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RE: Rut hunting: Field Edges or Timber ?
 

I like timber, on our 3000 acre farm in Illinois I still set up in the timber, just feel the deer feel more secured then out in the open, not saying the field is wrong approach, I just like the woods better

RE: Rut hunting: Field Edges or Timber ?
 

Great question! I also wonder what others do!

Of course you'll get those on here who tell you it depends on the phase of the rut... blah blah blah! If there were an easy answer, it would be to hunt where the most recent doe movement has been. Where do the does bed down? More often than not, the bucks know where the does spend their time and will often times search those areas for a receptive doe! I like hunting in some timber most of the time. This is primarily because the open fields here are pretty large and it's difficult to decide where to set up to get a good shot on a nice buck(with a bow, with a gun: no pro0blem). In the timber, there are more obvious trails and travel corridors where you can set up an ambush site.

RE: Rut hunting: Field Edges or Timber ?
 

I've had my best success hutning a breakline (where hardwoods meet thickets).....on the downwind side of the thicket.

Whichever area I think will hold does.....I'll set up on the downwind side of that area....and wait. ANY doe travel route will be a good spot, too. Best bait a man can have right now is does. I'm really thinking the bucks' normal patterns are almost useless right now. Sucks. I finally found one I want.....and he's about to go scatter-brained.

RE: Rut hunting: Field Edges or Timber ?
 

I usually end up in the timber. We did have one year that we killed 3 mature bucks from the same tree in a two week period in IL that was a thin treeline with fields on both sides. No real "timber" anywhere around, just ribbons of cover along a winding small river.

I will say that if sightings drop dramatically indicating lock down, it is time to get out into the open and set up in a small ditch, fence row, draw etc.

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RE: Rut hunting: Field Edges or Timber ?
 

DT...did you happen to notice and record the wind direction? That might tell you when to get back to that spot.

RE: Rut hunting: Field Edges or Timber ?
 

I have been doing this for the last couple years and number of mature buck sightings has increased 100%.I cant believe somtimes how many deer you can see some days scurting the edge of the thickets. Now Im all excited to get out and hunt this weekend

RE: Rut hunting: Field Edges or Timber ?
 

Drop, I'm doin well, seen some nice bucks this bow season here in NJ, no shots, I will not return to my area until December 1st for the opener of NJ's smokepole season, as I'm leaving for Illinois tomorrow night and will return just before Thanksgiving, and yes that is the property I told you before.

I had no idea you lost and didn't find a deer

RE: Rut hunting: Field Edges or Timber ?
 

Field Edges. I do not hunt the timber, much. LOW LOW impact hunting, here.

RE: Rut hunting: Field Edges or Timber ?
 

I like to hunt pinch points/funnels between known doe bedding areas, if that puts me on a fields edge so be it, or if it's in a thin tree row, that'll work too.

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RE: Rut hunting: Field Edges or Timber ?
 

Just be cognizant of where your scent's blowing. I don't hunt ANY stand if the wind's blwoing my scent towards a known bedding area. You're a smart guy....;)

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RE: Rut hunting: Field Edges or Timber ?
 

Because often a buck will take his doe out away from the herd and just stay with her during her estrous period. I had a property in IL several years ago, that had a little swale out in a cattle pasture with a few locust trees. In a two year period, I saw 3 different big bucks take does out to that spot and just stay there. You couldn't get to them without being seen.

RE: Rut hunting: Field Edges or Timber ?
 

I hunt a little clearing in the back corner of the woods during the rut. I set up about 25 yards off the property line as there is a thicket right across the fence. The does are thick in there and they like to bed in there after a night in the fields. During the rut, this is the ticket. The Bucks swarm this area looking for does and does that are being chased usually run in there.