Need help picking a last minute late season spot please!

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BackWoodsHunter
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Need help picking a last minute late season spot please!

Unread postby BackWoodsHunter » Fri Dec 31, 2010 7:22 pm

Hey guys I need some speedy help if it isn't too much to ask. I had permission for a very limited turkey hunt on an awesome farm basically in the city last spring. I was able to contact the landowner and squeeze a two day access for some late season bowhunting out of him. I will be out there next tuesday and wednesday. I have only turkey hunted out there twice. We walked the land briefly looking for birds and setting up where birds were likely to be but I haven't seen the whole place by any means. I attached a topo and aerial photo of the property. Green is the property border on the aerial and its in black on the topo map. Yellow are my two access points. I prefer to enter from the southern point. The red dots on the aerial indicate the two spots we actually saw deer while spring turkey hunting. The blue square is a really thick area right along the freeway. The green above it is a red pine stand and then to the south is the blue square which is basically an area with a downhill slope and thick spruce trees and undergrowth. Based on how it was in spring I'd think it is likely to be a bedding area. What is a real kicker is all the snow melting. I will be hunting mobile and carrying my stand in and setting up on fresh sign but without the snow and a lot of experience i think I may struggle with the locating sign part. Any thoughts and input are more than appreciated. Not that I would want to but the hunt is limited to those 2 days so gettin in to scout or glass from a distance is not an option unless I want to burn up one of my two days. I should also add that the elevation is pretty much similar on this property. North of the stand of pine trees is a slight ravine and its thick and brushy between the 2 fields to the north and clearing to the south of it. I figure that would maybe be a good funnel to set up on. A lot of this is lowland and marshy areas. Not sure what was planted in the fields on the north end of the property and if the deer are feeding in them.

THanks all! Happy new year!


"The history of the bow and arrow is the history of mankind." Fred Bear
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Re: Need help picking a last minute late season spot please!

Unread postby dan » Sat Jan 01, 2011 2:40 am

RED I would likely walk the area marked in red ( keeping wind in mind ) and set up at the spot with the best sign.
YELLOW The yellow line is where I would walk day too if I needed to get a little more aggresive.
BLUE The blue dots are spots that look like they might be good spots to hang a stand.
ORANGE The orange dot is a likely bedding area. They might be able to see your approach from there.
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BackWoodsHunter
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Re: Need help picking a last minute late season spot please!

Unread postby BackWoodsHunter » Sat Jan 01, 2011 3:31 am

Awesome thanks for the help dan! Thats a confidence boost because as I've been trying to plan it out in my head the first spot I was going to check was around the pines where you put the red line and the next was down along those fields in the north. Thanks for your help I really appreciate it. Hopefully I can get into some deer the. The guy who lives on the property said he hasn't seen much for deer lately but I also know he never sets foot in the woods so we will see.
"The history of the bow and arrow is the history of mankind." Fred Bear
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Re: Need help picking a last minute late season spot please!

Unread postby Black Squirrel » Sat Jan 01, 2011 3:43 am

Sounds like a good plan, can't wait for the report. Good luck, and I like your no quit attitude, Backwoods.
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Re: Need help picking a last minute late season spot please!

Unread postby dan » Sat Jan 01, 2011 3:43 am

Good luck, and keep us posted. 8-)
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Re: Need help picking a last minute late season spot please!

Unread postby BackWoodsHunter » Sat Jan 01, 2011 4:07 am

Thanks guys I am pumped finally getting my new bow out in the woods. Also got my new, and first ever, video camera hooked up on one of dan's bow mount camera arms. Hopefully I can get some filming in too. 8-)
"The history of the bow and arrow is the history of mankind." Fred Bear
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Re: Need help picking a last minute late season spot please!

Unread postby BackWoodsHunter » Mon Jan 03, 2011 6:00 pm

Hey dan I talked with the landowner and I think my lines may be a little screwed up I think I can actually hunt as far west as the railroad grade there. Its an old, unused railroad bed and it crosses the river in one spot that might be a decent funnel. I talked with the landowner and he has a bridge that crosses the Fox river there into his house. He said the deer use that bridge to get across the river a lot of time. They also funnel under the freeway through the railroad tunnel. That being said would any of your recommendations change. The two fields to the north still have some green vegetation in them. Not sure what it is or if the deer are using it. The field east of the house is just an overgrown CRP field they don't seem to use.
Thanks!
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Re: Need help picking a last minute late season spot please!

Unread postby BackWoodsHunter » Wed Jan 05, 2011 1:35 pm

DAY 1: Curiosity killed my hunt and it barely started! I left the access point at the southern end of the property. There is a house and old barn there where the guy I know lives. He said the deer use the bridge that was built as his driveway to cross the river. On the way in I noticed he was right the bridge had 6-7 sets of tracks on it. I walked the orange path in and followed the red lines Dan highlighted for me. I crossed one set of deer tracks that were smaller than the tracks my families Shit-zu makes and one other small tracks and some turkey sign. The field I crossed is a large hill with the south end being the bottom side so I followed that to stay out of view of any bedded deer and up into the pines. I circled around staying downwind and headed towards the river to set up a stand. As I closed in I found a trail with 4 sets of tracks going into some thick cover where there's a pinch between the river and the high side of the field. This is the area Dan said was a possible bedding area but a little further down. I picked out a good tree to set up on but wanted to know what was just ahead. I crept as slowly as I could and quietly. I went 20yards further than the tree I selected and knew I couldn't turn back. I remember reading somewhere on this site don't penetrate the bedding area further than you are willing to hunt. So I paused to look for a good tree and the brush exploded 20 yards away. And a larger bodied deer that was bedded alone jumped up and took off. I was shocked at how accurate Dan's prediction was and more shocked that I snuck in so close without being detected. As bummed as I was that the only deer I'd likely see just spooked I was happy I snuck in on it. I left my stand in the tree and am headed out before first light. Then I'm going to move it. I'm hoping for some input as to where to set up tomorrow afternoon. The most sign I saw was crossing the driveway bridge and was wondering if I should set up behind the house. As long as the wind stays the same I think that is just what I will be doing.

Red Arrows are wind
Blue dot is my stand
Orange lines are where I walked
Red dot is the deer bed
Green is where the deer come out of the woods and cross the bridge back into the woods
"The history of the bow and arrow is the history of mankind." Fred Bear
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Re: Need help picking a last minute late season spot please!

Unread postby dan » Sun Jan 09, 2011 2:30 am

I have my doubts that a "mature" buck would cross that bridge in daylight. Maybe. But, I would likely follow the tracks back a bit and set up closer to where they are coming from.
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Re: Need help picking a last minute late season spot please!

Unread postby BackWoodsHunter » Sun Jan 09, 2011 5:33 pm

Ya I know damn well they wouldn't. But the day prior I went into the spot you directed me too as a potential stand site and bedding area right along the river where the pines make a point. I snuck in TOO close and bumped the bedded deer out. I backed up and set up and hunted and saw nothing. Left stand in tree gave it one more sit hoping something would enter from the north to bed. Well there were MORE fresh tracks entering from the north sometime in the night past my stand. None of the tracks ever left but in the south tracks were coming from that direction across the bridge so I thought maybe some were bedded in there and would cross the bridge at night. I hunted the afternoon south of the bedding area and saw ducks and a possum. Its such a tight strip of brush along a ridge and the river. I'm going back next week setting up to the south and having my LOVELY girlfriend stroll through the north end and push through the bedding area. Its the late season and thats in the metro unit. It will be my final attempt at getting the new bow bloody this season. I'm shooting does or a decent buck. To me a decent buck is 2.5yrs old especially by the lack of sightings this late season.
"The history of the bow and arrow is the history of mankind." Fred Bear


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