lines) make sense in conjunction with the beds, you’ve got a buck bedding area.
X2
With that much cover and if there’s limited pressure, they most likely are buck beds in a buck bedding area. Took me a little while to realize you’re not always gonna find a worm to the dirt singular bed, and rubs aren’t always there. I’m usually finding really distinct buck beds in hill country or a few scattered around a point that I previously mistook for doe beds.
Scouted a marsh spot like the one you’re describing recently that had 2 small rubs in the bedding area but a ton of huge rubs in the surrounding timber 200-300 yards away. Had 3 sets of buck tracks heading into the marsh confirming the bedding area, and with them traveling together, a bachelor group. Based on the rubs, I might have thought bucks marking a doe bedding area. Tracks don’t lie.
Option C. You’ve got the intel that it’s bedding. Observation stand is gonna fill in the pieces. You don’t need to wait for the opener to observe either. Id get a sit in with the wind you’re expecting to hunt, as far out as possible, and use a different access than you will when you’re hunting.
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Re: Didnt locate the Bedding
Boogieman1 wrote:My opinion is go into this season with the mindset of I wanna learn something. If u kill something great but if not don't look at the season as a failure if u paid attention and kept moving things should start coming together. Rubs/scrapes etc.. Can confuse anyone especially those of us who don't know exactly what a killer bed looks like. Stay at it and stay mobile and I like your odds. Getting your hopes up on a series of good rubs is often a great recipe for disaster. The best spots I hunt are void of any deer sign yet they produce every year, being mobile and not getting hung up on text book sign found these spots.
He’s right on...as usual. For me it takes a season or two to figure out what’s going on. After that I’m usually making adjustments and experimenting with the smaller details. You’re always trying to learn something with each sit
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Re: Didnt locate the Bedding
The only thing I would add is don't overhunt this area. It sounds like it has alot of potential, which you won't know if it gets pressured too much. As others have said, taking the learning approach and only hunting when the conditions are right sounds like the way to go.
- bigbucks1234
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Re: Didnt locate the Bedding
If this was me i would get in there 1 more time to " get what you need " as far as what they say here for intel. Follow that up with observation sits right away. Another thing is i would try and get a couple cameras up for long soaks. I would hang them now and leave them for the entire season for intel for NEXT year.
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Re: Didnt locate the Bedding
Evanszach7 wrote:Lockdown wrote:Keep in mind you don’t need rubs IN the bed for it to be a buck bed. If the rubs in the area (especially rub lines) make sense in conjunction with the beds, you’ve got a buck bedding area.
X2
With that much cover and if there’s limited pressure, they most likely are buck beds in a buck bedding area. Took me a little while to realize you’re not always gonna find a worm to the dirt singular bed, and rubs aren’t always there. I’m usually finding really distinct buck beds in hill country or a few scattered around a point that I previously mistook for doe beds.
Scouted a marsh spot like the one you’re describing recently that had 2 small rubs in the bedding area but a ton of huge rubs in the surrounding timber 200-300 yards away. Had 3 sets of buck tracks heading into the marsh confirming the bedding area, and with them traveling together, a bachelor group. Based on the rubs, I might have thought bucks marking a doe bedding area. Tracks don’t lie.
Option C. You’ve got the intel that it’s bedding. Observation stand is gonna fill in the pieces. You don’t need to wait for the opener to observe either. Id get a sit in with the wind you’re expecting to hunt, as far out as possible, and use a different access than you will when you’re hunting.
Great advice
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- oldrank
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Re: Didnt locate the Bedding
From your map I see many other potential bedding areas I would check. I'm not sure if you've checked it all but I would look at every little finger, high spot, little thick patch of brush and tree on the inside perimeter. I would also check everything on the outside perimeter. I catch them bedding right on the outside transition often. Any high spot, falling tree little brush tunnel ect ext.
The outside also is where the does bed up alot of times. During lockdown the bucks will lay right with em. So even if it's not the greatest buck bed it is still good to know they are there and you can target them when you know it's that time of year.
The outside also is where the does bed up alot of times. During lockdown the bucks will lay right with em. So even if it's not the greatest buck bed it is still good to know they are there and you can target them when you know it's that time of year.
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Re: Didnt locate the Bedding
Took me a few seasons to be able to even identify my first buck bed, so I wouldn't let that discourage you. Especially if you are finding other sign.
I hunt mostly woodlots surrounded by ag and the buck beds just aren't super obvious. Actually it took me getting on my hands and knees and finding hairs in the bed for me to really find that first one. It just looked like a slightly carved out bowl underneath some pine boughs. What gave me the clue it was a bed was all of the saplings around it were nipped off about 18-24" off the ground - as if the buck layed there and simply swung his head over for a snack from his bed.
I hunt mostly woodlots surrounded by ag and the buck beds just aren't super obvious. Actually it took me getting on my hands and knees and finding hairs in the bed for me to really find that first one. It just looked like a slightly carved out bowl underneath some pine boughs. What gave me the clue it was a bed was all of the saplings around it were nipped off about 18-24" off the ground - as if the buck layed there and simply swung his head over for a snack from his bed.
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Re: Didnt locate the Bedding
Thank you for all the help guys. It is supposed to rain this whole weekend coming up so I am going to try to get back in there finishing up scouting. Put a camera up somewhere out of that area but close enough to hopefully get some inventory of whats there. Probably pick some trees too. I think it looks solid in there for prime habitat along with just watching Dans marsh buck video twice this weekend that I just got and I couldn't be more excited.
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Re: Didnt locate the Bedding
Check that bowl to the north! Any little tree in there could have a bed under it! Something else to think about if your scouting has been done recently fresh sign may not be all there yet. Some bucks are problaly still hang by crop fields and such. But the old sign is always there!
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Re: Didnt locate the Bedding
UofLbowhunter wrote:Check that bowl to the north! Any little tree in there could have a bed under it! Something else to think about if your scouting has been done recently fresh sign may not be all there yet. Some bucks are problaly still hang by crop fields and such. But the old sign is always there!
To the north on the private property there is a nice size crop field and to the south west is all ag fields. So they are moving either of those ways. Ill post what I find!
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Re: Didnt locate the Bedding
If the ground is fairly flat (as I would assume if it is marsh) I would put myself in a tree on the perimeter and use it as an observation stand. Watch for bucks getting up and once you have that specific information move in for the hunt. Depending on what your weather has been dong wherever you are located the bucks could be bedding right in the cattails, especially if it is on the dry side this year. Again observation from a high location is effective in figuring this out and offers low risk of being detected.
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