Narrowing down bedding

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Bowhunter68
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Narrowing down bedding

Unread postby Bowhunter68 » Thu Aug 05, 2021 2:12 pm

After reading a few posts about overlooked spots I decided to set a camera on a firebreak within sight of my hunting camp. This camp consists of 10-15 camper trailers and 15-20 people staying there at any given time during gun season. To my surprise I have multiple pictures of a large 10 point running with a 6 point. The issue is all pics are at night and I can’t pin down where they could be bedding. In the photo the red pin shows where my camera is, and all the blank pins show people’s permanent stands that I cannot get within 300 yards of (club rules to prevent hunting on top of one another). The pin in the creek bottom between the clear cuts used to be where the bucks bedded until several stands and feeders were put up right there. Any ideas to help me narrow down the search before I start busting through briars?
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A5BLASTER
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Re: Narrowing down bedding

Unread postby A5BLASTER » Thu Aug 05, 2021 2:19 pm

Start by looking right outside of the camp sight where they can lay down and watch,hear and smell everyone leaving to hit the woods.
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Re: Narrowing down bedding

Unread postby Buckslayer#13 » Fri Aug 06, 2021 1:17 am

He may be bedding in between the bend in that road and your trail camera if he is in the area. It looks like a good transition line right there but it is hard to tell what the habitat looks like without going there myself. I would suggest walking that if you haven’t and looking for sign.
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Re: Narrowing down bedding

Unread postby Buckslayer#13 » Fri Aug 06, 2021 1:17 am

He may be bedding in between the bend in that road and your trail camera if he is in the area. It looks like a good transition line right there but it is hard to tell what the habitat looks like without going there myself. I would suggest walking that if you haven’t and looking for sign.
“And there came a voice to him, rise Peter; kill and eat”- Acts 10:13
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PK_
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Re: Narrowing down bedding

Unread postby PK_ » Fri Aug 06, 2021 1:27 am

I am with A5. Permanent camps usually have a ‘buffer’ around them(much like a farm house/barn) where nobody wants to hunt that close to it.

I like the little corner to the SE of your red pin. But I can’t tell if that’s a road or a gas line cut at the bottom of the map.

Is that the entire property? If it is, that’s not much ground and he may not even be bedded on the property.

But a property that size on the map, I would literally grid search the entire piece for 2 reasons;

1) it’s not that much ground and it can be done
2) the terrain is not conducive to pinpointing the bedding/travel strictly from the map. It will be more influenced by vegetation edges and pressure.

And when I say grid search it I mean grid search it don’t just follow deer trails, deer trails rarely lead to mature buck bedding and I think that is the biggest mistake most guys make when scouting.
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szwampdonkey
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Re: Narrowing down bedding

Unread postby szwampdonkey » Fri Aug 06, 2021 1:49 am

They may be bedding 2-3 miles away during this time of year and retreat back to wherever they are bedding once the season rolls around.

I had a private farm I used to hunt that was smack dab in the middle of suburban sprawl with subdivisions and small greenspace areas for miles surrounding that farm that were obviously off limits.

I used to get a TON of nighttime pics between like midnight and 4 am of huge bucks but never get daytime pics of them or even see most of them. My Dads friend had a small wooded parcel of like 3 acres off his back yard and he would take cell phone pics of Bucks that he would see coming around his feeders and such. One day he was over at my Dads when i was there and he gets all excited and tells my Dad he just has to see this buck he has been seeing every morning before work. It’s one of the Bucks I was getting pics of in the middle of the night.

I used Onyx to determine his house was 2.5 miles away from the farm i hunt.

I don’t put a lot of stock in nighttime pics for this reason. It just lets me know they’re around.
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Re: Narrowing down bedding

Unread postby Evanszach7 » Fri Aug 06, 2021 3:18 am

If the club guys stick to their permanent stands, they also probably access them the same ways. I'd figure out the predominant wind, they're access, then work back from there. Where's he going to bed to monitor the pressure and be able to slip out?

Might use that same thought process for the Doe bedding. Then, how would he check their bedding while feeling safe in the prerut?

If there's less pressured bedding the next property or 2 over there's a good chance he's only coming through at night.
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Re: Narrowing down bedding

Unread postby Bowhunter68 » Fri Aug 06, 2021 4:56 am

PK_ wrote:
I like the little corner to the SE of your red pin. But I can’t tell if that’s a road or a gas line cut at the bottom of the map.

Is that the entire property? If it is, that’s not much ground and he may not even be bedded on the property.
.

Southeast of the red pin is where the gravel road meets a major highway, this highway borders the entire south end of the lease and another highway borders the west side. That picture is not the entire property, the property is actually 3000 acres I just could not fit the entire thing into a screenshot due to all my pins cluttering the screen. This picture is from the clubs HuntStand profile showing the entire southern half of the lease. Blue pins are personal stands, green are stands a few members share, and red are stands any club member can hunt.
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szwampdonkey
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Re: Narrowing down bedding

Unread postby szwampdonkey » Fri Aug 06, 2021 5:03 am

Bowhunter68 wrote:
PK_ wrote:
I like the little corner to the SE of your red pin. But I can’t tell if that’s a road or a gas line cut at the bottom of the map.

Is that the entire property? If it is, that’s not much ground and he may not even be bedded on the property.
.

Southeast of the red pin is where the gravel road meets a major highway, this highway borders the entire south end of the lease and another highway borders the west side. That picture is not the entire property, the property is actually 3000 acres I just could not fit the entire thing into a screenshot due to all my pins cluttering the screen. This picture is from the clubs HuntStand profile showing the entire southern half of the lease. Blue pins are personal stands, green are stands a few members share, and red are stands any club member can hunt. 6B4270F7-9DF7-4A39-B632-A93E900341CA.jpeg


That is a TON of stands!!! That looks like just as much pressure as i see on WI public land wow!
Bowhunter68
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Re: Narrowing down bedding

Unread postby Bowhunter68 » Fri Aug 06, 2021 6:28 am

szwampdonkey wrote:
Bowhunter68 wrote:
PK_ wrote:
I like the little corner to the SE of your red pin. But I can’t tell if that’s a road or a gas line cut at the bottom of the map.

Is that the entire property? If it is, that’s not much ground and he may not even be bedded on the property.
.

Southeast of the red pin is where the gravel road meets a major highway, this highway borders the entire south end of the lease and another highway borders the west side. That picture is not the entire property, the property is actually 3000 acres I just could not fit the entire thing into a screenshot due to all my pins cluttering the screen. This picture is from the clubs HuntStand profile showing the entire southern half of the lease. Blue pins are personal stands, green are stands a few members share, and red are stands any club member can hunt. 6B4270F7-9DF7-4A39-B632-A93E900341CA.jpeg


That is a TON of stands!!! That looks like just as much pressure as i see on WI public land wow!

Yea on the 3000 acres there’s 35 members and each is allowed two personal stands. During bow season myself and 3 other people bowhunt but other than that there’s almost no pressure until gun season, then it’s insane. Only reason I still put up with it is the quality of bucks and it being only 20 minutes from the house
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szwampdonkey
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Re: Narrowing down bedding

Unread postby szwampdonkey » Fri Aug 06, 2021 6:48 am

Bowhunter68 wrote:
szwampdonkey wrote:
Bowhunter68 wrote:
PK_ wrote:
I like the little corner to the SE of your red pin. But I can’t tell if that’s a road or a gas line cut at the bottom of the map.

Is that the entire property? If it is, that’s not much ground and he may not even be bedded on the property.
.

Southeast of the red pin is where the gravel road meets a major highway, this highway borders the entire south end of the lease and another highway borders the west side. That picture is not the entire property, the property is actually 3000 acres I just could not fit the entire thing into a screenshot due to all my pins cluttering the screen. This picture is from the clubs HuntStand profile showing the entire southern half of the lease. Blue pins are personal stands, green are stands a few members share, and red are stands any club member can hunt. 6B4270F7-9DF7-4A39-B632-A93E900341CA.jpeg


That is a TON of stands!!! That looks like just as much pressure as i see on WI public land wow!

Yea on the 3000 acres there’s 35 members and each is allowed two personal stands. During bow season myself and 3 other people bowhunt but other than that there’s almost no pressure until gun season, then it’s insane. Only reason I still put up with it is the quality of bucks and it being only 20 minutes from the house



Cool if it’s working for you it’s working for you.

I was just sorta shocked when you said all those were stand locations. It looked like the place was carpet bombed.

Best of luck this season i hope you get a crack at one you’re interested in before the gun hunters take over.
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OldFarmBuck
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Re: Narrowing down bedding

Unread postby OldFarmBuck » Fri Aug 06, 2021 3:07 pm

If you think he’s bedding on that property I would say he’s probably bedding within eyesight of those stands and definitely within an area he can either hear, smell or visually watch the access to those stands. If the only option is to hunt those stands he’s not gonna be seen near them unless it’s the rut and some hot doe does something stupid and pulls him in front of one of them.
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Re: Narrowing down bedding

Unread postby Jdw » Sun Aug 08, 2021 9:14 pm

There is a good chance he is bedding on the other side of the highway. Especially if the hunting pressure is lower.
Do you have any evidence he is there within an hour of daylight?
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Huntress13
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Re: Narrowing down bedding

Unread postby Huntress13 » Sun Aug 08, 2021 11:45 pm

It's hard for me to visualize how far 300 yards from those stands is on the map.
And keeping in mind I have a lot to learn, I would look at those terrain edges that have points and bowls. And also look at that northwest corner of the property where it looks like houses or farm buildings.
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Re: Narrowing down bedding

Unread postby Tennhunter3 » Mon Aug 09, 2021 12:49 am

Theres way too much pressure for a piece that size.

If theirs that much pressure the neighbors is most likely where he spends most of his time.

If he is bedding on this property it will be very overlooked. These are the 2 spots i would check.

One really overlooked by road
The other thick creek bottom with cover, water and browse he can hold up in their till dark.

May also be bedding along that south part of the club where theirs no stands. East or west of the orange pin.

If he traveled that cut edge in daylight he would be dead by now with that many setups.

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