Hunting reclaim strip mines.

[kenn1320]

Anybody have experience hunting reclaimed strip mines? Elevation changes dont seem big, but there can be sheer drop offs of 40ft. Lots of long narrow ponds, low brushy, thick, snot type chocked out vegetation. Stuff that you would have to sit on the ground to hunt, and who knows what the wind would be doing? Im talking that terrain that looks like a brain when viewed from aerial photos. Long winding ridges that are narrow and wrap back and fourth. Probably hard to walk in and hunt, since ideally one would scout it in the spring and walk runs till you find common convergance trails and hunt those during the rut. Im thinking of heading down to ohio public land first week of Nov and that is the type of terrain one of the areas I hunted has. Its that or head to the south end of the state for some big hill terrain. Im wanting to stay closer to home this year, so thinking Ohio.

[backstraps]

I have hunted the reclaimed strip mines. I have hunted them for the last 8 years. I have had some really good luck. I do know the areas you are talking about. On a topo looks like pink brains.

I have always found a lot of "deer" sign around those areas. They are super thick and nasty areas to be in. That being said.... I remember when I watched Dan's videos and he was talking about the transition lines....I instantly thought that would easily work in Ohio.

I have several hunting spots that I scouted in the Spring where I used the transition line tactic on the "pink brain" areas.

As far as hunting inside them, I have tried that as well... more times than not, there are no trees big or tall enough to hunt from. Here is how I have hunted those areas in the past...

I go in the summer (permetherine in your friend) and cut shooting and travel lanes. I funnel the deer from the pink areas to my ambush spots. When you cut travel lanes through that mess, the snip trails you make turn into highways.

I try to do this in areas where I have located some good buck sign, and do it WELL outside of the typical hunters walking range.

1. Transition lines around the mess.
2. Snip trails.

[kenn1320]

Wow lots of views, only one guy with any experience hunting this type terrain? The lack of response has me leaning towards heading further south to the hilly areas and try to find some productive ridges that are getting some cruising action.

Sounds like we think alike on this backstrap. I'm not sure how successful walking the transition line looking for sign will be, but worth a shot before I dive in. I think however depending on how pressured the oak hills are, deer might hole up in that thick stuff till after dark. I could envision them chasing all day back in that thick stuff.

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[backstraps]

I have watched bucks push the does back into that mess. I like hunting around the thick stuff late season. There seems to be a bunch of misc browse and honeysuckle in and around it. Makes a good late season food source. I know a guy that hunts it late season when the bucks are trying to recover from the rut and looking for food. He has some good luck around it.

I know a spot that has a bunch of ridge side ponds from the strip mines. The middle 1/3rd section of the ridges are absolutely covered in the "pink brains" surrounding the ponds. I have tried to hunt the transition line above it. But the deer seem to just stay in that stuff. They have all the habitat they need in there

[kenn1320]

Here is a pic of what the area looks like. I rolled it back to 2004 so you could see the terrain better. Lots of start/stop water filled strips to funnel deer. Few long ridges that are sheer walls that nobody can get to but from the opposite end and walking it. Would deer bed on the protected ends, or feel trapped and not use them? Like the ridge in the bottom left, that light area is sheer rock cliff, nothing is going over that edge without dying or being seriously injured.

[backstraps]

I have hunted these type of areas in Ohio inside Woodbury.

The locals called them high walls. Where I hunted these I don't feel like the high walls made the deer feel trapped.
They seemed to bed and use the funnels as normal.... just really gave the hunters an advantage in hunting them inside a funnel.

One thing I was really surprised with the high wall areas....somewhere along these high walls I have ALWAYS found a couple of spots where the deer can actually go up and down the high walls. These were areas I had really good luck!

Something else I would say....the highwall areas kept many of the hunters from venturing very fardown them. I have walked many miles along either tops or bottoms of these walls.

Be careful as I have seen trees and rocks just loose grip with the banks and fall off the edges

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[wmihunter]

Bump

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[checkerfred]

I have hunted these type of areas in Ohio inside Woodbury.

The locals called them high walls. Where I hunted these I don't feel like the high walls made the deer feel trapped.
They seemed to bed and use the funnels as normal.... just really gave the hunters an advantage in hunting them inside a funnel.

One thing I was really surprised with the high wall areas....somewhere along these high walls I have ALWAYS found a couple of spots where the deer can actually go up and down the high walls. These were areas I had really good luck!

Something else I would say....the highwall areas kept many of the hunters from venturing very fardown them. I have walked many miles along either tops or bottoms of these walls.

Be careful as I have seen trees and rocks just loose grip with the banks and fall off the edges

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I have some mining land on private I hunt. It's like part ridge top part high wall. they can only go down in a few places but they still bed up high like on a ridge. The even parallel the wall.

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[tbunao]

There a few guys on here that have experience with them. I've done some digging and pm'd a few killers and they basically say what backstraps have said. They will also vary a bit and I was told to hunt them like hill country. Find those funnels with cliffs etc.

I believe Buckeye has some experience in those Ohio strip mines. He doesn't post a lot on here but is an animal and will more than likely answer your message whenever he gets on.

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[UPbowhunter]

This exactly what we have hunted in ohio. The terrain and cover is insane. The deer numbers are very low in the pieces we hunted the last couple of years. I love the idea of an early trimming of trails. Deer take over anything we have cut out with in hours.

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[UofLbowhunter]

I hunt a piece of private ground that is surrounded on two sides by strip mine ground. One side is a long 100' deep slope valley 300 to 400 yrds across that is 3/4 mile long covered with lessipadessa and crp. One spot on my hunting ground i can almost see the whole valley. I sit there in gun season and watch deer move most of the day in that stuff. They love it. One thing i noticed they seem to like is area of tall switch grass almost like cattails but alot taller, place almost marshy. You seem to find this stuff at the ends of strip pits and drainage areas off these pits and such. After i recently bought marsh bucks and swamp bucks i start putting togather a thought. One day after gunseason was about over and i was goin to give the area a break. I scouted the wet areas i could tell was diffrent in vegetation,i found some isolated small trees along the wet line and sure enough there where 4 big buck beds by the lone trees with real nice big rubs on them. Made me think i was smart for buying those two dvds when i hunt mostly hill country. Anyway. Places like these are comon around strip mine ground in my area of western ky and will no longer go over looked in my area. These places could be helpful in Ohio as well. I will also mention that dan said" in areas that have high pressure head to the swamps or wet grounds you best hunting is there even in hill country".
I also noticed that looking at an aerial in the winter time. Ive seen where the reclaim have laid long paths of ripraff in water ways in big valleys these could be used to funnel or pitch deer, or at least thats what has been done here. Could be something to think about.
As far as hunting in there ? Blind cover in the crp stuff i guess. Bout the only way i can think of!

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[justdirtyfun]

I'm not sure about trying this terrain. But would consider it if I had some winter scouting done.

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