hunting thickets......

[bower]

yesterday i went hunting out in oldam county. didn't see not one deer. well around 7pm i decided to walk along this trail next to this tree line. i end up seeing 7 rubs. 6 of them where all gruoped together. and 1 was further down the trail. all 7 rubs were in a thicket. it seems like there is more deer activity on this trail then in the hard wood. well there is some going on in the woods but i only see tracks going in the woods, none going out. i just can't figure these deers out. but my question is how would i go about hunting a thicket if there is no tree to climb near or use a blind? i'm almost coming to believe that this property is just mornings. might be a good spot for rut also.


>--> if it's brown it's down<--<

[Wildcat]

Sounds like what you've found is an "edge". An edge is where two different habits meet, like open hardwoods meet a thicket. I'm always looking for any edge there are all kinds of edges, an in-woods edge like I said earlier, a field edge where the woods meet the field, woods meet open land, open woods meet a pine thicket etc. Deer travel those edges and use them to get from one place to another.

You do not have to hunt inside the thicket but hunt and watch over the edge. Deer do go into the thicket but travel along the edge, if something was to spook them all they have to do is jump once and they are in the thicket. If you can find a tree within range of the edge that will work or you could build a blind.

[polcat]

ok have about 200 acres of thicket to hunt...i have probly seen between 75 and 100 rubs...from the size of your pinky finger to the size of the upper part of your leg...

[P. Beyer]

polcat, If you got 75-100 rubs, I'd be there. Get as close as you can, use Lures, calls, etc to bring em to you if you have to. Deer love "Edge" habitat, often it's the path of least resistance and they, like us will take that. Right now is the time when you need to be out every spare second you've got, Bucks are gonna be chasing & Looking.

"It makes no difference whether I got anything; it has to do with how the day was spent"

Fred Bear

[polcat]

well its like this..i have spent the last two weeks cutting a path through part of it..it is so thick that you can not walk through it..but the deer are starting to use the paths i have cut and im gona hang a couple tree stands this weekend...

[bower]

so i ought to build a blind. just out of old branches and leaves, i suppose? never done that before. so these trails are a hot spots for does and bucks?

>--> if it's brown it's down<--<

[Wildcat]

All deer use edges in their travels. The easiest way is a pop-up blind with nature branches and leaves laying against it but you can build one. Try to build it with the wind blowing from the edge. If your fireare hunting you can get farther away fromn the edge and just about cover it all.

If there's any does inside that thicket you can bet the deer will be coming in and out of the thicket all day during the rut.

[polcat]

if you can get in a tree and see into the edge of the thicket that should be fine...find the trails coming out and running along side of the thickets set up there watch very careful cause thats where the big bucks roam....

The more i learn about deer hunting...The less i seem to know