How to hunt the flatland THICKets?

[RiverRun]

I hunt private FLAT land with a bunch of corn pile hunters (baiting is legal) and lots of back and forth travel pressure, however I turned away from the corn piles years ago and transitioned to hunting trails with very mixed results. The other members never go into the thickets, but I am trying to figure them out. They consist of blowdowns, wax myrtle, dewberry, privet, briars, and tons of vines. I have always stayed out of the thick thickets when hunting, but have started scouting the internals trying to nail down deer bedding but I am finding they are THICK and it is impossible to not make a bunch of noise. I feel like I’m chasing my tail. I see hip-high rubs but only find a few beds in certain sections even though we have a HIGH deer population (tons of does to the occasional mature buck). I see the internal trails but there are tons of them and random! There are open areas within them, but I would be spooking a bunch of deer each sit, even if hunting mobile like I like to do.

In your experience, what is the best way to hunt thickets when you can assure pretty much nobody hunts in there? Leave them as a sanctuary and hunt the edges? People say to hunt the edges and exit trails, so I always mark down perimeter oaks, but what else beyond that? Corn piles / acorns on the edges and hunt in between? I have a hard time finding actual beds in this jungle, and I hate hunting trails because I have mixed results, however I feel I have never been close enough to bedding either to really judge success on trails.

[Ghost Hunter]

Start on outer edges find what interest you and work your way in to sweet spot.

[Jdw]

A small pair of pruning snips can help with the noise if you go slow.
Are there any creeks or ditches to use for access into the thickets?

[Twenty Up]

I know your pain.

I’d drive all the trails etc with your OnX, BaseMap etc tracker “On” and have pins of all access points, preset ladder stands etc and mark the camp as well.

Now look at the map, find the pockets of diversity (swamps, openings in woods, oaks in pine flats etc) and see where they relate to human pressure in the woods. These deer WILL BED within eyesight of camp or roads IF the habitat is conductive to do so (thick and unlressured). Find the overlooked spots first, then work your way deeper.

Scout the transition edges of habitat. Predict, interpret and read the sign. This will tell you the when, where how and whys.

[UPbowhunter]

Thickets and flatland are pretty common. In my experience thick cover of any kind will have travel trails through it, but most bedding will be on the edges. Winter scout it, in general there will be openings of some sort in there. That will be a magnet to all deer. It could be caused by a lot of things. Also any big tree that mature will be a hub of activity. Deer will push into it with intense pressure during gun seasons. The size of a thicket is important as well. Small impenetrable thickets are generally used as a blocker and bucks will bed downwind side watching downwind. Without walking it, I can only give you my observations in the thickets I've come across.

[Matt Gill]

My go to tactic is to hunt the hard edge of these thickets (large bedding areas) with the wind blowing out into my face. Early season you position yourself in a fashion where you’re between the deer and the desired food sources. Rut you simply hunt the down wind edge to catch the bucks cruising to scent check for does. In theory it sounds simple but I totally understand your dilemma.
A lot of times I find myself chasing my tail when trying to hunt specific beds I’ve found on the interior of the thickets bc unlike island or marsh terrain where bedding is much more concentrated a buck doesn’t have to use a specific bed as often and just ends up using the general area making it extremely hard to pin point where he will be any given day

[RiverRun]

It sounds like I am on the right track walking transitions and looking for rub lines, community scrapes, and beds in these areas then walking them when I find them on perimeters. It will just take longer to break down this piece of cover when I'm scouting it in the off season. Thanks guys.

[Lockdown]

My go to tactic is to hunt the hard edge of these thickets (large bedding areas) with the wind blowing out into my face. Early season you position yourself in a fashion where you’re between the deer and the desired food sources. Rut you simply hunt the down wind edge to catch the bucks cruising to scent check for does. In theory it sounds simple but I totally understand your dilemma.
A lot of times I find myself chasing my tail when trying to hunt specific beds I’ve found on the interior of the thickets bc unlike island or marsh terrain where bedding is much more concentrated a buck doesn’t have to use a specific bed as often and just ends up using the general area making it extremely hard to pin point where he will be any given day

Good stuff here.

I definitely agree with not trying to hunt specific beds in a big flat thicket. You can try and take some of the guess work out of it by noticing how they bed and move through there with different winds, but in general there is some luck involved in hunting these thickets.

For me, often these big thicket flats are surrounded by fairly open ground. Hunting the edges certainly can be productive. But I like to get aggressive when the time is right and hunt those pockets and openings. It seems like they are a magnet for scrapes, and deer typically feel safe moving around the interior of the thicket. Pre-rut is a great time to target these thicket openings.

Hunting pressure will put more and more deer in the thicket as the season rolls on as long as they don’t get over hunted in the interior. Here is a pic of a buck that walked in on me right as I sat down this past fall. I looked up and he was nose up in a scrape at 15-20 yards. I decided to grab my phone rather than try and get an arrow knocked, which in hind sight might have been a mistake

This took place hours before dark on one of the highest hunting pressure pieces that I hunt.

[Lockdown]

I should mention, don’t be worried about bumping a deer or two. That’s gonna happen. I busted a doe literally 1-2 minutes before this buck showed. Right in that exact spot. I’m actually thinking the sound of her taking off is what brought him in.

[naternate]

Any small opening in a thicket will attract deer. Not sure why but every animal, including coyotes and turkey, seem to want to pass through these small openings. And by small, even a 10 yrd opening seems to have this affect. These small openings in the far interior of thickets don’t do much for me in terms of hunting. Having to bust through a bunch of brush to get to them, spooking deer out in the process, defeats the benefit. Small opening closer to the edge seem to funnel down deer movement as they head toward more open woods. Multiple trails leading to these openings with fewer leaving. Most of these thickets have multiple exit trails so hunting the ones coming from these openings ups the percentage of deer in front of you. Seems to work better for me in the evenings in these spots. My guess is they are more likely to enter the thicket to bed in the AM a little more random or based on wind.