I got a farm to hunt this year. I'm totally unfamiliar with the land. What do you guys do? Walk every inch of the farm finding bedding, feeding etc? This may spook deer for the time being but if done now they would all be returned by fall? I'm planning on going out with a buddy and literally hike through everything. We will most likely leave scent everywhere. But again I suppose deer forget about that after a few days or weeks right? I've jumped three deer out of their beds one morning. Only to kill one of them three days later in the same bed.
First thing I would do before stepping foot on it would be to go to google earth and check it out. Look for terrain features and look for bedding,feeding,water,funnels,land that borders it.Make a plan from there and then scout it.
Yup, definitely get a topographic map of the area and use google earth or anything else like that for a good satellite view. You can narrow down the areas you want to check that way, and also determine which ways in and out will be best for you and not spook any deer. I relate this from what I do in the military, but it's important to do a map recon first!
Depends on the size & location of the property. Small parcels I'll quickly look at maps but walk the whole thing a couple times to get a feel for it. Other times I've hunted my first time on the property, with only topo & Google Earth scouting.
Aerial/Topo>list of spots to check> bootleather and note book. Observation stands in the late summer/early fall
Don't rule out using your binoculars in the evenings and early mornings from the vehicle. In July/August you can see a lot of mature deer in the evenings. Let some trail cams work for you on a few good trails as well.
well I hiked it today. I found one spot that I just had a gut feeling was a good spot. It was a great place to set up a stand and be downwind. Basically in was in the woods, where the hardwoods met the evergreens like a imaginary border, it was actually quite fascinating to see. What I really liked this border was in a deep valley that run on for a couple hundred yards. Basically there was a upward hill in both directions, one side hardwood, other evergreen. Is this a great place for deer to walk? Do they like to be in a low point like that? I figured it looked like a great place to sneak by. Thanks
Your best bet know that you walked it is to run some cameras in the areas where there are old rubs, food sources, water and heavy deer trails and if you can hang a few in the same area to maybe catch the same deer comming or going to get an idea where there moving to and from, that's just how I have done it in the past with good results.
That would be known as a soft edge. A hard edge for example would be where a pasture buys up to woods. This sounds like a great place to start. When I started scouting my property, I started at pinch points where the tree line narrowed, edge of food sources and what I thought from a topo was potential bedding areas. It worked well. good luck an keep us posted.