bowhunting a big lake
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bowhunting a big lake
anyone have experience deer hunting near a big lake? this particular lake is surrounded by ridges/ravines etc going 300-400' in elevation above the lake. we will use a boat to access remote spots. there is some agriculture mixed in at the top. public land. this is a rut hunt so our thoughts are to use the boat, get remote, hike up ravines and hunt at the head of the cut/ravine. any other recommendations?
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Re: bowhunting a big lake
Thermal activity might be backwards of what your expecting if your hunting close to the water. The cooler water should draw the thermal wind current towards the lake.
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Re: bowhunting a big lake
Did some searching... Take a look at this description of lake effect thermal wind in the "windy city" on a kite boarding site:
http://www.chicagokitesurfing.com/lakem ... rmals.html
http://www.chicagokitesurfing.com/lakem ... rmals.html
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Re: bowhunting a big lake
Dan, would the thermal effect be different on a hill 300-500 yards away from a 100 acre lake or would it be opposit the traditional thermals were used too?
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Re: bowhunting a big lake
I hunt on lakes and rivers frequently. Your already doing the hard part. You are seperating yourself from the pack by boat. Once your in your spot, only walk in as far as you need to, and hunt hot sign. If you have studied your topos and ariels, you should already have a good idea where you want to go.
A buck will see you three times, and hear you twice, but he's only gonna smell you once.
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Re: bowhunting a big lake
dan wrote:Did some searching... Take a look at this description of lake effect thermal wind in the "windy city" on a kite boarding site:
http://www.chicagokitesurfing.com/lakem ... rmals.html
That is a cool read....how in the world did you think to look for that?
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Re: bowhunting a big lake
I hunted a similar spot and before sunrise and for about the first hour of daylight the thermals were toward the lake and then straight up at the shoreline, great for the first hour. But after that the sun came up and the thermals switched and sucked air up the ravines from the lake. In the evening the opposite occured, the sun went down and the thermals sucked air down the ravines toward the lake. If I got far enough away from the lake the prevailing wind swept over the ravine head and met the thermals into a mixing zone. Generally I find beds close to the lake or in the mixing zone.
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Re: bowhunting a big lake
Brad Lamont wrote:Dan, would the thermal effect be different on a hill 300-500 yards away from a 100 acre lake or would it be opposite the traditional thermals were used too?
I would guess that it would be dependent on the size and temperature of the lake and also the amount of heating the land does...
Not sure how many of you read my comment recently in the milkweed post about the cooler swamps causing a negative thermal effect on scent direction...
"I was sitting on bear stand the last couple evenings. The weather had predicted a certain wind direction. I checked the wind direction at a safe distance from the area and then moved in to hunt. In both spots the wind direction was pretty predictable to what the weatherman said, but my hunted trees were both chosen not just for wind direction, but for wind flow too... And sure enough, on stand the wind was hitting me predictably where the weather man said, but you could watch the flow of the scent stream / wind stream much like a river bend and flow into openings in the woods behind me, but not actually where you would expect it if you just used a piece of string...
The next observation was the point where the last hour of daylight comes and the wind starts getting dead calm... What breeze did occasionally hit me went where it was supposed to, however when the wind would be actually "dead calm" I would see my milkweed flow the wrong way and use the thermal current to float down into the cool swamps ( exactly opposite of where I wanted it to go )
A guy just going by old school wind direction checking would of never known the current had changed...
On the stand where I shot my bear it was the same, but the wind went to an area that I had hoped the bears wouldn't be based on scouting when it went backwards. However twice when the wind calmed and the scent stream changed 180 I heard a large animal I assume was a bear get up and take advantage of the thermal change and walk directly to where the wind stream drifted from the bait. I assume he winded me, and then snuck off."
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Re: bowhunting a big lake
One good thing about lakes and river hunting you know which direction the deer will not be coming from. Most constant directional deer movement is what I am looking for in any pre set stand.
You can fool some of the bucks, all of the time, and fool all of the bucks, some of the time, however you certainly can't fool all of the bucks, all of the time.
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Re: bowhunting a big lake
Stanley wrote:One good thing about lakes and river hunting you know which direction the deer will not be coming from. Most constant directional deer movement is what I am looking for in any pre set stand.
so true stan
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Re: bowhunting a big lake
Stanley wrote:One good thing about lakes and river hunting you know which direction the deer will not be coming from. Most constant directional deer movement is what I am looking for in any pre set stand.
If you know where there bedding you pretty much already know which direction to expect travel with the exception of cruising rut bucks and then its usually one of two directions... I don't get surprised to often on most of my sets...
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Re: bowhunting a big lake
dan wrote:Stanley wrote:One good thing about lakes and river hunting you know which direction the deer will not be coming from. Most constant directional deer movement is what I am looking for in any pre set stand.
If you know where there bedding you pretty much already know which direction to expect travel with the exception of cruising rut bucks and then its usually one of two directions... I don't get surprised to often on most of my sets...
Sometimes things just don't go as planned. I was set up using a pond as a barrier on one side great set up. Late November post rut. Deer would skirt the pond from the south and I would have a 15-20 yard shot. The buck pictured came from the North and got in between me and the pond on my right side. I had given up my back trail, wind was blowing that way and my ground scent was behind me. Who'd thought this buck would skirt my scent by a few feet and come in from the North. Made a fool out me that day. One and only chance at that buck never saw him again (died the same year) until I found him dead two years later. 176 n change.
You can fool some of the bucks, all of the time, and fool all of the bucks, some of the time, however you certainly can't fool all of the bucks, all of the time.
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Re: bowhunting a big lake
unfortunately most of the spots look like they are still a good hike from the waters edge at the head of the ravines 300' above the lake. is there any success hunting near the lake edge at the lower elevations during the rut or will most of the activity be in the mixing zone?
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