#1710634 - 01/06/10 01:46 PM
The Snow
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monsterslaya
Spike
Registered: 10/20/09
Posts: 46
Loc: TN, United States
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Going to hunt in the snow this weekend and do some scouting/tracking whatever you want to call it. My mine goal is to find some buck bedding areas. So using terrain features and cover with good food sources close by what would be so good places to look to find some buck bedding areas. Have not had much luck finding many know where one is on my property from scounting the bean any advise would be appericated.
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#1710647 - 01/06/10 01:57 PM
Re: The Snow
[Re: monsterslaya]
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Hillbilly Hunter
Killbilly
16 Point
Registered: 07/15/05
Posts: 16982
Loc: Branchville
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I am convinced that many areas of Tennessee ( as well as the south) do not have bedding areas. We have enough cover for deer to bed where they take a notion.
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...they never call me by my name, just Hillbilly...
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#1710655 - 01/06/10 02:02 PM
Re: The Snow
[Re: Hillbilly Hunter]
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Winchester
Non-Typical
Registered: 12/05/03
Posts: 25229
Loc: TN
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In many cases I agree with HH. Many areas provide enough different locations with the factors necessary for an old buck to bed and feel comfortable, and some of these change with the seasons and cover available. Its not like we are 80% fields with limited cover available, just the opposite actually.
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#1710657 - 01/06/10 02:02 PM
Re: The Snow
[Re: Hillbilly Hunter]
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monsterslaya
Spike
Registered: 10/20/09
Posts: 46
Loc: TN, United States
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I'm not saying your wrong on that. Maybe my place is werid but that one bachelor group has bedded in that same area for years because of the beans. Also have noticed that the doe tend to bed in the same generally area maybe not the exact spot ever time but roughly with in an arcer.
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#1710737 - 01/06/10 03:09 PM
Re: The Snow
[Re: monsterslaya]
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bowriter
Non-Typical
Registered: 08/31/02
Posts: 40298
Loc: Lebanon,TN USA
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In this part of the country, bedding areas are biggest myth going. But if it snows an inch or so, get your butt out there. I posted this on another thread but maybe it needs posting again.
Outdoors With John L. Sloan
1-6-10 copyright 1-2010
The Value Of Post Season Scouting.
Three inches of snow would sure help.
There is no greater tool in post-season scouting than fresh snow. We use to get it. Then Al Gore invented global warming and we seldom, get snow today. But that sure doesn’t decrease the value of post season scouting.
Some years ago, in an article for a major magazine, I wrote this sentence. “Scout when the woods are naked.” The editor, kid of about 25, edited it out because he did not understand it. I have no idea what he is doing now. What I meant was, scout when you can see what is going on.
When I hunted hard and when I was a guide, I spent almost two months of every year, post season scouting. February and March were my main months. The minute we had a fresh snow, I hit the woods.
Now let me say this about post-season scouting. If you are hunting less than 200 acres or concentrate on hunting food plots, you probably don’t need to scout. But I was hunting big tracts of hardwood timber and hunting fresh places every year. I had to know what the deer did. To do that, I had to see the terrain. That meant scouting when the leaves were off the trees-the woods were naked.
Those leafless trees allowed me to see the terrain features. Here in TN, unless we are hunting flat farm ground, deer follow terrain features as they travel. Even on flat ground, deer follow some terrain features. All the big deer Sam Collora has killed proved that. Deer don’t like flat ground. And no matter where you hunt, there will be a terrain feature. That is where you start looking. In a place such as that, you can kneel down and see the terrain variation. You can’t do that when the leaves are on the trees. You can see trails that are not readily visible later in the year. And this is when you mark stand trees or move stands.
A few years ago, my friend Bob Shebaylo, took advantage of a late season snowfall to find an isolated trail of one deer coming into a Manitoba hay field. In the early spring, he hung a stand and cut shooting lanes. Just before dark, opening day of bow season, one his hunters from WI killed a 172-inch buck. The deer was on no visible trail. The key was post-season scouting.
Another friend, Sam Collora, spends over a month scouting when the snow blankets IA. He combines it with coyote hunting. He depends on snow to help but even when it is clean ground, he scouts. He hangs his stands or moves them and then stays out of the woods. Most of his ground is flat…not all of it.
One of the main aspects of post-season scouting is you can do anything you want. You are not going to spook deer. Take a chain saw and make a perfect stand site. If a tree is in the way, cut it down (providing you have permission.) Now is the time to trim your shooting lanes, cut down tree limbs.
Some years ago, I had about 3,000 acres upon which I was guiding. During February, I created 31 stand sites using saws and limb loppers. Every stand was based on what I saw in post-season scouting. My success that next year for my clients, bow hunting only, was 50 percent, and every buck made the Pope and Young record book. Every single one of them was the result of post-season scouting.
Too many hunters worry about rubs when scouting post season. And rubs can be important, But the mistake hunters make is hit they the woods scouting for rubs in the spring. When you find a rub in the spring, you can’t see the terrain. Everything is green and thick. Half the time, you also can’t see the rub. Look for rubs when they are still white and shiny. Find those big, signpost rubs when you can see why the buck(s) were there, why they made the rub.
If you are going to go sit in a shooting house on the edge of a food plot, don’t bother scouting. You don’t need to. However, if you are going to hunt the hills and hollows. Right now is time to start scouting.
###
Cutlines:
#1- This hunter killed this fine Boone and Crockett buck the opening day of bow season in Manitoba. It was the result of post season scouting.
#2-Post season is when you move or hang new stands. You can cut whatever you want without spooking deer.
#3-Sam Collora takes advantage of a fresh snow to hunt coyotes and do some post season scouting. The land is flat but he will find some terrain featured to key in on.
#4 Even a rub this big is hard to understand once it gets green.
_________________________
Constipation has ruined many a good day. Not as many as stupidity, though.
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#1710742 - 01/06/10 03:12 PM
Re: The Snow
[Re: bowriter]
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LA man
16 Point
Registered: 05/31/03
Posts: 18543
Loc: spencer, tn/houma, la.
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good post bw
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GO LSU
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#1710749 - 01/06/10 03:20 PM
Re: The Snow
[Re: LA man]
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bowriter
Non-Typical
Registered: 08/31/02
Posts: 40298
Loc: Lebanon,TN USA
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Hey LA man-there are a couple guys on the cooking forum wanting a jambalya recipe. I don't have one, I just cook it and never measure anything. Does your wife have one?
_________________________
Constipation has ruined many a good day. Not as many as stupidity, though.
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#1710758 - 01/06/10 03:22 PM
Re: The Snow
[Re: bowriter]
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Hillbilly Hunter
Killbilly
16 Point
Registered: 07/15/05
Posts: 16982
Loc: Branchville
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In this part of the country, bedding areas are biggest myth going.
yep
_________________________
...they never call me by my name, just Hillbilly...
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#1710813 - 01/06/10 03:55 PM
Re: The Snow
[Re: Hillbilly Hunter]
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Double-D-Team
10 Point
Registered: 12/18/02
Posts: 3483
Loc: God's Country
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Great Post Bowriter....I'm still trying to the last hour...
_________________________
Don and Dee (DOUBLE-D-TEAM)
THE RICHEST VALUES OF WILDERNESS LIE NOT IN THE DAYS OF DANIEL BOONE NOR EVEN IN THE PRESENT. BUT IN THE FUTURE--LEOPOLD
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#1710823 - 01/06/10 03:59 PM
Re: The Snow
[Re: Double-D-Team]
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Football Hunter
18 Point
Registered: 10/22/07
Posts: 24550
Loc: Wilson Co/Perry Co
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Ill be out scouting Sat and Sun
_________________________
The best day to plant a tree,IS TODAY!
You wont know,if you dont go!
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