Archery - Open Country, Draw Hunting

[vanish]

An area I hunt consists of your traditional river bottom habitat couple with many draws or ditches in very open country, only a tree or two every couple hundred yards heading to it (sample map attached). I've hunted the river bottoms with good success for the last 10 years, but this year I really want to try a different approach.

What I've noticed is that every so often when I am hiking back to my vehicle ( usually 1-3 miles to get back ), I jump some very nice bucks out of these draws. Yeah, probably not the best to be busting bucks, but please ignore that point for now. In this area, nearly every one of these bucks I jump is larger than the average deer I see cruising the bottom. They seem to stay in these draws most of the day, and seem to only move up at very last light to feed in the ag. I've tried intercepting them en route to the ag, but I usually lose shooting light before they are in range.

I think the only way I am going to kill these deer consistently is to figure out how I can find them while they are bedded. The country has no real high points from which to glass a large amount of the terrain from a distance, and it is too thick to glass from below. These aren't real big - probably 3-15 feet deep depending how close one is to the river bottom.

I have some ideas on how to approach this, but I'd like to hear if anyone else hunts this kind of terrain, and if so, how they're successful.

 

[Btaylor]

Weapon? Time of season?

First 2 thoughts that come to mind is calling with a decoy and using an 8-10' step ladder in the back of the truck for glassing.

 

[vanish]

Weapon? Time of season?

Hah, I thought the very first word of the title being "Archery" would make that clear.

Let's say mid-late October.

 

[jacob_ski4]

The Hunting Public just finished up a series on YouTube and one of the videos covers how to hunt open country/grassland bedding that sounds pretty similar to what you’re in. Try checking that out if you haven’t already.

 

[Btaylor]

Hah, I thought the very first word of the title being "Archery" would make that clear.

Let's say mid-late October.

Dude, I'm from Arkansas, reading is optional.

 

[vanish]

Tough crowd on this one!

 

[Rich M]

Climb one of those sparse trees and glass from there.

Use on map program and drop a pin where you see the buck bed.

Wait til the daily wind starts, make sure buck doesn't shift bed with wind. Then stalk.

Have fun and enjoy the challenge.

 

[jakelogghe]

I would wait until a windy day and tip toe around until you find what you're looking for.

 

[coyotecreek]

Heads up Decoy, they are a sponsor on this site and have a great product. Get the whitetail buck. You can attach the decoy to your bow so that you are more mobile, or have someone with you to work the decoy and call as you work your way in. You can also just clamp the decoy to a tree branch. Be ready! During the rut, bucks will come in on a string, typically from downwind so set up so that they have to come in from a different direction. It's a blast to hunt this way, and gives you a lot more options rather than being strapped to a tree.

 

[Lytro]

I hunt a lot of public land river bottom where the deer feed down out of the hills in the evening into. In the mornings they head back into the hills for the day where they bed in draws like you're talking about in your OP.

One morning I walked into the hills after spotting the buck in my picture on here head into the hills. I spotted him traveling a ridgeline about 400 yards and he walked over the back edge of it out of view. It was my last day out for the weekend so I got aggressive and ran to where I saw him go over the hill. I crept to the crest of the hill and he was standing just 40 yards away and I was able to get off a perfect broadside shot. Using the terrain, and favorable wind, I think you will be able to get in pretty close on something bedded where you're at. I'm going out this weekend and I'll likely be doing this mid-day when it's hot and the wind is blowing.

 

[vanish]

I never figured out a winning strategy for this on my trip. I was able to intercept them moving in the evening, but the winds were insane the week I was out, both in speed and variability.