The Hunting Beast

bump

hunter_mike wrote:-I would like to hear more about in-season scouting, using hot sign, past buck encounters and anything else you can think of to pick which bedding area you are going to hunt that day.

Agreed I would like to hear a podcast just on in-season scouting and tactics, especially as it relates to hill/farm country. Including what to do when your spring scouting bedding areas strike out. For example it's much less obvious to me where to stop and hunt in a block of timber in hill/farm country than it is in marshes and swamps (probably due to the DVD's).

I also hope there is a podcast coming on hunting hill country after the DVD is out.

If the antlers were made of cheese, would you eat them?

Talking points on how to teach bed hunting, hill country and the sport of deer hunting to new youth hunters.

BassBoysLLP wrote:If the antlers were made of cheese, would you eat them?

That's my kind of question...

There's a ton of info on here and Dan's YouTube videos thst easily explain how to find beds. I immediately started finding buck beds last year when i started thanks to that. My struggle now is how to set up on them and how to hunt them. Im in PA hill country. Where do i set my stand on a certain bed, etc? Where do i enter and exit from? That's where I still need to learn a lot. But obviously that can't be easily answered.
Also I get hung up on "old bedding" i find a great bed in the winter. By spring its no longer used. In spring no longer used by summer. Summer to fall, etc. Seasonal bedding has been tough for me. I've found maybe 20 of those beds now. Not sure if I've ever found a primary bedding area. On PA public maybe its just very difficult to do and I need to search more.

bump, keep the questions coming

Hunting areas with extremly difficult entrys higher success rate on mature bucks? Do you prioritize hard to access spots when pressure increases.

How do you hunt extremely complicated areas? On public land where trails cant be cut.

Lets say for instance a 900 acre 2-3 year old pine clearcut full of thorns on North South and East sides with 120 acres hardwoods thats full great buck bedding and sign trick is you can't enter from the west because the wind is going to be wrong most of the time.

Would you not hunt until wind coming out of the east? Which is rare in the south.

Would you pass over these areas entirely being hard to get into on normal wind directions?

Lots of people take a Hunting vacation during the rut. How should a guy maximize his time during the rut to up his odds?

Also can you talk about the differences between hunting mature bucks during rut vs. the 2 and 3 year olds that move a lot more during rut?

It seems that Dan has shot alot of his bucks very early in the season. Does he think it's easier to pattern mature buck during this time compared to the rut? Is this correct? Any specific bedding that seems better during this time?

I have always felt that the first couple weeks of the season is the best time to shoot a mature buck if you have his bedding pinpointed ahead of time. Maybe because of less pressure then? Summer patterns?

tgreeno wrote:It seems that Dan has shot alot of his bucks very early in the season. Does he think it's easier to pattern mature buck during this time compared to the rut? Is this correct? Any specific bedding that seems better during this time?

I have always felt that the first couple weeks of the season is the best time to shoot a mature buck if you have his bedding pinpointed ahead of time. Maybe because of less pressure then? Summer patterns?

Related to tgreeno's request - I remember from an old podcast Dan said he followed some type of rotation like swamp/marsh early season, the hills during the rut, then back to swamps late, or something like that. It would be great to hear this logic again and explore it in more detail, does he still follow this routine or another now, why, where, etc. Take us through a whole season of ideas/strategies, in depth.

BUCK BEDS ON HILL COUNTRY POINTS: During my post season scouting I have noticed a trend of a half circle trail from below the point wrapping around the outer edge of the point and ultimately connecting to the bed above on the tip of the point. Is this likely a morning J-hook, evening exit trail, or coincidental path of least resistance?

LEARNING FROM PREVIOUS HUNTS: When you go back to re-scout an area you have already scouted and/or hunted in the past, what details are you searching for to combine with already gathered intel in order to make the big picture more clear?

SCOUTING WITH STAND ON BACK: What are you looking for based on terrain and time of year? What is your approach to avoid being seen, heard, winded, and getting to close? If you bump satellite deer near where you decide you should set up, do you stay or move on?

Deer exit routes. How to determine where they are and how to use them to your advantage. Also how to determine if a bed is being used even if there isn't much sign in it.

Timing of when to hunt "pressure beds"

What do you differently when hunting an at farm which is on top and these woods are below versus when the ag is below with normal hill country?

How do bucks move differently?

How does air/scent flow differently?