Thought I would share, this might be the coolest place to hunt I've ever heard of. Last weekend, I put in several miles hiking a new 130ish acre property that I recently gained access to. It's all solid timber and swamps, with oaks (some white, some red), apples, walnuts, and beech trees mixed. Despite the perfect mix of cover/food, there was not a ton of buck sign. There were a few smaller rubs and a few tracks from mature deer, but nothing that screams big buck hotspot, we will see. I don't think this will be my best spot, but is close enough to hunt from home without significant travel, I can actually get there in about 15 minutes from my work for afternoon hunts. Only 2 other bowhunters on the place, but I don't think it gets hit hard, I don't really see other hunters affecting their movement too much. The property has some awesome terrain features to funnel movement, it's one of those properties where you can pick a handful of spots that the wind should be consistent and terrain should force movement in specific spots. Now the coolest part. I'm not giving out too much specific location info, but the entire property is a giant outdoor paintball course. They have a few competitive events there per year, but not tons of pressure. When they do have an event, they can have up to 150 people at a time on the 130 acre property playing. They have only had 2x events this summer though, and one more this upcoming weekend. The place has been an operating paintball facility since the late 1980's and is completely covered with bunkers, blinds, shelters, POW camps, plywood villages, etc. :d Apparently they took a yearling buck off it last year, but there were several good bucks taken a few years ago. The pressure these days though is almost non-existent on the actual property. The other 2 guys don't hunt it often, and don't seem to go in very far. It's one of those spots where you can put in some shoe leather and get away from everyone and still be in prime spots. I'll post more and hopefully get to take some pictures of this unique place when I get in there to hunt. When walking through last weekend I saw several deer, and was able to locate several secluded areas with apples and white oaks. The swamp on this place is almost too thick even if you have hip waders, but the deer tracks around and going into it were everywhere. Apparently there is some pressure on bordering properties, but I'm betting this place is a sanctuary once the pressure is on around it. I'm gonna stay out of there till season opens so I don't educate the deer, but I'm going to have fun putting the pieces of this puzzle together. I've got about 8 stand sites marked on my GPS so I'll be able to slip in there in the dark with my Lone Wolf and setup for same day hunts.
Nice! I'd sit on the edge of that swamp & catchem coming in & out of there. White oaks are supposedly the hot thing right now as they'll chose that over the reg stuff. Good luck out there, hope something big comes a lookn' for you.
So you are getting an Airbow, is that what you are saying? That is pretty sweet though. I've never thought about if people hunt paintball courses. I guess you answered the question to those who may have previously wondered. What is the schedule like for the rest of the season, as far as paintballing goes. Is this year-round course?
Sound like a solid spot especially for after work hunts. I know you put the miles on during hunting season and it will be nice to slip in there after work. I have been lucky, this October, when Rob and I head down to York to hunt with Tim, will be the first time that I have driven more than 20 minutes to hunt.
