*****Team 12- Top Pin Terrors*****

Opening day is Sept. 16th by the way. Out of the 4 properties I hunt, I would say about 90% of it is hardwood stand, although I do have a set-up on the edge of a clearing on one of the properties. All 4 have very uneven terrain (high ridges, valleys and saddles), swamps, laurel, oak trees, browse, trout streams etc. They're a deer hunter's heaven. I just dont know where the hell to set up opening morning and I dont want to screw this season up

 

Buck droppings usually are clumped together. Early season hunt field edges in the evenings. Away from bedding areas. The land owner will see these bucks from a distance cuz he's not up in the bedding area.

 

Set a stand there now but wait till the rut

 

I dont have any field edges to hunt. There's a clearing in one of them but its by no means a field. These were huge, clumped droppings and a lot of them

 

Yep that's a buck. Also remember your hunting doe groups during the early part of the rut. Everyone wants a dream buck, but the only way to have a chance is having discipline not to bust in there and hunt. Also since your in hill country the deer will travel 1/3 up the side of the ridges and they will use the saddles to go ridge to ridge

 

M3shadle can help you better in hill country than I can

 

If you have other properties that have shown good buck sign and your willing to take a chance on this piece by all means go for it. You'll want to try and set up near their food source, which in your case in most likely acorns. The bucks will try and load up on these bite size bits of energy for the upcoming battles they will soon endure. Evenings will be your best bet IMO. I've spooked too many deer in the mornings during early season. Like doublelung said, stay away from bedding. Being concealed in the woods you should be able to get right on top of the feed source as long as you don't go through the bedding area to get there. Most of the time the deer will travel between 1/3 and 2/3rds of the way up the ridge. I like to set up around 2/3rds of the way up. Hills are very tough to judge wind direction, so be aware. One more reason to wait until they aren't thinking with their brians:p

Honestly though, it sounds like you may have a great opportunity for a good buck in that area. Your chances of bagging him will increase tremendously if you hold out until peak times. I've been bow hunting since I was 12 (28 now) and Ive only bagged a good buck before the 21st of Oct on 2 occasions.

If you've got a good way of getting in and out without much disturbance(climbing treestand etc), go in there a few times at season start and see what happens.

 

Great stuff guys!! Very good pointers and tips! I, like Mike, don't have any field edges and hunt all hardwoods. These are excellent bits of advice for us newer bow hunters. :D

 

What about something like this guys?

 

Hey bear if your going to hang a stand in that area now be sure to do it in the afternoon and intentionaly make noise on the way there to tell that buck your coming so you dont blow him out of there. Its better to give him a early warning so he can just slip out and not in a panic. Best thing to do is just be talking on your cell phone on your walk to the area. My natural instict is to creep around even if my intention is to be noisy so i use the cell phone. Also bear if you want post a areial of your ground to see if its a morning or evening spot. Maybe we can see if there is any pinch points to set up on

 

That's frickin sweet man!! I really like it!! Gets my vote.

 

Thanks for the advice guys! I'll try and get some areal shots up here as soon as I can. I'm headed off to NH for a wedding this weekend so I'll try to get them up when I come back. I have a feeling the photos will be somewhat perplexing, they're all hardwood and its hard to tell the terrain from the photos. I'll try and label them the best I can. I like that avatar by the way

 

I love it. You get my vote as well.

 

I vote for the reaper.

 

I might be forced to change my avatar from two years ago when I was on the "fuzzy wuzzy bunnies"

 

lol. That's a tough call. I'm ready to change mine now. I love it. Next weekend I'm going to introduce a whitetail to the reaper.

 

Any chance you could make one for a sig line too?

 

I remember the bunnies. That's a pretty big change from the bunny to the reaper, LOL. That was a fun season, what ever happened to Fran?

Glad you guys like it, I think it fits our name perfectly.

What's exactly needed for the sig line? I'll have to look into it

 

Yo FEB, Good luck this year buddy.

Dave

 

Thanks Dave, you too! I'll be checkin your thread for updates!