This video will detail how we found the infamous "Buck Nest" spot. The specific hunt we discuss is from early October of 2018 where Ted and I (Warb) snuck into the nest and watched a mature buck stand up out of his bed.
Key Questions:
How did we find this area?
How did we scout it and learn bucks were using it at this time?
How does hunting pressure impact buck bedding areas such as this?
How do specific conditions allow us to sneak past bedded deer?
How did the wind behavior help us access this area?
How often can we hunt a spot like this?
Habitat Overview
The Buck Nest is one of the most diverse areas we've ever hunted. It has a small creek running through it that provides constant water all year long. It's got mature trees growing down the banks of the creek as it transitions into brushy meadows filled with various weed communities, broadleafs, grasses, and shrubs. This offers the deer good cover for bedding but also plentiful browse for different times of the year. Across the fence on private land is a South facing cedar thicket providing good thermal cover during cold weather. Across the meadow to the East is a giant stand of rolling hardwood timber with a plentiful acorn crop. There are also some ag fields located on private land within 1/2 mile of the nest.
All of these factors make it an excellent place for deer but the lack of human intrusion is what transforms it from being good to great. When we found the Buck Nest in 2015 there was no historic sign of people hunting within 400 yards of the bedding area. Multiple mature bucks felt safe bedding there for years of their lives. Hence the reason why we saw so many in our first hunt ever in the bedding area. Keep this in mind when making plans to hunt similar locations. The more often you intrude - the worse the hunting will be.
Access
A key takeaway from this breakdown is the access plan. We can use the creek to get in and out of this area undetected. In addition, we can also identify fresh human or deer tracks in the wet sand along the creek bank. This makes it easy for us scout efficiently throughout the season and time our hunts when the bucks are in the bedding area and people are not. In many situations, this is a difficult puzzle to solve. Which is why this is another advantage to hunting the Buck Nest.
Private/Public Habitats
As you can see in the video, the Buck Nest is located in a corner of the public land next to private. Looking at the bigger picture, you can see there is some key habitat features existing on both sides of the fence. Therefore resident bucks establish their core area using BOTH properties. This helps bucks reach maturity in some instances because it allows them an escape from hunting pressure. We see these types of situations repeat themselves everywhere we hunt. Bottom line is this - find areas where bucks can escape people and you'll find more mature bucks.
Wind Behavior
We're constantly amazed at what we can and can't get away with regarding wind. In this hunt we manage to walk right by a bedded buck with our wind blowing just past him without alerting the deer. Only to have him stand up and walk by us an hour later and catch a subtle back draft in the wind which tips him off to our presence. The lesson here is this - closely examine the wind at the spot you plan to hunt - regardless of what the forecast says. In this situation, a small group of trees caused the wind to swirl at our stand location. Had we of been 20 yards to our West, that problem may have corrected itself because the oncoming wind may not have impacted any trees as it came across the field. Keep this in mind and USE milkweed. It's helpful.
