It's been a while since I've seen real (scrape) hunting topic.
So how do you find mature deer on public? I'm curious to this answer cause most people just pray and dream all year thinking about the magic 2 weeks in November. When some of your best hunting to kill the old guy is the first few weeks of season.
I'm just trying to see what everyone else does?
Same here...Even sent e-mails to them and no response.
Sure...I'll just open up the door on the back shed, pull out the ole aero-plane and fire her up.
How much does it one back to rent a plane/pilot to "fly over" a piece of public hunting ground??
I don't see how that would save me time, if I have to spend the hours I would normally spend scouting, working OT, in order to pay to rent a plane.
Little Confused...There's been a bunch of whining on this site lately about hunters that own private land but then public land hunters have money to pay for airplanes???
I'll park my truck and walk thanks.
Personally I think it's pretty rare that you can actually "pattern" bucks on big tracts of public land. It usually doesn't follow the classic formula of finding the bedding areas and feeding areas and then hunting between then. Yes that might happen at times but most of the time it's not that easy on the public land i hunt. Usually there are more potential bedding and feeding areas than there are deer so they have many options. Sometimes I identify bedding areas and/or feeding areas and hunt them but I also rely a lot on travel routes or corridors.
I do that by evaluating sign, the fresher the better. That requires a lot of scouting but I try to be smart when scouting during season and not go blasting through bedding areas. I also believe that big woods deer don't always bed in the thickest cover. I believe that they sometimes bed on open ridge tops, etc where they have good visibility and scenting ability.
I think that if a hunter goes into a big chunk of public land and tries to identify bedding and feeding areas and the routes between them he might be biting off more than he can chew and setting himself up for failure.
Yes finding bedding and feeding areas can be important but I feel that finding fresh sign is more important. I'll admit that I often hunt areas where I have no idea where the bucks are coming from or where they are going but I know they are spending time in a certain area based on the sign. I've also killed some big bucks in these areas. Sometimes it's obvious where they're coming from and where they're going, sometimes I have a hunch and sometimes I don't have a clue. What's important to me is that they're spending time in the area where the sign is.
Of course it's important to plan your entry and exit routes to not cross the the buck's route through the area.
Some of my best stands are near perennial scrapes on the edge of known bedding areas and sometimes the deer are entering and exiting those bedding areas from multiple directions.
I really don't have a lot of experience with early season deer hunting because I'm usually in the mountains chasing elk in September...
That's my two cents worth for what it's worth :-)
I had to learn to hunt bucks, with new pressure, that being, lots of baits, and predators. These last lets say 5 years, where guys are saying they do not see deer, well, why would a deer move? think about it,,, till almost dark,,,,
I am a little radical, not even the rut, is going to expose, some of the better bucks, during legal hours, with this kind of pressure, UNLESS, you get into the beds,,,,,,,,,
yep, I hunt bedding areas, and it is not easy,,, I blow a lot of set ups, there almost impossible to get into for a am hunt,,,,,,
I hunt the river systems, and very large swamps,,,,I also do not ever hunt hardwoods......
One thing about this type of hunting, with winter and manageable snow and ice, you can get some great scouting in,,,,,, you will find sometimes a flurry of rubs, in their bedding areas, when you have not seen a rub, for miles in the hardwoods,,,,,,,
I also went to hunting on the ground, or what I would call, elevated ground blind, that is a small stand only a few feet up, just enough to give me cover, but to see and shoot over the dogwood and alders,,,,,,,
I have lot of info in my head, but do not want to get to long winded.......
I also changed my rifle hunting methods,,,,, last year I passed on 3 bucks,,,,,, too small, and they need a chance......
lots and lots of fun
What I will add.
1)There is very little land in WI that you can walk away from people. If you think you can walk an hour and not be close to a road, 4 wheeler trail, or someone else you better get out a map and look again. It just isn't going to happen. Not saying you shouldn't look for those "missed" places, just saying don't illusion yourself thinking you can get away from people here.
2) Quit baiting, get away from the bait (as best you can). When you do this and start to understand what mature bucks and does do you will be much more successful.
3) Scout a lot, more than you hunt. For 2-3 weeks I'll hunt every day when the time is right. The rest of the year there are hundreds of hours spent scouting, hanging stands, checking cams, etc. I just pulled a camera out of a new area I found late season this year. 500+ pictures since I left it in December. I learned a lot and am 100% sure I'll tag a buck out of this area in the future.
4) Mature bucks are creatures of habit, and more importantly species of habit. They travel and bed in certain areas because of certain characteristics. Like Mike said, I don't always know why a buck (or buck sign) is in a particular spot. However I do know if it's something I see repeated I figure out how to hunt it. I have more than a handful of public land places where I consistently see mature bucks. If I am lucky enough to harvest one in an area I know that another will likely fill his area in time. Mature animals like specific spots for a reason, and unless the topography or intrusion level changes there will be an animal I am looking for around.
5) Hunt FRESH sign. I can't stress this enough. I can guarantee you 100% of the time I am on the freshest big buck sign available, or in one of the previously mentioned "repeatable" areas.
6) I rarely hunt the same sets day after day. Even if I only move 20-100 yards. This year was a rare exception where I hunted the same tree 13 out of 17 straight days. It is a new area I found this year with superb sign. The entrance and exit to this area was perfect. I had to cross 250 yards of open marsh grass which took me right to the edge of a pond. I hugged the edge of the pond, literally walking in an inch of water. 20 yards off the North end of the pond was the tree. Any North wind blew my scent over the water, out to the open area along the road. I never got winded once in over 60 hours from that stand.
7) Don't overthink this. They are deer, not rocket scientists. They want to eat, drink, sleep, and screw. Take advantage of those things.
8) I don't subscribe to the work harder, go farther, no pain/no gain mantra all the time. Renting a plane to scout?? IDK, I guess I know a guy who has his own plane, but don't think he really "scouts" with it much :)? Getting a long way off the road can be good, if the spot is right? My buck this fall was arrowed less than 150 yards into the woods, less than 325 yards from a paved road. 2011 archery 500 yards from paved road, 2012 archery buck standing on an old logging road I was sitting above, 350 yards from a gravel road, 2012 rifle buck standing in a scrape 125 yards from a gravel road at 11:30 am on opening day.
I guess the most important thing I can add is hunt the way that makes you the most confident. Find the way that works for you and get it done.
If I find smoking sign, that's it, I do not care if I can see hwy 70 off of it, I am going to hunt it,,, if I have a stand, with me, up it goes, otherwise I just sit down and hunt it......
I shot 2 nice bucks and missed too many, just hunting, what the good Lord, put in front of me,,,,,,
90percent scouting 10 percent hunting,,,, works for me
if you are lucky to find a nice hide away spot, and you bait it, you will ruin it
I like your last line razor
"if you are lucky to find a nice hide away spot, and you bait it, you will ruin it"
Somewhere way back in my past I heard an old timer say:
"never throw rocks where you plan to fish"
I've tried to live by that philosophy and apply it to deer hunting. If you do something that makes the deer aware of human presence, you are "throwing rocks where you plan to fish".
you do need plenty of time to scout an area . Being retired I had lts of time to check public lands out .
I had great luck on small pieces of land in the 10 to 40 ac range ..
After settling in on 6 different pieces I learned a lot .
Had all the land I wanted to hunt from opening day until about the 3 rd week of Oct. . No other hunters .
The 4 th week of OCT the { I'm a bowhunter during the rut only group showed up } .
Hunters showed up on 3 of my 6 hunting spots . The other 3 spots , 20 , 40 , & 55 ac never had another hunter besides my family .
Myself & 3 grandkids arrowed 2 bucks . We passed on 2 8 pts & 6 does .
Yote hunting yesterday & found a 110 inch drivers side antler . Going out tonite to shed & Yote hunt . A nice combo trip .
Just caight a Perch , gotta run , will finish up later .
Funny I used to say "I hit him on the driver's side, or I hit him on the passenger side"
Old car guys I guess.... :^)
I think to add to this ongoing discussion, In my long post up above, I'm not saying that you shouldn't scout and attempt to pattern bucks or that you shouldn't try to identify bedding and feeding areas on big tracts of public land.
What I'm saying is that it can take a lot of time and most of us only have so much time (guys like Ruger, razor and Smokey excluded) to scout and hunt. So it's not always necessary to have every piece of the puzzle figured out before you start hunting.
As razor pointed out, when you find the fresh sign, hunt it.
I have a lot of areas that I started hunting because I found fresh sign and didn't know everything I wanted to know about the area but I knew enough from the sign to start hunting it. I will always return to those areas in the off-season and do a more thorough scouting job. Often times that will lead to fine tuning stand locations or finding other stand options.
Mike, elk and a few others got pretty in depth with details they look for during the rut. Much like (scrape thread) and rubs. But understanding why it was made in the day, and not all at night.
I've noticed the best daytime scrapes are in the woods between two active doe bedding areas or where the topography meets in the right spot. But you have to be able to understand it. Or you'll get caught up on the less important sign.
I think a lot of guys get really excited over the wrong stuff. 50, 60,70 yards can make or break seeing only young deer or no deer at all. But most importantly put the time in. Hunt hard and hunt often. But hunt smart. Then it comes down to being calm and making it happen. The best big buck guy I know actually crumbles under pressure. Or at least he did. But he says he doesn't think you can really ever get over it. He now figured out techniques that work for him and he does them all season. Sorry for the somewhat ramble I've given. I hope it wasn't to much. I just enjoy these type of threads. :)
Scout & scout . My hunting time breaks down to 80 % scout to 20 % hunting .
Spent 4 hours this morming checking tracks & signs . I scout , shed hunt , and Coyote hunt at the same time .
You can find those areas as well and many of you folks drive right past them. I know, I did for years myself!
From the road they looked like a sea of Jack Pines a place where no respective deer would venture - WRONG!
Don't "out smart" yourself!
The funny thing about deer is what one will do the next one will not and visa versa - if deer were as easy to "pattern" from bedding to the dinner table, we all would be shooting 160+ deer - but we are not!
The amount of "variables" in deer hunting are huge -
We can talk about all the "right" things to do and when to "do it" but the bottom line comes down to each one of us.
What you've read above is nothing new. Good advice for sure... but nothing that hasn't been rehashed in countless deer hunting articles and posted on threads in any number of hunting forums!
It's nice to hear from the "locals" and you should try and remember what you've read!
But you can "read" all you want and don't get me wrong, that's a good thing!
But how many of us will remember or put any good advice to the test come October/November?
Often times the "secret" to shooting big deer lies squarely with us, the hunter and how we remember what we have learned and how we apply that knowledge in the field.
Deer hunting has been around along time - there is no magic bullet - Thank the Lord and Greyhound for that!
My best tip: Be the best hunter you can be! Read and apply those tactics that make sense to you! When that doesn't work, try something else.....
And finally - have fun doing it - because when you make it work - it's loses it's appeal!
Good Hunting!
