hi, Logan from Kansas. new to the forum. im 18, and been bowhuntin for 4 years, followin after my stepdad and grandpa.. im currently huntin on some WIHA ground in Mitchell Co., KS. i would hunt private ground, but im in college and 2 hours north of home..... the ground is a 1mi by 1/2mi green wheat field, with a creek runnin southwest through it, splittin it almost in half. my stand is on the north side of the creek, about 10 yards back from the wheat. theres alotta sign in front of me- 5 scrapes, 2 rubs, and tracks everywhere (some are BIG). ive sat there 3 mornins and 8 evenings. ive only seen two bucks (forky and a wide 8pt), and two does. the 8pt was a good lookin buck, came within 20yd, but i couldnt get a shot. it seems like a real nice setup to me, but it feels like im doin somethin wrong. if you know of somethin i should change, please tell me. thanks!! these are pictures taken from the stand. usin an older hang-on style stand with 16' ladder stick. 1) straight out in front of me 2) down to my right (two trails run out right here) and 3) behind to my right. to the left, theres just more brush
Welcome to the site. I don't see anything ur doing wrong just maybe have a couple spots for different winds. Good luck and again welcome aboard.
First off Welcome to the forumn Logan, You will find plenty of good and bad tips around these parts and they will come from plenty of bad and good guys :p. Hard to really help you out without some aeriel photos or topo maps. These two things will be your best friend when deciding on where and how to hunt. This time of year in order to get your hands on a buck, your going to need to hunt where the does seem to be most often. Usually that is in two areas. 1) food 2)bedding. Up here in Illinois we seem to be in the middle of the rut where bucks are tending hot does and really aren't doing to much looking. Your best bet as of this exact time would be to find the does. In a couple weeks or so (depending on what stage of the rut you are in down there), most does will already have been bred. This to me, is one of the best times to see mature bucks moving. The bucks will have to look alot harder to find that hot doe, so they are more than likely going to have to travel farther and more often to find them. Again there are a thousand things to consider and think about. The other hard part is, what works best for one time of year changes as the season moves on. I would start out by looking at how you are entering and exiting the stand location. Is it to intrusive, are you chasing deer out on the way in and out? Is there a better way to enter that location? If all that seems sound then rip out those aerial photos and maps and break everything down as much as you can. If you have more specific questions feel free to pm me. And If you got 'em, show us some aerial photos. Theres plenty of guys who can help you out on here. Good luck and keep at it, fact is the thing that increases your odds the most, no matter what, is hunting smart and hunting often, can't kill them if your not out there!
thanks guys, gives me alot to think about. i found the spot on Google Maps, but cant save the image. any idea how to do this? also, when i enter the trees to get to my stand, i never hear anythin spook and run off. theres been a couple times that i climb down after dark and here em walkin around. but im far enough away that they cant see or hear me.
Sounds like you are very close to dialing it in. Watch the wind... hunt as high as possible and try to get between the bedroom and the kitchen. It'll come together, sooner or later.
well, i took some pictures with my phone of the map on Google. ill put em on here when i get the chance. lookin at the aerial view now, i think i might see a better spot. theres a pond half-surrounded by trees to the southwest of my stand. ill have to go check it out the next chance i get..
Maybe set up a little bit more off the field. Also if deer are on the edges they could be seeing you exit and enter the woods. Good luck. In my neck of the woods this time of the year the only deer you see in the field in daylight hours on public land where theres hunting is skippers. Deer react quick around here to hunting presure to be succesfull after the first week or two we set up in the woods more in the travel area between the food and beds.
i think the problem with this spot is that theres not much for beddin around. the closest CRP field is almost a mile away, and the brush isnt very thick, so they probably dont bed around there
thats the best i could do on an aerial view. the arrow points to about the place my stand is.. i think i might check out the spot further southwest where theres a U in the trees and a pond not too far away
glad to see someone else on here from the area. i am in republic county hunting. Welcome and enjoy your time in the trees.
so, i went and walked the whole creek line shown on the map. i was VERY disappointed. there were a total or 12 scrapes, and 4 rubs. none of the scrapes or tracks were fresh. i saw plentya cows, but no deer anywhere. i think its time for a new spot
What time were you hunting when you saw the deer? Were all the deer headed the same way? Scrapes and rubs can be done at night so they might be showing up after dark.
it was right before dark that i saw them. it was about this time last week. the doe and small buck were bedded down in the creek bed. and the 8pt ran up, the little buck walked off, and the other two walked off..
Looks like a good area. Not much for cover from what I can see. Maybe set up closer to the direction the deer came from and to me it doesn't look like a spot I would hunt in the morning. If you go in the bumping deer off the food in the morning then you aren't going to see them. Also wind and scent control could have something to do with it, I don't know what the prevailing winds are there or what you do for your personal scent but if they smell you before you see them you aren't going to see them. Good Luck and Welcome to the forum
Rodeofan....I would recommend you check out www.huntsync.com. I am not a spammer or trying to sell anything, the reason I feel so strongly about the site is because it is a HUGE HELP. On that site you can create a map (and topo map) of your hunting area(s). You can also pin point your stand locations, where you have seen deer and deer sign to help you begin to put together a sort of hunting log that you can physically see which will help you to figure out the pattern of the deer. If you have trail cams you can even upload those all onto your personal hunting property page. It is 100% secure and you will not share the info with anyone else on the site unless you choose to do so. I think it is great, and especially for those folks who hunt multiple properties. Check it out and see what you think, I hope it helps you start putting more pieces of the puzzle together. Best thing is, there is no cost to use it! Great tool.
Knowing where they bed is a great start. Try moving deeper into the woods. Stay 15-20 yards from the trail and make sure you set up for the right wind. When picking a spot for the stand, make sure you have good shooting lanes.
Huntsync (see above) is a nice site with lots of cool features. But it does not let you flip back and forth between an aerial and a topo map. The following link displays an online topo map centered on Beloit, KS. To flip to the aerial click "t4 Topo High" (in upper right corner) and select Satellite. http://www.mappingsupport.com/p/gmap4.php?ll=39.460751,-98.108216&t=t4&z=15&hillshade=0 You can search the forum on 'Gmap4' for some more info if you are curious. Joseph, the Gmap4 guy
Jelf, Glad to hear you enjoy using huntsync and find it to be a valuable site. I couldn't agree more with you. Just so you know, you actually can flip back and forth between the aerial and topo maps for your hunting property. When you are on the map page of your hunting property all you have to do is put your pointer over the "map" portion in the upper right corner of the screen and click "terrain". This will switch the view to a topo map. To go back to the satellite view simply click the satellite button again and you are right back where you started. Hope this helps and makes it more user friendly for you. I have also attached some photos of the two maps and what they look like for you!
