August scouting- push into bedding or no?

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MichiganMike
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August scouting- push into bedding or no?

Unread postby MichiganMike » Thu Aug 04, 2022 7:01 am

Came across some new to me public land. Pretty classic layout on the public: thick creek bottom with good potential bedding areas, ridge systems adjacent to the creek bottom that have hardwoods/interior transitions up top. The big kicker though is Private AG (corn and beans) nearby (within a mile) but not adjacent to public.

I typically dont scout this terrain this late but this looks too good not to. i really dont want to mess with trail cameras or go in blind in October, so my idea is to push in that creek bottom to check access trails and bedding and to find potential trees to climb. If I bump a buck, so be it and at least I know hes around and more than likely will be back come early Oct. Whats your thoughts on this technique?


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brancher147
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Re: August scouting- push into bedding or no?

Unread postby brancher147 » Thu Aug 04, 2022 11:26 am

I would be careful and try to keep wind in my favor and take binos to get a good look at any deer. But I wouldn’t worry too much about walking through bedding or bumping a buck right now. Just get all the info you need while you’re there and get out til it’s time to hunt
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Re: August scouting- push into bedding or no?

Unread postby Findian » Thu Aug 04, 2022 3:51 pm

I go for it. Come October there probably be hand full of other people that will most likely go thru it, cams and all. Nowadays there ain’t much that people aren’t going to, thanks to the help of onx, THP, and other similar apps and YouTube shows.
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Re: August scouting- push into bedding or no?

Unread postby Chooch2.0 » Sun Aug 07, 2022 10:46 am

Awesome post - with a newborn I’m way late to the game getting a couple cams out/scouting some adjacent “micro areas” to a creek bottom similar to what you speak of, in bedding.

For what it’s worth, last year I went into this area blind on Sept. 3 (opener is Oct. 1) and threw some cams up. Come Oct. 11 I had two mature bucks & 7-8 immature bucks using the area. It’s thick, nasty, almost impenetrable to humans.. if that’s what you have in comparison to adjacent “areas”, I’d like to think you’ll be okay come season. My $0.02.
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Re: August scouting- push into bedding or no?

Unread postby Lockdown » Sun Aug 07, 2022 2:21 pm

Sometimes it’s hard to know where to draw the line. When in doubt, more often than not I choose the aggressive option. I learn more that way.

An intrusion now will have next to no bearing on what happens during rut, so worst case keep an eye out for rut spots. I used to be really cautious when scouting deep in public this time of year. Pressure bedding type stuff. After a few years I found that most of the pressure bedding has no deer in it right now anyway.
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Re: August scouting- push into bedding or no?

Unread postby MichiganMike » Mon Aug 08, 2022 2:17 am

Thanks for the feedback. Yeah I’m thinking an intrusion at this time won’t affect much come October, hopefully! But I do think this spot could hold year round bedding. Seems like it’s got everything they need all within a few square miles. We’ll see
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Re: August scouting- push into bedding or no?

Unread postby MichiganMike » Mon Aug 08, 2022 2:19 am

Thanks for the feedback. Yeah I’m thinking an intrusion at this time won’t affect much come October, hopefully! But I do think this spot could hold year round bedding. Seems like it’s got everything they need all within a few square miles. We’ll see
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Re: August scouting- push into bedding or no?

Unread postby DaveT1963 » Mon Aug 08, 2022 3:39 am

I'm just going to start off by saying there is no right answer.. There are a lot of factors to consider. For example if you are living in Ag country and the bedding is near a summer food source and those food sources or crops will change come fall then I would ask what's the value in going in at all. Now if you are looking at bedding areas that's going to become more used as fall approaches and the deer are currently under summer patterns, then what have you got to lose? Go in there and learn what you need to learn, your sent will be long gone before they make the shift to fall food source.

Also, it depends on how often a buck perceives pressure. All bucks react differently to pressure but bucks typically dont leave their core areas, and IF they do it's not for long. What they typically do, is to alter their habits to avoid humans... like going nocturnal (which means they dont travel far from beds during daylight not that they dont move at all during daylight). I know the in thing these days is to set up very close to a buck's bed, but IMO very few people have the skill to stalk within 60 yards of a mature buck in his bed in a lot of terrains. And let's not kid ourselves, certain environments make that more predictable and easier. So depending on your terrain, if you dont know much about the area, it MIGHT be better to just dive in ONCE, be thorough and learn what you need to know, pick out your kill trees and then get out. Bucks are not going to avoid an area for months over ONE intrusion and IME it's better to go see then to think we have the skill enough to scout/hunt new property and consistently fool a mature buck IN HIS HOME TURF.

There just is no black & white answer, this is where using experience comes in and also assessing the risk. Another factor, if there is low deer and even lower mature buck #s, and you are after a single animal you have to factor that in. However, if any good 3.5 is your goal, and you are in an area where you got a lot of them, then it's easier to take a chance.

Anyone, especially over the internet, that gives you a black & white answer is giving you their opinion, nothing more (including mine). In the end, it's your call as you are the one that CAN know most of the pieces and the ONLY one that lives with the choice. Blowing a good buck out of an area or educating him SUCKS, but so does sitting in a tree that same buck will never pass by ;)
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Re: August scouting- push into bedding or no?

Unread postby <DK> » Mon Aug 08, 2022 3:49 am

One very important thing id suggest is checking wind currents in the bottoms and noting them as you go. If you plan to setup down there youre going to need to be intimate w it. You can guess them but it takes exp in the spot and you need one-two good checks to go off of. Mainly a primary bedding wind for either ridge to see how it reacts down low. Alot depends on how tight quarters the ridges are.
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Re: August scouting- push into bedding or no?

Unread postby Country » Mon Aug 08, 2022 4:03 am

I say go for it. In the end of May, I found a spot that looked pretty good. Found a tree before I got to suspected bedding. Pushed further and bumped something from the bedding area. Five days later, I returned to that area because I wanted to find a better access to that tree. I knew I should've done it that day, but with so many other spots to hunt, I really didn't care. Once I was there, I was curious if my previous intrusion was enough to scare the deer off...as I had wandered through the bedding area. So, I decided to bump it again and sure enough, a deer dumped up and ran off. I haven't been there since, but I'm glad I have that knowledge now.
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Re: August scouting- push into bedding or no?

Unread postby PA60 » Mon Aug 08, 2022 7:21 am

I wouldn't have a problem checking out a new area in August, especially if I wasn't sure I'd hunt it this coming season. Just wait for a rainy day to keep my scent and noise down. But if you did hunt it, I think things would be mostly calmed down by October. I wouldn't mess with an area after mid August though.
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Re: August scouting- push into bedding or no?

Unread postby Moose » Mon Aug 08, 2022 12:16 pm

If you're hunting in October I would go ahead and go but I wouldn't want to wait to much longer. 4 weeks till season opener is kinda my cut off.
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Re: August scouting- push into bedding or no?

Unread postby Lockdown » Mon Aug 08, 2022 4:17 pm

Piggy backing off what I said earlier…

The spot I was at tonight is fairly remote. It’s water access only (if accessing from public). Last fall the trails in there were pounded. Tonight, I had a hard time finding trails in some spots. The canary grass is chest high and it is THICK. There is no reason for deer to be back there right now. There’s a few hundred easy access places for them to bed amongst the crops. So why bed way back in the swamp? I don’t feel my intrusion effected much at all.


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