Below is an aerial and a topo map of the area I would like to hunt next week. I will be at a Grouse camp in northern Wisconsin in the national forest and decided to bring my bow and climber with me to go out one night for a break and to be alone. I did some computer scouting and picked out the spot below to try. I have never been on the ground there so I have no idea what it is like. I determined that the lighter green trees are high ground hardwoods and the darker green should be lower ground woods. The brownish is swamp. There is absolutely zero agriculture in this area. The nearest farm field is probably 20 miles away at least. So this is 100% natural movement. Hunting Pressure is light. Deer are few and far between due to the hard winters and lack of food. However, there are some big bucks due to small amount of hunting pressure. My plan is to catch a north wind and walk in along the route shown in light blue. Then cut to the north and try and hit this funnel between the hardwoods and lower ground woods. There also is a topographic funnel there. Where the route ends is where I plan on setting up somewhere. I will only be doing evening hunts. I realize the deck is stacked against me. Few deer, never been on the ground before, etc. But I am going to give it a shot. Any thoughts as to if my thought process is good? Think this should give me a decent shot? Any better places? Thanks.
I have hunted big woods mountain forestland whitetails my entire life. Granted I dont have the hardwoods out west here, nor do I have very flat ground but if there is one thing I think all big woods hunters have in common is that whitetails like to travel on inside edges. Some of the best places to catch deer moving imo out here in the big woods are on edges of changing habitat or swamps. I hunt one area that is really marshy in the bottom and bucks skirt it all the time during the rut. This time of year not so much. As for other inside edges of varying habitat I find a lot of deer in my neck of the woods like to travel along these changes in habitat zones. like Big timber versus regrowth. Do your big woods produce a mast crop, like white oaks? This time of year deer are feeding and drinking for the most part. That kind of country you are hunting may offer up some hidden select food sources this time of year. It would also be a cool place to spend a spring scouting and then setting up some mock scrapes in known buck bedding areas the following year. Good luck I dont know if any of this helps since my big woods is a lot different than yours, but inside edges have always been good to me.. Inside edges deep in the forests...
I don't like the fact that there is a trail coming right to that spot from the other direction. I would try the steep drop along the swamp se of where you come in. that could be a bedding area for a good buck. Any chance you could identify the area so I could look the whole aera over? I don't even have a scale so I don't know how far your going. If this area is like most up there it will be pounded by bird hunters and their dogs. Its best to find places far enough off the road so the bird hunters don't run there. A lot of bird hunters walk the trails and that trail that leads to your area might get daily pressure.
