Northwest corner of property has a good looking shelf to hunt on West wind. Maybe if winds stayed western /southwestern each point could be hunted in order. Work to the head of that long valley, stacking and upping odds on each sit. Stealth is required.
Is that in your skill level? And another thing to consider. Will the gun season success suffer too much if you increase pressure early?
Help me understand this hilly 80 acre piece in IL
- justdirtyfun
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Re: Help me understand this hilly 80 acre piece in IL
You don't have to be the best, just do your best.
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Re: Help me understand this hilly 80 acre piece in IL
ol_ben wrote:
How's this map? Better?
Yep much better, not much changed from my suspicions but it helps confirm things. This is just basic mark up man I didnt dissect it spot for spot... I personally think the better looking bedding areas are over the property lines but I still think you got areas buck(s? would like on the property and coming through.
This is generally how id expect to find things if I scouted it. Its farmland, so there are thick areas im missing w/o being able to zoom that probably hold something good. Some spots I put both colors bc I think its a toss up what youll find. Hope this helps ya get rolling Ol Ben.
Orange: Bucks
Purple: Does
- Boogieman1
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Re: Help me understand this hilly 80 acre piece in IL
I spend most of my hunting season hunting small parcels like this the most tricky part of hunting small property is entry undetected. Sometimes u have to come up with some pretty crazy stuff just to get in. Maybe getting the neighbor to drop u off in his outboard other times I train em with a 4 wheeler through out the summer ride my atv slowly around the perimeter never stopping or appearing threatening come hunting season do the same thing except this time my wife is driving and I slide off the back close to my stand as she rides off and the deer are conditioned to it. Also if the deer are unpressured the outside corner is very productive. Good luck
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Re: Help me understand this hilly 80 acre piece in IL
I gave what people were saying some thought and decided to cut the umbilical cord and step out into the wide Beast world. I talked to the land owner, thanked him for all the great opportunities he's provided me with (among them, my first deer ever), brought him a pound of venison pastrami I just made, and let him know that I was done hunting his place. I asked him to consider letting my neighbor (brand new to hunting but very interested) take my place at deer camp and let him know I'd still be down to come out for a work day now and then and to say hello at deer camp from time to time. He bought my 2 man ladder stand off me for much less than I could have sold it elsewhere, and I happened to find a set of 5 LW sticks in great shape on craigslist for $115. I need a stand to complete my mobile setup, and you can expect a post from me in the near future regarding some of the public land options open to me and how to hunt them. Thanks for all the great advice both regarding how to hunt this property (I'll pass it along to my neighbor and/or the landowner) and regarding skipping it and hitting the public.
Ben
Ben
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Re: Help me understand this hilly 80 acre piece in IL
ol_ben wrote:I gave what people were saying some thought and decided to cut the umbilical cord and step out into the wide Beast world. I talked to the land owner, thanked him for all the great opportunities he's provided me with (among them, my first deer ever), brought him a pound of venison pastrami I just made, and let him know that I was done hunting his place. I asked him to consider letting my neighbor (brand new to hunting but very interested) take my place at deer camp and let him know I'd still be down to come out for a work day now and then and to say hello at deer camp from time to time. He bought my 2 man ladder stand off me for much less than I could have sold it elsewhere, and I happened to find a set of 5 LW sticks in great shape on craigslist for $115. I need a stand to complete my mobile setup, and you can expect a post from me in the near future regarding some of the public land options open to me and how to hunt them. Thanks for all the great advice both regarding how to hunt this property (I'll pass it along to my neighbor and/or the landowner) and regarding skipping it and hitting the public.
Ben
Well I have to respect a decision like that though I hope nothing anyone said here helped you make that decision. The property looks good! I think everyone here was just trying to help you understand how a deer can use a property to their advantage based on previous pressure. I think wed all hate to see someone give up opportunity to hunt some decent private land. I believe decisions like this are paid back in life, though im curious if maybe there was any other reason as to why youd walk away from a property? Were you paying for this spot or doing work to have permission?
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Re: Help me understand this hilly 80 acre piece in IL
Darkknight54 wrote:Well I have to respect a decision like that though I hope nothing anyone said here helped you make that decision. The property looks good! I think everyone here was just trying to help you understand how a deer can use a property to their advantage based on previous pressure. I think wed all hate to see someone give up opportunity to hunt some decent private land. I believe decisions like this are paid back in life, though im curious if maybe there was any other reason as to why youd walk away from a property? Were you paying for this spot or doing work to have permission?
I wouldn't say anyone here made up my mind for me, though they did get me thinking about it. The decision has a lot to do with the fact that hunting that property, it's too easy to set up in existing stands, figure it out, be complacent, etc. I feel like staying there would not push me to learn deer behavior in the same way that hunting public would. There's no hidden plotline here. The landowner asked when I talked with him if he'd done anything to make me feel unwelcome because it took him by surprise. I'm just looking for a different challenge than what that place offers.
I'm also excited about the possibility of getting my neighbor on his first deer. He's a great friend and marine and definitely deserves a crack at that property more than I do.
Finally, I'm likely moving back to MN early next year anyway so my days there were numbered anyway.
I appreciate your concern, and maybe I am throwing away a golden opportunity, but I think in the long run this is the right thing for me now.
- justdirtyfun
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Re: Help me understand this hilly 80 acre piece in IL
If your decision is good with you, that is what matters.
I wish you the best hunting.
My hunting opportunity on 80 acres of private could have gone a few different ways also. The pre-sets, complacency sounds familiar. Some stands had screw in steps so old the pin sticking straight out was all you saw. And guys not using safety gear...ugghh. Private in Illinois or anywhere is not an automatic goldmine.
The freedom out on public is intoxicating honestly.
I wish you the best hunting.
My hunting opportunity on 80 acres of private could have gone a few different ways also. The pre-sets, complacency sounds familiar. Some stands had screw in steps so old the pin sticking straight out was all you saw. And guys not using safety gear...ugghh. Private in Illinois or anywhere is not an automatic goldmine.
The freedom out on public is intoxicating honestly.
You don't have to be the best, just do your best.
- Bigb
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Re: Help me understand this hilly 80 acre piece in IL
Rich M wrote:That's a lot of stands. Maybe you can look in areas where there are no stands?
I'm going to respectively go against the grain here. I mobile hunt as well as hunt from fixed stands and I feel that sometimes fixed stands get a bad rap. People see a fixed stand and figure mature bucks don't go within 50 yards of it. From what I have seen, that can be true many times. There are plenty of fixed stands that are put up and people think they are great spots and hunt them 6 or more times a year and think their aren't any mature bucks out there. When its private land, this just isn't always true.
I hunt a 200 acre piece of private ground and live three hours away from where I hunt. I started hunting this land 7 years ago and the guy I hunted with had 5 cameras and 4 deer stands. I hunted that fall and saw one giant buck as well as one nice mature buck. I couldnt get shots at either of them though. I realized soon after that I need more stands to hunt (this is before I really had a mobile set up).
Now I really enjoy setting up stands in the off season, it's just something I love to do. Scout for a day, hang a couple stands. This year we are now up to 31 stands and seeing more mature bucks then ever. Our deer herd isn't the strongest its ever been but I have used beast tactics to hang these stands and it has paid off. Now, with this many stands, it is rarely a stand gets hunted more than once a year, maybe twice for a few because some have some dynamite entrance and exits. Last year I should have been tagged out on two mature bucks, both over 150" but I blew 3 opportunities and passed on one that was a questionable shot.
I do hear people say "Well maybe I just was in the right stand at the right time" Well, thats what I plan on when I hunt these trees. I'll admit, I have cameras within 30 yards of 6 to 8 of my best stands which people say is a cardinal sin. What I've learned is the problem isn't cameras in areas where mature bucks are, the problem is people checking their cameras in quality areas 8 times a year to see whats going through and leaving scent. Thats just as bad as hunting that area! My cameras go up in June/July and if they are in a easily accessible area I check them in September, if not, I check them the one time I hunt that stand and then when I pull them in January, that is it. The information I gather is used for the following year. I find the days when mature bucks are showing up and find the weather/wind/etc and make note of it. Now, many of the times I can see a picture of a mature buck and 60 - 70% % of the time I can guess the wind when the pic was taken before I go back and actually check what it is. I can go back in my database and in the last 3 years pick out a few hundred day time pics of bucks 3.5 and older that were within 40 yards of a fixed stand during daylight hours.
I'm a big fan of the beast tactics but people seem to shy away from fixed stands 100% of the time, which I understand completely in many cases but there are instances where they work great. I'm sitting here thinking to myself between the farm I hunt and the three around us that are 40 to 200 acres, there have been 11 bucks over 150" (up to 180" taken from fixed stands with bows. All of these were only sat once or twice before the buck was shot.
I do live 3 hours from where I hunt and with two little kids, wife and job, I can't hunt as much as I like so most of my hunting is done late October to Early December so I don't have the freedom to hunt as much as I'd like. I do manage to get out 10 to 12 days a year which is nice.
Beast style is by far a better way to buck hunt but their are times when fixed stands do work. Just my observations from someone who hunts private a decent amount of time.
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Re: Help me understand this hilly 80 acre piece in IL
I know a fellow who hunts 3 stands all year long and shoots the best bucks in the area - he plays the wind. I can sit in his stands and still don't see any of the big ones...
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Re: Help me understand this hilly 80 acre piece in IL
ol_ben wrote:Darkknight54 wrote:Well I have to respect a decision like that though I hope nothing anyone said here helped you make that decision. The property looks good! I think everyone here was just trying to help you understand how a deer can use a property to their advantage based on previous pressure. I think wed all hate to see someone give up opportunity to hunt some decent private land. I believe decisions like this are paid back in life, though im curious if maybe there was any other reason as to why youd walk away from a property? Were you paying for this spot or doing work to have permission?
I wouldn't say anyone here made up my mind for me, though they did get me thinking about it. The decision has a lot to do with the fact that hunting that property, it's too easy to set up in existing stands, figure it out, be complacent, etc. I feel like staying there would not push me to learn deer behavior in the same way that hunting public would. There's no hidden plotline here. The landowner asked when I talked with him if he'd done anything to make me feel unwelcome because it took him by surprise. I'm just looking for a different challenge than what that place offers.
I'm also excited about the possibility of getting my neighbor on his first deer. He's a great friend and marine and definitely deserves a crack at that property more than I do.
Finally, I'm likely moving back to MN early next year anyway so my days there were numbered anyway.
I appreciate your concern, and maybe I am throwing away a golden opportunity, but I think in the long run this is the right thing for me now.
You seem to have your head screwed on strait You will learn much faster by hunting new areas and paying close attention to how deer use each one. I'm excited to see your progress. Please keep us updated. The people on this site will gladly help you. They've helped me for sure.
Have you read the all time best tactical threads at the top of the page? Great info there.
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