Who here has been successful in large mountain/timber situations? I'm talking about 5,000+ acre stands of mountain timber, with no agriculture or clear cuts. I'm really considering putting in some shoe leather up in the Adirondack park, about an hour north of my house. I've got access to literally hundreds of thousands of acres, all public access paper company land. I can get away from the pressure up there and get into a better age class of deer, but it's very different than anything I've bowhunted successfully in the past. No oaks, the timber is mixed soft and hardwoods, but the hardwoods are a mix of maple, birch, and some beech trees. The only real mast is some beech's will drop, but nothing concentrated. They mostly browse year round. What's intriguing to me about this kind of terrain is the age class of the bucks. If your willing to 4 wheel in on the public access (privately owned and not maintained) paper company logging roads to get away from the crowds, you can start your hiking well off the beaten path, anywhere from 1-10 miles in from public roads. If you willing to put in some 1+ mile hikes from there, you can literally be hunting deer that don't see hunters, at least not every year and certainly not during bow season. Out of 5 deer that I saw during the rifle season, 2 of them were bucks including the 8 that I took, and another that was MUCH larger than him. A 2.5 year old, and a 3.5+. No 1.5's. My soon to be inlaws have killed a couple dozen 190lb+ bucks in this area over the last 30 years, and a good handful of them going 120-150". Populations are pretty bad, in the 2-5 deer per square mile range, but I suspect over the next few years that will increase. Most of the land was cut heavily about 2 years ago for paper wood (they basically cut anything of a certain age, no matter of species) and it is now starting to fill in with brush, and will soon provide cover. They are already browsing on it and the tops. Below is a terrain map showing one specific area that I know has zero pressure during bow season. You may see a handful of guys at the lower elevations during the rifle season (starts 10/18 in the northern zone), and you really aren't going to see anyone above about 2000ft elevation hardly ever. I spent quite a bit of time up there this year during the rifle season, and I know there are stud deer in there, I just don't know how you guys do this with a bow. There seems to be little rhyme or reason for where the deer move in here. Red are areas that I know there are some slammer deer in. The blue are logging trails that I can use to access from about 3 miles southeast of where this map starts. Primary wind seems to be northeast here, but because of the elevation changes you get some pretty strong traditional morning thermals. I took my northern zone rifle buck off the northeast ridge coming off "East Mountain" at about 2600' elevation.........right at the top of that east facing hollow. Any thoughts?
"Bowhunting Forests and Deep Woods" by Greg Miller may help you some. Very good book where he talks about hunting "big woods" and the strategies he uses. we have a similar area down here in MD, western MD to be exact. Green Ridge state forest is 46,000 acres in the Alleghany mountains. Me and a buddy keep talking about making the 3 hr drive to scout a couple times in the summer so we can hunt there but, so far, we haven't done it. Eventually, though, it will be done, at least by me, in the next couple of years.
Well i use to hunt "big woods" deer for several years and found out 3 things. 1 There are no food sources. 2 you spend a lot of time on stand with out seeing deer.3 The deer don't bed in the same place every night. But there are some good things especially during bow season. You are the only one around for miles and when you see a deer they have no idea that you are there. In those year we have killed several bucks and some were worth a wall in the house. But it takes a lot of time to really locate a prime spot. For me a prime spot was one with a lot and i mean a lot of buck sign. Just because a place looks good.. doesn't mean a deer will think so. Droppings, tracks,rubs, scrapes... and there needs to be a lot (yes i said this already) If you have the time to put into this then its going to be the best hunting you'll ever do and when you shoot a deer there it will be quite rewarding. This is the hunting i dreamed of as a kid. I have some more thoughts but i don't want to bore you with it. Let me know if i can help/bore anymore. I hunted in the Chequamegon national forest in WI, its not near the altitudes your talking but is is one hell of a "big woods"
Thanks for the info so far guys. Anyone else have experience? I know Dan and Troy have experience in big woods settings.......was hoping to learn a bit more from soem of you guys with good experience in areas such as this.
Hey Matt, sorry I didn't see this sooner. Honestly, I've never hunted in the mountains such as these. Most of my big woods hunting is done on the Canadian Sheild of NW Ontario and we don't have terrain like that. What we have is a lot more dense bush with a number of dry and wet beaver ponds intermixed. I tend to hunt around these a lot, as they provide great funnels and an excellent food source. I guaranteed you that Troy would have a lot more experience with your type of terrain than I do. Do you have an aerial image of the area?
I tried to hunt a 38,000 acre paper mill company with 90% pines. I could not figure out how to hunt it. Everywhere I went into the pines at, you could not see more than 20 yds and that was looking through bruch. I found several old clear cuts but no sign in or around it. I did manage to put my dad in a funnel to a water source but it was in the 10% hardwoods. I think I am going back to my public lands 15 minutes from my house. All hardwoods with plenty of food sources, funnels, trails, creeks, and signs. If I was closer to the Pine's and could scout it out like crazy and put some work into clearing some stuff out to hunt, I'd probably stay but 3 hours 1 way is a little much on the wallet and my limited time.
