Hunting Farm Land

[dan]

I can't believe how much information I can learn from this site. I don't post often because I don't feel like I can contribute much.

How would you hunt these farmland examples when going in blind? I will be returning to Kansas the second week of November and (besides google earth) will be going in blind. We will be hunting some private and WIHA land. Do you still try to pick out bedding on a map and hunt there? Do you look for funnels since it will be during the rut? Pinchpoints? Etc? Not only am I a rookie to beast style hunting, but I am a rookie to farm country. I usually hunt all big woods in Michigan. I am just sick of hoping to get lucky and have a hot doe wander in front of me in order to see a good buck. I shot a real nice buck in Kansas last year (couldn't find it), but I think that was more being lucky than being good.

Any advice would be great. Thank you.

Post an aerial and topo in the land management or scouting forum and we can give you some tips.

[mheichelbech]

For those of you who have hunted both rural and urban farms, what differences have you observed in how deer bed, approach the fields, react to human or hunter presence, etc? Do you approach hunting/scouting an urban agricultural area differently?

[titan23_87]

Do you think maybe we should post some ariels of how we have been successful on farm land. Or a future strategy that you want to employ this upcoming season. I know there is a land management forum but I figured it would be good in this thread. Just an idea. It really helps me seeing it visually!

Here are a couple that I have been successful with in Michigan farm country. Many of these properties hold some sort of water in the form of a creek, river, pond, etc which all create favorable bedding. These are all shared with other hunters, no food plots or habitat manipulation aloud. The majority of the hunting pressure is in the big wood lots, but even the secluded pockets of cover get hit hear hard. If you notice, I try, if possible to put myself in a position where the buck in his bed feels he has the wind in his favor (and he does), but my stand position is located in a spot where he likely won't catch my wind. By putting the wind straight in my face blowing from the expected buck bedding area..I just haven't been quite as successful. With the favorable wind for HIM I've had better luck, but I also get busted more and burn spots out quicker. Outside the rut..this has been my typical set up, or something kinda similar when I know exactly where a buck is bedding or at least a very close guess. If I hadn't known where the buck beds were from scouting..I don't get the kill in these scenarios.


Red: Buck bed/ and travel
Blue: My access and stand placement
Blue Arrow: Wind direction for the hunt
All of these kills were evening sits from Oct 1-Oct 21



In this photo I initially sat in an observation stand (blue X to the South). I spotted a good buck get out of his bed, travel along along a scrape line and circle and scent check the bean field before entering it just after dark. I caught him at the blue X with second of shooting light left. I would've set up closer along the tree line just north of his bed but I would have had to walk through a lot of good bedding to get there (quite possibly bumping several other non target animals). Instead I rolled the dice and accessed along a two track getting in quiet and undetected. It was just enough to catch him in shooting light.



In this photo, the red circle is a water hole deer would hit before entering into the crop field.





Here is an overhead photo of an area that I hunt. I've found/observed good bucks bedding in the red areas but almost all of the hunting pressure is inside the blue areas.

Ridgerunner,
Since I've joined this forum I have been very interested in your threads and posts. I hunt NW ohio which is very similar to your area and have found many similarities to your insights. However, a lot of your posts images have been deleted or lost over time. Is there anyway you could repost some of these to your own thread or back on to threads like these?? It would be awesome to be able to get the full picture on posts like the above!
Thank you.

[cattailcrusher]

This thread is worth its weight in gold to anybody who hunts farm land. I figured i would just post an image on some land that I was able to hunt and where after making many mistakes I learned that the more mature bucks were bedding on those treelines coming off of the riverbottom and not actually bedding down near the river bottom where all the does and smaller bucks would bed.

[SD_Bowhunter]

Here is an example of farm bedding that I found this past fall where I hunt.
Blue: Deer trails
Red: Beds
Yellow: Rubs
These beds were located about 1/4 mile if not less North of a large doe bedding area. These beds set up best for southernly winds. The field to the south slopes to the SW which gives the buck a thermal advantage in the evenings. The 15-20 ft elevation change between the two fields also allows for great visibility. A buck can see for 1/4 mile in front of him or two the sides. The southern field rotates between beans and corn. When it is planted in corn this spots becomes more attractive allowing buck to feel very comfortable moving from the bed to the SW along the grass/weeds or to the North along the tall grass and cattails.



Pictures of the beds found at this location (Picture taken facing east)

[Boogieman1]

Some great examples! I've seen some just like many of these although my areas look a bit different with more woodlots and overgrown abandoned farms. Also I am surrounded by a lake. Seems the bucks use that more to there advantage in summer/early season beds to catch the cool breezes and keeps the bugs at bay.

I really enjoy hunting farm country, it's prob my favorite. Entry is prob the hardest thing we face in farm country, can flat out play mind games with you at times. Guess that's what makes it special

[Lockdown]

I read this thread years ago but missed the recent bump. I'm bumping it again. It's one of the best on the forum IMHO.

I figured I'd share an experience from years past. This is the private drainage property that I hunt. At the time I shared it with another bowhunter who rode 4 wheeler to his stand. I didn't have gun rights and it got POUNDED every year and walked multiple times during shotgun and muzzy seasons.

Pre-Beast I was big on funnels. I had a stand location at x1 and I hunted it with a SE wind. I accessed across the south side of the field from East to West. My thoughts were a big buck would want to stay near cover while cruising and I'd catch one skirting the field edge. Real nice trail there and a couple scrapes too Over the course of a couple years, and maybe 6 hunts from this stand, I had two occasions where I bumped a buck from the low spot (circled in pink) after an evening hunt. Notice the topo lines. That is a big bowl right off that finger. They could eat beans and stay hidden. Pretty confident the bucks were shooters.

I knew I needed to re-scout that area, and I also happened to join the Beast that year. Nearing the end of the finger it got substantially thicker, plus there was a dead fall. Seeing this, I knew those bucks I saw were laying right there. Sure enough there were a couple beds and some rubs. Then I found some staging rubs. I don't find lots of rubs on this property, so finding 5 or 6 rubs in a 75 yard stretch was a big deal. They were on broom handle sized saplings.

I prepped a new tree at x2. There are beds North and West of me in those ravines and I could cover multiple trails as they exited. I wasn't in a great position for the buck bed itself, but how else do you hunt it? . If he popped out on my side of the finger he'd be at 40 yards and could easily feed closer. NW wind is prevailing here and the obvious choice. I also consider it the best wind for the yellow dot bed.

I set Dad up at one of my existing sets by standing corn, and I headed to x2 even though the beans were combined and field was plowed. The hunt was more for my Dad than myself, but I figured it was worth a shot. To be honest I kind of felt like I was wasting a hunt...

It was pretty calm and I snuck painstakingly slow through the crunchy leaves in the field. The bed was only 50 yards away and in a depression. When I prepped it I sat in the bed and knew I couldn't hang the stand higher than 12' up or he'd see me. It was VERY early when a basket 8 popped up on the field edge. He stood and scanned for danger for several minutes then followed the edge right to me. Had a 10 yard shot at him.

While accessing I noticed some bean regrowth. They were maybe 1/2" tall and very sparse. Several feet between seedlings. Even though that field looked barren of food, I watched him go plant to plant and nip them off. Of course he eventually got my wind, but I could have killed him long before that.

Even though it wasn't a big buck, I know big bucks use that bed and the same scenario could easily unfold.

Haven't been back there since.

[Babshaft]

Awesome example. Thanks Lockdown!

[SD_Bowhunter]

I already posted this in my hunting journal, but wanted to add it to this thread as well.


A little sample from this past weekends scouting trip. It is hard to see the small trees in the aerial so the video should give you a better idea. I think the first time I sit this location I will hunt the yellow dot farthest to the west. Easy access and I can get a pretty good view of the beds/shoot across the ditch if he works his way west. It will also allow for me to hunt it on any North or South winds as well as avoid getting send too close to the bedding location. Any better ideas of how to attack this spot??

High Level Aerial:


Close Up Aerial:

Yellow: Potential ground ambush locations
Red: Water has dried up and is mostly cattails

Video of Beds:
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=TAIVwoAX41Y
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=UHoAeRoO_Qo
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=UHoAeRoO_Qo

[SD_Bowhunter]

Another farmland example for everyone. I have hunted the large tree grove to the west for the last several years. Always tons of scrapes on the east side but I never saw bucks besides the rut (obvious rut funnel). Once I found the beast I started scouting the area to the east knowing that the mature bucks were not living in the large shelter belt as there is a pretty good doe herd that lives there. The areas marked with the beds are at the transition where a knoll slopes downward to some thick small saplings and cattails. I am assuming the bucks are bedding here on Southern and possibly northern wind directions.

I found some beds on the edge of some of the other small sloughs in this area as well. When I have hunted the western most tree belt most of the bucks I saw came in from the East. This makes a lot more sense knowing what I know now.

Red circles: Doe bedding

High Level Aerial:


Close Up Aerial:

[Primetime41]

NW wind is prevailing here and the obvious choice. I also consider it the best wind for the yellow dot bed.

I generally hunt points in hill country, so I would view this property (and the yellow dot bed) as laying out better for SE wind. How did you know NW would be the best wind for the yellow dot bed? Do bucks generally bed in those field top fingers on the windward side of a ridge?

[HudsonBay]

Glad to see this thread bumped as well! I have a love/hate relationship with farmland bucks lol. Please keep the examples coming.

[Lockdown]

NW wind is prevailing here and the obvious choice. I also consider it the best wind for the yellow dot bed.

I generally hunt points in hill country, so I would view this property (and the yellow dot bed) as laying out better for SE wind. How did you know NW would be the best wind for the yellow dot bed? Do bucks generally bed in those field top fingers on the windward side of a ridge?

Not sure if your directions are backwards...

Top of pic is North. This is flat farm country aside from the ravines. Field is high, trees/ravines are low.

[Primetime41]

NW wind is prevailing here and the obvious choice. I also consider it the best wind for the yellow dot bed.

I generally hunt points in hill country, so I would view this property (and the yellow dot bed) as laying out better for SE wind. How did you know NW would be the best wind for the yellow dot bed? Do bucks generally bed in those field top fingers on the windward side of a ridge?

Not sure if your directions are backwards...

Top of pic is North. This is flat farm country aside from the ravines. Field is high, trees/ravines are low.

I guess I was viewing this as hill country, and that if I was to hunt X1 or X2, without any previous scouting, I'd likely hunt a E/SE/S wind, as that would be the leeward side and I would expect to find bedding on a few of the points in the area. If I had found the yellow bed, I think I still would have hunted it on a SE wind. You said you thought it was used on the predominant NW wind. I'm just asking how you knew that, and if bucks usually bed in those ravines extending out into high field tops on the windward side, as opposed to the leeward side?

[tbunao]

NW wind is prevailing here and the obvious choice. I also consider it the best wind for the yellow dot bed.

I generally hunt points in hill country, so I would view this property (and the yellow dot bed) as laying out better for SE wind. How did you know NW would be the best wind for the yellow dot bed? Do bucks generally bed in those field top fingers on the windward side of a ridge?

Not sure if your directions are backwards...

Top of pic is North. This is flat farm country aside from the ravines. Field is high, trees/ravines are low.

I guess I was viewing this as hill country, and that if I was to hunt X1 or X2, without any previous scouting, I'd likely hunt a E/SE/S wind, as that would be the leeward side and I would expect to find bedding on a few of the points in the area. If I had found the yellow bed, I think I still would have hunted it on a SE wind. You said you thought it was used on the predominant NW wind. I'm just asking how you knew that, and if bucks usually bed in those ravines extending out into high field tops on the windward side, as opposed to the leeward side?

If we are just talking about that bed and with the little elevation then that would be the leeward side on a nw wind. It doesn’t have to be super steep hills and only slight elevation will give you similar effects. The wind would be going over his back while he over looks that field. Being a point he can easily shift to any wind direction. I wouldn’t assume he would bed there on any windward wind unless I felt the back cover was dense enough were he felt protected as in he could hear something coming through.