I’ve been hunting a high pressure piece of state land that has a very popular walking/biking trail that runs past it. The trail sees a lot of use through the week. I’d say a person/bike per hour during the week and maybe every half hour on the weekends into late fall. The normal “hunting access” is about a quarter mile from where the trail borders the property. Most of the hunters access it there. There’s a road between the access point for the trail and the hunting access. Along that road is a swamp 50-100 yards wide. Beyond the swamp, the property gradually slopes up with occasional benches until you get to the crest of the ridge.
I believe the buck I’m after buck is bedding in thick cover along the swamp, before the hill starts to slope up quickly. Where he is at, he should be able to hear hunters coming through the swamp or through thick cover toward him and possibly see people accessing from the hiking trail. I believe he is there because I have a bunch of pictures of him close to that spot throughout the spring and summer and even in daylight. Also, most of the sign seems to center around this area. There are deer trails that run straight up and straight the slope of the hill in an irregular grid. I’ve been setting up on the trails with rubs and trails that lead to the oak trees producing acorns. My hope is that I catch him going to scrapes or acorns.
The other option, and more likely, is I’ll get him when other hunters spook him from the hunting access. I try to hunt it when the wind is blowing from the hunting access to his bedding and I hunt on the downwind side, accessing by walking down the bike trail about a half mile to loop around, on what I believe is his escape path.
Last weekend, I was hunting the morning. About 11 am, I hear a deer blowing from the approximate direction of the bedding. About 30 second later, I hear it again. This time, closer to me. I am hanging from the tree facing directly at the trail that leads to the bed. After about 10 minutes I slowly reach for my pouch so I can get my phone to let my wife know I am staying an extra hour. As I slip the phone from the pouch, I hear a crash behind me. I turn around to see branches moving about 12 yards away.
I believe he came up another trail and hooked behind me. There is another trail that runs behind me the deer could have been going up, but leads to a different area. I’m not totally confident it was the buck, because there are plenty of does with year-old fawns running around this area. When I left, about 45 minutes later, there were cars parked at the hunting access that weren’t there when I started hunting.
I’m a little bummed because I may have blown out a great set up. However, there’s plenty of good land left for me to cover.
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I believe the buck I’m after buck is bedding in thick cover along the swamp, before the hill starts to slope up quickly. Where he is at, he should be able to hear hunters coming through the swamp or through thick cover toward him and possibly see people accessing from the hiking trail. I believe he is there because I have a bunch of pictures of him close to that spot throughout the spring and summer and even in daylight. Also, most of the sign seems to center around this area. There are deer trails that run straight up and straight the slope of the hill in an irregular grid. I’ve been setting up on the trails with rubs and trails that lead to the oak trees producing acorns. My hope is that I catch him going to scrapes or acorns.
The other option, and more likely, is I’ll get him when other hunters spook him from the hunting access. I try to hunt it when the wind is blowing from the hunting access to his bedding and I hunt on the downwind side, accessing by walking down the bike trail about a half mile to loop around, on what I believe is his escape path.
Last weekend, I was hunting the morning. About 11 am, I hear a deer blowing from the approximate direction of the bedding. About 30 second later, I hear it again. This time, closer to me. I am hanging from the tree facing directly at the trail that leads to the bed. After about 10 minutes I slowly reach for my pouch so I can get my phone to let my wife know I am staying an extra hour. As I slip the phone from the pouch, I hear a crash behind me. I turn around to see branches moving about 12 yards away.
I believe he came up another trail and hooked behind me. There is another trail that runs behind me the deer could have been going up, but leads to a different area. I’m not totally confident it was the buck, because there are plenty of does with year-old fawns running around this area. When I left, about 45 minutes later, there were cars parked at the hunting access that weren’t there when I started hunting.
I’m a little bummed because I may have blown out a great set up. However, there’s plenty of good land left for me to cover.
Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk
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