Topo and aerial of some land I hope to cover this coming weekend.

I have hunted this public area (a couple miles from here) for a few years... I am going to concentrate on this praticular block this winter / early spring. It is a bit of a drive (2.5 hours) from home so I hope to cover it best I can on a couple all day hits. I have never set foot on this land except for a section that attaches to this just North of the top of the map.

What do you guys see? Make sure you look at both maps as this is strip mine country and the topos are of poor quality. The brown squiggly areas are areas that were stripped.

To add, each of the (pink areas on topo or dark areas on aerial that are holding water) are straight drop off highwalls that are probably 40-90 feet sheer cliffs.

I am looking at the area within the yellow boundaries.

 

Buckeye, here are some quick thoughts. I like the pink travel lines and the light blue potential bedding. Let us know what you have found over the years in this area and what you find when you scout so we can all learn along with you.

 

Thanks for your thoughts Brett.. I will for sure update.

To start my first trip down I am concentrating on the Western side of these maps.

Travel lanes are pretty cut and dry looking at these maps, but piecing the bedding with them is a little tough.

I am struggling a bit on where to concentrate on bedding on this piece, with the W-S/W winds (we mostly have a Western SouthWestern wind here). All of the best looking bedding areas are negated because of their proximity to the highwall strip pits...

A great point with the wind coming across the strip pit to the bucks will do them no good.... A great point dumping into a strip pit leaves no escape route.

 

I have never hunted strip pits so maybe those western bedding spots would not work. I still think a buck could bed like I described in the area I circled in blue. Especially those eastern points. They can see forever and escape quickly downhill or across that point in a flash.

 

You comin' down my way huh??? Gonna be some leg work gettin' into some of those spots, but there are some good deer there. You staying down this way for a few days when you try to hunt that area???? Brett has a point, the only issue might be is the road to the NE of that area open to get you in somewhere in the vicinity. If it ain't, and you're willing to beat boots to get into that spot, I'll bet it's not too heavily pressured because it's TOUGH to get to. I know there are some good deer killed in that general area every year, as well as up in Woodbury.

 

I have a camper parked about 1 mile from here. I have hunted AEP lands since 2005. I haven't hunted down there the past two years since the lil guy was born though. I only hunted locally except for a couple one day trips to Harrison County.

I have no issues walking a mile or more to a spot. That is how it has always been for me down there. I like the Western side because of the river being the western border. There is not any access there so I know I can get away from people fairly easily. With a State Route being the Eastern border and many parking lot access points I want to shy away from there.

The area Brett circled will definitely be one of my hit spots this weekend. I will be coming in from the SW corner though, not from the NE. The will be a scouting / shed hunt and I want to shed it fairly well around the SW agriculture field and the points coming down to it.

 

Dam Scott your going to be hunting ground that looks like what I hunt. The river seems to have you isolated from the fields to the east. Personaly I would look at some of the places I have the red lines on. But thats just me :p Those seem to be places they would filter through from the crop areas to the North. Spoil hills are excellent nasty bedding areas


just for giggles, this is a section I hunt

 

Thanks for the thoughts Crick... The fields to the North are pasture land not crop land though.

Anyone else want to take a stab at bedding locations or travel patterns? I just want to make sure I don't overlook anything as I wil probably only spend two full days scouting this piece for this coming season.

 

Not sure if there would be a climbable tree in the area I marked, but I know you were talking about a ground blind too. There are some tight funnels around those ponds and it might be a really sheltered area in bad weather down there. Maybe someplace a buck could hideout. Looks to be some level lowlands maybe a little swampy area with some cattails around those small ponds.

 

Do Mac's have a "paint" program??? lol.

Scott, our one day adventure down there gave me a decent idea as to what the "ponds" look like. Do those look similar to the one that was in front of our stands where that doe came out of?

 

Scott, here are a few that I see. Mostly ridges or the back side of ridges that the SSW would protect a deer, I tried to stay out of the mined areas but may have gotten a little bit.

 

Yes sir, but many are steeper and deeper than the one we hunted near that day.

 

I'm not much help. I looked at that terrain and saw drags that suck no matter where you kill a deer.

 

This is how I would walk, and, a few areas I would check out.

I have no idea what, if anything, is planted in those fields, or, where in-woods food sources are located...But, this would likely be my game plan, going in blind.

How "stripped" ? Like totally destroyed, in way of habitat, or, are there "clear cuts" ? I like clear cuts. Fresh ground growth is like a food plot.

 

I am not concerned about the drag out either.... It takes what it takes. This was the drag out for the Halloween buck of 2006.... It dressed 197 pounds..... It was fun, I have fond memories of "the drag".

Dustin made the walk to that stand one day with me three years ago when he was out here. Well the area not the stand, that tree was cut down when we got there. I circled the scale in the bottom corner to give you an idea of how far of a drag it was .

 

The field in the SW is corn every year. The one on the other side of the river are usually corn, but I have never saw a single deer in those fields across the river. The big field in the SE section is pasture land as well as the fields cut off from the map on the north end.

There are no clear cuts on this plot of land. There are oaks scattered throughout, mostly on ridgetops. All of the stripped sections are full of scrub trees and brush.

 

I like the area you marked there in yellow and the area to the west of there where Dubbya marked above. I liked the way it comes together in the area marked in red below. I would be interested in whats going on in the areas marked with the pink asterics somethings going on with the terrain/cover and there seems to be some distinct edges where the cover transitions.

You may have already mentioned but what are they eating. Any other ag fields other than the SW corn field?

 

Well, if those areas that were mined are navigable to deer, I'd really put some emphasis on checking them out. The scrub trees and brush form awesome bedding areas and secluded travel routes.

 

Scott I know all about steeper and deeper Its all ove my arena The mined spoiles in my area are some of the prefered bedding areas. might want to check those out. let us know what you find!!

 

Those areas you marked with pink are areas that were stripped and then planted with pine, aka strip land reforestation. They are used as bedding by mostly doe groups and young bucks from my similar experiences on other pieces of land in this area. There is usually good buck sign left in them from cruising bucks during the late pre-rut.

There is a small corn field North of where these maps are cut off, but it is pretty small and always cut very early. No other Ag land in this area except for whats on the other side of the river. Food is just acorns and browse other than the couple Ag fields previously mentioned.