- 80 acre private parcel with 50 acres timber and 30 acres ag.
- Timber is generally rolling hardwoods with some random pines and whatnots. I have marked areas with understudy on the first map.
- Ag field rotates between corn and soybeans, but as property owner gets older they, for whatever reason, have only had beans planted last 3 years.
- I have all the two tracks and major deer trails mapped out pretty accurately. I walked all of them back using gps. Probably some that are unknown, but if they are they are very light.
- There are some wild apples growing on west side of property. I have found good sign there but never seen a buck on the hoof during daylight despite good cover in the area.
- The oaks are in a place where there is not good transition/security cover, and I have only seen does/yearling feeding on them during daylight. I also have noticed that these oaks tend to drop early and usually all of the feeding is heavy before or right as season begins.
- My best stands have been the two marked on the east side just north of the doe bedding area. I have observed bucks bedding around the perimeter of the doe bedding, but have also travelled from the east, west, and north to cruise the bedding area.
- This is private property in Michigan and while I can control the amount of pressure this piece gets I have no control over surrounding parcels as they are all private too. I have done very well waiting until pre-rut towards the end of October and hunting strategically around halloween up until Nov. 15th.
- Lastly... hunting the bedding area itself is off limits per the property owner because that's the 'sanctuary'.
My primary question is...
If i'm targeting old age class bucks... what other areas should I be targeting on this property?
I feel like every year I see a steady parade of 1.5 yr old bucks but rarely anything 2.5 yr or older. The oldest buck I have seen on the hoof (and subsequently killed) was a 2.5 yr old 8pt that was cruising the bedding area moving east to west. I observed him the day before moving south to NW but I did not see the direction he came in from (it's quite thick around the bedding area, so it's possible he was bedded nearby). The next day I sat the stand immediately adjacent and he came in cruising east to west right at dusk when I killed him.