- Joined
- Apr 1, 2014
- Messages
- 700
Part 3
Scouting and location preparation
Scouting and preparing locations within bedding areas should only be done during post season which is between seasons end and spring green up which typically begins in late April.
Wait for the ground to be bare of snow before any scouting happens; otherwise ground scrapes and rut phase runways will be covered and you will likely set up on wintertime bedding to feeding route runways which may be quite different than rut phase runways.
Once the snow melts the visual sign left on the ground from the previous season’s rut phase such as scrapes, converging runway hubs, and rub lines will be identifiable. If you’re fortunate you may find a small interior opening with a few scrapes laced around its perimeter. If so it would be an annual primary scrape area due to consistent doe traffic throughout the season. This would be the #1 location to set up on.
Several location set-ups may require multiple days and during post season bedding area intrusions will have no ill effect on fall movements.
Visual scars from location preparation such as cleared shooting lanes, entry and exit route trimmings, runway clean-up, and runway alterations will become part of the scenery as the green-up of summer occurs. Human odor will be a non-factor, spooked deer will return, and well before season deer habits and routines will return to normal.
Human activity within bedding areas during pre-season should be avoided at all costs. Deer would be spooked after many months of total solitude and the blatantly obvious visual alteration scars of preparing new locations would not go unnoticed in the dense security cover. Due to the hot sweaty time of year, no matter your scent free regiment, human odor would be left behind. Basically any pre-season influx of human activity would alter mature buck activity causing them to be more nocturnal than they already are.
In addition to the downside of pre-season intrusions is the fact that pre-season sign is nothing more than summer bedding to feeding area traffic. Sign left from the previous rut would be impossible to identify due to new summer growth.
Once locations are set-up, avoid the temptation of setting up motion cameras or checking locations for activity as every intrusion will lower chances for success and possibly cause spooked deer to use other bedding areas you can’t access. Hunting interiors of bedding areas in hchp areas is an all or nothing hunting proposition, either do it right, or don’t do it at all. Hunting buck sanctuaries (as they are becoming known in hunting literature) requires planning and perfect execution for success.
Hunting the Bedroom
Bedding areas should be hunted during the rut phases only and are situations where all day hunts are advised. You should commit to being set up and quiet by at least an hour and a half prior to daybreak and not leaving until half hour after dark. The early arrival should assure not spooking deer with entries and late exits should be after deer have left. All day hunts are grueling, but if you do them tactically and in the right types of locations a kill opportunity could occur any time of day.
If you have other prime rut locations outside bedding areas, give them the opportunity to produce before hunting bedding area interiors just before gun season.
Michigan has at least twice as many gun hunters as bowhunters and their scouting pressure typically begins a week or so prior to season. That sudden influx of human activity in the surrounding vicinity will push deer into remote areas resulting in interior bedding area activity to be more prominent. Chasing and breeding will continue to take place, just in more secure, secluded, and confined bedding areas.
Scent Control
For decades I was aware of furious rut bedding area activity by witnessing or hearing it from the edges, but knew I couldn’t go in due to the likelihood of getting winded. That lesson was learned from previous experiences of my scent control regiment not being adequate enough for the unpredictable rut chasing movements within bedding areas, because I couldn’t count on deer to staying upwind of me. After several hunts where bucks would chase does to my downwind side and then one or the other, or both would spook, I quit hunting bedding area interiors.
During my first 34 bow seasons I had tried scent eliminator sprays, baking soda washes, washing my clothing in non-scent detergents, cover scents, airing my clothing outside, and whatever else was available at the time, but nothing kept me from getting winded by downwind deer. Other than those times when I tried something new and disregarded the wind as a test and got busted, I always hunted the wind. But for the past 15 seasons since properly using Scent Lok’s activated carbon lined exterior clothing, I pay absolutely no attention to wind direction.
Expert independent testing during Scent Lok’s lawsuit found that, (direct words from the Court’s ruling) using highly elevated test odor concentrations that were “likely ten thousand fold greater than a human body could produce in the course of 24 hours”, Scent Lok carbon lined clothing fabrics blocked 96 to 99% of the odor compounds, and essentially 100% of the surrogate body odor compounds tested. Don’t be fooled by others claims when activated carbon has been proven in literally thousands of filtration purposes worldwide.
Scouting and location preparation
Scouting and preparing locations within bedding areas should only be done during post season which is between seasons end and spring green up which typically begins in late April.
Wait for the ground to be bare of snow before any scouting happens; otherwise ground scrapes and rut phase runways will be covered and you will likely set up on wintertime bedding to feeding route runways which may be quite different than rut phase runways.
Once the snow melts the visual sign left on the ground from the previous season’s rut phase such as scrapes, converging runway hubs, and rub lines will be identifiable. If you’re fortunate you may find a small interior opening with a few scrapes laced around its perimeter. If so it would be an annual primary scrape area due to consistent doe traffic throughout the season. This would be the #1 location to set up on.
Several location set-ups may require multiple days and during post season bedding area intrusions will have no ill effect on fall movements.
Visual scars from location preparation such as cleared shooting lanes, entry and exit route trimmings, runway clean-up, and runway alterations will become part of the scenery as the green-up of summer occurs. Human odor will be a non-factor, spooked deer will return, and well before season deer habits and routines will return to normal.
Human activity within bedding areas during pre-season should be avoided at all costs. Deer would be spooked after many months of total solitude and the blatantly obvious visual alteration scars of preparing new locations would not go unnoticed in the dense security cover. Due to the hot sweaty time of year, no matter your scent free regiment, human odor would be left behind. Basically any pre-season influx of human activity would alter mature buck activity causing them to be more nocturnal than they already are.
In addition to the downside of pre-season intrusions is the fact that pre-season sign is nothing more than summer bedding to feeding area traffic. Sign left from the previous rut would be impossible to identify due to new summer growth.
Once locations are set-up, avoid the temptation of setting up motion cameras or checking locations for activity as every intrusion will lower chances for success and possibly cause spooked deer to use other bedding areas you can’t access. Hunting interiors of bedding areas in hchp areas is an all or nothing hunting proposition, either do it right, or don’t do it at all. Hunting buck sanctuaries (as they are becoming known in hunting literature) requires planning and perfect execution for success.
Hunting the Bedroom
Bedding areas should be hunted during the rut phases only and are situations where all day hunts are advised. You should commit to being set up and quiet by at least an hour and a half prior to daybreak and not leaving until half hour after dark. The early arrival should assure not spooking deer with entries and late exits should be after deer have left. All day hunts are grueling, but if you do them tactically and in the right types of locations a kill opportunity could occur any time of day.
If you have other prime rut locations outside bedding areas, give them the opportunity to produce before hunting bedding area interiors just before gun season.
Michigan has at least twice as many gun hunters as bowhunters and their scouting pressure typically begins a week or so prior to season. That sudden influx of human activity in the surrounding vicinity will push deer into remote areas resulting in interior bedding area activity to be more prominent. Chasing and breeding will continue to take place, just in more secure, secluded, and confined bedding areas.
Scent Control
For decades I was aware of furious rut bedding area activity by witnessing or hearing it from the edges, but knew I couldn’t go in due to the likelihood of getting winded. That lesson was learned from previous experiences of my scent control regiment not being adequate enough for the unpredictable rut chasing movements within bedding areas, because I couldn’t count on deer to staying upwind of me. After several hunts where bucks would chase does to my downwind side and then one or the other, or both would spook, I quit hunting bedding area interiors.
During my first 34 bow seasons I had tried scent eliminator sprays, baking soda washes, washing my clothing in non-scent detergents, cover scents, airing my clothing outside, and whatever else was available at the time, but nothing kept me from getting winded by downwind deer. Other than those times when I tried something new and disregarded the wind as a test and got busted, I always hunted the wind. But for the past 15 seasons since properly using Scent Lok’s activated carbon lined exterior clothing, I pay absolutely no attention to wind direction.
Expert independent testing during Scent Lok’s lawsuit found that, (direct words from the Court’s ruling) using highly elevated test odor concentrations that were “likely ten thousand fold greater than a human body could produce in the course of 24 hours”, Scent Lok carbon lined clothing fabrics blocked 96 to 99% of the odor compounds, and essentially 100% of the surrogate body odor compounds tested. Don’t be fooled by others claims when activated carbon has been proven in literally thousands of filtration purposes worldwide.
