Starting Out
01-25-2010, 09:24 AM
#1
Fork Horn
Thread Starter
Join Date: Nov 2007
Location: Tennessee
Posts: 362
Starting Out
This is my third season hunting and have had the luck of being handed an area to hunt for the pat three seasons. However, I moved to North Carolina and starting from scratch. Can you tell me if I am on the right track:
I have located two areas to hunt through WMA's. Both of them are butted up against private farm lands. I recently drove out to both of them and both areas are visible from the main road with bino's. I drove down a access road and have seen numerous tracks heading out to the fields. I plan on taking a few days and watching the fields with bino's to see when and from where the deer are in the fields. Then I will (on foot) find out which way the deer are coming in and pick out a good tree to utilize (I use a portable climber) as an ambush point during the season .... Am I on the right track? Anything else I should do or be doing? Thanks
I have located two areas to hunt through WMA's. Both of them are butted up against private farm lands. I recently drove out to both of them and both areas are visible from the main road with bino's. I drove down a access road and have seen numerous tracks heading out to the fields. I plan on taking a few days and watching the fields with bino's to see when and from where the deer are in the fields. Then I will (on foot) find out which way the deer are coming in and pick out a good tree to utilize (I use a portable climber) as an ambush point during the season .... Am I on the right track? Anything else I should do or be doing? Thanks
01-26-2010, 06:36 PM
#3
Nontypical Buck
Join Date: Sep 2009
Location: Minnesota
Posts: 1,304
You're on the right track with that Remington 700, but throw the ***** Hoyt away. LOL! Go with Mathews! 
Looks like you have some of the basics down real good. What you describe is my favorite way to scout; using binoculars to watch deer from afar.
From the tracks and trails, now you have to learn to figure out where they prefer to bed. Often the feeding area is the easiest to figure out, especially if there's agriculture or mast droppings. Once you locate the bedding area, it gives you a better idea where to set up in the evening when they come to feed and better in the morning when they go back to bed. Remember, the mature bucks are known for leaving the feeding area the quickest and are often back at "their" bedding area before sunrise. They also bed by themselves.
Good luck!
iSnipe
Looks like you have some of the basics down real good. What you describe is my favorite way to scout; using binoculars to watch deer from afar.
From the tracks and trails, now you have to learn to figure out where they prefer to bed. Often the feeding area is the easiest to figure out, especially if there's agriculture or mast droppings. Once you locate the bedding area, it gives you a better idea where to set up in the evening when they come to feed and better in the morning when they go back to bed. Remember, the mature bucks are known for leaving the feeding area the quickest and are often back at "their" bedding area before sunrise. They also bed by themselves.
Good luck!
iSnipe
01-26-2010, 07:41 PM
#4
Fork Horn
Thread Starter
Join Date: Nov 2007
Location: Tennessee
Posts: 362
Snipe- I had actually narrowed it down between a Mathews and a Hoyt ...
I have a dumb question... To find bedding areas should I just follow the trails out until I reach them or is a guessing game?
I have a dumb question... To find bedding areas should I just follow the trails out until I reach them or is a guessing game?
01-26-2010, 08:26 PM
#5
Nontypical Buck
Join Date: Sep 2009
Location: Minnesota
Posts: 1,304
Besides the usual exception, for the most part, questions are not dumb. It's like telling your kid to not ask questions in school because it's dumb. LOL!
Yes, you have it right... back track the trails to see where they head. Often the trails are strong near the feed source, but as you follow them back, they spread out. Bedding areas are not an easy thing to identify at times. Most I see are in areas that are thicker... especially with taller grasses so that when they lay down, they are out of sight and out of the wind, etc. They also have a strong tendency to be at higher elevations than the surrounding areas too. Guessing is part of it as well, because often I can't tell for certain either where the bedding area is. That's where practice, experience and careful observations come into play.
"iSnipe... therefore I am." -iSnipe
Yes, you have it right... back track the trails to see where they head. Often the trails are strong near the feed source, but as you follow them back, they spread out. Bedding areas are not an easy thing to identify at times. Most I see are in areas that are thicker... especially with taller grasses so that when they lay down, they are out of sight and out of the wind, etc. They also have a strong tendency to be at higher elevations than the surrounding areas too. Guessing is part of it as well, because often I can't tell for certain either where the bedding area is. That's where practice, experience and careful observations come into play.
"iSnipe... therefore I am." -iSnipe
01-27-2010, 12:31 AM
#6
Giant Nontypical
Join Date: Nov 2004
Posts: 5,425
I prefer to stay out of the bedding areas...Around here you're usually talking about a thick cutover or a swamp...You can't get within 100 yards of a deer without them knowing you're near...So you're not going to see them anyway...
If you have a cutover nearby, you have your bedding area...There is no need to go in and find the bed where the deer was...
01-27-2010, 06:24 AM
#7
Nontypical Buck
Join Date: Feb 2003
Location: New Hampshire
Posts: 3,406
Yes, your approach is a great way to check for deer activity. I'm not sure if the hunting season is still on-going there. I would highly recommend pre-season and in-season scouting. Deer change their activity constantly and what you see now may not necessarily be the same when deer season opens next season.
Good Luck!
Good Luck!
