A little help reading the lay of the land (Maryland)?

[Annapolis]

Hi all,

New member (though long-time lurker--thank you so much for all of the information I've learned from this forum already!), based in Maryland.

I was hoping to draw on your collective knowledge as I put together a game-plan for a piece of private property I'm being permitted to hunt this season. I'm hoping to utilize both archery (which begins in early Sept here) and firearms (late Nov into early Dec). I'm relatively new to hunting, even though I'm in my late 40s; last year I harvested my first deer, on a different property, shooting from a stand with a 350 Legend---this is Maryland, after all. I'd say I trust myself out to about 30 yards with a bow; out to about 200 yards with a rifle. Anything past that would probably not be ethical for me at this point---working on it!

The property is about 75 acres, pretty much all heavily wooded. There are homes in several directions but all distant, and the topography provides plenty of backstoppage.

What I've created below is a sort of crude topo---the ones I've found online aren't especially helpful at this scale.

Details---with my question/s embedded.

The property, again, is almost all wooded: the only real clearings are in a low area that's swampy, with a stream running through it. Most of the property is high and dry with views down onto the lower swampy area/stream.

When I checked out the property last winter I saw deer sign all over (especially tracks in the snow, but also scrapes and rubs, etc), but never put eyes on a deer. I plan to set up a few cellular cams ahead of this season.

I'm wondering where an experienced hunter would place his/her cams and/or blind or stand---I'll probably end up using my blind.

Although I found tracks everywhere--to the point where I didn't find them particularly informative (to my still-learning eyes), my guess is that the deer are usually going to want to stay low, near the water, both because it's a source for drinking, and because they're more concealed down there--? So my instinct would be to keep out of those low-lying areas as much as possible: maybe position my cams looking down into the ravine/onto the swampy area, but not actually in that area--? And try to place/conceal my blind almost as if it were a sort of stand---which is to say, position high up on the incline looking down onto the swampy area, again trying not to intrude on the low-lying area at all.

My goal, if the property-owner will allow it, is to get the blind set up and staked down several weeks before hunting begins, so that the local deer will be used to seeing and smelling it. But here too I'm very open to advice!

I didn't recognize any major food sources on the property. There are a few oaks and quite a bit of browse: the reason the property-owner wants deer managed here is because of overbrowsing. But I wouldn't say there were any noticeable hotspots for food--again to my still-learning eyes. There are patches of heavier cover in the higher areas where I could imagine deer bedding down. But I can't shake the feeling that the main attraction of this property would be the water...

Thank you in advance--to anyone who read this far!--for your thoughts. I came to this hobby later in life than I should have, and it's been deeply educational and humbling. But man is putting good meat on the table. (My wife is only willing to eat so many catfish and stripers and perch.)

 

[Macintosh]

Is this a predominately suburban area, or more rural?

I would worry a lot more about wind and scent than I would “intruding” on an area. If its a suburban area the deer are used to people, but they’ll notice and not tolerate human scent where it isn't normal. Id be thrashing thru every inch yesterday to find bedding areas, trails, etc where you can set up next to areas of concentrated movement, while you still have a month-ish for the area to settle down before hunting. Beware of afternoon thermals pulling air (and scent) down into the wet bottom, those areas tend to be hubs of deer movement as well as often bedding and feeding areas, but the wind often makes then extremely difficult to hunt with a shorter-range weapon. You may have better luck actually hunting uphill a little where theres a steadier wind. Think about at least the 2 most predominant winds in that area, and find multiple stand options for both winds that you can access without blowing the place up or leaving scent everywhere. If this is your main/only area to hunt you cant be as aggressive with your tactics as you can be if you have 10 places to hunt like this.

If you want to use cameras think about what you want to accomplish with them. Are you “inventorying” deer to shoot a giant buck, or are you just trying to get a handle on daily and seasonal deer movement? At this point Id suggest the second option. Use a couple, put them on terrain funnels or heavily ised trails into and out of eareas with lots of sign. (Both fresh sign as well as rubs and scrapes from last fall). And just leave them, unless you happen to be next to one hunting, dont even check them until Christmas. That’ll give you info for next year, ie “sign was fresh here in august, but it was a ghost town after october 1” (or vice versa) will tell you volumes about seasonal shifts, food sources, etc.

 

[Annapolis]

This is already very helpful---thank you.

The area is suburban, but it's on the 'rural' end of the suburban spectrum: most of the homes are sitting on larger (like 5-acre) lots, and there's a lot of green space, even beyond this 75-acre plot. (In fact, I think the entire wooded area is actually closer to 150 acres---but the landowner doesn't own all of it, and has also reserved a portion of what he does own as off-limits to hunting.) But to your point, the deer here are most definitely habituated to people---there are birdfeeders that clearly get raided, and I saw as much sign in peoples' backyards as I saw in the woods.

Appreciate the guidance about afternoon thermals---this is the kind of stuff where every time I think I'm maybe beginning to learn at least the basics of what I need to know, someone makes a point that sends me back into 'I know nothing' mode. I will think more about this before committing to a stand or blind location. I don't think the landowner will permit me to put down more than one.

With the cameras, my interest is definitely in the latter option (getting a sense of how they're using the property). Since the cams are connected to cellular and send me real-time alerts, I'm also flattering myself with the idea that, depending on how I place them and the blind, I would potentially get a heads-up on any inbound deer when I'm sitting there, which would allow me time to get into an ideal position before they can hear/see/wind me. But I know that's probably very unlikely.

I'm a meat hunter, not (overly) concerned with trophy bucks: this guy has asked me to remove deer from his land, not to help him manage for big racks, so I have no interest in 'inventorying' here. I just want to know where to be to maximize the odds that a shootable deer will wander into my sights.

Another question--just a point of curiosity for someone trying to learn as much as he can, not practicality, as no baiting is permitted on the property. If you were going to set up a feeder or a bait-pile here, where would you put it? Or is it impossible to answer that question with the limited info I have/have provided?

 

[PA farmboy]

Would need to know where you are entering property from. Also you will want to set up for feeder so that you are downwind of it so they don't wind you, and you would need to know what direction they would come from as well to get to your feeder. I would suggest against a spin feeder, my stepfather tried one on his lease in Maryland and the deer wouldn't go anywhere near it.

 

[Annapolis]

That makes sense. For what it's worth, the way access to the property is set up, I can enter from almost anywhere in the large bottom left quadrant of my 'map' (as divided by the water). But, again, this was more an academic question, as the property-owner doesn't permit any baiting. I think his logic is that the entire point of his opening this up to me is to educe the deer population there, so he's not looking to bring more in, even if I'd be bringing them in to hunt them. I both get it and also question the wisdom of it, but in any case it's not my call to make and I'm just grateful for the opportunity---have to respect his wishes.

This was just me trying to learn, so I appreciate your input.