How do I hunt this hilly/lake territory in NC?

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Thomasj1107
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How do I hunt this hilly/lake territory in NC?

Unread postby Thomasj1107 » Tue Oct 27, 2020 10:08 am

So I’m hunting public this year for the first time. I’ve had some good sits and seen several deer but I want to step it up a notch. Got the video DVDs and I’m starting watching them. This isn’t exactly “hill country”, but coming from Florida there is a lot more elevation change here in NC than I ever saw before. Current public I’m hunting is on a lake, and I can’t quite figure out where the bucks are. Is this enough elevation change for them to be bedding “on the top 1/3 of the ridge” with wind to the rear, etc? Or am I looking at it wrong? Most of the time that would leave them facing the lake. Also, with the layout of this area would bucks be bedding all the way back on this peninsula basically boxing themselves in? It’s a weird place because the access bisects the land and there isn’t a TON of room on either side of the main trail down the center. There are tons of oaks, but I just can’t make sense of which areas of oaks they’d go to and why because they are everywhere.

The yellow line in the zoomed out pic is the access trail that runs through the middle of the public. From the parking lot to the top of the peninsula is just over 3 miles. Any help on how to hunt this would be great!
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PK_
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Re: How do I hunt this hilly/lake territory in NC?

Unread postby PK_ » Tue Oct 27, 2020 11:24 am

I have hunted there once.

I Covered a ton of ground to find what I considered good sign. I hunted opening week and the deer were mostly in the hills in the white oaks. Did end up killing both my bucks down in swamps but it was in sections that didn’t have hills and oaks were on the edge of the swamp. Killed a doe in the hills.

The best big buck sign I found in the hills was near steep thick terrain, like nearly vertical steep and usually overlooking towards roads.
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Re: How do I hunt this hilly/lake territory in NC?

Unread postby Boogieman1 » Tue Oct 27, 2020 11:46 am

Hill country lake terrain is by far my favorite. Water allows flawless entry and points of long coves or slews are cash money during the rut. The longer the better. Appears u have a dynamite set up if u play your cards right
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Re: How do I hunt this hilly/lake territory in NC?

Unread postby Thomasj1107 » Tue Oct 27, 2020 12:46 pm

Boogieman1 wrote:Hill country lake terrain is by far my favorite. Water allows flawless entry and points of long coves or slews are cash money during the rut. The longer the better. Appears u have a dynamite set up if u play your cards right


Where in this particular area would you consider the dynamite spots?
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Re: How do I hunt this hilly/lake territory in NC?

Unread postby Thomasj1107 » Tue Oct 27, 2020 12:48 pm

PK_ wrote:I have hunted there once.

I Covered a ton of ground to find what I considered good sign. I hunted opening week and the deer were mostly in the hills in the white oaks. Did end up killing both my bucks down in swamps but it was in sections that didn’t have hills and oaks were on the edge of the swamp. Killed a doe in the hills.

The best big buck sign I found in the hills was near steep thick terrain, like nearly vertical steep and usually overlooking towards roads.


You hunted this actual specific area? Or you are saying you hunted this type of area in NC?
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Re: How do I hunt this hilly/lake territory in NC?

Unread postby Boogieman1 » Tue Oct 27, 2020 1:12 pm

Thomasj1107 wrote:
Boogieman1 wrote:Hill country lake terrain is by far my favorite. Water allows flawless entry and points of long coves or slews are cash money during the rut. The longer the better. Appears u have a dynamite set up if u play your cards right


Where in this particular area would you consider the dynamite spots?

The top of that Kings crown!
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Re: How do I hunt this hilly/lake territory in NC?

Unread postby MrT » Tue Oct 27, 2020 1:13 pm

I know where this is. I would not bother with that area. I would look northeast of there, find a huge house that has a pool or a ridiculous yard, and hunt behind there.
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Re: How do I hunt this hilly/lake territory in NC?

Unread postby Thomasj1107 » Tue Oct 27, 2020 1:27 pm

Boogieman1 wrote:
Thomasj1107 wrote:
Boogieman1 wrote:Hill country lake terrain is by far my favorite. Water allows flawless entry and points of long coves or slews are cash money during the rut. The longer the better. Appears u have a dynamite set up if u play your cards right


Where in this particular area would you consider the dynamite spots?

The top of that Kings crown!


Not understanding?
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Re: How do I hunt this hilly/lake territory in NC?

Unread postby Thomasj1107 » Tue Oct 27, 2020 1:27 pm

MrT wrote:I know where this is. I would not bother with that area. I would look northeast of there, find a huge house that has a pool or a ridiculous yard, and hunt behind there.


I don’t think that’s an option?
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Re: How do I hunt this hilly/lake territory in NC?

Unread postby Boogieman1 » Tue Oct 27, 2020 1:45 pm

Thomasj1107 wrote:
Boogieman1 wrote:
Thomasj1107 wrote:
Boogieman1 wrote:Hill country lake terrain is by far my favorite. Water allows flawless entry and points of long coves or slews are cash money during the rut. The longer the better. Appears u have a dynamite set up if u play your cards right


Where in this particular area would you consider the dynamite spots?

The top of that Kings crown!


Not understanding?

Thomas the 2nd pic if North is top has a cove running up which looks like a kings crown. I would boat in and slide about 30 yards inside the longest restriction. But heck call me nutty
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Thomasj1107
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Re: How do I hunt this hilly/lake territory in NC?

Unread postby Thomasj1107 » Tue Oct 27, 2020 1:59 pm

[/quote]
Thomas the 2nd pic if North is top has a cove running up which looks like a kings crown. I would boat in and slide about 30 yards inside the longest restriction. But heck call me nutty[/quote]

Oh I see it now. Yeah, unfortunately the left Edge of that kings crown is the border of the game land. Sat down over as close as I could one morning, very swampy, there was no activity. A lot of people walk their dogs over there
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Re: How do I hunt this hilly/lake territory in NC?

Unread postby MrT » Tue Oct 27, 2020 2:06 pm

Thomasj1107 wrote:
MrT wrote:I know where this is. I would not bother with that area. I would look northeast of there, find a huge house that has a pool or a ridiculous yard, and hunt behind there.


I don’t think that’s an option?

Northeast of there about 8 miles across the lake. Rich neighborhoods full of people who don't hunt and have BLM signs in their yard.

Use a boat or walk your but off.
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Re: How do I hunt this hilly/lake territory in NC?

Unread postby Thomasj1107 » Tue Oct 27, 2020 4:19 pm

Don’t have access to a boat. That’s why I’m trying to best understand how to hunt this area that I have good access to
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Re: How do I hunt this hilly/lake territory in NC?

Unread postby PK_ » Wed Oct 28, 2020 12:19 am

Thomasj1107 wrote:
PK_ wrote:I have hunted there once.

I Covered a ton of ground to find what I considered good sign. I hunted opening week and the deer were mostly in the hills in the white oaks. Did end up killing both my bucks down in swamps but it was in sections that didn’t have hills and oaks were on the edge of the swamp. Killed a doe in the hills.

The best big buck sign I found in the hills was near steep thick terrain, like nearly vertical steep and usually overlooking towards roads.


You hunted this actual specific area? Or you are saying you hunted this type of area in NC?


I hunted that wma. Not that specific spot but I did poke thru it and did not see much on the surface that piqued my interest(keep in mind this was opening week, not Oct or the rut). I hunted north of there and actually one of the bucks I killed was literally right behind someone’s house like MrT said lol but not the house he is talking about I don’t believe.

I walked a lot of ground in the wma and I would say 80-90% of it looked like a ghost town for buck sign. You are going to have to dig but they are there once You figure out where to look.

I brought my kayak for access but didn’t end up using it...
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Thomasj1107
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Re: How do I hunt this hilly/lake territory in NC?

Unread postby Thomasj1107 » Wed Oct 28, 2020 12:24 am

/quote]

I hunted that wma. Not that specific spot but I did poke thru it and did not see much on the surface that piqued my interest(keep in mind this was opening week, not Oct or the rut). I hunted north of there and actually one of the bucks I killed was literally right behind someone’s house like MrT said lol but not the house he is talking about I don’t believe.

I walked a lot of ground in the wma and I would say 80-90% of it looked like a ghost town for buck sign. You are going to have to dig but they are there once You figure out where to look.

I brought my kayak for access but didn’t end up using it...[/quote]

Gotcha, yeah I see a bunch of deer on hunts, just want to find the mature bucks obviously. Have a couple decent ones on cams. Just can’t figure out how/where they would bed in this terrain? Like would they bed on a drop off that faces the lake? Or would they always want their back to the lake?


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