Jonny wrote:Fishing was bad today so my dad and I took a detour to look at a buck only area near the cabin. He wants to bowhunt it more since there will be less pressure there than normal. No problem for me.
Anyways hiked back a mile to his stand he loves and I was actually surprised by the amount of sign in the area. Lots of rubs, scrapes, digging and acorns were falling. Not a lot but enough.
Went to check out an area I hunted and specifically the edge where hardwoods meets poplars and swamp. 3 edges coming together. Sign didn't blow me away, but I found one very fresh bed under a tree, though it was a smaller body. I'm assuming a satellite bed since it was right in front of all the thick wet stuff.
Wind today is the same forecasted for Saturday. Going to go in and bump that bed and set up for the wind near that bed. Only have 2-3 trees I will feel comfortable getting my assault in. The climber would never work there and that's why it's going to collect dust this season.
Not excited about bumping the bed, but I don't think I will be close enough without doing so. Going to get in early, try to spook the deer out without it winding me, and set up. Should be fun
Here is a visual of what I was talking about. Pink shows my old stand where I would always hear deer, but never see them, brown in where I will be saturday unless the wind is not out of the south. Pretty confident the bedding is wind based since all the oaks (assumed food source at the moment) is to the south of the bedding. Found a fresh, not heavily used bed on a south wind day. First warm day in awhile
same wind for opening day. That was the satellite bed I will most likely bump setting up, but won't be in the game without it.
White is the movement I saw over the course of two seasons hunting that stand. Saw some beautiful bucks. Always went into or out of that area. Green is the obvious transitions, orange is a soft transition. I call it that because its a gradual change. Not abrubt. Where I will be hunting is in between the two orangeish lines. It's open, but swampy. Once you get to the west of the orange line, it is extremely thick, and where I am assuming the bedding is. Whole corridor is about 30 yards wide so if a deer comes out of the bedding area, I should have a crack at it.
Really the reason I am showing this, is this is what I can figure out after a couple seasons scratching my head at why deer are doing something, finding the beast, figuring out the why, and taking a two hour walk with my dad to confirm. Red is an old logging trail we walk in on. Once I am off the trail, the stealth mode begins.
One last thing. A climber is about as useful as a scent lok suit where I will be sitting.
You have a monkey Mr. Munson?