2020 Whitetail “Die”ary

Discuss deer hunting tactics, Deer behavior. Post your Hunting Stories, Pictures, and Questions/Answers.
  • Advertisement

HB Store


User avatar
Jackson Marsh
Moderator
Posts: 19547
Joined: Tue Aug 17, 2010 3:11 am
Location: SE WI
Status: Offline

Re: 2020 Whitetail “Die”ary

Unread postby Jackson Marsh » Sat Mar 14, 2020 12:57 pm

Nice work LD 8-)


User avatar
Lockdown
Moderator
Posts: 9957
Joined: Fri Jul 18, 2014 4:16 pm
Location: MN
Status: Offline

Re: 2020 Whitetail “Die”ary

Unread postby Lockdown » Tue Mar 17, 2020 5:57 am

KornfedKiller wrote:
Lockdown wrote:If you’re new, just remember: BUCKS. LOVE. BLOWDOWNS. I see beds by them all the time. Sometimes they climb way up into the crotch of the branches, so watch for that.


I'm searching for my first bow kill, journaling as well. 3rd year going at it. I had maybe encountered 5 beds? After this piece of advice, I think I found a dozen the last two days... really changed my outlook. Thanks for jumping out of the forum's gated community :lol:


Not a problem!

If you’re having trouble identifying beds, check for hair in the bed itself. Get down on all fours if you have to. This time of year they’re shedding their winter coat so there should be plenty in there if it’s been used recently.
NEMAD
Posts: 56
Joined: Sat Feb 22, 2020 9:44 am
Status: Offline

Re: 2020 Whitetail “Die”ary

Unread postby NEMAD » Tue Mar 17, 2020 6:57 am

Lockdown wrote:
KornfedKiller wrote:
Lockdown wrote:If you’re new, just remember: BUCKS. LOVE. BLOWDOWNS. I see beds by them all the time. Sometimes they climb way up into the crotch of the branches, so watch for that.


I'm searching for my first bow kill, journaling as well. 3rd year going at it. I had maybe encountered 5 beds? After this piece of advice, I think I found a dozen the last two days... really changed my outlook. Thanks for jumping out of the forum's gated community :lol:


Not a problem!

If you’re having trouble identifying beds, check for hair in the bed itself. Get down on all fours if you have to. This time of year they’re shedding their winter coat so there should be plenty in there if it’s been used recently.


Great idea! Never thought about using them blowing their coats to my advantage. Tons of great info in your thread, I've put several miles on so far this year and have only found one primary scrape area so it's definitely frustrating at times but hopefully rewarding if the hard work pays off. Still working on locating beds, thanks for all the hard work and input here.
"A hunt based only on the trophies taken falls far short of what the ultimate goal should be."
User avatar
Lockdown
Moderator
Posts: 9957
Joined: Fri Jul 18, 2014 4:16 pm
Location: MN
Status: Offline

Re: 2020 Whitetail “Die”ary

Unread postby Lockdown » Tue Mar 17, 2020 7:15 am

NEMAD wrote:
Lockdown wrote:
KornfedKiller wrote:
Lockdown wrote:If you’re new, just remember: BUCKS. LOVE. BLOWDOWNS. I see beds by them all the time. Sometimes they climb way up into the crotch of the branches, so watch for that.


I'm searching for my first bow kill, journaling as well. 3rd year going at it. I had maybe encountered 5 beds? After this piece of advice, I think I found a dozen the last two days... really changed my outlook. Thanks for jumping out of the forum's gated community :lol:


Not a problem!

If you’re having trouble identifying beds, check for hair in the bed itself. Get down on all fours if you have to. This time of year they’re shedding their winter coat so there should be plenty in there if it’s been used recently.


Great idea! Never thought about using them blowing their coats to my advantage. Tons of great info in your thread, I've put several miles on so far this year and have only found one primary scrape area so it's definitely frustrating at times but hopefully rewarding if the hard work pays off. Still working on locating beds, thanks for all the hard work and input here.


Not my idea ;) it’s one of many things I’ve learned from this forum.

Just keep in mind that if there isn’t any hair, it doesn’t necessarily mean it’s not a bed. Most of the beds in my areas won’t have hair in them right now, as the deer are just starting to disperse from winter ranges.

Finding hair just verifies that it IS a bed.
tbunao
500 Club
Posts: 2526
Joined: Tue Feb 10, 2015 11:54 am
Status: Offline

Re: 2020 Whitetail “Die”ary

Unread postby tbunao » Tue Mar 17, 2020 11:41 am

8-)
User avatar
Lockdown
Moderator
Posts: 9957
Joined: Fri Jul 18, 2014 4:16 pm
Location: MN
Status: Offline

Re: 2020 Whitetail “Die”ary

Unread postby Lockdown » Tue Mar 24, 2020 4:46 pm

Friday March 20th

Josh is a farmer friend of mine. He works with us in the winters most years for extra cash. He just so happens to have access to some prime ground across the road from the public where I shot my MN doe last fall. Every so often at work I talk Beast tactics and I finally peaked his interest enough that he seemed to be on board.

After recommending he check a few spots on his property, he came to work all excited last Monday morning. He found a bunch of sign he didn’t expect, a couple stands he didn’t know were there, and a really nice dead head... less than 100 yards from the road in a small overlooked bedding area 8-)

I made time on Friday to swing out there and look at that overlooked bedding with him per his request. I jumped at the chance. (Btw it’s a riverbottom property with tons of oxbows).

We only had time to look at two potential bedding areas. First one was a moderate oxbow but it lacked sign. A few beds where you’d expect them, no new rubs. VERY FEW old rubs. A couple hundred yards away was the overlooked bedding where the river paralleled the road.

There was a mound of dirt about 30 yards long and 7’ high. I told Josh that it was of interest, as it is the “something different” and they’re drawn to structure. I was able to make out a few beds on top of it, nothing crazy. But where the elevation returned to normal, it got thick on the back side. I saw one rub and knew there would be beds in there.

We found 6-8 beds, some fresh with hair in them, 4 new rubs, and a half dozen old rubs. We circled it and the rubs stopped. They were all in a small 40 yard bedding/staging area. Here’s the view of the road from the middle of the bedding.
Image
I started explaining some of the intricacies of the sign in there (like shape of the bed in conjunction with wind direction) and I could see the wheels turning in Josh’s head. He was all in.

Further east there was another small pocket of bedding where the deadhead was. Only 2 rubs and a couple beds. Not as secure as the other bedding 75 yards away. It’s certainly not impossible this buck got hit by a car. We’ll never know. Regardless, finding a dead buck where you’re suspecting bedding is a good thing. This looked like a dang nice buck. Probably mature, but it had definitely been there a while.
Image

I helped Josh pick out a kill tree. It’s a big cottonwood with a split trunk about 8’ up. I told him to make a little platform out of wood right in the crotch, along with a small ladder. He can sneak down the river, crawl out and go 15 yards to his tree. We kept the set super low so the dirt pile conceals all movement. The bucks will be 60-70 yards away, and moving west along the river with a NW wind. They’ll feel safe but they won’t be, as the trail cuts North of the stand just perfect.

I’m assuming this spot will go dead once the leaves drop, but time will tell. I’ll have some more entries from Josh’s property in the future. I’ll sneak in an hour here or there when time allows.

I’m hoping to do some scouting for myself this week and this weekend. Time will tell.
Kokes
500 Club
Posts: 1612
Joined: Wed Sep 02, 2015 3:33 am
Location: Parry Sound, Ontario
Status: Offline

Re: 2020 Whitetail “Die”ary

Unread postby Kokes » Tue Mar 24, 2020 11:20 pm

Nice work lockdown! Would be cool to see your buddy josh succeed using beast tactics for sure.
User avatar
Lockdown
Moderator
Posts: 9957
Joined: Fri Jul 18, 2014 4:16 pm
Location: MN
Status: Offline

Re: 2020 Whitetail “Die”ary

Unread postby Lockdown » Wed Mar 25, 2020 4:03 pm

Kokes wrote:Nice work lockdown! Would be cool to see your buddy josh succeed using beast tactics for sure.


He’s all about it 8-) he said he’s never been so excited for deer hunting. I can already see the same mindset in him that I had early on. It seems like it will be easy when you’re staring at beds and exit trails in the spring. As we know that is not the case at all.

Regardless, it will be fun for me to see the rest of his property. And I’ll be learning through his hunts this fall. I’m sure he’ll be giving me the play by play.



I was going to ask the wife to scout a day this weekend but guess what?! She’s getting jerked around at work and is on call again. That’s two weekends in a row :whistle: Might be able to make it out Thursday after work. Time will tell.
User avatar
Lockdown
Moderator
Posts: 9957
Joined: Fri Jul 18, 2014 4:16 pm
Location: MN
Status: Offline

Re: 2020 Whitetail “Die”ary

Unread postby Lockdown » Wed Apr 01, 2020 4:04 pm

March 26th

I snuck out of work a hair early and sped over to a tiny piece of public right by the shop. It's in the same general area as Josh's and the public where I killed my doe last year, so I know dpsm is decent here. I'd scouted it 6-7 years ago and knew it was thick. It's a riverbottom with willows, dogwood and canary grass. The portion that I was interested is only 7 acres and right next to the road.

All I'm really looking for out of this spot is a place to race out and be in the game for a doe on short notice. It's nothing special, but there were a few decent looking beds. The best beds were near the river in the biggest clumps of brush. I only came across two rubs.
Image
Image
Image



From the bedding the trails converged near some big trees in a drainage that leads to the river. Its close to the private border and I did see a pop up ground blind not far away, but I'm hoping its a gun blind. Miraculously, there was a nice opening and a nice big tree for a stand! :mrgreen: It's not often I can hang a stand and shoot decent without trimming a ton. Green are trails, red is where I'll hang the LW.
Image



I'll need to do a little nipping here and there just to get in the tree, and maybe some very minor trimming for one of the lanes. I'm in no hurry to get back here... this is more or less to keep my options open being that its so close to where I work.
User avatar
Lockdown
Moderator
Posts: 9957
Joined: Fri Jul 18, 2014 4:16 pm
Location: MN
Status: Offline

Re: 2020 Whitetail “Die”ary

Unread postby Lockdown » Wed Apr 01, 2020 4:42 pm

March 27th

Got the go ahead from the wife for a quick one hour scout to finish up Josh's with him. The first day we were on the road side of the river... there's not much ground there. Today we were on the other side where better bedding was suspected. The first chunk of trees was known bedding. Josh said he's seen deer come out of there a number of times. We ended up finding quite a few beds and a bunch of poop! They were obviously using it all winter. He'd never hunted or been through this bedding before.
Image
Image



There was also a few rubs back there. It appeared to me that there was a rub line paralleling the river. Pretty sure they'll cruise it with a SE wind while staying just inside the trees by 10-20 yards. It's thick in there so Josh is going to have a good bit of trimming to do. We picked out a couple trees that work perfect. He can cross the river heading into the wind and set up down wind of that cruising trail and all the bedding. After we found that sign and came up with the game plan Josh was liking it. Its definitely a morning spot... too small and too close to those beds to get in for an evening hunt. Here's a pic of some of the rubs in the rub line. Some new, some old.
Image



We also found a couple turds that were likely from a shooter buck, and there was a half dozen scrapes in a 100 yard stretch on the field edge. That is a HUGE number for around here.
Image



On to the next bedding area...

We checked a couple oxbows that looked REAL nice on the aerial. They were just a little too open to be solid bedding though. There were beds, but they definitely weren't used as much as the first bedding. Interestingly, one had a clump of brush that was 75+ yards from the tip that seemed to have some better beds. Had a combination of new and old rubs too. I have seen this many times. If there is security cover on the tip of the peninsula, then that's where they're very likely to be. But if the thickest cover is part way down, they'll often hole up there instead.

We did pick a general killing tree location for the 3rd oxbow.

The only part we didn't get to check out was an oxbow that he can't get to without crossing the river. It looks good on the map and it looks thick enough to potentially be great. We won't know until we get there.


A few takeways from Josh's property... When we got done I said "Remember when we started and I said the best bedding would be in the thickest spot on the property?" He said yes. I said "And where did we find the most beds, poop, and buck sign?". He smiled 8-) So for those of you who are new, you have to find the THICK cover. I can't ever remember walking through thick cover without finding bedding. So if you're ever in a position where you don't know where to set up, in general, pick the thickest bedding on the property.

Lastly, he mentioned how it wasn't quite as good as he thought it would be. I told him yeah that sucks, but at the same time knowing exactly what your property is is a VERY good thing. When you drive by this place is looks PRIME. It IS a good spot, but once we turned all the stones over we were a little surprised. :think: At least he doesn't think its better than it is and ends up spending too much time there.

So basically all that's left is figuring out his water access (if he can cross with waders), getting to the water locked oxbow, and a tiny piece of overlooked bedding on the very South end. There's a grassy swale with a few trees and some dogwood. Perfect spot for a big buck to hide. Josh said a couple times he has seen "the big one" he has been in that general area. He went through there and said beds looked good. I'd like to get in there and re-hash things with him before he gets busy with planting.




The wife pitied me and even let me scout Sunday afternoon too! :dance: :dance: I hit up a brand new piece. I will detail that at a different time...
User avatar
Lockdown
Moderator
Posts: 9957
Joined: Fri Jul 18, 2014 4:16 pm
Location: MN
Status: Offline

Re: 2020 Whitetail “Die”ary

Unread postby Lockdown » Fri Apr 03, 2020 3:42 pm

March 29th

I headed to a brand new spot that really looked good on the map. It was a marsh with open water and a river system that flowed through it. A little over 3/4 mile in, the river pinched off some suspected bedding :L:

The trails looked decent to start. Halfway back I came to a nice pinch point where the marsh narrowed. REAL nice rut funnel. The land did make a bit of a lazy peninsula and there were a few beds there too. I would randomly find beds all along the transition. They didn’t seem to have a preferred spot and buck sign was lacking. 2/3 mile in and I’d seen one small rub.
Image
Image
Image
Image
With how spread out all the beds were it felt like a craps shoot. I’m looking for predictability.


Here’s the rut funnel trail. Good looking spot, but rut spots are a dime a dozen. That said, this one is good enough I would hunt it if there was a big one around.
Image




I made it to the river and threw my waders on. I tried a half dozen different spots and never came close to making it across. So my options are:

1) Wade through it when the water warms up some.
2) Ask the neighbors for permission to access.

It only makes sense to talk to the neighbors first ;) here’s the “forbidden fruit”. It might not be that great but the potential is definitely there.
Image



I used the rut funnel to access the East side of the property. I followed a creek toward the open water where some willows were growing on some high ground. PERFECT spot for a big one to hide.
Image
There were tracks, there were trails and beds, but only one tiny rub and another back at the main land. Overall it was pretty disappointing. No big beds, no sign of a big buck at all.

Lastly I had the main block of woods to check out. Interestingly, I found the best concentration of beds (not necessarily most worn) here, and also the most rubs. I found a spot where the cattails met with dogwood, canary grass, buckthorn and big trees. It was undoubtedly the thickest spot on the property, plus multiple transitions met in a small area.
Image
Image
Image
Image



Was it doe bedding that got marked up during rut? Could easily be. There’s no way to know without more homework. I did find an illegal stand not too terribly far from bedding. Pretty decent set up actually ;)

Tally for the day was 8 rubs and 2 really old buck beds.

I logged 4.24 miles and welcomed the comfort of my truck and some ice water. Roca, my out of shape chocolate lab, was ready to be done too ;)

In conclusion I didn’t find anything that got me real excited, but that’s how it goes! I’ll likely be in this area scouting and shining this summer, so we’ll see what turns up.
User avatar
seazofcheeze
500 Club
Posts: 3860
Joined: Wed Sep 18, 2013 1:13 pm
Location: Billings, MT
Status: Offline

Re: 2020 Whitetail “Die”ary

Unread postby seazofcheeze » Tue Apr 07, 2020 6:04 am

I know time is at a premium for you, so I am glad to see you getting out to get some work in this spring! That last pic from your April 1st post looks promising! Between your accumulated spots and some of these new locations, things are looking good for you headed into 2020 8-)
User avatar
Lockdown
Moderator
Posts: 9957
Joined: Fri Jul 18, 2014 4:16 pm
Location: MN
Status: Offline

Re: 2020 Whitetail “Die”ary

Unread postby Lockdown » Tue Apr 07, 2020 5:31 pm

seazofcheeze wrote:I know time is at a premium for you, so I am glad to see you getting out to get some work in this spring! That last pic from your April 1st post looks promising! Between your accumulated spots and some of these new locations, things are looking good for you headed into 2020 8-)


Last year was rough. Things have been a lot better this year, mostly due to dropping down to a 40 hour work week.



Wednesday April 1st
I snuck out for a REAL quick scout at the public by the shop. For future reference, we’ll call this place Josh’s public. Once again this was where I shot my doe last fall.

I made the decision to put a fair amount of time into this spot since it’s so convenient for me to check on. I did see a big buck here in 2014, and according to the locals there are decent deer in the area quite often.

Back to the day’s scout, I hit some easier access stuff to re-familiarize myself with the property. I figured it would suck and it did. That is still a win in my book, as now I don’t have to question what’s there.



April 2nd

Had an hour to work with at Josh’s public.

I decided to head out to a barren island in the middle of the property. I figured hip boots would get me there but NOPE. I wussed out and decided to re-hash the bedding where I killed my doe.

Right off the bat I found a little sliver of dry land where I thought it was nothing but wetness. Low and behold... beds with hair in them. And a couple small rubs.
Image
This discovery shed a lot of light on the situation. In the two hunts I’d had back there last fall, I saw movement through that water both times. Once coming off of it (doe) and once going to it (doe and fawn). I just couldn’t see the dry land from my set. So the movement that confused me now makes perfect sense.

From there I headed into the bedding my doe came out of. There’s only a couple tiny rubs in there, but the beds look decent. I did find an old buck bed, but it had seen minimal use lately. Not very worn.
Image
The bedding itself is nothing more than a mixture of THICK dogwood and willows. The does and little bucks really seem to like it. It was hot with action early last fall! (I shot my doe Oct 7th) I do think movement will slow there, as a local bowhunter was hitting that area hard late October.

I did see one decent sized turd, so MAYBE I’m in the game for a shooter here?? I consider it a doe spot.

I started heading for my kill tree location and noticed another little sliver of dry land. I saw a couple nice beds right away. They had been used recently too.
Image
Image
The trails filtered out and went right past my tree. I was roughly 50-60 yards from that bedded doe when I hung the LW the night I killed her. My kill tree is dead center. There’s water on both sides of the travel corridor. Makes a nice little funnel with food only being 100 yds away.
Image
Image
2nd pic is the thick bedding she came out of.


I really liked that set even before this scout. Seeing how used some of those beds are, and also where they’re located, makes me like it even more. 8-)


My work truck broke down at 1:30 today. I told the boss “close enough to 3:30 for me!” I headed to Josh’s public, grabbed my waders and made it to the island. I found the goods, and I’m pretty excited about it! I’ll fill you in tomorrow or the next day.
Image
User avatar
Lockdown
Moderator
Posts: 9957
Joined: Fri Jul 18, 2014 4:16 pm
Location: MN
Status: Offline

Re: 2020 Whitetail “Die”ary

Unread postby Lockdown » Fri Apr 10, 2020 3:43 pm

Need to back track a little...

Sunday April 5th
Dad wanted to trim some of his sets down by our permission CRP field in Nazi's area. He borrowed his boss's 18v Milwaukee pole saw and that thing is SWEET. I lopped off two 10" cottonwood limbs with ease. We trimmed two existing sets a little better and one brand new set in a little grove that I killed out of in 2010. The stand itself is actually in the fenceline in an overgown rock pile where the crops make a "T". Elli was with us and she got to sit in a hang on for the first time. I took the pole saw and trimmed her initials in one of the trunks and told her we'd call it her stand. We didn't quite get the set finished, but that's ok. I hung my LW and we'll have a "permanent" hand on set there later so we'll finish then. Will be a good bow stand with the crops standing and a decent gun stand.
Image
Image
Image




April 7th
So my work truck broke down and I had a couple hours to spare. Back to Josh's public! I checked some parking lot bedding that I thought would be nothing, but low and behold there was quite a few rubs in there :shock: In fact there was a small one that was almost touching a wood post in the parking lot.
Image
I didn't see much for beds but it was mostly leaf littler and I went through there really fast. I can stop and check that out almost any time, so I threw the waders on and headed to the island. The trail heading out to it looked REALLY good. 8-)
Image
I headed strait for a bush that used to have rubs and a bed under it... no bed :think: Of course it was under water due to spring flooding, but I think the level is rising in general and that bed is too wet under normal circumstances. I did see a couple small dogwood rubs there, as that's where they head east towards ag.

There's basically nothing on this island except grass. No trees at all, just a few bushes. Walking the edge I wasn't finding much for sign at all. A couple very light trails, no decent beds. I was starting to wonder what the deal was... what was I missing? The trail heading out there looked too good for such a lack of sign once I got there. When I got to the far end, I noticed that the "end of the road" wasn't actually the end of the road. There was some marsh grass and water, then more dry land off the end. So a small island off a big island. I noticed the trail looked pretty good heading that way. "Man I hope they're laying down and not just passing through!!"

I circled the end of the transition and spotted beds and poop. Only the faintest of a trail or two heading through the cattails. :dance:

BINGO. This is dead end bedding and to make it even better, I can completely cover their exit. Prevailing wind will put them there and give me a just off wind, too. I'm pumped. I see several beds and then a pretty big turd right in one of them. Then some doe poop and another big buck turd! :D This is what we walk all those miles of marginal bedding and useless transition for. This is something I can key on and it is remote. Nobody is going to be messing around out here.
Image
Image
Image
Image




There wasn't a ton of beds by any means, but there didn't need to be. The most worn bed had a trail that followed the downwind side of the island right to it. Here you can see the bed, and the trail hooking toward the upper left corner. You will also see a bush on the right side of the travel corridor near the top. That's my ambush point. Don't try and blend in to cattails when there's cattails and a bush to help break up your outline. That's a no-brainer. I think its roughly 150 yards from the beds and I'll have to crawl the last little ways to get there. Maybe through standing water... I'm not sure yet.
Image






Trail as it crosses the marsh grass and my am"bush" point in the background
Image







Hopefully this will be the last thing he sees! Also, see that huge tree in the background? I can see the whole property from there. Even the other side where I killed my doe. It's perfect. :L: :L:
Image





Unfortunately I do have to go back one more time. I didn't have time to figure out exactly where I'm going to stand in that bush (might need to make some adjustments. No need to accidentally crack a stick on hunt day), and I also need to hang a hat in the bedding to figure out exactly when I need to start crawling. This bedding is good enough that I want everything to be perfect. I'm pretty excited about this spot, and the fact that I can see incredibly well and watch multiple legit bedding areas simultaneously is awesome. Are the bucks in velvet yet?!?
User avatar
greenhorndave
500 Club
Posts: 13819
Joined: Tue Oct 09, 2018 11:23 am
Location: SE WI
Status: Offline

Re: 2020 Whitetail “Die”ary

Unread postby greenhorndave » Fri Apr 10, 2020 4:25 pm

I like 8-)
----------
Sometimes when things get tough, weird or both, you just need to remember this...
https://youtu.be/d4tSE2w53ts


  • Advertisement

Return to “Deer Hunting”

Who is online

Users browsing this forum: No registered users and 77 guests