This coming season I am going to be hunting a 2k acre wild life refuge. It's basically a giant river bottom. How would y'all hunt it? All I have ever really hunted is wood stands on ag farms. Sent from my iPhone using Bowhunting.com Forums
Are you promoting this app? Not enough information to say how to, or if I would hunt it. Sent from my XT1254 using Tapatalk
No I'm not. Just the only imagery I have of it. I can zoom in if that would help Sent from my iPhone using Bowhunting.com Forums
You need to find the food sources, travel patterns. Now is a good time to put in some foot work. You can see a few points to check out by looking at funnels, edges and accessibility. Sent from my XT1254 using Tapatalk
I won't be able to make it there until mid to late April unfortunately. I was planning on getting boots on the ground once I get home from my government funded "vacation" Sent from my iPhone using Bowhunting.com Forums
Thank you for your service. This place looks interesting but one of the main things to me is pressure on the property. You marked some spots that look like good starting spots. Sent from my XT1254 using Tapatalk
My pleasure! As far as I can tell from some what knowing the area is one of the main food sources will more than likely be acorns. There isn't a lot as far as agriculture goes other than back yard gardens. It is very urban as you can tell Sent from my iPhone using Bowhunting.com Forums
The word urban has me wondering about other people thinking the same thing as you. In April with the green up it will be hard to tell about people activity. In April the deer will not be in the same pattern so it will put you behind. You will have to look for rubs and old scrapes and hopefully get a picture of the winter pattern. Unfortunately you may have to wait until deer season to find out about how much pressure in out there. A topo map overlay could help to identify some good spots also. Sent from my XT1254 using Tapatalk
I was planning on figuring out what the hunting pressure is like this coming season. If it's just rediculous then I will scrap it as a hunting spot Sent from my iPhone using Bowhunting.com Forums
Can you hunt a refuge in MN? Usually the idea with those is to give animals an area they don't get hunted in... Im just curious since I have no idea.
There are some that are closed to hunting and some that are open to archery only. This one is the later of the two Sent from my iPhone using Bowhunting.com Forums
I grew up in the general are and I had no idea it was huntable until about 3 months ago haba Sent from my iPhone using Bowhunting.com Forums
Here is what I would do. Since it looks like the river is blocking a decent amount of movement I would begin searching it for a low spot(shallow water) and begin to explore that area for trails ect. If you can find a good trail that you can see goes from one side of the river to the other you may have something special. Im not familiar with the area but I have a similar river system near me.(it may be smaller) in the winter when shed hunting I check in the shallow spots and begin to trail from there. otherwise it looks like alot of potential for bedding so any trails between the thick cover that lead to an oak stand and back to cover should be promising as well. Like I say the river would be my starting point. Find a crossing point and you should find good movement for a stand. Thanks for your service!
I would first look at the area which appears to be the north east corner between river and road could be a travel route and funnel
Call the DNR and find out who the biologist for that area is and contact them. I lived close to there years ago. there were some big deer taken down there. Used to see a lot of deer to the south east by the tracks. Thanks for your service!
I live in the south metro and have hunted this piece occasionally. My observations...Rice lake is very popular with metro waterfowlers. This place is overrun with them once that season begins, typically the weekend after archery opener. You will see very well worn trails leading to/from the lake. I've been sitting in my stand in the morning and had duck hunters drag a boat right under me. I personally will only hunt this area on opening weekend simply because of their pressure. As far as other deer hunters are concerned, there are some but not many. I have seen deer here, but again I prefer to stay away due to the hunting pressure. Feel free to PM me if you want to talk about alternative areas...
Here's a tip. If there's corn or sotbeans. hunt the fields but find a tree that u dont think of hanging with brushes so that you can shoot through the windows. That way if a nice buck walks by you he won't see you. Don't hunt wide open 18ft high. deer will see you. Hunt by scrapes. Big bucks always check the scrapes during the day.
