New to Farm Country. Help appreciated (Aerial photo included

[Debo03]

I just gained permission to hunt a family friends farm in the midwest. Hoping some of you fellow beasts can help me get a good game plan together for a few trips up this fall. Probably going to hunt it once at the beginning of october then return for a rut hunt in November. Any help is appreciated.

I've never stepped foot on the property. It's 2 hours away.

All I know is what you see in the picture and that nobody hunts it or has in the past several years.

It's roughly 200 acres and a typical midwest ag farm. I don't know what they have planted this year.

Also TOPO doesn't really show any change in elevation so that will be determined with boots on the ground.

Predominant wind is out of the south or south west.

Would you scout it beforehand/hang a camera or two this weekend and return to hunt it the first week of october? or would you just wait and go in blind? In either case where would you key in on and how would you approach?

Yellow outlines the property. Blue circle at the top is small pond and the treeline in the middle appears to be a creek of some sort.

[rancid crabtree]

If its corn then you have about a 200 acre jungle of security for the deer. If its clover or beans then the options are clear. There are not a lot of trees except that ditch run. Hunt near that pond. Set a cam there. The deer will walk the cover of that narrow tree line. Buck will sent check the field from the down wind side in the cover of that wooded narrow strip. It doesnt look very wide. Looks like a great place for licking branch methods and decoying.

[dan]

If there is no standing corn I would glass the farm before hunting it and decide where to ( or if to) hunt it based on what I saw. If there is standing corn I would give one hunt by the pond and look at the sign... If there is good sign, I would come back again if nothing was seen later in the year and sit there again.

[Debo03]

Thanks for the help guys. I'm going to ride up there this weekend and see if it's standing corn or what. Not sure if I'll be able to stay until dark to glass but if not I'll throw a camera out.

[Stanley]

let us know what is planted. That is a tough setup no matter what.

[Lockdown]

Yes the fork where the pond is should be good. When you're talking farm land crops are everything. Might not be worth a hoot this year if its beans and wheat, if its standing corn I think it looks like a great property. A ground blind in the corn on the North side of the pond would be great with a South wind.

Approach through the cornfield, don't walk the treelines to your stand.

Dan's idea of observing is definitely great advice. My first time in would be a hang and hunt or natural ground blind. I'd set a camera that same day. If you've got action and good sign I'd hunt again right away then give it a rest.

Don't overlook the trees on the west border!! Its hard to pin point bedding while cyber scouting this type of property, so you never know what you're going to find until you get in there.

I would knock on the neighbor's doors and ask them what they've been seeing for deer. You'd be amazed at the information that some people will tell you.

Depending what the pond looks like and how they access it to drink, if they're approaching from East or West you can get by being set up on the South side of it and let your wind blow across the middle. Its definitely riskier, but you would be able to cover a LOT more ground. Might be worth rolling the dice??? Once again, you won't know until you see it.

I would also keep a close eye on the very southern border. If you've got corn there, you could definitely see action coming from the neighbor's timber to the food. Its not impossible they'd bed in standing corn on your property and use that tree line to get to the neighbor's timber.

Sorry this post got a little long, but this is the type of stuff I hunt all the time. Just trying to give you ideas! Good luck!! I'm particularly interesting in what you find. Keep us posted!

[dan]

Thanks for the help guys. I'm going to ride up there this weekend and see if it's standing corn or what. Not sure if I'll be able to stay until dark to glass but if not I'll throw a camera out.

If it were me, I would not set up a cam or enter the woods at this point till you go in to hunt.

[Debo03]

Yes the fork where the pond is should be good. When you're talking farm land crops are everything. Might not be worth a hoot this year if its beans and wheat, if its standing corn I think it looks like a great property. A ground blind in the corn on the North side of the pond would be great with a South wind.

Approach through the cornfield, don't walk the treelines to your stand.

Dan's idea of observing is definitely great advice. My first time in would be a hang and hunt or natural ground blind. I'd set a camera that same day. If you've got action and good sign I'd hunt again right away then give it a rest.

Don't overlook the trees on the west border!! Its hard to pin point bedding while cyber scouting this type of property, so you never know what you're going to find until you get in there.

I would knock on the neighbor's doors and ask them what they've been seeing for deer. You'd be amazed at the information that some people will tell you.

Depending what the pond looks like and how they access it to drink, if they're approaching from East or West you can get by being set up on the South side of it and let your wind blow across the middle. Its definitely riskier, but you would be able to cover a LOT more ground. Might be worth rolling the dice??? Once again, you won't know until you see it.

I would also keep a close eye on the very southern border. If you've got corn there, you could definitely see action coming from the neighbor's timber to the food. Its not impossible they'd bed in standing corn on your property and use that tree line to get to the neighbor's timber.

Sorry this post got a little long, but this is the type of stuff I hunt all the time. Just trying to give you ideas! Good luck!! I'm particularly interesting in what you find. Keep us posted!

Good info. Thanks for the help! Those are the 3 areas I was most interested in just from online scouting.

[Debo03]

Thanks for the help guys. I'm going to ride up there this weekend and see if it's standing corn or what. Not sure if I'll be able to stay until dark to glass but if not I'll throw a camera out.

If it were me, I would not set up a cam or enter the woods at this point till you go in to hunt.

I hear you Dan. I'll just observe from the road! Thanks for the help guys!

[Debo03]

Went to look at the property today. It was raining lightly with more rain to come this evening so I got a little more aggressive with my scouting than I had planned. I also felt like this was needed because the property was somewhat different than I expected. Found out there are no crops planted on the farm and hasn't been farmed in about 5 years. Just green pasture. The tree line on the creek bed did look pretty good though. Lots of trails all throughout, some fresh tracks as well and oaks dropping acorns. Quite a few old rubs but most looked at least a couple of years old.
Saw a couple of does bedded in the middle of the pastures. They stayed their and we're not bothered.

Found one nice bed right where the light blue dot is. Under a small loan tree about 30 yards off the point of that small wood lot on the western border. When bedded by a tree how do bucks typically bed? Tree at back looking away from tree with wind blowing over back??



[ Post made via iPhone ]

[Debo03]

Sorry. Forgot to add that red is Beans and Yellow is corn.

[ Post made via iPhone ]

[Lockdown]

I'm liking the looks of the tiny patch of trees next to the corn in the SW corner. If there aren't any there now, I'll bet in another few weeks there'll be rubs and scrapes in there. I'd hang a camera there to figure out how they're using it. Once the corn is gone it will be useless.

I'd set up in there with a westerly wind, staying as far to the East as possible. Just make sure you can shoot to the edge of the corn field.

[Debo03]

That patch is about 30 yards wide with pretty decent sized ditch in the middle. If you hunt on the eastern side you can't shoot to the corn.

[ Post made via iPhone ]

[monkatopaints]

Looks like the better bedding areas are in the neighbors property. Might want to get a glimpse of that too.

[Stanley]

I'll be honest and try and not sugar coat it. I have hunted areas like that and it super hard to find an approach that will get you in without contaminating the whole thing. I think your area is a morning area for the most part. I mean you could go in the dark and find your way easily. Plus you would have the cover of dark to help conceal your approach.

If there was corn in the fields it would be a much better set up, until the corn was picked. You can hunt it with East or West wind that is the good news. I agree with Dan you can watch/glass the area pretty easily. I would have liked to seen you hang a camera up In early August and then check it around October 1st for some intel for next year.