aerial photo what do you see?

[lweingart]

does any part of this property stand out to you as a place i should be scouting?

i just watched the marsh bucks dvd but it didnt go over aerial photos very much. this is a portion of my lease in Fl. im trying to lear the beast way of scouting and not really sure how to look at this and pick out areas that should hold deer.

the white circle with the red x id the camp.

[PK_]

It's hard without knowing where the hunter trails/stands are and really tough without being able to zoom in, but what I see is:

The light blue looks like cypress bottom. I would scout these bottoms late in the gun season or post season when they are dry(if they in fact hold standing water). You will find rubs heading into those bottoms and find humps they will bed on back in there. Very few hunters hunt below the water line, and big bucks know it.

The red appears to be pines within the cypress, a sure sign of high ground, I would definitely check these spots out.

The yellow areas are flag ponds, I didn't highlight all of them because I think you got the idea. These flag ponds are generally great for doe bedding if the are not disturbed frequently. Some of the flag ponds are inside planted pines, these can be slaughter pens for deer if the undergrowth is thick in the pines and if you enter/setup correctly with good wind. I know lots of big bucks that were killed in N FL out of flag ponds tucked back into thick planted pines.

The green is a scrub area. I know big bucks like scrub brush, a lot. I don't know if they prefer it over cypress bottoms because the scrub I hunt doesn't have cypress bottoms. But being that this section is nestled right next to what looks like a main dirt road? Could be a little overlooked area.

Hope that any of this helps you put a good one on the ground.

[lweingart]

Thanks man that helps a lot. The light blue you talk about is a mixture of oaks and cypress. Should I be looking at the transition line where they meet the pines or just try to find high ground within them?

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[PK_]

Thanks man that helps a lot. The light blue you talk about is a mixture of oaks and cypress. Should I be looking at the transition line where they meet the pines or just try to find high ground within them?

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If that is not actual cypress bottom that holds water then I imagine the transition gets hit pretty hard by hunters, even more so if there are oaks. I would look for cypress that holds water and then look for dry areas within those bottoms. Even if it is just a small cypress dome, many times bucks will bed right on the edge of them or inside them if there is a hump/dry spot. They are tough to hunt in spots like that, but not impossible.

[lweingart]

this is a pic of the east side of the lease that has more cypress clumps that hold water should i scout areas like these as well?

also on the rd i have a mark where i find lots of deer tracks and they seem to only be in that area so i plan to scout in there as well. On the east side of that rd is a deep canal and it runs the whole way down the rd. So I know the deer have to be coming from the west side of the rd. in the clearing between the hard woods.

[PK_]

Those particular heads have been thinned. I have never hunted cypress that has been logged but I would definitely check those transitions for bedding and for rubs/trails leading into the cypress letting you know if there is bedding on the interior.

It is hard to tell what is going on by the road, to me, that area looks wet but you said it is hardwoods. Only way to know is to check it out. You said there is a deep canal, if there are any crossovers that aren't roads that you can hunt, those are great funnels during the rut.

I really like the looks of that little flag pond and clearing in the pines SSW of where you are seeing the tracks on the road, if there are no human trails/firebreaks leading into it.

[lweingart]

I believe there is someone hunting near that flag pond and clearing. But I do find tracks on the rd at that bend. Not a lot of tracks but a few.

You said flag pods in the pines can be a killing hot spot. I've never heard of this before how do the deer use these areas? And would you set up on the edge of the pods or more inside the pines?

I know for a fact there is no one hunting near the 2 ponds by the camp in the first pic. They are close to our camp but that might make them over looked hot spots.

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