When I posted the topo and aerial of the public ground I was going to scout, a couple of guys marked some spots where they thought the deer would bed or use. I had never set foot on this property so I thought I'd check out some of those spots. Once I got there I started walking and immediately crossed a deer trail. I followed it into a thicket with bush huneysuckle and multiflora rose bushes so thick, I had to crawl through in many places. There were deer trails everywhere. The terrain here was mostly flat with a few small ditches. I found a few beds on some small points buried under brush and dead falls. Neither of the guys marked these spots on their map to check out. It just didn't look like it would hold deer from the terrain features on the topo. I didn't get to check out a lot of the area marked, but I did walk through some of it. It was very hilly terrain with steep hills and deep hollows. But most of it was old timber with very little undergrowth. You could see forever in there right now with no leaves on the trees. I did find a few trails going through there, but no bedding activity. I think it was just too open. The deer felt more secure in the thick stuff and there was more browse for them to eat there. I'm sure when the oaks start dropping acorns the open woods sees much more activity. In my experiance the vegetation influences the deer activity more than the actual terrain features. On numerous occasions I have seen deer bed in nothing more than a flat weed patch in the middle of a field. I'm not saying you can't pick a good hunting spot by studying topos, but I would much rather put on the miles and pick my spots with first hand experiance. If all of the woods is similar you may have a better chance of picking the right spot. But in this case the woods varied from very open understory to areas almost impossible to walk through. You just cannot see this on a topo. Topos are a great tool but you need to use all of the tools available for scouting.
Anybody wanting to argue that with you should be given the example of a corn field. One thing to remember, also.....is what time of year are you worried about where they're bedding? Now? I don't care where deer are bedding, NOW. Where will they be......when I can hunt them? And, why will they be there?
Vegetation makes a huge difference. If I can get certain topographic features to align with thick cover, my odds increase tremendously in terms of locating deer sign. It has been proven time and time again where I hunt. Good post John. Your post is exactly why people have to strap on their boots and walk the woods they plan on hunting.
Bingo. Like has been said, learning topo and aerial photos is a great scouting tool. But I've often wondered, especially when people post topos asking for help, what is actually growing growing on that map? Is it a great stand of white oaks, a grove of dogwoods, rose bushes and honeysuckle? You can't tell from looking at a map. You have to get out there and see exactly what Momma Nature has put there!
I definitely learned how important food is compared to terrain this past late season. Terrain can obviously effect HOW they get to the food, but with cut corn and beans all around.... Getting in close on the wild honeysuckle..Who would have thought ..
Jeff pointed out a great example with the standing corn fields. Spots of our farm were logged in '08. There were some areas that were pretty open that ended up being logged. This year, those spots were still fairly open, but the tree tops were left. All of a sudden, deer were bedding in these spots when before they never had. I only expect this to get better as the underbrush starts to grow more.
gri22ly- What was special about that terrain feature (blue line) that made that particular buck want to travel? Or was it simply just that most hunters are hunting "deer", and he was simply just taking a route that offered him the safest travel?
Thanks Josh, after I walk this property a few more times I'm going to try and put things together with the aid of the topos of it like you did. Connecting the dots so to speak. I know a lot of deer leave the park to feed in the surrounding ag fields, so I need to find their routes to and from.
I live by this train of thought in the big woods/forests I hunt out here, I use the topos and google earth to get started but get intimate knowledge of the land itself by thoroughly scouting it on foot. Thats where you seperate the maybes from the forsures. I take feed/thickcover over terrain anytime. Terrain is important but a big old loner buck out here will sacrifice terrain features for cover and feed close to him. Best case scenario is when you find the great terrain features on the maps and then get in and find all the other parts to the equation present.
