Now the notes:
- Green Lines - the brush along these edges has been bulldozed, only the trees in the fence row remain, very open and visible to the field
Purple Oval - suspected doe bedding, three or four beds tightly grouped some very small
Blue Line - start of buck beds and rubs
Orange Dot - possible ground set up, thirty yards from nearest suspected, buck bed
Orange arrows - possible access routes
Here are some on the ground pics:
View from the "t" in "Need to Scout" looking NW. There are three stages of edge here - cornfield to waist high briars and grass, waist high briars, grass to chinese privet, and chines privet to fence row trees. The privet is 4 to 8' tall, extremely thick, impossible to get through quietly. The fence row trees are mostly hackberry, sassafras, and cedar. This type of cover is on both sides of this fence row. You can't see into it from either side or get into it quietly.
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Large rub on a cedar tree located along an exit/entry trail, traveling SW out of fence row or NE out of field.
Bed. The green, ground level stuff was matted down. Also looked like a buck had toyed with the small sapling on the right.
Bed and large rub on a sassafras tree.
There were 10-15 large, circular beds along the blue line. They varied in age and use, but along that line almost every place I stood had me saying, "There's a bed, and there's a bed, etc." The beds and buck sign stop at the end of the blue line. The trails indicate the deer popping out into either field.
I need to scout the other side. My one setup right now is the orange dot. The problem with this area is visibility. The orange dot offers a spot where I can sit just off the suspected travel, while being able to shoot about 20 yards max. Only problem is that this spot is 30 yards from the closest bed. So access is an issue.
My first thought is wet leaves and wind cover. I could access in two ways (the orange arrows). First is to walk straight down the fence row. This would be quietest but might be the hardest to pull off without being spotted. Second is to hug tight the outside edge of the fence row and then use a deer trail to crawl through the brushy edge to my setup.
Hunter pressure is nonexistent in this fence row and in the fields. There is nowhere to hang a stand overlooking the fields. There is a small (one, two trucks max) pull off in the direction indicated. From there, most hunters will be sucked into woodlots off the map that are easy to access by a farm road.
Thoughts? Ideas?