First, if I missed something that tells what WMA this is let me know so I can take down the photos. I don’t want to do the work for someone else lol One is the topo and the other is the aerial photo of the WMA I am hunting. Blue/ purple is the path/road that I have walked and personally seen. White is the personal tree stand locations that I have sat. ( I haven’t seen any deer from stands so far. ) Yellow is other hunting pressure that I have seen so far. The yellow is actual tree stands still in the tree. Green is where I have bumped deer either in the early dark morning or getting down from the stand and getting out of stand. I honestly don’t know where I should go. I have a few ideas but I don’t know for sure. What do you guys think? Sent from my iPhone using Bowhunting.com Forums
Is there any food crops in any of those fields? Is the top of the map pointing true north? If so it would appear that all the other stands are setting on the north east corners of those fields, most likely because of the predominant Southwest winds. Sent from my iPhone using Bowhunting.com Forums
Here is also another photo. I forgot to put one tree stand to the middle. And I also forgot that to show the deer that I have seen driving in right next to the parking area. The straight road on the east with the parking lots is exactly a south to north road. So yes, the top is true north and the bottom is south. How our winds go is south when not in a cold front. While a cold front it is out of the north. Tomorrow’s wind is north, north west to straight north wind. So from the north to the south. Some fields are head high brush/ crp. No fields are props from what I can tell. Some are green and could possible be winter wheat but I don’t know. The red is where I was thinking about going tomorrow. Sent from my iPhone using Bowhunting.com Forums
If there is winter wheat in any of those fields they will be hammering it now. It’s probably the only green forage growing at this time of year. Sent from my iPhone using Bowhunting.com Forums
Aaron I was thinking the same exact area on the right. All those fingers but it's hard to make out the densities of the timber surrounding in these pictures. Sent from my N9518 using Bowhunting.com Forums mobile app
Those fingers are a lot of bottle necks or pinch points that big bucks will use as cover. Sent from my iPhone using Bowhunting.com Forums
I really like those fingers. I think that is where I am going to go. As for the food. Do you think they would be eating that in the daylight on public land with all of the relative pressure I have seen? Sent from my iPhone using Bowhunting.com Forums
They will be in early morning and last light. Hopefully they transition thru those fingers on they way to and from. Most hunters won’t walk over 100 yards from the roads. The farther in you can get there may not have been any pressure. Sent from my iPhone using Bowhunting.com Forums
Right. There is definitely more pressure then I thought there would be. I honestly feel like the field edges are getting lots of pressure because there is a path to each and every field. They are connected some way to a road/path Sent from my iPhone using Bowhunting.com Forums
The bottom right fingers, there is a road then a path that literally goes to that bottom finger. The black and white lines are paths and one goes straight to the bottom of the left finger Sent from my iPhone using Bowhunting.com Forums
I hunted public land in NC just like that. The furthest plots is where I seen all the bucks. There was also a creek and property boundaries not far beyond it. I never seen anyone out there, but it was quite a long haul. Sent from my N9518 using Bowhunting.com Forums mobile app
That bottom right corner is about 1.75 miles from the parking lot with a straight shot. But more like 2.25 using the roads and paths. That’s also why I have the bike to help get me to the furthest point and also get that deer out. Lol Sent from my iPhone using Bowhunting.com Forums
That's probably going to be a good spot then. It was a mile and a half back in the spot I hunted in NC. A bike would have been useful just never thought about it. Sent from my N9518 using Bowhunting.com Forums mobile app
How far would you guys park the bike from your stand? 100 yards at least? Sent from my iPhone using Bowhunting.com Forums
Sounds like you need to do some scouting, after your morning hunt, the farthest points from all of those beaten paths. Most scrapes on on the field edges. Sent from my iPhone using Bowhunting.com Forums
I like those bottlenecks and funnels too. Think they’d travel through there before traveling out in the open. They might not be on the food in daylight but if you can find what good source they are using right now you could set back off it enough to hopefully catch them in daylight. Good luck! I was out this evening. Was sitting on a clearcut and had a buck come bed down on a south facing slope about 80 yards away. He got up and fed away about a half hour before dark. I tried a couple grunts and a snort wheeze. He would look but didn’t pique his interest. He milled around until dark. Was going to pull the set but just tried sneaking out instead. Think I got out without alerting him. He probably would have been a ferg buck but was just surprised to even see antlers. While I was watching him take one of his naps I got to thinking what would happen if he shed after I shot him? How does that work for scoring purposes? Just curious. Sent from my iPhone using Bowhunting.com Forums
A little early for shedding but you do bring up a good point about scoring. Sent from my iPhone using Bowhunting.com Forums
After every sit I walk around and scout the area to see what spot would be better. Every field has scrapes on it. And I mean everyone. I have seen more than 50 scrapes so on this WMA. Sent from my iPhone using Bowhunting.com Forums
Yea that should be plenty. Try and keep it down wind if possible but there really shouldn’t be much scent on a bike. Sent from my iPhone using Bowhunting.com Forums
I know it’s rare but have seen a couple trailcam pics n videos floating around from this year already and that’s what got me thinking...but you know...it’s the internet. Sent from my iPhone using Bowhunting.com Forums
