Farm country ?

[Zap]

Ok what things are key to look for when scouting farm country?

marty

[PASwamper]

I hunted a farm on a dirt road that maybe 5 cars drove through a night. Late summer I was seeing a mature buck in a field within 50 yards of the road. The other side of the road was the farmers house and woods. right inside the woods, within 15 yards of the road, was a slope that went down to a ravine that ran parallel to the road. While scouting one day, I was walking back to my car, came up on the other side of the ravine and bumped the big buck. He was laying right where the land starting sloping down into the ravine, within 15 or 20 yards or the road, and within maybe 30 yards or the farmers house. I hung a stand and tried to hunt him there a couple times. There was just no way I could set up on him at that time. By the time season came he was bedding there till dark, getting up and crossing the road into the field and probably getting back to the bed before light. The two or three times that I hunted there, even if the buck was using that bed again, I'm sure he had my number. This is why when I'm scouting farm country the first place I start to look is behind the houses and oddball places where I would have dismissed before. It seems like thats where they go in heavily hunted suburban tracks too. Maybe thats more the key where to look, but I believe it has highly improved my chances of getting on to a big one. Other than that, I'd be interested myself to learn if wind and thermals are still a major factor when hunting what I wouldn't call hill country but farmland with low rolling hills?

[Zap]

Bump for info.

marty

[PredatorTC]

I once hunted and watched a 3.5 year old buck that was bedding in a one acre woods between two fields. He could see the fields from his bed but i could not see him because of the thick brush and trees. But i was very impressed that this little woods was all he needed.

I also shot a 4.5 year old with the gun that bedded in a crick between two corn fields. The crick was only 15 yards wide. This spot is still hot today...there is another buck that is bedding there. He is just very hard to get close to....

Glassing fields in the summer is very important. I was surprised to see through the optics, what comes out of what little pockets, at last light that i would not regularly see with the naked eye.

Hope this helps you on some ideas of where to look....

[Zap]

marty

[magicman54494]

I'd be interested myself to learn if wind and thermals are still a major factor when hunting what I wouldn't call hill country but farmland with low rolling hills?

I hunted farm country a lot years ago. Thermals could have some effect but what really was important was how the wind was effected by open fields and wood lines. Wind will swirl around by edges of woods and especially in corners. It's best to test currents during the off season. Being young and dumb I learned this the hard way! Just because the wind is coming from the west doesn't mean it will be from the west in these areas.

[magicman54494]

Concerning bedding in farm country. If it's out of the way it might hold a big buck. High grass patches, tiny wood lots right behind the barn, brush along ditches, wet lands, hedge rows, brushy fence lines. I have noticed that a lot less land is being farmed and grazed so there are becoming a lot more overgrown areas for deer to hide in.

[Zap]

Very good replys, thanks.

marty

[tim]

i hunt famland in kenosha county and dealing with smaller patches of woods. deer love to cross at areas where that patch of woods extends out into the field the farthest. and if that isnt the case you will notice deer travel across open fields where the field is rolling just enough to hide them when crossing. i have noticed there bedding in the slightest of high spots on the farm i am on . the problem im having with this farm is , i believe the best opportunity i have is early season but because this farm has swampy areas interlaced throughout the farm the mosquitos are miserable. and with smaller patches of woods it is hard to enter without getting busted. im currently trying to figure out my entrance in some crap so thick its hard to crawl through only yards from a road and so close to a bedding area at the edge of a tiny swamp. i think ill have 1 go at it and that will be it, but the sign is encouraging. 4 finger tracks/shredded trees size of my calf. and i dont think anyone has ever touched this area .

[huntinnurse]

ThermaCell Tim, use a thermaCell to control the skeeters!!!! Get the harness for it and connect it to your backpack or belt while walking.

[tim]

hey huntinnurse , i used it there on that farm last year and was still eatin alive, i thought it helped when not much wind, but that place is mosquite stomping grounds im telling ya. my best bet will be cake on the deepwoods off and go for it with the best wind for the situation and hope i score first time in. the only place i have been bitten with deepwoods off was that farm putting out trail cams so that might not even cut it!!!

[Casper]

ThermaCell Tim, use a thermaCell to control the skeeters!!!! Get the harness for it and connect it to your backpack or belt while walking.

Agreed. I didn't have to use mine last year, but those things are amazing. Summer fishing or scouting....a must.

[PredatorTC]

I agree Casper but i never had much luck while walking with one

[gjs4]

agreed- thermacells work great without wind or movement

wNY is basically all farm country.

the will bed in areas with vision to open ground and winds to their backs ... and that becomes more extreme with increased pressure. the old barns, rockpiles, lone trees...etc are areas of buck bedding with pressure. no pressure- creeks are a magnet. Bucks also tend to bed downwind of does and use the does as their early alarm and can check for estrus come late fall when leaves are disappearing...some times it just may be a small rise with a blow down in an otherwise open woods with this scenario. corn fields are last choice or the first choice if you have firearms/deer drives etc...kind of presence.