Mountain Laurel

[Steelhead125]

Really enjoyed following this thread today guys . Lots of great information on top of a very well made video. Thanks again.

[flinginairos]

I've posted this video before, but this shows in detail how this buck was bedded and how I got in on him. He was bedded right on the edge of this patch of laurel. Interesting note....about half of the bucks on my wall were killed from this bedding area. It holds mature bucks year after year.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=6SKe4g5PNC0

Awesome video man! Thanks for posting.. this thread just brought everything together that I am seeing in the big hill public I'm scouting

Thanks! I've learned from this thread as well, just so much good info. That buck in that video I would say was my first planned out "beast kill" and it was a direct result of this site 100%. Keep us posted on how you do!

Nice man! How long have you been beast hunting? I found Dan's DVDs and this site 3 months ago and learned more in that time than the last 25 years hunting lol! Hoping to get my first one next season.

I had figured some stuff out over the years and kinda started putting the pieces together on my own around 2013. In 2015 I discovered the Beast and dove right in. So many "AH-HA!" moments and things I had never considered. Since 2016 I have killed eight bucks, topping my best two years in a row. My encounters with mature deer is also night and day difference. Truly "life changing" for me in the realm of deer hunting!

[BBH1980]

I've posted this video before, but this shows in detail how this buck was bedded and how I got in on him. He was bedded right on the edge of this patch of laurel. Interesting note....about half of the bucks on my wall were killed from this bedding area. It holds mature bucks year after year.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=6SKe4g5PNC0

Awesome video man! Thanks for posting.. this thread just brought everything together that I am seeing in the big hill public I'm scouting

Thanks! I've learned from this thread as well, just so much good info. That buck in that video I would say was my first planned out "beast kill" and it was a direct result of this site 100%. Keep us posted on how you do!

Nice man! How long have you been beast hunting? I found Dan's DVDs and this site 3 months ago and learned more in that time than the last 25 years hunting lol! Hoping to get my first one next season.

I had figured some stuff out over the years and kinda started putting the pieces together on my own around 2013. In 2015 I discovered the Beast and dove right in. So many "AH-HA!" moments and things I had never considered. Since 2016 I have killed eight bucks, topping my best two years in a row. My encounters with mature deer is also night and day difference. Truly "life changing" for me in the realm of deer hunting!

That's great man. I'm hoping to have that same kind of success. I always wanted to hunt bedding but could never fully put the pieces together till I watched the DVDs. Hoping for a great upcoming season

[csoult]

laurel does not always need leeward for bedding for holding big bucks there is enough advantage from cover and line of sight and sound that they can be any wind bedding alot of the year you can think of it swamp bedding patterns in hills in a lot of spots some do work better using hill country bedding tactics but its not always the rule when your dealing with that much cover.

This is what I see also, and what I think can really set back a guy who is just starting to hunt this way. Bucks don't "always" do anything other than what keeps them in the safest possible situation, especially when it comes to bedding.

[sethg]

Great thread! I live and hunt in Western North Carolina, Southern Apps, Big Woods, National Forest Land. To be in the game here, you better be within sight of mtn laurels. We have a lot of white and red oaks on the ridgetops, and laurels. No question they spend most of daylight hours in the laurels. My best spot is in a little patch of open hardwoods, on a 3000 foot high crows foot, with laurels on three sides of the top. Deer come out of laurels in all directions and munch acorns. I hunt off the ground and missed big 8 pt with muzzleloader, and then choked on a nice 10 pt during rifle season. So close i could smell him. 8 pt was heading into the laurels to bed for the day. 10 pt was working the downwind edge during the pre rut. Here where i'm at everything is based around high elevation, and laurels. They love it.

[BBH1980]

hears a really good tip for cyber scouting laurel and rhododendron swamps pull up a satellite image of your area you want too check. then simply go back in history till you find winter imagery. now your hardwoods are brown and laurel are green. now you can see the edge line and see all the coves and pockets in the area now look at these spots like your looking for bedding along a cattail swamp green being the cats. you will find bedding in the exact same layout. now mirror this over and too topo imagery and all the high spots on elevation with good line of sight should be producing the better buck and doe bedding. this same method will also work in pine and ceder patches. its not always leeward bedding but but the elevation benefits combined with the edge bedding will give you your likely wind for the spot. take a history of you primary winds for when you plan too hunt and you just turned a sea of cover into a small sections you need to focus on when you scout.

This on heck of idea. We've got seas of laurel in my area, so I'll definitely give this a shot.

i just edit and expanded on the post so scroll up and check out the rest it defiantly works. ive seen big bucks on strange sides of hills many times and this is why. when they find a secure location wind is not going too force them over a hill to a area they have less confidence on. if they did the leeward on every bedding alot of bucks would get shot from it. they want the spot were nobody bothers them regardless of the leeward wind.

it dawned on me over the last 2 years i kept finding big bucks in what i thought were strange locations then a realized they were using all the other advantages they have from the terrain line of sight and sound they even bed using thermals rising up the hill or pulling down on shaded side as there back wind on days when there are calm winds probably why you find a lot of big bucks in real steep terrain. you look at these spots and say what the heck the wind is all wrong but then you think about how bullet proof the spot is and realize hes not at any disadvantage.

it also explains why you find rub lines and trails exiting bedding and cutting across the ridge some times. the deer are bedding using edge cover on a wind blown side where they have a better advantage for other reasons ears line of sight observing hunter access ect. then when they travel they cross over too leeward and use the wind thermal advantage on the 1/3 rule.

I think you are hunting in PA? I am in NE PA. Thanks for explanation cause it really clears some things up about what I am finding... also I found the beast few months back so I am as green as they come but havent stopped studying it. Have a really good grip on the basics and have been scouting since December.. finding a ton of beds in areas they should be but my biggest struggle right now is distinguishing between buck and doe bedding. What I am finding appears to be groups of beds... many of them with rubs all around them so I don't know if its marked up doe bedding or buck bedding. Some of the tracks are nearly 3" wide. The public I am looking in is steep big hills with laurel covering the tops, I am finding beds on the edges and in the laurel in openings and under trees.. points of it sticking out just like swamp. Some are textbook hill country as well. The thought crossed my mind maybe bucks are grouped up now also? Maybe I need to keep looking harder? Any insight on this would be appreciated.. just trying to shorten my learning curve a bit.

[ghoasthunter]

hears a really good tip for cyber scouting laurel and rhododendron swamps pull up a satellite image of your area you want too check. then simply go back in history till you find winter imagery. now your hardwoods are brown and laurel are green. now you can see the edge line and see all the coves and pockets in the area now look at these spots like your looking for bedding along a cattail swamp green being the cats. you will find bedding in the exact same layout. now mirror this over and too topo imagery and all the high spots on elevation with good line of sight should be producing the better buck and doe bedding. this same method will also work in pine and ceder patches. its not always leeward bedding but but the elevation benefits combined with the edge bedding will give you your likely wind for the spot. take a history of you primary winds for when you plan too hunt and you just turned a sea of cover into a small sections you need to focus on when you scout.

This on heck of idea. We've got seas of laurel in my area, so I'll definitely give this a shot.

i just edit and expanded on the post so scroll up and check out the rest it defiantly works. ive seen big bucks on strange sides of hills many times and this is why. when they find a secure location wind is not going too force them over a hill to a area they have less confidence on. if they did the leeward on every bedding alot of bucks would get shot from it. they want the spot were nobody bothers them regardless of the leeward wind.

it dawned on me over the last 2 years i kept finding big bucks in what i thought were strange locations then a realized they were using all the other advantages they have from the terrain line of sight and sound they even bed using thermals rising up the hill or pulling down on shaded side as there back wind on days when there are calm winds probably why you find a lot of big bucks in real steep terrain. you look at these spots and say what the heck the wind is all wrong but then you think about how bullet proof the spot is and realize hes not at any disadvantage.

it also explains why you find rub lines and trails exiting bedding and cutting across the ridge some times. the deer are bedding using edge cover on a wind blown side where they have a better advantage for other reasons ears line of sight observing hunter access ect. then when they travel they cross over too leeward and use the wind thermal advantage on the 1/3 rule.

I think you are hunting in PA? I am in NE PA. Thanks for explanation cause it really clears some things up about what I am finding... also I found the beast few months back so I am as green as they come but havent stopped studying it. Have a really good grip on the basics and have been scouting since December.. finding a ton of beds in areas they should be but my biggest struggle right now is distinguishing between buck and doe bedding. What I am finding appears to be groups of beds... many of them with rubs all around them so I don't know if its marked up doe bedding or buck bedding. Some of the tracks are nearly 3" wide. The public I am looking in is steep big hills with laurel covering the tops, I am finding beds on the edges and in the laurel in openings and under trees.. points of it sticking out just like swamp. Some are textbook hill country as well. The thought crossed my mind maybe bucks are grouped up now also? Maybe I need to keep looking harder? Any insight on this would be appreciated.. just trying to shorten my learning curve a bit.

bedding in laural is very mixed if your finding buck good buck sign hunt it bucks are grouped up right now but they could also be beds for different winds in same spot with all that cover the deer fell comfortable simply shifting around too keep wind at there back. also sometimes younger deer will bed on wrong winds and mature bucks will only bed on correct winds. if i feel that is the case i will hunt it with the wind setup for the biggest bed in the group.

[BBH1980]

hears a really good tip for cyber scouting laurel and rhododendron swamps pull up a satellite image of your area you want too check. then simply go back in history till you find winter imagery. now your hardwoods are brown and laurel are green. now you can see the edge line and see all the coves and pockets in the area now look at these spots like your looking for bedding along a cattail swamp green being the cats. you will find bedding in the exact same layout. now mirror this over and too topo imagery and all the high spots on elevation with good line of sight should be producing the better buck and doe bedding. this same method will also work in pine and ceder patches. its not always leeward bedding but but the elevation benefits combined with the edge bedding will give you your likely wind for the spot. take a history of you primary winds for when you plan too hunt and you just turned a sea of cover into a small sections you need to focus on when you scout.

This on heck of idea. We've got seas of laurel in my area, so I'll definitely give this a shot.

i just edit and expanded on the post so scroll up and check out the rest it defiantly works. ive seen big bucks on strange sides of hills many times and this is why. when they find a secure location wind is not going too force them over a hill to a area they have less confidence on. if they did the leeward on every bedding alot of bucks would get shot from it. they want the spot were nobody bothers them regardless of the leeward wind.

it dawned on me over the last 2 years i kept finding big bucks in what i thought were strange locations then a realized they were using all the other advantages they have from the terrain line of sight and sound they even bed using thermals rising up the hill or pulling down on shaded side as there back wind on days when there are calm winds probably why you find a lot of big bucks in real steep terrain. you look at these spots and say what the heck the wind is all wrong but then you think about how bullet proof the spot is and realize hes not at any disadvantage.

it also explains why you find rub lines and trails exiting bedding and cutting across the ridge some times. the deer are bedding using edge cover on a wind blown side where they have a better advantage for other reasons ears line of sight observing hunter access ect. then when they travel they cross over too leeward and use the wind thermal advantage on the 1/3 rule.

I think you are hunting in PA? I am in NE PA. Thanks for explanation cause it really clears some things up about what I am finding... also I found the beast few months back so I am as green as they come but havent stopped studying it. Have a really good grip on the basics and have been scouting since December.. finding a ton of beds in areas they should be but my biggest struggle right now is distinguishing between buck and doe bedding. What I am finding appears to be groups of beds... many of them with rubs all around them so I don't know if its marked up doe bedding or buck bedding. Some of the tracks are nearly 3" wide. The public I am looking in is steep big hills with laurel covering the tops, I am finding beds on the edges and in the laurel in openings and under trees.. points of it sticking out just like swamp. Some are textbook hill country as well. The thought crossed my mind maybe bucks are grouped up now also? Maybe I need to keep looking harder? Any insight on this would be appreciated.. just trying to shorten my learning curve a bit.

bedding in laural is very mixed if your finding buck good buck sign hunt it bucks are grouped up right now but they could also be beds for different winds in same spot with all that cover the deer fell comfortable simply shifting around too keep wind at there back. also sometimes younger deer will bed on wrong winds and mature bucks will only bed on correct winds. if i feel that is the case i will hunt it with the wind setup for the biggest bed in the group.

Thanks that makes a ton of sense and def lines up with what I have seen. So you can basically use terrain features, wind direction, tracks, rubs, and bed size to make a very well educated guess as to if it's a buck bed. Thinking back to Dan's videos he says the best buck beds you'll find are where they should be.....

[BeginnerBuckHunter]

So the area I will be hunting is mountain/hill country but also has a lake at the base. I have marshy area as well as big woods. My first day of scouting is Sunday and never hunted the area before. It is public land and am loom ing forward to scouting but am new to the beast tactics. I understand the basics and now to put the to work. This thread has been very insightful to the laurel bedding I know I’ll run into. Any suggestions as to where I should start? It’s a huge tract of public property at 23000 acres so a lot to look at.

[backstrap19]

I hunt and trap quite a bit of laurel. We have plenty of it. Do any of you notice that there are patches of laurel that are pretty much void of deer? I have some patches that are full of deer, and some that just don't hold deer normally, unless our rifle season pushes them in there. We have laurel on flats and laurel on hillsides. I found the hillside laurel to be best, but almost always the top side of it. i'm heading out to scout a laurel top edge today. i have scouted several places where the laurel isn't on a steep slope, and it is sparse enough that walking through it isn't overly difficult. line of sight is poor, due to the laurel, and there are lots of oaks and maples mixed in with the laurel. openings in this laurel are about 15 yards wide, and the laurel goes on for about a mile. i have scouted and scouted this laurel, and have had very little to no success hunting it. i fare much better on the sloped hill laurel. any of you have insight on the vast sparse patches i am describing?

[BBH1980]

I hunt and trap quite a bit of laurel. We have plenty of it. Do any of you notice that there are patches of laurel that are pretty much void of deer? I have some patches that are full of deer, and some that just don't hold deer normally, unless our rifle season pushes them in there. We have laurel on flats and laurel on hillsides. I found the hillside laurel to be best, but almost always the top side of it. i'm heading out to scout a laurel top edge today. i have scouted several places where the laurel isn't on a steep slope, and it is sparse enough that walking through it isn't overly difficult. line of sight is poor, due to the laurel, and there are lots of oaks and maples mixed in with the laurel. openings in this laurel are about 15 yards wide, and the laurel goes on for about a mile. i have scouted and scouted this laurel, and have had very little to no success hunting it. i fare much better on the sloped hill laurel. any of you have insight on the vast sparse patches i am describing?

I am new at this but I do think pressure is #1. The hills I have scouted have laurel starting near the top and where it starts is where the deer are as far as bedding goes. There's are several benches lower that hold good oaks and rub clusters where they are coming down to feed. I look at it like taking transition bedding from the farm video... On a west wind they are laying on the east side laurel transition near the top... If the wind shifts east they simply travel over the top of the hill or around the transition to the other side and lay on the west facing side. What your talking about, broken up laurel. I think they lose that sight ability in there. I have noticed the same things. I also think if all your pressure is on the tops those deer are gonna be lower on a cross wind and thick to back looking out from just inside the Laurel transition. Just what I have seen so far in my short time doing this.

[Bowhuntercoop]

Mtn laurel is it’s own beast. We all know deer bed, eat, and travel through it. What makes it tough in pa hill country is how dense and thick it is. Some guys mentioned isolated patches and that’s 100 percent the way to hunt it.

Some of my oldest bucks I killed in pa came outta laurel thickets. They love the transitions from laurel to hardwoods and back to laurel. When I find txt book bedding it’s oaks and hardwoods on the top, laurel starting to roll over the crest, then the bed back to it. Wind often times doesn’t matter.

Hands down the best laurel bedding I’ve found has been in thermal hubs along the creek bottoms. Granted a lot of it is for bedding and night bedding but guys wouldn’t believe how many old bucks will bed on the lower 1/3 because the laurel is thicker and smaller patches.

Go walk a lot of those state game lands in the creek bottoms. Laurel will go from the creek up 50/100/150 yards then break to a transition. Once ya get 1/3-1/2 up the mtn the whole damn mtn side is covered in laurel. They will completly avoid it. Laurel is a puzzle and it takes serious boots on the ground.

Laurel thermal hubs are a great spot for the rut, often times you won’t find a defined path crossing from one ridge to another or one high spot down to the creek and back up. A saddle or pinch if ya would but based off the laurel patches. It funnels em down of the laurel where they scent check for does and is amazing in the rut, one of the only times I will drop super low in the thermal hub. You’re going to see a lot of 1.5-3.5 yr olds take the same trial but the old ones are also forced to used that natural pinch checking for does. I’ve killed a pile of bucks hunting that way. Here is one of my laurel kills during the stupid inline muzzleloader doe season a few years back.

Those big old ones like to get the first hot doe coming into estrus. I’ve said it time and time again oct 20-oct30 I see more mature bucks then during the rut, that’s another topic tho. Those old dude was down wind of a doe besding area. Coming back to bed late or up snacking, I shot em 1041 am.

[Steelhead125]

Mtn laurel is it’s own beast. We all know deer bed, eat, and travel through it. What makes it tough in pa hill country is how dense and thick it is. Some guys mentioned isolated patches and that’s 100 percent the way to hunt it.

Some of my oldest bucks I killed in pa came outta laurel thickets. They love the transitions from laurel to hardwoods and back to laurel. When I find txt book bedding it’s oaks and hardwoods on the top, laurel starting to roll over the crest, then the bed back to it. Wind often times doesn’t matter.

Hands down the best laurel bedding I’ve found has been in thermal hubs along the creek bottoms. Granted a lot of it is for bedding and night bedding but guys wouldn’t believe how many old bucks will bed on the lower 1/3 because the laurel is thicker and smaller patches.

Go walk a lot of those state game lands in the creek bottoms. Laurel will go from the creek up 50/100/150 yards then break to a transition. Once ya get 1/3-1/2 up the mtn the whole damn mtn side is covered in laurel. They will completly avoid it. Laurel is a puzzle and it takes serious boots on the ground.

Laurel thermal hubs are a great spot for the rut, often times you won’t find a defined path crossing from one ridge to another or one high spot down to the creek and back up. A saddle or pinch if ya would but based off the laurel patches. It funnels em down of the laurel where they scent check for does and is amazing in the rut, one of the only times I will drop super low in the thermal hub. You’re going to see a lot of 1.5-3.5 yr olds take the same trial but the old ones are also forced to used that natural pinch checking for does. I’ve killed a pile of bucks hunting that way. Here is one of my laurel kills during the stupid inline muzzleloader doe season a few years back.

Those big old ones like to get the first hot doe coming into estrus. I’ve said it time and time again oct 20-oct30 I see more mature bucks then during the rut, that’s another topic tho. Those old dude was down wind of a doe besding area. Coming back to bed late or up snacking, I shot em 1041 am.

I agree with you about October 20th to the 30th being the best time to kill a big one. I have witnessed the same thing. The rut is just such a crapshoot and you can have days wasted when they go into lockdown. It’s seems like they never come out of the laurel on those days and nothing moves during daylight. The new muzzleloader bear season is a real punch in the gut for me. The laurel thickets will be were all the bear hunters gravitate to . I mentioned it before and never get any kind of response but I think it’s crazy to drive out those places in mid October. Rattlesnakes are not denned up yet and I see them out and about that time of year. Last thing I would want to do is be crawling on my hands an knees trying to kick a bear out of these laurel patches.

[ghoasthunter]

i agree 100% on the thermal hub i see big bucks bedding on edge of laurel and rhododendron along drainages creeks and mountain swamps some times they even bed facing up hill using the constant downhill thermal pool from water in these cool spots they either bed looking up or facing down hill. i see beds 20 or 30 yards in in these situations too if the cover is tall enough they can look under it. often times the bucks bed in the exact same beds the bears do. the trick is finding a spot that there are less bears but the bucks tolerate the bears for most part. they feel secure enough from the cover that often the bucks just let the bears go buy. i dont know how many times ive seen a bear walk out before a buck steps out in evenings. the bear is one one side of my tree buck on the other. the buck just holds up and watches the bear then goes on his way when the coast is clear.

[brancher147]

I see some people saying deer eat mountain laurel. Are you all calling rhododendron and mountain laurel the same thing? I know deer will browse rhododendron, but mountain laurel I have only seen eaten when deer are very close to starving. Rhododendron is sweeter so deer will eat it but both are toxic to deer and have very little nutritional value. I have seen a browse line on rhododendron in state parks and really overbrowsed national forest, but I have never see any signs of deer browsing laurel.