Southern Beasts Tactical Thread

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fenderbender62
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Southern Beasts Tactical Thread

Unread postby fenderbender62 » Tue Dec 03, 2019 4:14 pm

I'm new to the beast this year and I have been learning a ton from all the guys on here. I have been seeing a few posts lately from guys hunting in the south who deal with what is essentially another world of deer hunting dealing with cutover thickets, dog hunting pressure, and southern pine plantations so I wanted to start a thread for all my southern brethren. Below is what I have learned over the past 10 seasons dealing with everything that comes with hunting in the South and how I have been finding success lately by adapting on public land hunting solo.

I'm in Eastern VA and around here the mature deer stay in the pine cutovers pretty much year round due to hunting pressure. I'm talking young pine cutover from 2-10 years old that are so thick with briars the smaller hunting dogs (real beagles) cant effectively navigate them. They come out at night and hit the fields and oaks. Later in the season once the acorns and crops dry up they'll stay in the cutovers 100% of the time. I key in on 2 food sources inside the cutovers, greenbriar and honeysuckle.

I had an AHA moment a few years ago, I got sick of not seeing deer and started still hunting the interior of the cutovers with a shotgun and shot a big old doe in there. When i gutted her she was slam full of nothing but honeysuckle leaves. They bed in it and eat it all day long. In the fall it wont have any blossoms on it so its easy to overlook. Look for the football shaped green leafs and you'll quickly learn to spot it from a distance.

Another time i was high up in a tree on the edge of a huge cutover as an observation stand. I watched a small buck stand up from a bed and walk 10 yards and eat for 45 minutes, then walk right back and bed down. He did this 3 times over the course of an 8 hour sit, He literally never left a 20 yard circle in the middle of brush . The next time I went in the cutover I wanted to see what the food source was, it was just a pile of greenbriar growing on top of a little 20 yard radius knoll.I dont know why it grew there but it was like a little food plot right in the middle of the cutover and it was getting hit hard.

If you can find Honeysuckle or greenbriar mark it on your OnX, the deer will bed in or near it, usually within 25 yards of it.

The thick pines are tricky and it can be enticing to sit the edges where you're finding sign and trails, but if the pressure is heavy I can guarantee you that sign is being made at night. The deer will stay in there all day long. They bed, feed, rut, breed, and spend their entire existence in those cutovers because its the only place they have a chance at survival. They have no chance to evade deer hounds in any kind of open timber environment.

I still hunt inside the cutovers with a shotgun using 00 buckshot and jump shoot them like rabbits. The key is the mature deer adapt to dog hunting pressure by not moving any distance at all, therefor not leaving a scent trail for the hounds to catch, again this is a survival tactic the mature deer have learned over the first 2 years of hunting pressure. They'll hold tight even when they know you're in there, hoping you walk right by them. You pretty much have to step on them for them to move which equates to alot of close up shots, sometimes while they're still in their beds. I have found its more beneficial to keep walking at a very slow steady pace than to creep and stop. When you stop walking the deer get uneasy for some reason and theyll take off 30 yards ahead of you limiting your opportunities. The slow steady walk lets them know where you are and where your heading, they'll hold tight for as long as possible.

To break it down further, I have found that they bed on transition edges and terrain features inside the cutovers. So if you have the young pines that are 2 years old that but up to another cut that is 8 years old, or pines that run up against CRP they will bed within a few yards of that transition. They also tend to bed wherever there is a low area, if it holds water its even better, theyll bed right on the edge of that water or low lying transition. I also look for random clumps of abnormal vegetation. If a cutover consists of mostly pines,goldenrod and briars and you locate an area of cedars more than a few yards in size, there is usually a deer somewhere in that vicinity.

Beasts of the South, share your knowledge and experiences that have improved your hunting success


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DaveT1963
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Re: Southern Beasts Tactical Thread

Unread postby DaveT1963 » Wed Dec 04, 2019 1:12 am

There are so many variables to try to cover. There are many unique things about the south (think gators and hogs) just as there are unique thigns about the North (think snow and winter herding).

What does not change is this:
1. The bucks are out there, they spend the majority of their daylight hours in a relatively small area - find those areas
2. Focus on bed-to-food, food-to-bed patterns
3. Set up as close as you can - do NOT be afraid to push it even if it results in a busted deer/lesson learned.
4. Keep tabs on where others go.... then go someplace else
5. Never forget the does and try your best not to alter their patterns as most of hunting season the bucks are interested more in does than food
6. Food patterns are still applicable during the rut - it just shifts to doe feeding patterns - the bucks will follow.
7. Use the wind
8. Adapt and overcome
9. Avoid over pressuring a spot
10. Have fun - embrace the suck

Most of the rest is variables but the real basics do not change much. I am sure others can add more.
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Re: Southern Beasts Tactical Thread

Unread postby PK_ » Wed Dec 04, 2019 1:57 am

Great post!

I love still hunting crazy thick areas like that too. Just when you think you are wasting your time, boom, one leaps up from under your feet, what a rush. Although I have sent several good bucks to their death from some other Hunter.

I agree with everything you are saying... it is just a little bit different in the south.

A lot of people on this forum talk about bucks bedding on the edge of thick cover, but what I have found is exactly what you said. They may be bedded on an edge but it will be an interior edge and like you said a wet edge is really the ticket.

Another thing that I have always found and has been talked about a bit by others is that I have had most of my success in the mornings. It seems they move around and feed a bit more taking advantage of the cooler temps, even tho it is still within security cover. I feel like that is also when a big buck is most vulnerable to be back to bed a bit late from checking does. In the evenings unless that mature buck is locked up with a doe that brings him out of cover, he simply won’t budge until dark. If they do move during daylight, midday has been really good to me, to you still have to be setup in a secure area they can travel, usually some type of corridor or interior edge within a larger/multiple bedding areas...

I like your observations about food, food is something I never really paid enough attention to and am trying to learn. Because I feel in this kind of terrain without crops, once the acorns are gone, if you can understand the next high quality food you can really up your odds if that food is concentrated and not just spread out everywhere.
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Re: Southern Beasts Tactical Thread

Unread postby fenderbender62 » Wed Dec 04, 2019 10:37 am

I definitely agree with you on the morning movement. They watch the sun go down in the evening and get darker outside so its easy for them to calcualte when its safe to move in the evening.

I have observed a lot of mature deer movement in the morning when there is a full moon. I think it throws off their ability to sense when its starting to become light outside in the morning and they will stay on their feet a bit longer inside the security cover.
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Re: Southern Beasts Tactical Thread

Unread postby MrT » Wed Dec 04, 2019 2:12 pm

fenderbender62 wrote:I still hunt inside the cutovers with a shotgun using 00 buckshot and jump shoot them like rabbits. The key is the mature deer adapt to dog hunting pressure by not moving any distance at all, therefor not leaving a scent trail for the hounds to catch, again this is a survival tactic the mature deer have learned over the first 2 years of hunting pressure. They'll hold tight even when they know you're in there, hoping you walk right by them. You pretty much have to step on them for them to move which equates to alot of close up shots, sometimes while they're still in their beds. I have found its more beneficial to keep walking at a very slow steady pace than to creep and stop. When you stop walking the deer get uneasy for some reason and theyll take off 30 yards ahead of you limiting your opportunities. The slow steady walk lets them know where you are and where your heading, they'll hold tight for as long as possible.


Wow this is so huge for me... this has been my first year using beast tactics and I've jumped several bucks. Every one of them I could have killed with shotgun. So simple, can't believe I didn't think of it.
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Re: Southern Beasts Tactical Thread

Unread postby Tennhunter3 » Wed Dec 04, 2019 3:12 pm

In some ways southern bucks are different in many ways they are the same.

I think we have far more morning action then those up north. Our evening heat can be extreme in early season which makes our morning hunting better.

I agree with big bucks watching hunters and not moving.
Not sure how they react around dogs our wmas don't allow dogs for deer hunting.

Even in pine plantations and cuts their is edges and bedding along those edges.

The real difficult part of hunting the south is we need to be masters of thermals and wind direction. Every area the wind does strange things in blowing around obstacles.

Southern hunting I think is extremely challenging.

The main thing about southern hunting is pressure along transition. If its hunted or walked we only get one shot before the areas blown. Our best areas can be ruined by one hunter passing through. I've seen bucks lockup and go on alert at first sign of human pressure. Our wmas are full of weekend warriors ruining most of the wmas. Theirs little pockets few ever go and that's usually where the bucks are. Once a 3 year old or older buck finds that human pressure it is extremely hard to get many sightings of him.

This is why most bucks in the south are shot at 1-2 hunters just aren't smart enough to understand pressure - transition pressure or patience. when to go all in on the cards and walk away a loser.

I hunt a area once sometimes twice a year but I go all in. I make many mistakes still but I don't hunt areas with pressure. If you see hunters in a area every weekend you couldn't pay me to hunt that area. Even though I know the buck bedding I don't know every area that hunter walks or what the wind was every time he hunted it. I go for high percentage sits not well I saw a truck here all this week it will be ok.

I can study most hunter parking spots keep notes of what vehicles I see where. Where I suspect they are going. Tire tracks , pushed down leaves or grass. If I see fresh tire tracks after a rain I hunt somewhere else. Rather then sit a low percentage area.

It's not just the deer were hunting pressure is harder to overcome then outsmarting the oldest buck.

We need more setups in the south then northern hunters.Because of how many setups get blow.

I do find bucks bedding in pine plantations but its usually within 100 yards of some sort of edge. They like grassy hillsides along points with old logging roads. Course if hunters enter from the road they are almost always busted.

The buck I shot last week was bedded along a thick drainage. If not for Marsh Bucks dvd I highly doubt I ever would have killed that buck. Swamp and Marsh hunting is the same regardless if its Alabama or Wisconsin.
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Re: Southern Beasts Tactical Thread

Unread postby Southern slayer » Thu Dec 05, 2019 4:55 am

Great post ! One question I have about slipping through these extremely thick areas is; how do you navigate the briars ? Some of these areas are so thick I can’t walk through the little pine trees, because they are so close together. Also, how far can you shoot with a shotgun using 00 buckshot ? :doh:
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Re: Southern Beasts Tactical Thread

Unread postby The Mediocre Hunter » Thu Dec 05, 2019 8:48 am

Southern slayer wrote:Great post ! One question I have about slipping through these extremely thick areas is; how do you navigate the briars ? Some of these areas are so thick I can’t walk through the little pine trees, because they are so close together. Also, how far can you shoot with a shotgun using 00 buckshot ? :doh:


They was a guy on another thread that mentioned that he uses pruning shears to get through those briars. Another talked about briar pants, a Carhartt jacket and thick larger gloves. Both ideas sound solid.
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Re: Southern Beasts Tactical Thread

Unread postby fenderbender62 » Thu Dec 05, 2019 11:30 am

I wear overalls and sometimes a shirt that are made for walking through briars, ironically theyre made by a guy named Dan LOL!

Check out danshuntinggear.com They actually tailor them for your measurements when you order so they fit perfectly. Theyre made out of super tough nylon so the briars just slide right over them, theres nothing to get hung up on. The jackets can be a little warm when stomping thru the thick stuff.

Thin leather gloves are a must unless you have tough hands. I've tried rock climbing gloves from PETZL, sailing gloves, motorcycles riding gloves. Gloves are such a personal preference and sizing varies, just find something you like that is in your price range. I wore the buckskin motorcycle gloves for 3 or 4 years and they were $30, lasted a while and had good dexterity.

If you cant fit through the pines, just find another path around is all i can say really. I dont usually hunt planted pines, more natural regrowth.

For shotgunning I use 00 buck in 3" shells which gives you 15 pellets. My gun likes Remington Express buckshot. I pair that with an Xtra full choke made by a company called Kick's Chokes. Specific choke is called the buckkicker. My longest kill was a single shot on a doe running across a dirt road at 73 yds and I had 7 of the 15 pellets in her vitals. Most of the time I keep it under 60, in the cutovers its rarely more than 20ish. I've had lots of headshots, mostly because alot of times its the only visible target due to the chest high brush, but it puts em down quick!
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Re: Southern Beasts Tactical Thread

Unread postby MrT » Thu Dec 05, 2019 12:09 pm

I can second the danshuntinggear.com. i have their hip waiders. They're the bomb.
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Re: Southern Beasts Tactical Thread

Unread postby Southern slayer » Thu Dec 05, 2019 3:41 pm

Great. Thanks for the info. I’m looking forward to giving this tactic a shot !
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Re: Southern Beasts Tactical Thread

Unread postby Twenty Up » Fri Dec 06, 2019 1:26 am

Southern Whitetails are a completely different sub-species than Midwestern and Northern deer. Our subspecies are “ mcilhennyi, osceola, and Seminolus “

https://www.whitetailsunlimited.com/i/p ... bution.pdf - (Subspecies Article)

I mention this because they act completely differently, think Beagle compared to a Lab..
Southern deer are more timid, cautious and smaller than their Northern & Midwestern counterparts.

Our unique weather plays a tremendous role in how they bed. We don’t get consistent, strong winds unless a front is pushing through. Our wind speed will generally be 0-7MPH down here, which means thermals play a huge role in how these animals bed and utilize the landscape. They’re going to bed up high and let the thermals come up to them, but in the mornings I believe they “stage” bed. In Hill country, I’ve found a lot of beds in open, hardwood hubs or thermal hubs. I believe the deer chew their cud in these open bottoms, letting the thermals from 2-3 ridges “fall” to them while watching their back trail. When the thermals switch, they rotate to their daytime beds (up high). I’ve seen too many deer from 8AM-10-30AM to believe otherwise.

I’ll add that I’ve had most of my success on mature bucks in the AM than PM.
Last edited by Twenty Up on Fri Dec 06, 2019 1:34 am, edited 1 time in total.
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Re: Southern Beasts Tactical Thread

Unread postby DaveT1963 » Fri Dec 06, 2019 1:32 am

I just smile when someone from the north says prepping trees and access routes is bad. In a lot of the areas I hunt you just would not ever get into where the deer is without a prepped access trail. Also, our canopy is way lower than up north and we can have leaf drop as late as Dec. in fact we still have red oaks here with leaves.
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Re: Southern Beasts Tactical Thread

Unread postby Tennhunter3 » Fri Dec 06, 2019 1:39 am

Southern slayer wrote:Great post ! One question I have about slipping through these extremely thick areas is; how do you navigate the briars ? Some of these areas are so thick I can’t walk through the little pine trees, because they are so close together. Also, how far can you shoot with a shotgun using 00 buckshot ? :doh:


This can be a difficult question to answer legally.
Technically wmas dont allow saws or shears..
But you can wait till january when vegetation is low and step on the briars or accidentally push them out of the way with a treestand. You will need to do it again in june from what grew back.

Just be careful of how big of a trail you make other hunters do find them. I had one of my best spots ruined this way. To this day it's still no good. So be extremely cautious it's devastating to lose a fantastic spot because of a error you made I know I kick myself over it all the time.

The little pine trees could accidentally be broken at ground level.
Be sure to start your trail at least 50 yards inland from a road or entering spot. I'm always cut to pieces by briars the first 50 yards cussing under my breath lol.

I'm not saying break the rules with this post but accidents do happen. You were lost in the clearcut and had to find a way out right.
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Re: Southern Beasts Tactical Thread

Unread postby MrT » Mon Dec 09, 2019 3:48 am

What about the rut in the southeast? I know I heard depending what state you're in the rut doesn't even come along until right about now.

Seems like I can't see any pattern in the state I'm in. I've seen rut activity as early as mid October. This year I haven't seen any until the last week or so.

Any thoughts, ideas, or info?


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