I was scouting a good looking spot I might try next year, was wondering what you guys think. I got permission to hunt this at the end of this season so I am going to hold off until next year. As you can see, there is an old railroad track I highlighted in red, I am thinking of placing a stand where I have marked it on the map in blue. Have any opinions or recommendations?
Yes that is an interstate, I gained permission to hunt that little parcel inbetween the houses and interstate, I feel as though the deer maybe bed down in the swamp area, or between the railroad tracks and houses and travel through the area between. Maybe not though, any thoughts?
If you're not planning on hunting it this year, don't even sweat trying to figure out where to place stands by using Google maps. Walk through the area and see where the deer traffic is...don't even worry about blowing out the bedding areas, it won't matter in the least. With the deer so close to a residential area, it should look like cattle trails as they walk the same trails every day to get to their food sources. Also, it looks as though the road to the east is elevated, that should provide a nice spot to park and observe in the summer before the season to see what you have in there.
I went in after our first snow fall so I have somewhat of an idea where they travel, just unsure is they will have different patterns early fall compared to pre-deer yard pattern
Despite your attempts to hide the location, I was able to find it pretty easily on Google maps. You have residential deer there...if those deer are anything like the deer I deal with in my own residential area, you can almost set a clock by them for their movements. The only wildcard is when the rut comes in and all of a sudden we have bucks we never saw all year in the neighborhood, pushing the does around. Identify your tree(s) now...clear shooting lanes and such. The better you make it now, the less disturbance you will have to make when you want to start hunting it. I would prep a few locations to account for any changes that you see. Good luck, looks like you have a nice spot to hunt!