Public land tactics when 4wheeler trails are everywhere
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Public land tactics when 4wheeler trails are everywhere
just got back from my cabin near Amberg Wisconsin. Just wondering what your tactics are when everyone is baiting and if you try to get away from people you just wind up hitting another ATV trail. It seems every good sign or trails i find are going to someones bait pile. Curious to see some of your ideas on how to get on some deer.
Thanks, Vince
Thanks, Vince
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Re: Public land tactics when 4wheeler trails are everywhere
ohmyrod wrote:just got back from my cabin near Amberg Wisconsin. Just wondering what your tactics are when everyone is baiting and if you try to get away from people you just wind up hitting another ATV trail. It seems every good sign or trails i find are going to someones bait pile. Curious to see some of your ideas on how to get on some deer.
Thanks, Vince
lots of bait piles, lots of atv trails and woods roads, no big blocks of anything for the bucks to escape to...
yep, that can be a tough nut to crack. when confronted with this it is important to locate those "overlooked" spots that hunters have no interest in for whatever reason. the older bucks will avoid bait in pressured areas for the most part anyway, so its important to find areas where they are most generally left alone. ask yourself where you would go so that you would not encounter a bait pile or hunter.
* an area of small / young trees that cannot support treestands yet, or a thicket that cannot support treestands.
* a pothole of water and the brush normally around it
* an area completely overlooked right next to the spot that a lot of guys park
* a deep ditch, drainage ditch or the like by the road with a lot of water in it (the bucks use the water and ditch as a barrier for bedding- this is often right next to the road and guys seldom like to hunt that close to the road).
* a floodplain thicket along a river / creek
There are lots of other areas to look for, but don't expect the bucks to leave these areas until close to dark and they won't move far. Beast tactics shine in these situations.
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Re: Public land tactics when 4wheeler trails are everywhere
S.B. brings up some great points! I would like to add that if you take an aerial and mark it up as to where the trails are, where the hunters are, and go to the largest areas where your map is not marked you will have decent success. Some bucks learn early that bait piles are dangerous and then survive for years by avoiding them...
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Re: Public land tactics when 4wheeler trails are everywhere
Singing Bridge wrote:ohmyrod wrote:just got back from my cabin near Amberg Wisconsin. Just wondering what your tactics are when everyone is baiting and if you try to get away from people you just wind up hitting another ATV trail. It seems every good sign or trails i find are going to someones bait pile. Curious to see some of your ideas on how to get on some deer.
Thanks, Vince
lots of bait piles, lots of atv trails and woods roads, no big blocks of anything for the bucks to escape to...
yep, that can be a tough nut to crack. when confronted with this it is important to locate those "overlooked" spots that hunters have no interest in for whatever reason. the older bucks will avoid bait in pressured areas for the most part anyway, so its important to find areas where they are most generally left alone. ask yourself where you would go so that you would not encounter a bait pile or hunter.
* an area of small / young trees that cannot support treestands yet, or a thicket that cannot support treestands.
* a pothole of water and the brush normally around it
* an area completely overlooked right next to the spot that a lot of guys park
* a deep ditch, drainage ditch or the like by the road with a lot of water in it (the bucks use the water and ditch as a barrier for bedding- this is often right next to the road and guys seldom like to hunt that close to the road).
* a floodplain thicket along a river / creek
There are lots of other areas to look for, but don't expect the bucks to leave these areas until close to dark and they won't move far. Beast tactics shine in these situations.
Good stuff Bridge.
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Re: Public land tactics when 4wheeler trails are everywhere
Good info given so far. I like to say scout the people. Or as Dan mentioned, map the people. Another thing not mentioned yet is that older bucks will still take advantage of bait piles. When searching for does they will cruise down wind and scent check from a safe distance if there is ample cover. Marking up a map to show a pattern like Dan suggested may help you find spots you can catch bucks doing this.
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Re: Public land tactics when 4wheeler trails are everywhere
Thanks for the info guys! I will try it out next week when I have off for 5 days.
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Re: Public land tactics when 4wheeler trails are everywhere
Oh Quick other question. also everywhere I scout if its not deer bait stations its bear bait stations. Just wondering how it would effect the area and deer.
Thanks, Vince
Thanks, Vince
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Re: Public land tactics when 4wheeler trails are everywhere
Not that it helps, but I switched to hunting game lands where no atv's are allowed. The easy access is annoying to me anymore and I hate company these days.
I was fed up with seeing/ hearing 5 atvs an hour during rifle season. I think the deer are used to the atv's and the trails. I imagine you can pick out some good buck bedding by walking along the backside of those trails where the deer can see the trail but you would not see the deer from the trail. I know that these deer know that hunters walk these trails and they sit back and watch. The area that I used to hunt a lot has Poker runs where thousands of atvs would be ripping through the area in a day.
There is a guy that hunts on the access one of my spots that has a ladder stand set up and parks his atv about 80 yards away he hunts this no matter what wind it is. Have seen many guys from close to trail sets, that have been driving with one hand and had a loaded crossbow in the other holding it up in the air. I don't know how many times I have heard a quad drive by, then hit it idle, then hear a shot.
I was fed up with seeing/ hearing 5 atvs an hour during rifle season. I think the deer are used to the atv's and the trails. I imagine you can pick out some good buck bedding by walking along the backside of those trails where the deer can see the trail but you would not see the deer from the trail. I know that these deer know that hunters walk these trails and they sit back and watch. The area that I used to hunt a lot has Poker runs where thousands of atvs would be ripping through the area in a day.
There is a guy that hunts on the access one of my spots that has a ladder stand set up and parks his atv about 80 yards away he hunts this no matter what wind it is. Have seen many guys from close to trail sets, that have been driving with one hand and had a loaded crossbow in the other holding it up in the air. I don't know how many times I have heard a quad drive by, then hit it idle, then hear a shot.
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Re: Public land tactics when 4wheeler trails are everywhere
This sounds like a lot of the land I hunt, the high ground is most often saturated with trails and hunters so I just look for the water and head in that direction. If you can get to a spot no other hunters want to go in and where no atv can get to you should be ok. A lot of my best spots depend on wet years, if we get a dry year the atv's are running all over the swamps. When everything is wet they are not as brave and the bucks are not disturbed and often in the beds I hunt.
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Re: Public land tactics when 4wheeler trails are everywhere
I was thinking maybe on the edge of clear cuts. atvs cant get back there and it would be pretty quiet. do deer bed in clear cuts? how would i go about looking for deer sign if theres really no trails with all the dead branches and trees?
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Re: Public land tactics when 4wheeler trails are everywhere
Anybody?
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Re: Public land tactics when 4wheeler trails are everywhere
ohmyrod wrote:Anybody?
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Go to the article section / hunting and look up the article on hunting clearcuts.
You can also go to the forum tab up above, hit it and click on search. Under "search for keywords" type in "clearcut hunting" and browse around.
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Re: Public land tactics when 4wheeler trails are everywhere
Yes, deer bed in clear cuts. Some of the biggest bucks I have seen used clear cuts and would not go anywhere near a tree unless trailing a doe through a narrow tree line during the rut. I would make natural looking ground blinds just inside the edge of a clear cut in the spring and come season I would wait for the big tracks to start showing up crossing a gas line or a two track so I knew when to hunt it.
Look closely for tracks. Also look for scrapes and rubs along and just inside the edges of it. Look in the woods surrounding it for sign like large tracks, scrapes, rubs and rublines, etc. Sometimes you can take this information and connect the dots to come up with a pretty good idea of where a good buck is bedding. If you find a lot of good sign you may be able to move in for the kill. If you don't find enough to be confident in where to set up then it's time to start setting in some observation stands.
Look closely for tracks. Also look for scrapes and rubs along and just inside the edges of it. Look in the woods surrounding it for sign like large tracks, scrapes, rubs and rublines, etc. Sometimes you can take this information and connect the dots to come up with a pretty good idea of where a good buck is bedding. If you find a lot of good sign you may be able to move in for the kill. If you don't find enough to be confident in where to set up then it's time to start setting in some observation stands.
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Re: Public land tactics when 4wheeler trails are everywhere
Great stuff guys. Thanks for the info.
chris
chris
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Re: Public land tactics when 4wheeler trails are everywhere
Awesome thanks guys.
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