Jake's October Buck
Key Questions
-How many spots like this do we find each season? As many as possible.
-How late is too late to scout these bedding areas before opening day? In a perfect world we'd prefer at least one month before opening day to scout bedding. However, it all depends on the situation you're in.
-How far away from bedding do we feel comfortable placing and checking trail cameras regularly? Typically at least 300-400 yards or more. We rarely get within 200 yards of suspected buck bedding unless we are hunting it that day.
Hunt Overview
This buck was taken in our home state of Iowa. We scouted the area, found potential bedding, and developed a plan to access and monitor the spot without being detected. It's not uncommon for us to find 5 or 6 locations like this early in the season. Then we look for the best situation to hunt and target that area.
Jake used trail cameras and long distance scouting to monitor the fields surrounding bedding areas. Once he located bucks feeding in those fields, he assumed they were likely bedding on the remote leeward ridges we'd found the year prior.
Setting Up Properties for Opening Day
This hunt is a great example on how to monitor bucks at a distance with low impact on the bedding areas. Bucks change bedding areas often which is why these tactics are so important. For example, a small property like this one may have a half dozen good bedding locations. It pays to find exterior scrapes and travel corridors a few hundred yards from the bedding. Those are locations bucks use often in October but often at night. However, by placing trail cameras in such spots, you can keep tabs on which bucks are using the bedding without putting pressure on the bedding area itself. Then when you find a situation like the one Jake had, you can dive in there.
The key here is to "strike while the iron is hot". We don't wait to hunt situations like this because bucks bounce around to different bedding areas. One day late or early and it's a missed opportunity. Our goal is to hunt the buck when he's in there.
Trail camera setups like this one are strategically placed so we can check them often - sometimes once per week throughout the hunting season. They are several hundred yards away from the bedding or in areas where deer often encounter human scent. The goal isn't necessarily to get "daylight" pictures of bucks but to get intel telling us a buck is using the specific bedding areas we've scouted. Those are the areas we key in on once a buck shows himself on the outskirts. Just like Jake did in this hunt. This is another hunt where finding the bedding was of the utmost importance.
