WHERE TO START

[BootLeather]

Tis a pleasure gents, and ladies. I have somehow just stumbled onto these forums and have done many searches as well as the tactical thread top to bottom. Im picking up tons of knowledge, but I am having trouble putting it all together for my area. Here's where I need a bit of a jump start for you more experienced guys... I live in the Western KY coal region and the land is quite diverse. Several small rivers snake through the landscape providing flat, open bottomland hardwoods, buck brush sloughs, and more oxbows than a man can count. But, you also have winding ridges, points etc.. Often times, they're in close proximity to one another. Here is a good example, you can see the small winding river and to the west side you have flat bottomlands and a massive slough area. To the west, an immediate 150' + elevation gain and winding ridges and points with numerous boundaries from hardwoods, to thick brush, and open CRP type conditions. If you guys are going into this terrain, what are you attacking? Where are you looking first?

[G-Patt]

There's a hundred ways to skin this cat. You can make several assumptions: there's going to be bedding in the oxbows, on the points, and on the benches. There's going to be trails along the river, on the benches, up top, around the head of ditches and drainages. You're going to have a bunch of trails in the bottoms too. Just a large area to consider, so consider dissecting one area at a time with boots on the ground and think when in the season you think the area is hot, how you're going to access the area without blowing it out and what kind of wind you need.

If I were to drop a pin and just hunt, I'd get in early morning during pre-rut with access (maybe a kayak) by the river from the north, target one or two of the oxbows and hunt on the ground. I'm thinking a WSW, SW or S wind and access the area from the north and hunt from the east bank. There's a nice pinch-down on the one oxbow on the west bank but I bet that pinch probably gets heavy pressure, though I wouldn't entirely rule it out until I scouted it. I would still hunt slowly and observe until I come across good sign and make plans for an evening hunt if nothing happens during the morning hunt. Just have to get in there and learn it. One other thing to pay attention to are the tracks along the river bank. You'll need to gauge how fresh they are and the size. That might lead you on to nice buck. Good luck!

[BootLeather]

There's a hundred ways to skin this cat. You can make several assumptions: there's going to be bedding in the oxbows, on the points, and on the benches. There's going to be trails along the river, on the benches, up top, around the head of ditches and drainages. You're going to have a bunch of trails in the bottoms too. Just a large area to consider, so consider dissecting one area at a time with boots on the ground and think when in the season you think the area is hot, how you're going to access the area without blowing it out and what kind of wind you need.

If I were to drop a pin and just hunt, I'd get in early morning during pre-rut with access (maybe a kayak) by the river from the north, target one or two of the oxbows and hunt on the ground. I'm thinking a WSW, SW or S wind and access the area from the north and hunt from the east bank. There's a nice pinch-down on the one oxbow on the west bank but I bet that pinch probably gets heavy pressure, though I wouldn't entirely rule it out until I scouted it. I would still hunt slowly and observe until I come across good sign and make plans for an evening hunt if nothing happens during the morning hunt. Just have to get in there and learn it. One other thing to pay attention to are the tracks along the river bank. You'll need to gauge how fresh they are and the size. That might lead you on to nice buck. Good luck!

Much appreciate the starting points and thoughts. I agree, learning it will be key. I stumbled onto this area run and gunning for spring turkeys. Those are kind of easy to figure out... Firstly, they are vocal. Second, find spring scratchings in the woods until the bottoms green up are the ticket. This type of deer hunting is new to me, so that is just the type of guidance I am looking for... essentially, where the heck do you start!? I've read up on hill country and river bottoms on these forums... but when they're literally adjacent to one another, it can be a bit tougher. Thanks again

[Dustin77]

I agree with above. I would probably check along the river in the oxbows and look for some buck bedding there. Also zoom the map in and look for ripples in the stream, there could be a crossing in there somewhere. Check the acorns really well in the river bottom. Look for acorn caps and break open an acorn or two to see if they are good or not. There may be better acorns dropping in the hills, you will have to see. Also look for heavily browsed plants in the river bottom. sometimes I will run across vegetation in river bottoms that are heavily browsed. Hope that helps