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How to find a particular buck in day time.

Kwfranklin88

Kwfranklin88

Well-Known Member
Joined
Sep 4, 2019
Messages
201
Location
Alabama
I have a field beside my house and we always have does out there at night. The past few nights there has been a nice mature 8pt out there. He comes out right at 11pm. How can I figure out where he is bedding to catch him in the day time? There is a 4 acre hardwood square beside the feild. The hardwoods are very open. I wouldn’t think he is bedding in there but that’s the only place I can think of. It’s all fields and houses everywhere else. I don’t have a clue where he is coming from. I squirrel hunting the hardwoods a good bit and am pretty familiar with them.
 
I find a lot of deer in areas with very few climbable trees. Uncut fields and small pine thickets. If those fields in the area are overgrown, he may be bedding there. If possible, walk the roads looking for trails into the woods and fields. Or wait until after a rain and walk the roads looking for tracks. If he is getting there at 11pm, he may be traveling quite a ways. Or not. I have a 2.5yo that doesn't come out into the field until later and he is bedded 200 yards away across a small creek. He browses in the weeds along the creek and field edges for a long time before coming out.
 
Kwfranklin88 said:
I have a field beside my house and we always have does out there at night. The past few nights there has been a nice mature 8pt out there. He comes out right at 11pm. How can I figure out where he is bedding to catch him in the day time? There is a 4 acre hardwood square beside the feild. The hardwoods are very open. I wouldn’t think he is bedding in there but that’s the only place I can think of. It’s all fields and houses everywhere else. I don’t have a clue where he is coming from. I squirrel hunting the hardwoods a good bit and am pretty familiar with them.
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Are there any overgrown areas close to houses or in more populated areas around where you hunt?
 
CA9CCA50-CBE0-4388-A3AC-B5BC330D8AEA.jpeg
The yellow mark is where I am seeing him in that small field. All of the woods to the left are real open hardwoods. Any guesses where he might be coming from? I’ll post another pick zoomed out.
 
The area with the big yellow scribble is a thick over grown old clear cut. That’s the only place I can think of that he is coming from. But I have cameras over there an I have never seen him. It gets hunted a lot too.
 
Recurveaholic said:
how thick is the cover on the skinny finger running out from the hardwoods?
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It has a small section that is really thick right where the finger begins. That’s where I was thinking he might be. But it’s 50 yards from my house and I shoot a lot of guns and ride fourwheelers a lot. So I was like surely he’s not in there but idk!
 
Kwfranklin88 said:
It has a small section that is really thick right where the finger begins. That’s where I was thinking he might be. But it’s 50 yards from my house and I shoot a lot of guns and ride fourwheelers a lot. So I was like surely he’s not in there but idk!
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You would be surprised! Big bucks like to be in spots were "he surely couldn't be there" because nobody hunts those spots! Look for all the spots that are thick and look like no deer would ever use them and they are good places to start and I have seen them bed around ponds like the one at the top left!
 
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These are the areas that look thicker to me, but you’d know best. I doubt he’s in the open hardwoods but a blowdown with a little thick stuff could be enough to hold him in there. I’d guess he’s on that strand in your neighbors fields. Probably pretty far back. 4 hours or so from dark is a long time, he’s probably moving pretty far and if that’s your only huntable area I’d say your daytime chances are low outside the rut


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shwacker said:
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These are the areas that look thicker to me, but you’d know best. I doubt he’s in the open hardwoods but a blowdown with a little thick stuff could be enough to hold him in there. I’d guess he’s on that strand in your neighbors fields. Probably pretty far back. 4 hours or so from dark is a long time, he’s probably moving pretty far and if that’s your only huntable area I’d say your daytime chances are low outside the rut


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Those are the thicker areas and also the part I put the big yellow mark on. The area with the big yellow mark is an old clear cut that’s grown up head high and really thick. It has no trees though. I just wish I could figure out where he is coming from. No one has ever seen him around here. An I’m in Alabama so it ain’t no where near rut yet.
 
I can hunt everything inside red lines. Wish I could hunt the pasture with the fingers and creeks running through it. It’s a cow pasture.
 
I agree with the areas that Shwacker picked except for one, I don't think he is in any of the fingers in the pasture. You will find rubs etc.... in those fingers but I would be really surprised if you found him bedded there. The reason is, he would have to completely expose himself by crossing the pasture if he is bedded in one of those fingers and is bumped. Something most bucks dont want to do. I am guessing he is in the S.W. Corner of your RED line box. If most of that area is open hardwoods, it will be hard to get to him as he will probably bed looking out in to the open hardwoods.That corner of your Red line box in the S.E. Corner looks like it would be amazing during RUT. If he is young I would be sitting there pre-rut with my scen blowing out across the cow pasture. Good Luck.
 
Bogle said:
I agree with the areas that Shwacker picked except for one, I don't think he is in any of the fingers in the pasture. You will find rubs etc.... in those fingers but I would be really surprised if you found him bedded there. The reason is, he would have to completely expose himself by crossing the pasture if he is bedded in one of those fingers and is bumped. Something most bucks dont want to do. I am guessing he is in the S.W. Corner of your RED line box. If most of that area is open hardwoods, it will be hard to get to him as he will probably bed looking out in to the open hardwoods.That corner of your Red line box in the S.E. Corner looks like it would be amazing during RUT. If he is young I would be sitting there pre-rut with my scen blowing out across the cow pasture. Good Luck.
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I’ve walked all through the hardwoods several times a year and have cameras out. There are deer trails all through it. I don’t ever see any bucks on camera and I don’t ever see any rubs or scrapes.
 
I would still guess the S.W. corner but possibly on the neighbors property to the West or the other places Shwacker marked. Open Hardwoods is usually not good hunting IMO as they have to expose themselves too much. A couple of things you can do, place trail cams where the cow pasutre finger meets your hardwoods and the funnel to the S.E. corner while it is raining. Place them up high, looking down. You can also put them where he is coming in to your field and then start backing the cameras up to see which direction he is coming from. I dont like the second option and would go with the first one, first. I would also try to find his track and see if you can at least follow it for a few yards to give you and indication of travel direction. Come rut (Feb for you) he should be "looping" towards that clear cut, cow pasture and your field which should make that S.E. Funnel great. Again, I may be 100% wrong but that my opinion.
 
If you're not seeing him until 11 PM that dude could be bedded a mile or three away. They will move a lot farther than people tend to think.
 
Looking at a map/photo only leads to assumptions. Get out there and walk it all (best in post season) or do it now as part of a grid hunt (as Dan calls it) every imageable pocket of cover you have available until you run into him.
 
So far everyone is saying excactly what I was thinking. I was just wanting to make sure I wasn’t too far off. At this point I could care less about killing him. I just wanna know where he is coming from. He is like a ghost lol!
 
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