Today was my third time out on the property scouting around, last year the place I had my stand was home to many bucks all traveling toghether in oct, then I ended up getting one first week of rut. Last year though when scouting I found several rubs and one scrap near my stand, this year when looking around I didnt find any rubs, scraps or much sign of travel. Any ideas? I wasnt sure if I should move my stand and if so where to?
Is the problem that you're not finding bucks, or deer in general? In my own experiences bucks r still pretty lethargic this time of year. Early season i find the does and if u can pattern them eventually the bruisers will show. I try to hunt natural funnels bedding areas to food sources. Acorns are hot right now.
I'm having a problem with deer in general this year. In previous years I thought it was true that deer will typically travel the same path year to year. Bucks are known for having their terriorty and I didnt think that chages too much year to year, but maybe i'm wrong. Last year from day one, I saw at least one buck a day every day I hunted ( 3-4 times a week) but no does. It wasnt till first week of november that I saw a doe within a hundred yards of me , and when I did the buck I had been seeing was chasing it. I hunt right now off a logging road, there is a valley thats about 200 yards in front of me that has a creek running down it. I'm kind of hunting a hill side, halfway between the creek and thick bush on top of the hill. I have walked in a huge circle around where I currently have my stand, and just have seen no signs, didnt know if I should look to put stand somewhere else?
Deer patterns change year to year. Changes in food sources bedding areas hunting pressure. Spending too much time scouting this time of yr cld play a role. The deer may have gone nocturnal due to this. Do u have cams out that wld tell u if they've turned to night owls. I think preseason scouting is the best option for not disrupting normal behavior during the season. During the season i try doing research using a topo map to take away from the aimless walking in the deers backyard. You can do this right off of google maps. It shld help u narrow it dwn to a few key areas to set up. Get the topo n post it...
I couldnt find the topo for my hunting area, I created a layout to show you my property. Check it out and let me know what you think
I forget the link but can some one post the link to acme mapper. Or kentstate24 just goggle acme mapper.
Here is the topo map site for my spot, I marked it. http://mapper.acme.com/?ll=40.29108...8,-81.49858,4.5 km SxSE of Port Washington OH
Hey Kent. You said you are hunting on a hillside. Which direction is the wind blowing when you hunt? Is it blowing toward the bottom of the hill, the top, sideways? Also, how much of the property do you have to hunt on the acme link you provided?
When hunting the hillside, the wind is blowing in my face, which would be towards the main road, sideways. The deer i seen last year came from the bottom mostly, but a few from the top of the hill. I hunt 10 acres
A simple move that might pay off is to move your stand uphill. Move it uphill until the land kind of flattens out near the top. Now if you can combine that elevation change with say, some edgeline habitat(pine trees edged up again hardwoods or a thicket) then your chances of seeing deer are that much better.
About 200-300 yards in front of me there is a group of pine trees, thats really thick, meaning I couldnt put my stand anywhere in them, it comes out on two sides, one side is like weeds/ like cat tails kind of, grassy area, the other side goes into regular woods. Which side do you think I would be better off on? I cant really move any more up the hill, I only own about 50 yards higher than where my stand sits now
I would sit on the side of the pines that transitions into the regular hard woods the next sit. Then I would move up that hill those last 50 yards and would face my stand downhill on the next hunt . After that, I would move my stand to the other side of the pines that goes into the cattails and grass. I would rotate my stand every single hunt unless it was the rut and I knew bucks/and or deer were moving hard through one small section of that property.
