I know of this great bedding spot where every year there is a good buck holding. Not the same buck, but it is such a good bedding area that there always seems to be a good buck taking it over. You should see all the rubs, both old and really old. Some of them are on trees the size of my forearm. The area consists of scrub trees with about five big oaks and lots of downed logs including a couple piles of downed trees that fell there natually. It's about 75 yards long by 25 yards wide and on a county-owned public hunting area. I never go blasting in there and you can't glass it from any distance. I hunt it by sneaking in and stillhunting about 2-3 times a year, only in a SE wind. Pulled a 130-inch 8-pointer out of there four years ago, but have seen bigger. Yesterday afternoon at 4 p.m., it was raining pretty hard and the wind was from the SE, perfect conditions to have a chance to quietly sneak up on a buck in there. I had not even checked it out yet this season, that's how careful I am about this spot.
When I got close, I could not see very many fresh rubs, which concerned me. Over the course of a half-hour, I worked my way in, carefully, meticulously looking over every downed log, glassing, etc. I was surprised at how few good rubs there were this year, and no scrapes. When I got near the middle of the area, I saw why. Someone had put up a bright new wooden 2X4 stand right in the middle of the area, in an oak tree. There was a well-beaten path where some hunter had been sitting it regularly. I'm not even sure that it's legal to put up a wooden permanent stand on county public hunting area. Boy was I discouraged, someone ruined my secret hotspot.
There's something about having a spot like that where you dream about it and take care of it, then you become so intimate with it by hunting it meticulously only a couple times a year when the conditions are perfect, that you feel like it belongs to you. Boy I feel really violated. Sorry for whining, but this really sucks.
When I got close, I could not see very many fresh rubs, which concerned me. Over the course of a half-hour, I worked my way in, carefully, meticulously looking over every downed log, glassing, etc. I was surprised at how few good rubs there were this year, and no scrapes. When I got near the middle of the area, I saw why. Someone had put up a bright new wooden 2X4 stand right in the middle of the area, in an oak tree. There was a well-beaten path where some hunter had been sitting it regularly. I'm not even sure that it's legal to put up a wooden permanent stand on county public hunting area. Boy was I discouraged, someone ruined my secret hotspot.
There's something about having a spot like that where you dream about it and take care of it, then you become so intimate with it by hunting it meticulously only a couple times a year when the conditions are perfect, that you feel like it belongs to you. Boy I feel really violated. Sorry for whining, but this really sucks.