My quest for a public land buck! PRE-SCOUT

awesome stuff man thanks!! I have brain overload, had to let it all sink in!
The furthest south point i don't like because it's close to the archery only area.
the furthest point north...man thats a hike!!! can you explain what you see? I'll provide a zoomed in pic.
the point directly below it i like if i am reading the topo correctly, it looks like a high point between 2 swamps, which could be a major funnel.

 

I'm planning on scouting June 7th or 8th. I have the 2 main areas i want to check on/scout, the one being the one most mentioned as the number one spot, and the other being the what looks to be a big funnel between the 2 swamps. I will be able to time it to see how long it takes me to get there being fully loaded. I need to go get some permethin though!!!!
I will be bringing my cheapo sticks, ez hang hook and lifeline, in hopes to have one spot all set. seeing as my time out here will be so limited i dont want to have to choose between multiple spots. i will also be checking both areas out for a climber too, to see if that makes more sense. I'll post pics of the areas, the pond, the plank crossing and anything else that looks cool!

 

Google earth works se well for me,but I am in a area were its 95 percent crops hard to beat boots on the ground.

 

Interested in seeing how your scouting goes Swamp. Best of luck.

Another cool tool is Bing Maps. You can zoom in tight to get a real good view.

 

I spent 7 years going to school for this stuff and their is some great info on here. I love talking geography when it comes to hunting!

One thing I might add... Since I spend all day making maps for a living I would say just looking at one aerial photo is not good enough. For the areas I hunt I use google maps, flashearth, bing birdseye, and the most recent NAIP image for the area. You will be surprised when looking at golden grass swamps how easy deer trails will stick out. If Bing Birdseye has high res stuff for your area you 100% can not beat that. I attached an example of this in an area close to where I hunt. I have used Bing Birdseye to find deer trails in oak brush even. Google maps aerials are my second go to just from a clarity standpoint. I also will use the aerials on a Counties GIS webpage if its available.

The best thing about using the topo with the aerials is you can find things you would never find on the ground. Plus you can eliminate 80% of the dead areas or areas that you just cant hunt efficiently. If you spend enough time looking at the topos and aerials you will eventually be able to preselect locations that will have a well used deer trail within 50-60 yards of them. I would say for myself Its about 60% of the time the spots I pick out at home are worth hunting. Saves a lot of scouting time when you are only going into quality areas.

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I was just about to run this picture thru paint and highlight the same area! The area above "1" between the red and black lines looks like an AWESOME funnel/pinch point. One one side you have the big pond and the other some very steep terrain, deer will take the easiest route thru that area, should be a killer spot!

 

How did the scouting trip go?

 

Swamp Stalker, you ever get to hunt this piece this past season?

 

Unfortunately no, not this past season., My wife got Layed off from work on october 31st, the day I left for my Illinois trip. so when i got back, all hunting and expenses were put on the back burner. We've gotten our feet under us a little bit better now financially, so here in a few weeks I want to go scout the areas mentioned, as well as do some shed hunting. with a little snow cover it should be great!! So I plan on hunting this the second week in november 2015, maybe only for a day or two.

 

Figured I would bring this thread back to life. I am now hunting here again. I have not gone in deep yet. I measured it with my GPS and is 1.54 miles in.

I'm really wanting to check out the spot we were talking about for the season.


I'm wondering if I should tomorrow? It's supposed to be raining on and off, and 15 to 35 mile an hour winds.

Do you think it would be a good time to go and scout and find my spot?

Or should I hunt on a shelf I found, along an active scrape line???


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The wet ground will be quiet and the wind will cover your noise as well. Deer often will hold tight in wind, so still hunting can be effective. Good time to scout, good time to hunt.

 

I agree alaska. I'm going to still hunt my way there, and scout. Im curious, if I should hunt on the east side of the orange line so I don't cross over the bucks run, keeping my scent out of there. logically speaking i think i know the answer, but would love to hear anyones input!!

 

What is the projected wind for tomorrow?

 

S, SE,SW 15-25mph gusts to 35. Rain on and off


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Well I'm slightly disappointed. I made the treck in today. And finally got to scout the area. My main focus was on the saddle, and the military crest. I found both. I also found a buck run, right on the military crest like I was told it would be! It looked like about four years ago there was a really good buck going through there according to the size of trees that had old rubs on them. The only fresh rubs I saw on the trees where small saplings, that's about it. It did look how I thought it would, I saw a few straight trees on the eastern side of the run right next to hemlock trees for cover. At least I know what the area looks like now. I think I will check it out again next year.

Or am I completely wrong about this? Well the bigger box use that run once the right kicks in? I thought I would've seen sign there from the bigger boys?




Old fieldStone wall, A mile away from anything.





Pond




On the other side of the pond, going uphill gets pretty rugged





Got a little freaked out when I saw this, I wonder if I was being watched? Only sign up humans I saw.

Off-gridder?





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Where was that "Blair Witch" thing supposed to take place again?


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Well with two days left to go in the season for me, and zero deer scene, I'm contemplating going in a little later tomorrow morning and possibly hunt the saddle. I really wished I had marked a good tree so I could go in in the dark.

I'm wondering if I have this wrong. When I found the buck run on the military crest it wasn't too impressive. Do they use it year-round?

Or would they be using it a lot more now because of the rut??


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My guess would be more now during the rut but not 100%
I thought the buck runs were in the morning so they could smell the thermals coming up the ridge and the wind blowing across the top of the ridge?