Public hill country scouting tips

[utstrat03]

I got the hill country dvd. I am trying to apply ideas from that to some public lands in Tennessee. Below is a topo of the spot. The yellow is a corn field. The green areas are grass fields. The gray area is a area where I believe a fire came through and destroyed most of the small vegetation, large tree were left standing. The map is oriented to the north and during the hunting months the wind is mainly a north to northeast wind. I would be hunting this area with a crossbow. The main problem is trying to get outside of the main trails the brush is really thick in most of this area. It is hard to find sign due to this. The corn field had plenty of deer sign coming from it though. The water way on the southern side there is a lot of boat traffic in the summer months but very little in the deer hunting months. I am not looking for a monster buck just decent deer to put in the freezer. Does anyone have any opinions on hunting/scouting this area? Would loud wake board boats keep deer from bedding in these areas?

[<DK>]

First of all welcome the to the site and id be happy to help. It wont take long you will find a good buck bed and be hooked. Off season scouting is everything and you might end up liking it as much or more than hunting. I am more in the 800-1000ft range for hils but this is how i would check out this area and you will be surprised how quick you can do it. Be sure to search for your specific terrain or state for examples. bC i only know how to use photobucket to upload pics, i cant guarantee how long this pic will stay up.

Also, here is a great scouting video from Bowhunter15 - https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=sr0w4_H ... hIuxupra-v

*Orange / Purple - Bedding
*Pink - Cool Stand Location
*Blue - Scouting Route
I forgot to mark a few spots and the pink stand spot is just interesting spot i like. These spots arent exact, my kid was helping a little. let the deer sign take you where you need to go. Read the sign, mark stuff on your GPS, upload it to Caltopo.com and add the puzzle together. When you do find what your looking for, take your time and figure out your setups. Catch those tracks and think about when they were made (night/day). Walk the fields and transitions to catch trails, tracks, rubs, ect... then you orient that to bedding locations.

[blizzardhunter]

How long ago do you think the fire came through? If it was last year or longer I would expect bedding there on an East wind and then heading to the corn.

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[blizzardhunter]

Could also be bedding on a North or south wind the more I look at it.

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[<DK>]

How long ago do you think the fire came through? If it was last year or longer I would expect bedding there on an East wind and then heading to the corn.

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I dont have much exp w areas like that, i actually just PM someone about these type of transitions. I agree w you, I could definitley see a buck bedding there w southern/eastern wind watching direction of that access trail.

[Zona]

I would look for trails and a pinch point in the ravine located to the southeast of the end of the access road. That spots screams rut funnel, even with the road close by. If most hunters head back to the fields, you could have an overlooked spot there.

[jwilkstn]

I wouldn't worry anything about boat traffic influencing the deer, other than they won't spend daylight down where they are easily seen from the water.

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[utstrat03]

I am not sure when the fire came through. You can definitely smell the burnt trees. There is high enough ground brush that a deer could bed there with out being noticed by humans on the ground. In July I ran into a doe when I was coming back from the corn field. She was walking down that northern blue line on the burnt area headed west to east (to me that is amazing that someone could guess that by looking at that map). I figured she was headed to the corn field or browse in the burnt area brush. It was around 5pm. I added a some black lines that show the main access. I haven't been that most southern field I will check there. Got rain moving in later today so I am headed out there I will let you know what I find. Thanks for the help.

[thumbnail]http://imageshack.com/a/img924/6840/VSHiiM.png[/thumbnail]

[<DK>]

I am not sure when the fire came through. You can definitely smell the burnt trees. There is high enough ground brush that a deer could bed there with out being noticed by humans on the ground. In July I ran into a doe when I was coming back from the corn field. She was walking down that northern blue line on the burnt area headed west to east (to me that is amazing that someone could guess that by looking at that map). I figured she was headed to the corn field or browse in the burnt area brush. It was around 5pm. I added a some black lines that show the main access. I haven't been that most southern field I will check there. Got rain moving in later today so I am headed out there I will let you know what I find. Thanks for the help.

[thumbnail]http://imageshack.com/a/img924/6840/VSHiiM.png[/thumbnail]

Awesome, glad to hear I was close on a marking. Like i said early, i dont have much exp w burn areas, but IMO id say if it still smells its probably not ready for a bed yet.

[jwilkstn]

I am not sure when the fire came through. You can definitely smell the burnt trees. There is high enough ground brush that a deer could bed there with out being noticed by humans on the ground. In July I ran into a doe when I was coming back from the corn field. She was walking down that northern blue line on the burnt area headed west to east (to me that is amazing that someone could guess that by looking at that map). I figured she was headed to the corn field or browse in the burnt area brush. It was around 5pm. I added a some black lines that show the main access. I haven't been that most southern field I will check there. Got rain moving in later today so I am headed out there I will let you know what I find. Thanks for the help.

[thumbnail]http://imageshack.com/a/img924/6840/VSHiiM.png[/thumbnail]

99% likelihood the fire was a prescribed burn the TWRA controlled. They typically do them in March as long as the weather cooperates. I personally wouldn't expect to find them bedding in there until a year's new growth has come in, BUT then again they could be since no one expects to find deer there. The deciding factor could be the amount of small game and bird hunting there. Those burns are awesome for quail, rabbits, etc so look out for that later in the fall when those seasons open.
I haven't been to that wma, but I would avoid hunting near the obvious fields based on my experience at the ones I have hunted. After opening day, you just won't have daylight activity there unless it's on a quota hunt system with limited hunting dates.

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[PK_]

Keep the burned area in mind for next year.