So this weekend Lisa is heading out of town to visit family, and I decided that I'm gonna put in some shoe leather on my bachelor weekend and find a few good stand spots local to the house while there is a little snow on the ground to show deer movement. I've been eyeballing this 700 acre patch of public property that is fairly close to my house, and I figure it's time to go check it out on foot. I've talked to one local that lives near this place and he says that it gets slammed during rifle season, and moderate to low pressure during bow season. I grew up hunting pretty high pressure stuff, so I know what I'm getting myself into. It looks with the swamps that there may be some areas they don't get into very well, but who knows. I'll know more after this weekend. I'm guessing the places to the northwest around that standing water will probably be pressured pretty bad, as well as the eastern side by those planted conifers by the fields. My hopes are that the areas on the southwest side that look like hemlock swamp will have less pressure, and good cover. We will see, but it appears that there may be a patch of high ground between swampy stuff down in that southwest corner, and it's a ways from any super easy access, maybe I'll get lucky and find a nice bedding area in there. I've marked on the aerial map in red where I already plan to focus. Anything I'm missing, or areas I should also look into, or areas I have marked that you wouldn't bother poking around in? Your thoughts?
Depends on your definition of rural I guess........not rural compared to my camp in PA, but very rural for Capital Region, NY.
Not sure what's up right now, but I can't see the pics. However, in my limited experience from traipsing on local PA state land around here (and I can assume for most public land), the further back in or away from the access roads you can get, the better. I've found some of my best sign on state land when small game hunting usually 1-2 miles back in. Add in a the fact that you've identified a swampy area, that would certainly be an area I was start with. Combination of security/cover and not likely a high public traffic area.
RJ, one thing that I see that may or may not be worth looking at (obviously I've never seen it) is the small section of trees in the SW corner between the road and the SW corner of the property. It's a perfect place for people to overlook because of it's size and it's proximity to the border. I know that our highly pressured public lands there are two things that have been very productive. 1.) Hunt the thickest stuff you can find, the pressure obviously moves deer to most protected areas. This doesn't necessarily mean go as far from the road as possible, lots of people have the mindset that the farther you go the better... this isn't necessarily the case. Lots of super thick areas get overlooked primarily because they are very close to the road. Deer still use the roads as travel corridors and these thickets near the road give them cover and at the same time, may be some of the least pressured land in the WMA. Just some things to think about that have worked for me over the years on public land.
Here is my quick take... Go up Tidball until it runs into Lake Rd. turn left onto Lake and go about 500'. See that edge running left to right ? Give it a lil peek. SB
I like the biggest red circle between the lake and field/house. Looks like a good funnel between the lake and house. Plus, they probably pop out into the field at night. So, it could serve as a good evening stand, and great morning stand if you could sneak through the woods and catch them before they got there. Good Luck!!
I'd check out the top left corner of the lake. Looks like there's no access from the east(unless people are walking on the private to get around). Appears to be a wetland, depending on the vegetation it should hold deer. good luck. Zach
