RE: Find The Beds
 

Do you spend all day just looking for my screw-ups?[>:]

I fixed it, just for you. :D

Between you and Rack-Attack I get no slack or respect at all. :(

I may just take my computer off line.[:o]

Now please let me get some " real" work done.

You know, if I got $20 for every post, and $5 for every read on this forum, I' d be a rich man. I might even be able to afford an out-state hunt or two. [:-]

T.R.

RE: Find The Beds
 

TR me and rack attack respect you, we are just jealous![8D] Now as far as cutting you slack.......[>:][>:][>:], we' ll see!:D Oh yea BTW have you ever looked at the number of post I have? If I got half of what you would like to have I could become a professional poster![8D];)

RE: Find The Beds
 

But how many other forums are you posting on? I' m doing about 14.

Besides that some of us have to " work" for a living.

I know you ain' t gonna give me no slack.

T.R.

RE: Find The Beds
 

HOLY CRAPOLY TAZ:D:D - I never noticed your post number:D.....LOL

Just to add my 2 cents:)

If you are still having a hard time finding bedding areas here are some no-frills ways that may help.

Just jump the dang things:) walk through areas you have narrowed down to be likely bedding areas and sneak thru them during the day. When you SEE the deer get up and bolt - there is no sign you have to interpret - that is where he/she was bedding. But like TR stated just because you jump a buck out of a bed in August don' t mean he will bed there in Nov. - Most likely not. In my area of pretty high pressure they bed in the same " areas/terrain" from about Oct till the spring. When the leaves come out and up until Oct. they bed closer to food sources - under the cover of heavy foliage. But if you can jump some deer or bucks at high noon in Oct. Nov. then you have some real good info for later that year and next.

I would rather jump a good buck out of a bed in Nov. and LEARN something of value - than play it to safe, and go home without that info.

Also - Not seeing deer can tell you as much as seeing them. many good hunters I believe learned what small portion of their woods was productive by the process of elimination. Even if all the sign, and all you read, and what you feel tells you that this stand is " The Spot" If you hunt it for a year or two and never see a mature buck - rethink your game plan. Not seeing that buck has told you something of value - that spot sucks...LOL. JK. It would tell me that I need to get closer to the beds - I am still to far away.

One more tidbit - is the amount of deer you see from your stands. In the pressured woods I hunt if I see multiple doe family units passing my stand - My stand is in the wrong location. Many, many does filing past my stand tells me I am in a funnel, or major travel way between food and beds. I want to see one or two doe groups meandering by. This tells me I am real close or inside the " core" area. Most of my experience has been that these groups start to get on the same trail / funnel a little bit outside the " safe zone" of mature bucks. They exit / enter the bedding area as family units and for the most part remain that way until they get into those deer highways in the open woods.

I don' t have the experience TR has with deer all over the states, so this may not be the case in other terrain, but I think it can be applied to many scenarios.

BTW - TR great job and thanks:D[8D]

RE: Find The Beds
 

Thanks everyone for the info, hopefully I can make some sense of all of it this fall.

Rackattack... I wondered how long it would take for you to post on this:DThanks

RE: Find The Beds
 

Rack,

I' m really impressed. Not many guys can/do really pay attention and learn something when they hunt, and then have the ability to relay what they have seen/learned to others, in print or through the spoken word. Have you ever thought about writing? I' m looking for guys to write for Trinity Mountain Outdoor News. I' m glad to have you and the others here. Really.

You' ve raised some very good points, and given some good techniques. However, when I see frequent/fresh buck sign, but not the buck that left it, I think to myself, " T.R. you' re either in an area the buck passes through at night on the way to some where else, and you have to get closer to his bedding sites; or this buck is mainly nocturnal, and you still have to get closer to his beddng sites/core area to find him." (You DO start talking to yourself when you spend 4-7 hours a day in the woods.)

I never saw a real heavy, wide racked 8 point buck during 3 years of one study, until I saw him chasing and estrus doe in December one evening, because I coudln' t hunt the property he used as a core area. But, I saw him on property I could hunt. Never give, up and be prepared.

T.R.

RE: Find The Beds
 

You have pointed out a problem that is experienced by every hunter who hunts small parcels of land, if the deer do not bed in this small parcel you have access to but do traverse the parcel at night things can get real frustrating. There is a monsterous 6 point that has outsmarted me and the owner of 12 acres for over 5 years, he would be a massive 8 pointer, but he has no browtines! This season will be my 3rd one trying to get him, the biggest problem for me is even though I know where he beds often is it is to far from where I can hunt to get him. I had one opportunity when he messed up last year but 2 little twigs blew the shot for me. I do have an alternate plan to deal with him this coming season which is to pop him coming back to bed, if he continues to follow his return path to his bed.

I have killed other deer on the property, but strictly for meat and well away from what I am pretty sure is his core area. This buck has become a mission for me and I am hoping to stick him this year. He would be my first buck bow kill. The hardest thing in dealing with him is the prevailing wind works against me most of the time.

RE: Find The Beds
 

You might as well forget about any deer patterns if there has been any pressure at all.

Forget about the patterning crap and learn to rut hunt - you' ll thank me later. I spent countless hours " patterning" deer with not much luck. I learned to hunt the rut and get almost everyones doe' s and bucks in my camp every year.

You might want to be able to indentify and mark all the food sources on your hunting property as well.

RE: Find The Beds
 

We can' t thank you if you don' t give us a little more than " learn to hunt the rut"

How do " you" hunt mature bucks during the rut?

RE: Find The Beds
 

Taz,

It' s not just small properties that create this problem, I had access to 11 farms and 1500 acres. But, this buck' s core area was no ton those properties.

DL may be right, you can hope the buck gets stupid again during the rut. But, the best way to kill a specific buck (not any buck or doe that walks by) is to pattern it. And it sounds like you have already done that.

Wait ' til the wind is right, get to where he is going in the morning before he does, and take him out.

I' m not normally interested in any buck with less than 8 points. But I know how you feel. I had a single, old, tom turkey in Nebraska that drove me nuts for 2 years. I tried to put my clients on him, but the last time I saw him he was going the other way, and looking healthy.

T.R.