How many of you have killed deer from the advice you got on where to sit by looking at a TOPO Map of your area? Just curious to know if it has helped out anyone. I know a bunch of guys posted looking for places to set up stands.
Topo? No Aerial? Yes A topo map hasn't helped me out to much (I blame it on a lack of understanding). I did find what appeared to be an awesome saddle in some public land, and when I scouted it I found numerous trails, and a treestand setup on everyone of them. I used an aerial map when I started taking my hunting a little more serious 6 years ago. At first I just marked all the bedding areas, and how the deer would travel to food from them and went from there. This year I have actually located 3 nice stand locations in the public hunting river bottoms. 2 of them already had stands on them, and the 3rd one appears to be a great east wind stand. We shall see...
Yes. They were spots I already had stands in, but the last 3x bucks I've killed were in spots that buckeye highlighted when looking at my maps. While I was already setup there, his advice certainly gave me some more confidence to spend some time there.
I have gotten fantastic advice from people on here. I almost killed a nice buck last year with Gri22ly's advice on an exact location. I consulted with him again and GMMAT via Pm's over the last few months and came up with some spots based on their advice and my scouting. I could have killed a 2.5 year old buck this past Saturday setting up in one of the spots that they helped me out with via topo maps.
Gri22ly helped my son and I pinpoint some good spots on our property by showing a topo.My son killed 7 pointer,small rack,big bodied buck Friday evening in a spot Gri22ly had marked as a good stand location. I do believe Gri22ly knows his topos and I would like to Thank him again. I told my son guys like Gri22ly didn't have to take the time to do that for us,he could have said heck with them,but he didn't. He would be more than welcome if he wanted to, to come up to central Illinois and hunt this property just for being helpful to me and my son, and I mean that Gri22ly, just say when,we are 3 1/2 hours from Paducah. Thanks Gri22ly !!!!
I have not killed a nice buck yet, but I have looked at topo maps with MObowhunter and found awesome spots. We found a saddle on some public land and decided to scout it between hunts. We got there and found 2-3 big scrapes. That night I shot a big doe and seen a decent 5 pointer with some potential. We almost always spotted deer there. The big one never showed in daylight tho. Unless it was that 5 pointer making those scrapes.
Topo's can be your friend. I'd suggest finding a map reading FM (field manual) from a military surplus site and reading it. Soon you can look at a topo and see all the terrain features in your mind's eye. Will help you a lot. I study topo's of the areas I hunt and then do some scouting. Between the two, you'll increase your productivity.
If someone is able to read topo maps and the translate that into hunting success, I give them huge props, because I suck at it. I have read the "Mapping Trophy Bucks" book, and took alot of valuable information from it. However, most of what I learned was how the deer used the terrain. When it comes to finding these saddles, benches, etc. on the maps, I suck lol.
I've been using topo maps ever since I got out of the military, due to the fact that now I know how to read them. If you can read them and as a deer hunter I suggest you learn how you can see more then on an aerial. Most aerials are taken in summer months when you have a canopy covering 80% of the land your trying to research. Topo maps show the detail you need draws,spurs hilltops, ridgelines, creekbeds, depressions, cliffs, saddles,etc. If you can have someone nearby teach you it will open up a whole new world to you. Good Luck
