Help me figure out this place

[maukings]

I heard other hunters talk about this property to the west. They have gotten some does in the past few days. It's pretty flat. I might give it a try based on the wind I might sit in this locations. Not sure what to think about the woods that cut through the middle since they are too thick to be a finger. Also the island seems interesting. Probably very small.

Forecast for tomorrow is snow in the morning and cloudy in the afternoon with 20+mph winds. Don't know if it's worth going. Last day of the first late season http://www.accuweather.com/en/us/franklin-grove-il/61031/hourly-weather-forecast/2241010?hour=33

[dan]

I can't tell a whole lot from that map... I would probably walk the property with the stand on my back walking the transitions looking for fresh sign coming out of thick and/or over looked places and set up when I find the sign im looking for.

[maukings]

Hey Dan, I think you missed the last post on the previous page.

Last day of first late season. It snowed all day. Temp dropped to 11 degrees in the evening. Wind was 20mph from the NW

I woke up late (I have to get up at 2:30am to be there by 4:45am normally) and got there around 11am. I walked around for about 1.5 hours looking for tracks. I parked on the NW parking lot and covered the trails in blue. I did not see any recent tracks on the NW side. I ventured into the south west to check out the spots Dan plotted. As I walked through the trail I found a few fresh tracks that were pretty large. I tried following them but they seemed to disappear. One of them went further into the woods and I do not feel comfortable going in there by myself. Everything looked the same covered in snow. I couldn't find the beds but I think they had to be somewhere around the hill sides. Could I have spooked them? At that time of the day they should be bedded, right? Anyway, I was past noon by the time i got to the car and I left to get lunch.






After I came back I moved to the west side of the property. This is the area I posted in the previous post. It was around 1pm. I walked west and parked myself on the end of the field looking south. Looking at the topo you can see the drop straight south from where I was sitting. I was hoping they would come from over there. Around 4:40pm I packed up and walked back to the car. I was freezing and wanted to get out of there (I don't know why I'm so afraid of getting caught in the dark lol). As I get near the entrance I caught the white tail running north right in front of me. I think it was two of them. Every time I see them, they are running and make no noise! I looked at their tracks and saw that they went into private property. I also saw another set of tracks that crossed the road and went east exactly towards the area Dan had marked and I sat at on Day 2! BY the way, I'm not the only hunter coming back empty handed. In the past 4 days only one doe was harvested. I need to figure out a plan for the second late season.

[maukings]

I'm considering getting a blind for the second late season and set up along the path these does followed. The tree stand might have to wait until October. Too cold to be up on a tree

[ Post made via iPhone ]

[maukings]

double post

[maukings]

Been doing some work on Google earth. I have an easier time visualizing topos this way.



Dan, would love your input on this. Yellow arrow is where does come out most mornings and run across the field.

[dan]

Its hard for me to set up for does... I am always thinking bucks... If I saw them come out in a certain spot, on a certain wind, I would set up to shoot them when they repeat that. If I was using a gun, I would set up so even if they are bedded right on the edge of the field they would not see me, or smell me. My scent trail would not cross theres so I could possibly get more than one hunt... I would concentrate hunting there on the days that mimic the days the doe was seen. wind direction? storm front? etc... Other days I would keep moving around trying new spots until I have a doe come by.
If you have snow, you could circle possible bedding areas from a distance and see if tracks go in and out... You could follow tracks back from food sources till it looks like bedding too... But you might find a lot of the deer at this time of the year are seeing you coming cause they are bedding on field edges... Might want to observe from a distance and view before making a strike.

[maukings]

Update second late season

At 10am I headed to the east side of the north field on the west side of the inverted P plot. I went into the thick and found at least 8 beds with fresh poo and prints everywhere. Snow melted around the beds. I took tons of pictures. Does it make sense to set up there this afternoon or me going in there ruined it?

[ Post made via iPhone ]

[maukings]

No luck. Could be because the neighbor was making a lot of noise

These are the beds I found. This stuff was so thick. I had to crawl to the through some spots. There is no way to get in here without making a ton of noise. Could not get in there in the dark.

These had to be all does. Super close proximity to one another and small. I counted about 8 beds.

I set up facing NW looking at the trail that went into the bedding area i had just come out of but saw nothing.

I stopped at a gas station on the way home and a local showed me his map and pointed where all the deer are on the opposite side of the field. He did mention that it would be fruitless if neighbor is being loud that day which he was.

I looked at the check out sheet. Zero harvests from 8 hunters. The annual average for this property is 20 deer. Seems super low. Is it the property or the hunters not going into the thick stuff?

[dan]

Looks like your finding the bedding areas, but your getting so close its moving the deer temporarily to other bedding areas... Good intel.

[maukings]

Well, today concluded the 2014-2015 season for me. My first time hunting. Had a shot at a doe but missed. Didn't get another chance. In hindsight, that was a fluke as there was no bedding anywhere near the spot I was hunting. A lot of equipment was purchased. Will need to get a stand and potentially learn archery so I can get the most out the season. I belong to a sportmen club which has limited hunting on the property. I will scout this in the next few weeks. The current public area that I hunt only generates about 30 deer every year. 20 of them are taken at the beginning of the season with arrows. I'm guessing by the time late season comes, these deer have moved to private property and patterned hunters. I may hunt both places but I need to hit it earlier. Dan's workshop was great and was exactly what I needed. Looking forward to 2015-2016 season.

[maukings]

Went scouting today. I found a ton of bedding with fresh poos everywhere. I saw 2 groups of does. There was no way for me to tell which bedding was buck bedding because there were tons of tracks and tons of beds. Only a couple of lonely beds. All of them had hairs on them.

One thing is clear, hunting pressure definitively pushes these deer into adjacent private property. I never saw this much fresh activity while hunting late season.