Staging Area Discussion

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Uncle Lou
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Re: Staging Area Discussion

Unread postby Uncle Lou » Mon Apr 21, 2014 3:02 am

I just read this topic for the first time after seeing the new list of topics dan put together.

This was worth bumping again, a lot of good info in here.
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mheichelbech
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Re: Staging Area Discussion

Unread postby mheichelbech » Tue Apr 22, 2014 1:57 am

Thanks Lou....totally agree. One question, how do you determine what direction from the bed to place your stand? Is it based on best wind for the hunter, the deer..i.e., the almost wrong wind direction? Other factors?? For example, if it's been dry would and the water source is in different direction that food source, would you set up on that expected direction of travel?
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Re: Staging Area Discussion

Unread postby whitetailassasin » Tue Apr 22, 2014 3:01 am

Singing Bridge wrote:
purebowhunting wrote:Ever find staging areas, areas bucks feel safe adjacent to their beds, void of bucks sign, rubs and scrapes? Ive found a few buck beds in small swamps that hold no fresh rubs or scrapes, or none that I've found.

Also, will a buck tend to stage in the area hes been looking at or smelling or is it totally based on where hes headed after nightfall?
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I see this a lot with small "pocket" swamps and marshes- very little sign on the interior... but a young buck (2 yr. old) will rub the edge up quite a bit on the high ground. If an older buck is holding it, an extra large track or an old but large rub may be the only visible sign just outside of the swamp. In high pressure areas the buck will use the entire, very small swamp for "staging". I have seen them use the heavy cover and move quite a bit inside the swamp before dark, but they relate the "normal" woods with being shot- and many of them have been already... but survived.


Very often, I'd say 99% of the time, in the swamps and marshes I hunt. The younger bucks 2.5 and younger occupy the outskirts and mark up most of the area. But the bigger 2.5s and up, occupy the more secluded beds inside. I use to hunt the transition lines of my high pressured areas only to either have the buck walk by in when I couldn't see him or I had to watch him wander around for a distance in the swamp or marsh. In one instance in particular, my dad seen one the night before as we were hunting the transition line, but never came out of the marsh and never got closer than 40 yards away from him and was just up and wandering about an 40 mins before dark. The next day I went in to the area I believed to be his exact bed and heard him get up and walk the exact trail out to my stand. It was 20 mins before daylight when he got up and he never was going to make it out of the swamp in daylight. The food source he was headed to was about 1/2 mile away. Many times, for me, the buck doesn't show himself until the waning moments of daylight. And I can hear them get up. The pressure they receive makes there "staging areas" in daylight very very small.

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Re: Staging Area Discussion

Unread postby oldrank » Wed Apr 23, 2014 6:08 am

good stuff guys !!!!!!
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Re: Staging Area Discussion

Unread postby tgreeno » Fri Dec 08, 2017 7:19 am

bump...great info!
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Re: Staging Area Discussion

Unread postby mnswamphunter » Fri Dec 08, 2017 7:50 am

Great thread!!!! I am reading and taking it all in. :D I started Beast Hunting about 6 years ago for one season. Shortly after I started I got Ill and had to skip a few years, I still hunted but not Beast style . No excuses I am back an ready to dive in now. My first experience with beast style hunting I was always too conservative on how close to the beds. That is a big mistake!!! I never spooked deer but never killed one either. The hunt that sticks with me is when I set up and watched a buck move through the swamp like a ghost and then stop and ate buds of a bush until it darkness came. Looking back in my minds eye he was about 70 yards from his bed. I bet he was on the edge of his safe zone. Thanks again!


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