how do you guys start hunting land for the first time? The land im going to be hunting on ive hunted a couple years during rifle season. but never wit a bow, So basically im asking where do i start. i for the most part know where the deer are in the later hours...but not quite sure where they bed down at. i have never hunted in the actual woods itself, just in the soybean field surrounding it, i know there is a swamp in the middle of the woods. how do i know where to start? Its about 60% trees(% OAKS) 20% swamp and 20% soybean and C.R.P fields. every night in the soybean field(now stubble) there could be about ten to twenty deer out there eating. but until then their whereabouts are unknown? help me out guys it would be alot eaiser if i had a pic but i tried explaining it the best i could
I would start with some aerial imagery: google maps and yahoo maps have good satellite images. Try to identify food, bedding and funnels. Post some pictures here if you want suggestions. After that, I would walk every square foot of the property making some notes on a printed copy of the imagery and select stands for early, rut and late season hunting.
there ya go found out how to do it. 70 acres about: okay the blue area is all swamp.. orange soybean field most the trees are oaks. blue dots are the rifle stands and the red ones old bow stands my uncle used a while back red line is proprty line i hope that helps a little bit
walk walk walk... walk every square inch of the property in the off season to look for funnels and bedding areas.... try to find pinch points or bottlenecks where the deer are "forced" (and i use that term loosely) to walk through that spot.... I have also had good luck hunting inside corners and outside corners as well.... i think the funnel between the swamp and CRP field would be a good spot, and a walk through that area could confirm it...also look at the southwest side of the top CRP field, that looks like a killer inside corner
I have circled some areas of interest for stand selection rather than exact spots. I like your uncle's spot. I would also mention that you should have an 'inventory' of oaks on the property as far as which ones are producing acorns which years. When the acorns are dropping, the oak groves will be hotspots so have some stands picked out to respond. The white circles represent likely funnels. Beds will often be in thick areas.
yes that southwest corner has been a good rifle spot the past few years. Thanks for the help with labeling possible bottle neck areas. im just gonna have to spend a day just walking the place to really get to know it. Sounds like its a making for a pretty good day okay question again sorry , but like when im looking around for bedding areas and bottle necks what exactly am i looking for so i know OH! look at those beds or this is a bottle neck how do i really know?
I finally got yhe oppertunity to really walk this wood yesterday! after studying the map as much as i could a targeted a couple areas i knew i definatly wanted to go check out, one was the circled spot in the top left hand corner(northwest part of the woods).MAN! that place was full of tracks and signs. and about 100 yards to the southwest of that spot. is a swamp area, littered with beds. this area hasnt been hunted for years. So i decided to give this spot a try and i placed a mineral lick about 15 yards from the oaks i will put my stand in. and i have a camera right over the lick so ill try and post some pics on it. Only one problem with it though it is really hard to get into it quitely. especially when the oak leaves start to fall. im not quite sure how ill get that solved, but i thought id give you a update on my new project this summer
