Lots of land, lots of questions, looking for help

[wisky_hunter]

Hello. i am pretty new to posting on this forum, but i have been doing a lot of reading on here and was hoping for some starting points on the maps below. I have been hunting for nearly 25 years, primarily with a rifle. I bow hunted some in my younger years and have recently taken it up again. I have never taken a deer with a bow, but have already had some good encounters. I hunt primarily hill country/farmland in western Wisconsin, with some river bottoms (see my only previous post). I have learned more in the couple weeks i have been reading this site then i had in 25 years of gun hunting. I do plan on getting the hill country DVD at some point before the spring when i plan on really scouting a few of these places. I'm hoping some of the experts on this site can give me a few marks on the map to get me pointed in the right direction as i will most likely end up making a few drives there late in the gun season again, which would give a good opportunity to scout a little in season.

Now about the maps:
A Majority of what is seen is hunt-able, with some small portions in the far south and the south west corner that are not as is anything north of the road in the north east (top is north on the map). The little pond in the south east also has a small creek running East and west thru the valley that runs along the south of the map, that is the only real water source i can see in the area. The hill top fields are mostly corn. The primary wind direction is from the S SW, with some N and NW as well. I understand the principals behind the thermal tunnel pretty well already, but in practice the wind throws me for a loop. If there is any part of my game i need to improve it is learning to play the wind. If you have any further questions let me know.






Thanks to everyone for sharing their expertise and experiences, even if i get no replies to this post directly there is a wealth of knowledge on this site.

[BigHunt]

red is good possible bedding

good luck

[wisky_hunter]

Awesome Bighunt, thank you for the starting points, when i was looking at this after reading and watching the current video on HBTV, i was pretty sure i had the elevation sorted out, but i was way off on where the beds might be compared to your marks. I would have missed most of the spots you marked, thank you a ton!!!

There are a couple of spots that are pretty interesting and i was wondering if you could provide a bit of insight as to why you choose them:

The first is the spot in the draw just south of the NE entrance to the property, i see the small point on the topo, but there are several other similar features elsewhere that you did not mark, how/why did you zero in on that one?

The 2nd is to the east of where the road turns sharply to the south. what are your thought on that big draw and why you did not mark the point at the north end of it? I have walked that point up from the bottom and it is very open and i think you are spot on by not marking it, just curious as to how you came to that conclusion with the info provided.

Thanks a bunch!!

[dan]

I really like the area I circled... It has bedding for all common winds, and if an East shift occurs a buck can just drop down across the bottom up to the other side. Instead of marking the beds, I marked the stand positions.

[wisky_hunter]

Thanks for the Reply Dan!! I really like the dot outside of the circle for a stand location. it looks like that is a narrow crossing across the ridge top and may act as a funnel if there is a slight depression not detected on the topo ( small saddle?).

Like i said in the original post i may get some in season scouting 2nd weekend of Gun if we make any pushes here. (Guess who will be volunteering to walk the top 1/3?) Then i hope to get some real good walks on this piece come spring maybe find a shed or two. The road through there is great for shining (well 20 yrs ago it was). I think this may be a great "starter" property for honing the skills i have been reading so much about. I can use many different scouting tools to gather as much info as i need.

I will try and keep this post up to date when i get any new intel.

Thanks again for your input and all of the information you have shared on this site. Good luck next week, and be safe!

[wisky_hunter]

I did get a chance to so some in season scouting at this property and found a potential buck bed with some doe bedding nearby. I also found an old homade treestand. Here are some pics.


This is a Pic of the trail that runs around the top 1/3 elevation, the trail is pretty wide but kind of tough to make out in the pic, but it runs right up the center of the pic.



Fresh little rub i found along the trail nothing special:



Here is some doe bedding about 1/3 of the way out on the point, the pic did not turn out well, but there were 3-4 beds in close proximity to one another in the small saplings.



Here is a pic of an old tree stand i found about 1/2 way out the point (between the buck and doe bedding) does not look like it has been used in a while.




And finally out at the very end of this point is (what i think) a buck bed, here are some pics:

1st Pic is looking in the bed facing out the point. If i remember right it is about a 2 ft deep depression, with that log as an extra backer.



this is me standing in the bed facing back the way i cam (old tree stand tree is right in the middle of the picture.) wind was blowing from my 10:00 pretty steady (normal wind for the area)



looking down where the deer would have been laying, some hair if you look real close:




Thoughts on the possibility of it being buck bedding? Think this would be worth a hunt?

[wisky_hunter]

Oh and one Bummer about the area you liked Dan, there is a Cabin right there, that area is not part of the main parcel, the squared off points you were looking at is the leveled off yard. win some you lose some :)

[dan]

Looks like a buck bed to me, its just a matter of how often and when it gets used.

[chasemukluk]

Cool thread. Hopefully you keep updating it!. Is the cabin occupied or abandoned? If abandoned, you could still hunt there. (If on your property).

[wisky_hunter]

Well i got the chance with a good wind to set up here, I did not have a ,mobile set up so i was forced to hunt from the ground.

Here is my set up:



here is the view i had:



The bed i scouted above is off the left of the picture and about 100 yds away the wind was directly in my face blowing my scent out over the valley and back the direction i walked in. Nothing showed from the bed but a spiker came out about 80 yds to my right from the other side of the field i lost sight of him and ended up blowing him out when i left at dark. He was browsing the field edge after he crossed it.

[wisky_hunter]

im very excited to get back to this land in a couple of weeks, with my "new to me" rig. Found a great deal on a LW alpha and sticks, older but in great shape:



I have a feeling it will be the best $200.00 i could have spent.

[welded34]

Hopefully everything works out for you. Goodluck. Looks like the alpha is in good shape..now you need some stealth strips and yakgrips to go with it.

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[wisky_hunter]

exploring this land and took up an observation stand on what looked like it could be decent for bedding. Plus it was my first hang and hunt from my alpha. Setup went pretty well I took my time and was up in about 30min. Nothing showed but it was a good night for a sit.

Here was my view:


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[wisky_hunter]

Went a bit deeper to what looked like a good funnel and it IS. Two trails worn to dirt perpendicular to each other with a giant scrape where they meet. Also another large scrape further up the trail that I noticed once I got on stand. Set up was really good I'm surprised at how much easier it was this time to control the noise. I will be back here for some rut sits in a couple weeks

View from the cheap seat:


Notice the scrape right where the pins are.


I did have something pop out right at shooting end about 60 yds away right at the corner of the field you can see in the pic. I had already lowered my Bow and pack. I could not tell if it was a buck or not but it did stand there and listened to me tear down and actually browsed closer by the time I was all packed up. I walked out and did not pay attention to weather it blew out.

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