VA I found a spot today I like for next year. I look for these things. Where are the bedding areas, where is the food and water, and how does the terrain funnel the deer to these locations. I killed 2 of the three biggest deer on our farm in an area with 0 rubs and 0 scrapes, but to get to the beds and food on all sides of the farm they HAVE to come through this tringle area, they have too. What will do is walk the area and look back at a good distance. In most cases I can see the funnel and how the woods funnels the deer. Being I am a flatlander it not as obvious as it is in hilly area's.
As Jeff said, the more you scout and hunt the more you will just "see it". I help my buddy set some stands 3 years ago. We came to one spot and i said "This is it", he killed his biggest buck their last year.
I deal with mostly flat very flat terrain, lots of thick pines and some swamps that are dry and then sometimes full of water.. I can't seem to locate funnels of the traditional type...thin woods connecting two larger blocks, No fence rows, sometimes I think the funnels are more changes in timber or along the sides of highways..or edges of swamps...
VA look for a "break" or inside edge in the woods. Where the woods changes cover, bushy thick to "big woods" is a good place to start!!
Same problem here Landon, same terrain, we have virtually no ridges, everything is thick. I still cant locate funnels as good as I need to be able to, but I'm getting better. A fence line can work wonders here, I set up a fake fence for that very reason. Timber changes, say a cut down on the edge of pine thickets, they will walk the edge as long as its semi- grown up. If you manage to find a piece of open woods, they like to use that too for visual purposes and scent checking during the rut. Swamps can be great funnels and I utilize them 100% when I get the oppourtunity, They would rather walk the edge of that swamp than crossing it, so you can get on the edge and catch them traveling between the beds and food sources. Dad has killed over 15 bucks like this in the past 10 years.
well see Im stubborn and at the huge club that I joined 3 p&y bucks were killed in one 150 acr block by simply hunting the breaks from mature pines to short young pines or select cut pines...the bucks were simply coming out and paralleling the timber breaks..I refused to believe and hunted rubs, tracks and trails over swamps and fields...Im an idiot!! I now know from this season alone, that sign is great, but not a necessity and the sign will appear in those "do nothing" areas when the time is right... I just now figured out that deer walk to a given place, but do it without a trace most times...Jeff, so are saying that Im better off trying to hunt changes in timber and pretty much just ditch the elevation b/c well, there is little change in it...what about funnels...do they exist in my woods...i can't find defined funnels...
ok, so you say that I just need to hunt what the land naturally offers and if it's tall timber in a cutover, a dry pond in a cutover and/or change in tall timber to shorter thicker timber or a swamp that runs a narrow country mile in the middle of the thickest pines you can imagine I need to be there and just move accordingly until I find the "hot spot"...thanks guys, I knew I could count on you all!! Well for the rest this season most of my property will now be intruded by 4X4's and hounds, it will not be conducive for bowhunting, but this will surely help next year...
I would pop around on those breaklines like I marked for you that one time Landon (not saying those are the spots, but you get the drift). Breaklines with a perpendicular wind/diagnoal front wind...I have seen more deer paralleling a breakline, and utilizing a perpendicular wind/diagnol front wind coming out of the thick stuff, than I care to remember.
yes there is..see my problem on this property is it's so vast...does can and do bed everywhere, SE Va is very simillar to se Nc in the fact that it's thick as hell and deer bed everywhere...a lot of "random" hunting is done with the bow here...I have done it and do it...it's what Im trying to get away from, yes I have killed lots of deer and even some good bucks, but surely not the best bucks these places have to offer.. this is why Im reaching for answers.
Landon, is there anywhere on the property you can climb a tree to like 30-40 feet high and watch some of the open feeding areas from a distance?...on like a Sunday... or you could possibly drive around on one of your non-hunt days at sunset and spot check potential feeding areas. It might give you a better perspective as to where some of those deer are bedding. Then you can try to cut them off in the pm.
well the property you looked at...no there is no way to do that..it's all cutover or thick pines with several swamps inside the thick pines and cutovers...no fields or open hardwoods...the vast land "hunt club" there are fields but the woods surrounding the fields are all pines tall and small and in there is where the breaklines are, but it's 12,000 acrs of the same type of timber....very vast.. swamps dot this area as well, but more timber breaks than anything...I think I have a handle on it after this post, I just need to know which blocks are the best for this type of hunting...it really is a difficult task to try to figure it out in one season..although, on sat I did shoot a dandy buck and never recovered him by hunting a dry swamp between two pine thickets, but these pine thickest are huge!! it's seems so random...
