Early Season In the Northern Big Woods

Discuss deer hunting tactics, Deer behavior. Post your Hunting Stories, Pictures, and Questions/Answers.
  • Advertisement

HB Store


User avatar
Cchez
Posts: 344
Joined: Tue Apr 02, 2019 6:14 am
Facebook: codiechesney is my Instagram
Location: NE Mn
Status: Offline

Early Season In the Northern Big Woods

Unread postby Cchez » Sat Aug 10, 2019 9:00 am

Hi guys, I'm starting this thread to try and pick the brains of some of you who are more experienced in hunting the northern big woods (im in northern MN, and also NW Wi). I've been doing as much reading on here as i can through past threads, picking up any bits of info i can. So far, the biggest things i've gathered have seemed to be 1.) Edges, edges, and more edges (terrain, vegetation). 2.) Water sources (swamps, creeks, beaver ponds, etc.). And 3.) Clearcuts if available.
As a lot of northern guys know, theres not a ton for mast bearing trees up in the northwoods that make feeding patterns more predictable (like when acorns drop), and 0 ag land to speak of.

So here is my question. What are some of the other things you guys key on in theearly season (our season starts middle september) in the northern big woods that helps you get onto a buck? For arguments sake, lets say in one scenario, a clearcut is available. Now lets assume there are no available clearcuts in a second scenario. Final thing, in both scenarios, there are no mast bearing trees such as oaks.

I look forward to hearing any feedback from how some of you tackle the ol' north woods! Thanks


User avatar
stash59
Moderator
Posts: 10077
Joined: Thu Nov 27, 2014 8:22 am
Location: S Central Wi.
Status: Offline

Re: Early Season In the Northern Big Woods

Unread postby stash59 » Sat Aug 10, 2019 9:25 am

Never hunted up there early myself. The few guys on there that live up there or do. Usually concentrate on bedding near clearcuts. I know I've seen a few DNR or maybe county food plot type field. Planted with some sort of native grasses. But they are few. Dry beaver dam areas may also pull bucks early.

headgear lives in northern Mn. He hits it hard all season long. But admits early up north is a tough nut to crack. Lotta in season scouting.
Happiness is a large gutpile!!!!!!!
Elite
500 Club
Posts: 1022
Joined: Sat Jul 27, 2019 3:28 am
Status: Offline

Re: Early Season In the Northern Big Woods

Unread postby Elite » Sat Aug 10, 2019 11:14 am

I moved to nw wi 4 years ago and have found that clear cuts are similar to "food plots" but they also bed in them. The poplars provide great browse and bedding so I would try that. Try to locate oaks on the fringes of these cuts. Most of the oaks up here are red, pin, and bur. Not many people hunt September through middle October in northern Wisconsin and Minnesota because of the mosquitoes and hot weather, so that's a huge advantage!
Elite
500 Club
Posts: 1022
Joined: Sat Jul 27, 2019 3:28 am
Status: Offline

Re: Early Season In the Northern Big Woods

Unread postby Elite » Sat Aug 10, 2019 11:16 am

Cchez, what county in Wisconsin are u hunting?
User avatar
Jonny
500 Club
Posts: 5754
Joined: Wed Oct 19, 2016 3:11 am
Location: In a van down by the river
Status: Offline

Re: Early Season In the Northern Big Woods

Unread postby Jonny » Sat Aug 10, 2019 11:55 am

I have clear cuts and oaks by me (central forest big woods) and I’ve done better relative to cover. They got both during the day and both at night. The best is closest to bedding (swamps).

Generally it seems like oaks over cuts. Oaks have the freshest sign in September, cuts are older like August sign. Small sample size. Again, best is closest to cover for daylight activity
You have a monkey Mr. Munson?
User avatar
Cchez
Posts: 344
Joined: Tue Apr 02, 2019 6:14 am
Facebook: codiechesney is my Instagram
Location: NE Mn
Status: Offline

Re: Early Season In the Northern Big Woods

Unread postby Cchez » Sat Aug 10, 2019 12:26 pm

Elite wrote:Cchez, what county in Wisconsin are u hunting?


Ill be hunting a combo of douglas burnett and polk. St. Louis when im hunting mn. Ive found areas that do have both clearcuts and oaks, and areas that have one or the other. Ive got lots of areas to hunt with different features, just was kinda curious to see how people attack qreas that dont really have mast bearing trees. But now that i think about it, some of my areas arent too far as a crow flies for a deer to travel to an area with oaks. Less than 2 miles for sure in one spot i can think of off hand
User avatar
Trout
500 Club
Posts: 1493
Joined: Wed Aug 08, 2018 1:59 pm
Location: Big Woods MI
Contact:
Status: Offline

Re: Early Season In the Northern Big Woods

Unread postby Trout » Sat Aug 10, 2019 12:36 pm

The MI DNR has a website that breaks down all state owned land by cover types. I use that to find areas where swamp, marsh or high stem count Aspen is adjacent to oak stands. Dont know if your state has the same GIS info publicly available
Elite
500 Club
Posts: 1022
Joined: Sat Jul 27, 2019 3:28 am
Status: Offline

Re: Early Season In the Northern Big Woods

Unread postby Elite » Sat Aug 10, 2019 2:34 pm

Wisconsin has a decent website to find landowner, county, and state land:
wgextreme.com select the county and go from there to locate more public. You can also use this to locate MFL open properties to expand hunting land availability. It's pretty difficult, though others may disagree, to hunt a spot where you don't know what the deer are feeding on, or where they're going to feed. I was in this similar situation and decided to find new spots with more oaks.
BorealBushMN
Posts: 410
Joined: Thu Jul 26, 2018 12:32 pm
Location: NE MN
Status: Offline

Re: Early Season In the Northern Big Woods

Unread postby BorealBushMN » Sat Aug 10, 2019 3:04 pm

Where abouts are ya in St. Louis Co? I’m up on da’Range.
User avatar
Singing Bridge
500 Club
Posts: 7162
Joined: Wed Feb 17, 2010 1:11 pm
Facebook: http://www.facebook.com/?ref=home#!/pro ... 1329617473
Location: Logged in - from above
Contact:
Status: Offline

Re: Early Season In the Northern Big Woods

Unread postby Singing Bridge » Sun Aug 11, 2019 12:16 am

Beaver ponds = food / water / bedding / does. They also include buck travel and staging from bedding along their edges. It doesn't get much better than that in the big woods.

Food sources in the early season big woods- most hunters know about oaks and aspen regrowth. Following that, everyone thinks it is random buck feeding during their travels, and to a point it is... but there's a lot more to it than that, especially in the early season.

Most hunters completely forget that all deer, including mature bucks, love to eat leaves all summer and early fall. The moisture content is good and they supply vitamins / minerals / sugars to the deer when their digestive systems break it down.

Why is this important for early season hunting? The bucks have preferred leaves they munch that are well known to hunters. Red osier dogwood (red brush), maple varieties, aspen... and the big draw for the bucks are when these species are head high (red osier dogwood has leaves within their reach at every age...). So you are looking for a good number of these young trees clumped together... where they become a preferred food source.

The bucks walk up to the sapling, place their mouth on a branch, and pull their mouth and teeth down the branch... ending up with a mouth full of leaves. Where these preferred big woods food sources exist they become a "destination food source" for the deer.

As far as clearcuts go, I view them as the "Cornfields of the Northern Big Woods." Food / heavy cover / bedding / buck travel / bucks wind checking the cut and cross trailing doe entry and exit trails... on and on.
User avatar
headgear
500 Club
Posts: 11625
Joined: Wed Sep 08, 2010 7:21 am
Location: Northern Minnesota
Status: Offline

Re: Early Season In the Northern Big Woods

Unread postby headgear » Sun Aug 11, 2019 12:32 am

Singing Bridge wrote:Most hunters completely forget that all deer, including mature bucks, love to eat leaves all summer and early fall. The moisture content is good and they supply vitamins / minerals / sugars to the deer when their digestive systems break it down.


Yep there are just tons of food sources in the bigwoods and often things are really spread out and not as concentrated. To find the bucks you are really going to have to put on some miles early season, after ten years of scouting and hunting I know where some of them will be but there are no guarantees and early season can be very hit or miss with a lot of missing. I have a few spots I will setup on if the sign is there but I am mostly walking looking for any and all buck sign but it can be much harder to find with the leaves up. I know you mentioned no acorns but if you look hard enough you can find isolated patches of them or even a few random trees here and there, they are rare but they can be gold so keep your eyes peeled just in case.
User avatar
Cchez
Posts: 344
Joined: Tue Apr 02, 2019 6:14 am
Facebook: codiechesney is my Instagram
Location: NE Mn
Status: Offline

Re: Early Season In the Northern Big Woods

Unread postby Cchez » Sun Aug 11, 2019 2:04 am

BorealBushMN wrote:Where abouts are ya in St. Louis Co? I’m up on da’Range.



I hunt mostly southern St. Louis county, but i have some areas up around grand rapids i can hunt as well.


Thanks for the responses guys, excellent input. Given me a lot of info to think about.

Elite wrote:Wisconsin has a decent website to find landowner, county, and state land:
wgextreme.com select the county and go from there to locate more public. You can also use this to locate MFL open properties to expand hunting land availability. It's pretty difficult, though others may disagree, to hunt a spot where you don't know what the deer are feeding on, or where they're going to feed. I was in this similar situation and decided to find new spots with more oaks.

Elite, its not that i haven't been able to find areas with oaks, i've found quite a few actually. Especially in the spots in WI. My intention with this thread was to cast a wide net and see what other guys have found to be good food sources to key on if a guy happens to be in an area without them. Like Bridge and headgear mentioned, a lot of guys know about aspen regrowth and maples being a good food source, but theres also a lot of land where the food is spread out and not as isolated. As an example, i have 1 area that is actualy a very large tract of red and pin oaks that was logged last year, which they left the large oaks standing. I found this area cyber scouting, but the maps weren't updated to show much of the area had been logged. My boots on the ground trip showed me how much they actually took out of that forest, which seems like you can see for a mile back there with what was left uncut, by knowing this now, i can focus on the edges of where they didnt cut, which drops down to to some aah and conifer swamps. A second example is my private piece. Not a single oak tree around for miles, and the land is a mix of high lands with maple, basswood, and lots of poplar with typical northern conifers mixed in. And it also has low areas of tamarack/spruce swamps and ash swamps, as well as some ridges loaded with red pine, as part of the property used to be a tree farm years ago (i can attach a photo if anyone is interested).
headgear wrote:
Singing Bridge wrote:Most hunters completely forget that all deer, including mature bucks, love to eat leaves all summer and early fall. The moisture content is good and they supply vitamins / minerals / sugars to the deer when their digestive systems break it down.


Yep there are just tons of food sources in the bigwoods and often things are really spread out and not as concentrated. To find the bucks you are really going to have to put on some miles early season, after ten years of scouting and hunting I know where some of them will be but there are no guarantees and early season can be very hit or miss with a lot of missing. I have a few spots I will setup on if the sign is there but I am mostly walking looking for any and all buck sign but it can be much harder to find with the leaves up. I know you mentioned no acorns but if you look hard enough you can find isolated patches of them or even a few random trees here and there, they are rare but they can be gold so keep your eyes peeled just in case.


Headgear, when you say you are looking for the buck sign, are you meaning rubs and scrapes in the early season? I ask because i very rarely find any of those in the early season on our private, it doesnt show up until pre rut later in october. This has lead me to believe the bucks really don't use our private land in summer, and are showing up later for the rut. This is my first season using beast tactics and venturing off onto public lands, so it seems i just have to do some more exploring until i find an the bucks are using early season.
User avatar
stash59
Moderator
Posts: 10077
Joined: Thu Nov 27, 2014 8:22 am
Location: S Central Wi.
Status: Offline

Re: Early Season In the Northern Big Woods

Unread postby stash59 » Sun Aug 11, 2019 2:18 am

Cchez wrote:
BorealBushMN wrote:Where abouts are ya in St. Louis Co? I’m up on da’Range.



I hunt mostly southern St. Louis county, but i have some areas up around grand rapids i can hunt as well.


Thanks for the responses guys, excellent input. Given me a lot of info to think about.

Elite wrote:Wisconsin has a decent website to find landowner, county, and state land:
wgextreme.com select the county and go from there to locate more public. You can also use this to locate MFL open properties to expand hunting land availability. It's pretty difficult, though others may disagree, to hunt a spot where you don't know what the deer are feeding on, or where they're going to feed. I was in this similar situation and decided to find new spots with more oaks.

Elite, its not that i haven't been able to find areas with oaks, i've found quite a few actually. Especially in the spots in WI. My intention with this thread was to cast a wide net and see what other guys have found to be good food sources to key on if a guy happens to be in an area without them. Like Bridge and headgear mentioned, a lot of guys know about aspen regrowth and maples being a good food source, but theres also a lot of land where the food is spread out and not as isolated. As an example, i have 1 area that is actualy a very large tract of red and pin oaks that was logged last year, which they left the large oaks standing. I found this area cyber scouting, but the maps weren't updated to show much of the area had been logged. My boots on the ground trip showed me how much they actually took out of that forest, which seems like you can see for a mile back there with what was left uncut, by knowing this now, i can focus on the edges of where they didnt cut, which drops down to to some aah and conifer swamps. A second example is my private piece. Not a single oak tree around for miles, and the land is a mix of high lands with maple, basswood, and lots of poplar with typical northern conifers mixed in. And it also has low areas of tamarack/spruce swamps and ash swamps, as well as some ridges loaded with red pine, as part of the property used to be a tree farm years ago (i can attach a photo if anyone is interested).
headgear wrote:
Singing Bridge wrote:Most hunters completely forget that all deer, including mature bucks, love to eat leaves all summer and early fall. The moisture content is good and they supply vitamins / minerals / sugars to the deer when their digestive systems break it down.


Yep there are just tons of food sources in the bigwoods and often things are really spread out and not as concentrated. To find the bucks you are really going to have to put on some miles early season, after ten years of scouting and hunting I know where some of them will be but there are no guarantees and early season can be very hit or miss with a lot of missing. I have a few spots I will setup on if the sign is there but I am mostly walking looking for any and all buck sign but it can be much harder to find with the leaves up. I know you mentioned no acorns but if you look hard enough you can find isolated patches of them or even a few random trees here and there, they are rare but they can be gold so keep your eyes peeled just in case.


Headgear, when you say you are looking for the buck sign, are you meaning rubs and scrapes in the early season? I ask because i very rarely find any of those in the early season on our private, it doesnt show up until pre rut later in october. This has lead me to believe the bucks really don't use our private land in summer, and are showing up later for the rut. This is my first season using beast tactics and venturing off onto public lands, so it seems i just have to do some more exploring until i find an the bucks are using early season.


Not speaking for headgear. But any terrain /habitat type. Use last years rubs as a base. If you think a food source may be used early season. Check those areas with rubs from last year. If no new fresh rubs move on. Unless you see some other kind of fresh sign. Doing this a few years in a row will tell the big picture of when different sources get used. And at what time of year.
Happiness is a large gutpile!!!!!!!
User avatar
Cchez
Posts: 344
Joined: Tue Apr 02, 2019 6:14 am
Facebook: codiechesney is my Instagram
Location: NE Mn
Status: Offline

Re: Early Season In the Northern Big Woods

Unread postby Cchez » Sun Aug 11, 2019 2:48 am

Stash, thanks for the input. I've been using historical sign the last couple years more and more, it was something i started to think about before i found the beast. I has definitely helped me find some good areas for the rut. Example, the buck i shot 2 years ago during rut, was a spot i'd never sat but had other guys hunt on our land. I knew it was travel area by the sign, and the guys i had put there had either seen small bucks or heard bucks grunting in there. I guess i need to expand on this and start looking for historical sign in areas that look like they could be early season spots.
tundra@1
Posts: 164
Joined: Fri Jul 19, 2019 2:52 pm
Status: Offline

Re: Early Season In the Northern Big Woods

Unread postby tundra@1 » Sun Aug 11, 2019 3:11 am

I hunted Northern Bayfield county and Ashland county, from 1976 to 1994,,,,, shot some great bucks, but those days of hunting are done, because back then, we had good Federal forest mgt , no baiting, little ATV traffic, if any, and NO WOLVES..... You have to appreciate your hunting now, and competing with them wolves, so you have to adjust.

I hunt the western UP, as I have a home there. I scout a lot, and always key in on the drainage systems. This is how the deer move in my area, by following, crossing, and keeping tight to all the streams, for the most part.......

I am on all the log jobs, and those completed, and those that have been completed within the last 3 years,,,,,

Federal Forest mgt, is back on track, but baiting is heavy in the UP, and that also affects movement. When the wolves move in I move out,,,, they move a lot all the time, so you just have to deal with them

Better bucks will bed early in wolf country, since the veteran bucks know, that as the early evening comes, the wolves are out on the prowl,,,,, they are truly killing machines,,,,,

also do not hesitate, to hunt close to towns, close to roads, etc. Predator pressure in some areas, keep them out of the deep woods and closer to town and activity.

In the deep woods, it is tough, but you will see few if any hunters, and I know areas, that deer see no one, really so you do not have much to compete with except the wolf

do not expect to see huge numbers of deer, until late season,,,,,,,,,,,

I could write a lot about hunting the big woods, but I just wanted to add a little bit of info that I knew about, otherwise this would go on too long,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,


  • Advertisement

Return to “Deer Hunting”

Who is online

Users browsing this forum: No registered users and 96 guests