Where would you scout/hunt?

[Bcleck90]

New property this year- smaller 62 acre tract with a decent creek on the west side/ border (central AL). I just set two cameras out over previous fields/roads as you can see on the map. I’d like to set 1-2 more up closer to the creek. I only have access on the east side where the gate is marked.

Anything stick out to you? Where would you scout/ hunt first? I’m open to suggestions.

 

[Bcleck90]

Property is fairly accurate as far as timber. Mature pines as shown with hardwood/creek bottom on west side. Hasn’t been clear cut or thinned in awhile

 

[Swamp Fox]

Scout and hunt your edges. Leave your interior alone. That's a tough property, especially for bowhunting. If you're good at reading flat land you will get a few shots in the interior but you will burn it out PDQ accessing.

 

[WI Shedhead]

Access in and out is the issue. I’d check out the north end for south wind stands and get access to a boat or canoe for access on the west side for se, east, and in the se corner a possible north w wind stand. If you can’t get in and out without human intrusion, it will be very hard to kill next level deer if that’s what your looking for. Hanging cameras in the center of the property is a sure way to pollute it

 

[Macintosh]

The south side, where the road comes closest to the border and all those fingers of timber connect, seems like a natural convergence point to me, I’d be checking that area out.

 

[hiker270]

Down wind side on the edge of property.

 

[summs]

Id look into Timber stand improvement and hinge fell some tree's dead center to make great bedding, or right on the finger where the river bottom starts to come up. Maybe even cut a road north and south to the neighbors farms and west to the river. Make it easy for the deer to find security, your neighbors have you beat with food. Give them safety.

If you bow hunt more, don't make the road straight, if you rifle hunt, id max out yardage to opportunity.

 

[Rich M]

You gain nothing by not scouting the entire place - play the stay out game after you learn the property. I would scout every inch of the property tomorrow - it's 62 acres, a weekend will do it. Hang cameras where you find buck sign and good pinch/travel corridors. And figure out your access routes. Remember that the thermals will fall in the evening and be falling pre-sunup in the morning. That's tough access with the slope down to the creek.

Then stay out til opening day and hunt the wind - hunt a camera spot & check the cam. Then next time in hunt a diff camera location...

None of this hunt the same spot every time stuff (I would hunt a stand spot for an immediate 2nd day if I saw one I wanted and didn't get the day before) - all things considered, you'll get 3-4-5 hunts before you burn it.

I had a 45-acre lease once. I had 4 good hunts about 3-4 weeks apart.

 

[MallardSX2]

Solid advice. I would go in there tomorrow with my 4 stands and learn that property and hang those stands in the primo spots for all wind directions and then I would leave the property until I hunted it.

I would put my trail cameras in places very close to my treestands as well so I wasn’t trapping all over messing with cameras.

 

[philos]

I am with Rich as far as getting to look at the property overall right away. I would not then go back in until hunting season. I would also get an idea of the prevailing winds, and an idea of what the bordering properties have from an agricultural standpoint, or a baiting standpoint – if that’s legal.

 

[Bcleck90]

Appreciate the advice everyone. I planned on hunting the edges and leaving the interior alone, but would really like to get into that creek bottom to scout- I'll plan on bringing in a stand to make it a one trip look. I knew access was going to be limited on this piece from the East side and that creek isn't deep enough to float unfortunately.

I have a few other private pieces to hunt and one of our National Forest / Management Areas is only about 10 minutes away where I hunt some. I figured if I could get a handful of good hunts out of this piece it would be worth a try (leased land so I don't have to renew next year).

 

[WCB]

I'll go against the grain and say do not ignore the middle of the property. I have a property that is about 150 acres but 70 of it is timber. Been hunting it for 6 or 7 years now. Most of our mature buck sightings/encounters have been almost dead center in the middle of the timber block. This property is bordered by more timber pockets, creeks, ag etc. it is not just an island of timber.

At times the "edge" has worked in seeing mature bucks. But our 3 biggest bucks have been shot in a 70 yard radius dead center in the middle all of them last couple minutes of shooting light with no chance those bucks would be on the edges to shoot. We set a bunch of cameras on the edges and until last week of October/through mid Nov it is fairly easy to tell that the mature bucks aren't in those spots until dark. The way the deer use the property makes hunting the edge less productive. We have really good access with a skid road through the middle but as long as you are not busting through brush or blowing wind right to a bedding area I see zero issue hunting the middle when conditions are right. Especially if you hunt mornings.

Scout the interior as it sounds like you are going to and don't ignore killer spots inside the property because of some mythical hunting the edge is the only way theory. Maybe that property can't handle interior pressure like the property I hunt but if you are selective on moving in and don't take that option off the table like so many guys do you may get rewarded in a big way.

 

[Rich M]

Where i hunt, the deer allow human scent once during preseason. If you go in twice within 2-4 weeks, they leave the area. They will also not cross human scent during hunting season - it is amazing to watch deer coming across and then just stop and stand there, then follow your scent trail. Then go back the way they came. Add that I only get 3-day or 5-day quota hunts and you understand the level of diving deep right away.

If you don't scout the property, you have no idea what's there. It is still July and you won't hunt until Mid-Sept probably. You can be screwing yourself by not scouting.

With the thermals - that looks like an evening hunt - you can get into position before they turn and start flowing downhill.

I think the buck beds will be at the knob tot he left of where the K and the LLC are located.
I think the best travel routes will be in the creek bottom.
The best buck is bedded where he smells the rising thermals and then will drop down into the bottom once the thermals start falling.

From that knob he can smell every deer that crosses below him and when he drops down, he already smelled everything down below all day and will have the wind at his back for protection there.

You gotta find out how he exits the knob and travels the creek bottom to know how to set up "just off-wind".

 

[*zap*]

I would scout the 62 acres and hunt a good spot.

 

[JBrew]

Personally, I would find a way to be sitting somewhere I could shoot the top of the drain that runs up from the South, into the property owner's name.

 

[Yoder]

I would scout the entire property. Don't dismiss areas right next to the road. That's where I see the majority of the bigger bucks in my area. I've setup within 20 yards of a two lane road. People just can't believe that a big buck would be there. I would also check for bedding along the river.

 

[CobraChicken]

I hunt an area in wyo like this. I hunt my edges. On the edges of have fields of corn, alfalfa etc. Always around those edges.

I'd be curious on that sw corner.

 

[dr.mooseknuckles]

I'd see if you can plant a small kill plot in that SW corner with field. I'd also look in the Northwest corner and set up along the topo line

 

[Boarmaster]

I would want to scout between the west property line where that creek runs through and the bottom of that elevated area or hill. Seems like a natural funnel.

 

[Bigboone1988]

For access I would walk down the road and basically walk to property lines in depending on wind direction. They should be bedded on ridge in middle