Anyone ever find trophy quality game in areas your would never expect it?

[PaHunter86]

One of my best spots to see and get a chance at a mature WT during archery season is next to a shooting range. Now im not behind it but off to the one side about 100yrds over a slight embankment. Sitting in there will show how much you can ignore and deal with noise. I usually put in ear buds and listen to pod casts because you don't hear much over the constant shooting.

 

[griebel303]

One year archery elk hunting I got off to a later start from camp (530 am) and caught a bugle. I followed the bugle and found a string off elk making their way up the mountain just a few hundred yards off a busy 4wheeling trail. I ended up taking a bull that morning from the group and we have had several mornings over the past few years where we setup at the same spot and catch them moving through the exact trail. You would never guess a few hundred yards right off the trail with how much traffic is on it

 

[Burnsie]

My brother lived in the Quad Cities in Iowa for over 30 years - as the suburbs expanded further out some of his best hunting spots on the edge of town got ate up, but he still had permission on several pockets surrounded by new developments that held some real studs. Many great bucks in that area ended up being roadkill victims.

 

[grfox92]

Yes. In New York City. Couldn't hunt them but damn there were some enormous whitetails.

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[Pharmseller]

My backyard.

 

[MallardSX2]

Never.

 

[WA HNTR]

So long story short, I have always hiked way down in river valleys and far from any road or quad trails to set cameras and hunt thinking I would find more mature game.

I was driving late at night and noticed a massive moose in the ditch of a major highway. So I decided to shed hunt it in the spring and found a pile of moose sheds and deer sheds not far from the highway and some were large.

So I put some cams up and have got the biggest elk I have ever got on cam and a few mature moose.

I just can’t make sense how that area along a major highway and an area that has atv/dirtbike trails everywhere holds mature game?


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I haven’t killed any “mature” deer yet. But I have found that going 100 yards off the main road, or as some more legit hunters around here call, “getting past the beer cans.” And I find so, so much more game and animals. It’s crazy too how many four wheelers and cars are driving through state land and the deer are just over the next little ridge. Elk too!

 

[RedSmoke]

As long as the habitat is suitable to their needs, I think you always have a shot of running into high quality animals. When you consider the units and areas that other hunters are drawn towards, it seems pretty logical that some animals are going to be hiding in the spots those guys have never bothered with.

 

[Q_Sertorius]

If I could hunt the land next to most golf courses, I could probably secure some excellent wall hangers.


____________________
“Keep on keepin’ on…”

 

[AKCajun]

Largest whitetail I’ve ever seen in Mississippi was bedding on a 75 yard wide narrowing strip of woods just before two roads intersected. 18” g2’s and 3s. He transitioned from that area to a clear cut out of view from a large food plot a few hundred yards away.