Tyler from MO asks,
Hey Bill. Love the show and website. -Question/Scenario This goes along with your bluff and ridge top hunting info. Our farm is similar from what I understand or can at least picture from your stories. 280ac, a bluff that runs north and south along whole property dissected by two large valleys that cut it perpendicular. The top ground is 3 decent sized hay pastures averaging 20 acres or so each. Large timbered hollers and valleys separate the pastures. Bottom ground is also large pastures with other properties having row crops. I guess I should propose a question. I cannot seem to be able to pinpoint bedding, both buck and doe. It’s a great rut farm, holds a lot of does, I just feel the bucks don’t reside there very often especially as they age a mature. Food is mainly grass, natural browse and acorns. Without putting in food plots or any other food stands(we are limited because it’s a working cattle farm) what would your plan of attack be to conquer this terrain. Thanks -Tyler
Bill responds,
Topic: How to Hunt Bluff Country Bucks:
In typical bluff country, the deer tend to bed on the ridges and feed in the bottoms or sometimes in the fields on the larger ridge tops nearby.
Tyler,
I think there are two ways to handle this. First, you can just keep doing what you are doing and hunt those doe bedding areas (the wooded ridge points) during the rut or you can try to get more bucks on the property throughout the year. To do the second part you will need to remove some does and create more space.
Bucks don’t like to hang out in area with high doe densities. They tend to live on the fringe of these areas.
You will also have to do what you possibly can’t and that is create some high protein food sources to attract the bucks during the summer. That can be alfalfa (which would go along with the cattle operation) or smaller plots of clover. But, that is going to require a lot of cooperation from the farmer, which may not be possible.
I would focus on keeping the overall deer numbers moderate and then figure the farm is primarily a rut farm (hunting those doe bedding areas). Good luck. (11/3/21)
