Live From The Field 2014 Scouting Reports

[headgear]

Nice scouting reports guys, finally caught some luck and big snow storm missed me to the south. Still over a foot on the ground but warm weather on the way so I might actually be able to get out in the woods this weekend. Been driving me crazy to sit on the couch the past few weeks but nothing I can do about it.

[BassBoysLLP]

Good stuff Singing Bridge. Sounds like a good time. I'm looking forward to scouting this weekend. I should have the woods to myself with a lot of guys headed down to Madison for the show.

[ Post made via Android ]

[headgear]

Well hit the woods for the first time this year and the snow is still pretty deep in my neck of the woods. A solid 16 inches average depth and still 20-24 inches in a lot of shaded areas. Made it out to one bedding area I was eyeing up and didn't see much for sign, I think it getting pressured from the neighboring private land. Tried to hit a couple other spots but didn't have anywhere to park yet with all the snow. Warm weather in the forcast so it shouldn't be long.

[BassBoysLLP]

I got out today is the snowfree zone of WI hill country. Awesome scout. Best of the year. 3 slam dunk buck beds, 1 slam dunk rut funnel, and 7 more good stands for the grind. Cant wait to shine and run cameras of velvet.

[ Post made via Android ]

[Dewey]

Had a good scout yesterday and was so focussed I never took any pics!

Found an awesome overlooked spot that I guarantee never gets hunted. It's a 60 yard long patch of red brush surrounded by marsh grass and no trees. I have great access for a north or east wind. Kicked a buck out of a bed that was very heavily used at the far tip plus there were a few other less used ones nearby likely for less common winds. Looking forward to getting in there with my ghillie suit.

Checked out a new area and have 3-4 more spots picked out that should be really good. The one I am excited about is a long finger of woods sticking way out in the cattails with a good bed at the tip. Access pretty difficult so I shouldn't have any company. Best part is I should be able to get a deer out with a canoe or small boat.

[ Post made via iPhone ]

[hunter_mike]

Got into two good buck beds today. I was walking a transition in the marsh and was finding some doe bedding and lots of those clusters of small rubs but not much else to look at. I finally got to a part of the transition that came to a point and sure enough found this buck bed with a rub right in the bed. There was some hair in the bed and I was also able to walk a few of the trails that entered/exited the bed. There was a textbook J-hook trail to the East of the bed and I picked a kill tree approx 60 yards from the bed that is covering two exit routes. This one will be tough very tough to hunt without getting winded because I think there is enough topography on the point that there will likely be thermals in the evening trying to blow my scent into the bed no matter what the predominant wind is.



The next bed was more of a hill country set up on a small overlooked island of timber overlooking the marsh. A very unique setup. I am lucky enough to live in a part of the state where marshes and hill country collide. This buck bed had no rubs in it. It is also set up with the obstacle in front of the buck instead of behind. This buck is pretty darn invincible in this spot on a south or southwest wind. I picked a kill tree but I am still not sure how I will approach it.

Bed:



This bed is about 15 feet above the marsh below. Buck's view from bed:



I was about to leave when something near the bed caught my eye. there was only about an inch of tine sticking out from the leaves. Its a little old and pretty chewed up but still cool:



This pretty much seals the deal for my confidence that these beds that I am assuming are buck beds, even though they don't have rubs in them, are indeed the real deal. the antler was not more than 10 feet from the bed.

Just leaving a bread crumb trail for myself here: viewtopic.php?f=5&t=24454&hilit=beds+without+rubs

[SaddleMaster]

I made it out scouting some hill country Saturday and found a couple of good buck beds. Between the workshop and studying the threads about points it's really starting to click. So I decided to scout a spot that I've never been to before. Looked at the map and saw a good point for a NW wind (predominant here). It's close to a road but where it's at I'm betting it gets overlooked. Like cdeam mentioned in another thread, there was a smaller point on the way out to the main point that didn't show on the map. The map just showed a large draw.

There was a nice buck bed on this smaller point that's only about 70 yards from the road and the buck can see the parking spot. I didn't see him but he was bedded there when I got there. With the shedding the bed had lots of hair and you could follow the hairs down his escape route.



Here's a good track along the route.


Here's where he was kicking up leaves on the way down the other side of the main point.


Here's a good rub where the point meets the main ridge. There were several more like this and they all had a bunch of circular dimples around the top from the burrs I guess. I've never noticed that before.


From there I dropped down and followed a good trail that was at the 1/3 elevation around to the tip of the main point. There was another good buck bed there with lots of hair in it. The top of this point also had good doe bedding - beds in a circular pattern with lots of droppings.


Here's the view from the bed.


I was checking some more things out when I heard this evil sounding hissing. At first I was thinking it was a snake, but it was this little guy. I don't know if I stepped on him or woke him up from his nap or what, but he was not happy at all.



So now I'm trying to figure out how to hunt this with these two beds that both seem like primary beds that are close together. My first thought is to wait until we're going to get 2 days in row with northerly winds. Hunt the bed on the small point the first evening. If I don't get a crack at him then try the main point the second evening. Maybe he'll smell where I'd been there the first evening and that'll push him to the other bed? Or maybe there's more than one buck. But still, maybe the first evening's hunt will create an opportunity for the second evening?

[Rutnstrut]

Scouted a small overlooked chunk of public today that is a great spot. Still a lot of snow here, but I wanted to get in and scout this spot since I didn't get in to hunt it last year. as this spot always has, lots of big rubs, tracks, and in the swamp where the snow was melted found some great buck beds. One of the best spots to hunt this spot are only 200 yards from the road, classic overlooked honey hole. On the bad side I found a dead 2.5 year old buck.

[hunter_mike]

Wasn't even planning on scouting last night but ended up driving through the public land near my house on my way home from work. There was only a half hour till sunset and I was driving past something I had cyberscouted before. It was basically a very overgrown fence line that butted up against a private land cattle pasture/cornfield. This fenceline ran out into the marsh basically creating a marsh point. I couldn't resist and jumped out of the truck and into the marsh. I think I set a personal record for locating a buck bed. The bed was located just out from the main land in some clumps of brush and dogwood. There was also hair in the bed. I picked a kill tree quick and by the time I got back to the truck it was dark. In and out in less than an hour! There were a couple rubs on the mainland but I didnt' have time to check them out or take pics.

Marsh point:


Buck bed in dogwood/cattails:

[mheichelbech]

Got into two good buck beds today. I was walking a transition in the marsh and was finding some doe bedding and lots of those clusters of small rubs but not much else to look at. I finally got to a part of the transition that came to a point and sure enough found this buck bed with a rub right in the bed. There was some hair in the bed and I was also able to walk a few of the trails that entered/exited the bed. There was a textbook J-hook trail to the East of the bed and I picked a kill tree approx 60 yards from the bed that is covering two exit routes. This one will be tough very tough to hunt without getting winded because I think there is enough topography on the point that there will likely be thermals in the evening trying to blow my scent into the bed no matter what the predominant wind is.



The next bed was more of a hill country set up on a small overlooked island of timber overlooking the marsh. A very unique setup. I am lucky enough to live in a part of the state where marshes and hill country collide. This buck bed had no rubs in it. It is also set up with the obstacle in front of the buck instead of behind. This buck is pretty darn invincible in this spot on a south or southwest wind. I picked a kill tree but I am still not sure how I will approach it.

Bed:



This bed is about 15 feet above the marsh below. Buck's view from bed:



I was about to leave when something near the bed caught my eye. there was only about an inch of tine sticking out from the leaves. Its a little old and pretty chewed up but still cool:



This pretty much seals the deal for my confidence that these beds that I am assuming are buck beds, even though they don't have rubs in them, are indeed the real deal. the antler was not more than 10 feet from the bed.

Just leaving a bread crumb trail for myself here: viewtopic.php?f=5&t=24454&hilit=beds+without+rubs

How do you all know when a buck has a J hook trail? How do you determine and know that? Do you mark it on your GPS or something and then it is sort of obvious or what?

[hunter_mike]

I don't "know" anything for sure but I am making the best assumptions i can based on what I learn here and in the scouting workshop. My "knowledge" is borrowed knowledge from more experienced hunters on here.

In this case I noticed that the bed appears to be used on a West wind. I determined that by crouching down in the bed and seeing the imprint of where the buck was laying and that there was an obstruction to his back when he is facing east. Dan says he will tend to bed with the wind to his back. See the "Beds next to trees" thread. Now. Assuming the buck will approach the bed from downwind, I walked out into the cattails and found a perfect trail approaching the bed from the east where if he walked down that trail he would be able to scent check that whole patch of brush before entering it. The J hook on this bed all occured within a 60-70 yards of the bed, so walking down the trail and watching where it was in relation to the bed made it very obvious that the trail was used for the J hook.

[fishlips]

Had a little time tonight so I decided to check an area that was on my "overlooked" list. Had I not had my dog with me, I probably would have blown right past the bed. Small strip of trees between a couple of larger pieces of woods. Was walking up on my dog and noticed he had his head buried in a spot. Well he was in the middle of a good sized buck bed. Even had time to scout a tree out to hunt from. Looks like a good spot, but access is tough. Seems to be a number of spots where I could get picked off walking in, so I am guessing some of the approach will be on my belly.

The cool thing is that this was off of a property I had previously written off until I attended the scouting workshop. Since going to the workshop, I rethought my approach and have since found three spots to hunt out there all with very promising sign. Will have to hunt it in the fall to confirm my assumptions, but am excited to do that.

Pretty awesome find though. Had my son along as well. He didn't know it, but he found his first buck bed. He just thought it was cool to be in the woods.

[Jackson Marsh]

Nice finds guys!

[ Post made via Android ]

[hunter_mike]

Got out for another quick scout tonight after work. Some strutters out in the field next to the public land parking lot without a care in the world:



Walked out to the isolated marsh point I cyberscouted the other day and found a big bed right where it was supposed to be:



there were a few rubs around, nothing too impressive, but at least I am getting to know my local marshes like the back of my hand now.

A big doe dead right under the tree I will set up in to hunt this spot:

[BigHunt]

walked for about 2 hours today with predator TC ...no sheds but had a great time getting the wheeler stuck in two feet of water