Bowtech 360

Wow, someone woke up on the wrong side of the bed, My first response was straight out of a Bowhunting Magazine. My second was a joke about scent lok...

GMMAT

Sorry Bowtech. I had no idea of who I was talking to.



Thanks for the "tip".

GMMAT

The field in question is on the top of the photo....to the left and above the top stand in the photo. The stand below that is the one I want to get into, opening morning.

I'd like to use that small field and that side of the woodlot as my entrance point.....because they'll be using the larger field, to the left of the road, as their main feeding grounds.

mohunter82

well back to theoriginal question. AM shouldn't be that bad. ive sat on the edge of many a been field and watched deer in the morning. I usually have better luck in smaller fields with cover simply because of security for the deer.

nchawkeye

Deer will use a small bean field like that anytime during both the day and night...I have sat over a few of our fields during a full moon until 10:00pm...I've seen deer come into the field and eat, then leave and come back an hour or two later...I used to think that they got out of their bed and fed all night, I no longer believe that...I guess they eat what they want, lay down close by and chew their cud, then get back up and feed again...
If undisturbed they willl also come into the field and feed in the middle of the day...Be careful entering and exiting that field because they will also bead down in the beans if undisturbed...

We have a field that when planted in beans, I sit over it in the morning...I drive my 4-wheeler beside the field in the dark and park it inside the woods near the tree that I climb...About an hour after daylight, I start seeing deer, in the field!!! They will feed for awhile, then bed in the field...After awhile they start heading into the woods to bed...I've killed them as late as 11:00am coming from the field, heading into the woods...

I have also killed a deer with my .243 and then glassed the field and could see deer in the beans, looking around, trying to determine what that noise was...I think they feel comfortable and hidden in those beans so they don't want to leave them...

GMMAT

The beauty (right now) of this bean field is, nc.....it's not nearly as far along as the one across the street. It's fairly sparse in there, right now. I suppose I'm taking a chance going in there, at all.....but the amount of deer sign in that woodlot is tremendous. I can't NOT hunt it.

My hope is they'll feed across the street, sometime overnight, and use the woodlot as a means of egress back to the bedding area. I'm probably gonna bust a few out as I go in, sometimes, but I'm banking on the stragglers.

I agree with your assessment, though....and I have no reason to believe they aren't bedding very close to this field day and night. There's also beans in those lower 3 left fields....and I think they're going as far as that to eat, too. I just have trouble getting over there (entrance route). I'm gonna give it a try and see.

mauser06

hard to say...seems some deer walk and wander and browse more than others...

i have a spot pretty similar...only, i have a staging area of great oaks...but, ive been busted once or twice when they bedded right off my trail in the thick edge between the field and normal bedding area...i think PA deer are different...they seem to bed anywhere they feel like laying down...lots of thick spots...not much predation...ive found beds in the open hard woods...usually by a downed tree or logs etc...but still in the wide open...

also very common for me to see deer bedding in fields at night...but ive never seen any in the fields before hunting in the mornings...but after first light some brave ones will occassionally meander into the fields...

if you can figure them out in your area, you can come up with a plan...glassing late in the evening, spotting(dont think its legal in NC...i wanna say Rob took you spotting in PA and it was your first time) glassing early early mornings etc aughta tell you how the deer are using the area....but, keep in mind summer patterns can and will differ from what happens in hunting season and fall...

hard to compare...if ive ever seen 30 it was in a dead of winter herd...

keep it simple...find the food source...find the bedding area...get inbetween the 2 or in a staging area....

ive never hunted directly over a field and likely never will get to in PA...fields and daylight dont go hand in hand in my area...too many roads, poachers, spotters, etc...even hard to get them into a selcluded field in daylight hours...

Pierce Pepin

GMMAT I see what you mean. Yea using the field to get into the stands on the upper right is the best way in the early am. Provided the wind is right for you. I really like that top stand position as it's right at the funnel of the two woodlots. You must have some good trails cutting through there.

Personally I would cut though the middle of the field from the farm houses. then make a left and head straight to my stand. You are going to bump the deer in the field either way but if you stay out in the middle you may not bump some in the left side of the woodlot. Again if the wind is right you will bump them on sound but they will not go far.

Later

dukemichaels

Ah... the old catch-22. One of the downfalls certainly of hunting any Ag area.

To cross an open field in morning to hunt..??

I won't ever give advice on what you should do.. or what anyone should do.

But rather this.

If we all believe for the most part that whitetail bucks get back to there own beds earlier (excluding the rut) than the younger whitetails wouldn't it stand to reason that the buck would feed as close to his bedroom, for that day, as possible?

I always walk woods when getting to stand. I'd rather take my time.. point the flashlight straight down.. and move at a nice even pace through the woods rather than through a Ag field where there is great possibility a deer is on. Especially a secluded field where I believe a good buck would more than likely be feeding.

A noise in the woods can be anything to a deer.. including another deer. But you nearly never can get away from being busted when you choose the route of open field where deer are feeding or bedded and chewing their cud just waiting to head back into a wooded bed for the remainder of the day.

I've learned these lessons so often the hard way. Sometimes if the conditions are absolutely perfect.. I'll go in via Ag field. And even sometimes us hunters have no choice.

But if there is a choice I would say not to go into any set via Ag field where deer should be feeding. It would have to become an evening location until right around the period of good rutting signals.

But that's just me.[&:]

GMMAT

I appreciate the post, Duke.

Would it make any difference if I went in EARLY? I'm talking 4:00AM?

Ideally.....I could enter below the woodlot. But, to do that....I'd have to cross in front of it. Another thought has been to have Lisa drop me off at the creek crossing (south on the road) and I could walk the grass field edge to get there.

I know theyre in that large field, every night, to the left of the road. Getting in behind them is my conundrum.