On one of my properties, I have what should be God's gift to deer hunting. It seems to be a PERFECT pinch point, one that the likes of the Drury Brothers and Micheal Waddell would hunt. I never spent much time there over the last few years (cuz im dumb :D), but i have decided to make it a focal point this year. Today, me and Isaac went to hang the Cudde up there, all i wanted to see was a nice trail somewhere in the pinch to hang it from. Man was i disappointed. There were a few trails, but most were dried up and rarely used. The only trail that had any sign of where was so small and going through branches so thick that even a 1.5 would have a difficult time maneuvering. I didnt find any old rubs, just a few tracks, no beds..almost nothing. The pinch is around 50-60 yards wide and a creek runs right through the middle. There is a pretty steep drop-off into the creek bed from the level that both fields are on. I thought this would help funnel the deer more as well. The yellow part is the pinch. The blue is the creek. The spot that i have labelled as berries is a ace or so of wild blackberries. The field to the south is over 100 acres of prime beans. The field to the north is around 45-50 acres and is beans as well. Both fields see moderate deer traffic. My question is, do you think i should go back and look in a month or so, to see if anything is shifted around? Or should i start looking elsewhere on the property to hang a setup. Most of the woods to the right are so thick that its hard to walk through, A tornado went through about 8 years ago and knocked over all the trees over 30 feet tall. The deer have over 50 acres of prime bedding, which helps, and hurts the hunting at the same time.
early season is usually hot season set your self up close to that water source. that might just be the hot spot early season...imo.
Some, but its pretty close to a road. I know that doesnt make a difference really, but it plays with my confidence. Alot of guys park next to it when they hunt the place...so i steer clear
I would be checking out the areas to the southwest of the left side of each yellow line.... for the top, about 1/2 inch down and 1/2 inch to the left, and about 1/4 inch down and 1/4 to the left for the bottom yellow line.
We checked that area out. Right now, with all the vegetation, its just to thick to determine anything. The ground was soft enough to where we should be able to see tracks, but we saw very few.
Simon, I wouldn't judge this spot too much based on the sign (or lack of) you are seeing today. A spot like that could be hot around the end of Oct through Nov when bucks are covering ground checking out different doe groups. I hunt a few funnel areas around the rut which see very little deer traffic during the early season. Bucks are likely cruising your funnel during the right time of year. If it were me I would hang a couple stands in there for different winds and then come back later in the season to give it a try. Good luck.
Im going to have to wait until some of the leaves start falling. Alot of the trees in the area are hedge trees, and we all know how hard they make it to hang stands. Thanks for the pointers guys! Jeff, to the left of the map is a large chunk of hardwoods. I cant hunt it though. There is a hay field then a winter wheat field 200-300 yards to the left as well.
Yep some pinch points are just that when the chasing gets going they will be running through there left and right but early season they have nothing to di with it.. Walt
That is one of the first things i looked (and always look) for. The creek is so shallow that it doesn't funnel the traffic. I did find one spot in the pinch where they cross the creek, but only a few dried up sets of tracks.
After some trail camera recon work, we found a bonafide shooter on this property, a deer we have some histoy with: So me and Isaac went in and re-scouted the whole area, and the sign looked better. Some trails were more prominent, and we took some of Jim's advice and made/cleared out some existing and new trails that they will hopefully start using (again). We searched for the best tree, but the area is SO thick that it was difficult. Most of the larger trees were knocked over by a tornado about 10 years ago, and the new growth forest is like a jungle. Which is perfect bedding area to hold a monster. We settled on a tree in this location: It has a trail 10 yards to the north and 20 to the south. It is extremely NASTY to the east and it thins out the the west. I can also shoot a little ways into the field if i need to. The tree is on a slope and has a HUGE tree to the northwest that blocks any view deer have of me drawing. The tree is probably 8-9 feet in diameter. It is also a great place to run the video camera this fall.
Is that the buck I think it is?? If not then you have two HUGE deer your after this season!! Your one luck son of a gun!! Just wait till the rut kicks in and that pinch point will get some traffic! Nice Buck!!
Cooter that was my thought as well. As soon as the boys are looking for the groups he will be going to all the bedding areas. You know how bucks walk right through the thickest stuff with ease.
I'll tell you what Siman, how bout you let me fly out for a week during early archery season and check it out for you..
