AM Scouting...Where are they headed?

GMMAT · 08-25-2008, 07:17 AM

I did a little AM scouting, this morning....just driving through my new hunting land. The white dots are buck sightings. I've been seeing them in the evenings, feeding in the SW corner of the large bean field to the left of the road. I see them "most" every evening. The purple line shows the direction I think they're feeding in, every evening (north).

The white dot "just" left of the road shows where the 8pointer I saw this morning was standing, and the green line shows the direction he bounded off to as I came down the road. He's one of the ones I've been seeing in the bean field corner. He's likely a 2.5 yr old, 90-100" deer.

The other white dot.....in the lower edge of the grass field (right hand side of the raod) shows where I saw what I believe to be another of the bachelor group I've been watching, when he was standing there under a tree, this morning with a doe. This is a 1.5 yr old 60-70" deer.

My problem, so far, is trying to determine where they're traveling to in the evenings. I honestly have no idea of their travel patterns.

Any ideas?

thehairlessone! · 08-25-2008, 07:27 AM

which way does the wind usually blow out of curiosity? the map looks great.

rick

GMMAT · 08-25-2008, 07:31 AM

Good question.....and most of my PM sightings have the coming to that field corner with a westerly wind.

Mikey S. · 08-25-2008, 09:10 AM

Well for one, you got ALOT of fields there, which means there are alot of places for the deer to eat if there is good food in the fields. They basically have a buffet there. And that makes it tough to pin them down on a pattern. If you see them in a particular field every evening, then that's where they are going. The thing you have to figure out is what route they are using to get there. Older bucks will often have a "staging" area back in the woods, that would be your best bet to wack one early season. Scout the woods maybe 1 or 2 weeks before the season, and look for some early rubs, might be the place to hang a stand and get a shot at him during daylight hours.

Or you can hang an "obsercation stand", a good distance from where they are feeding if you can. Then you can spend a couple evenings watching them enter the fields and make your move when the time is right.

GMMAT · 08-25-2008, 09:13 AM

Mikey ...

They're entering the field right where I have them marked......every evening they have a west wind. I've got a tree picked out. I just need to go back in there ONE more time.....to pull my camera and trim a sapling or two from my lane.

I'm watching the radar, intently. First drops of rain and I'm in there.

Oneshot7 · 08-25-2008, 09:49 AM

I would say they are using the edge of the field to wind check on a west wind and then they stage in the finger, in the evening, and then they start headin back toward the bedding area. Then the green deer was probably in the smaller block of woods you already have a stand in. What was the wind when you saw the buck bound off on the green path?

GMMAT · 08-25-2008, 10:07 AM

SSW wind, this morning. He was pointed in the direction I see them in the evenings....and did a big semi-circle to go across the street and into that woodlot. I think (deductive reasoning) he was coming from there....and headed back to where I see them in the evenings (if I had to hazard a guess). I think I just spooked him.....but I was in my truck....something they're used to.

I don't think I'll be going in here in the mornings for a while. No need to. I have other places to hunt.