Opening day stand....help me out.

[GMMAT]

OK....so Rob/PA was here turkey hunting (don't wanna hear about our 'mahhhing' at a bird[:@]) this spring....and we saw a great little spot for a stand. We had deer come down a fence line.....1/2 IN the woods....1/2 walking the tree line. Call it what you will, intuition, guess, ????.....I'm wanting to get in there opening day morning.

The fields on both sides of the road are beans, now (check that....edit....the one to the left of the road is beans. The field above that stand is beans. The field below the stand is open grassland). I went through there yesterday morning at 5:30....and they were in the field to the left of the road. Perfect.

So....Deer should be coming from that direction (as they did when Rob and I were hunting). They could either come inside the tree line or out, though.....so setting up for a north or south wind is a roll of the dice. West wind? OK....but that's blowing right towards the direction theyll likely be coming from. East wind? OK....but that's blowing right towards their bedding area.

So how do you hunt this. I can approach it from the north, and get in undetected. I've got that covered. I won't have a problem with that.

The stand site I'm talking about is the first one on the right of the road. I'll be a bit more to the west than it depicts....but I can cover inside the tree line and the field edge, from there.

Whatcha think?

[GMMAT]

I went through there yesterday morning at 5:30....and they were in the field to the left of the road. Perfect.

I just read this again....and that's confusing.

ALL depictions are from the photo (left of the road)....NOT where they were when I was driving.

[Bowtech 360]

I cant get up at 5:30 in the morning, but ya seems like a killer spot, literaly

[virginiashadow]

I tell you a place I would leave alone until the pre-rut------that pine thicket right below the cloud in the Southwestern part of the map. Wait until you have anWest/Northwest wind and hunt that bad boy about 50 yards to the east to catch bucks scent checking that pine thicket for estrus does. I would not even step foot by that bedding area until October 31st or so.

[StrutNtom]

ORIGINAL: virginiashadow

I tell you a place I would leave alone until the pre-rut------that pine thicket right below the cloud in the Southwestern part of the map. Wait until you have anWest/Northwest wind and hunt that bad boy about 50 yards to the east to catch bucks scent checking that pine thicket for estrus does. I would not even step foot by that bedding area until October 31st or so.

You also need to realize that he is in the South East. We don't have a "defined" rut like the north and midwest. Our deer mate from Sept. to Jan and fed.

[GMMAT]

shadow:

I don't have access to that area. The stand sites I have marked int he lower SW corner are at the extreme north of what I can hunt, there. I was in there, last night, glassing those two fields. I saw nothing....but I saw plenty of sign. Up the hill from those fields (heading south) is a GREAT oak ridge, though. I realized, last night, that I probably couldn't go on the left side of the road to hunt until late Sept. / into Oct.....when it was time to hunt that ridge. I just can't get in there, undetected. It's a hot spot, I'm sure, early.....and I may try to catch a weather front and get in there with a S wind......but other than that.....I'd be doing more harm than good, I think.

L-R....that third stand (left of the road)....if you'll follow that "line" (defined, kinda, on the aerial) up.....that's the property line. Up closer to that house to the N....left of the road.....I can hunt that spot, too. Rob and I hunted turkeys back in there. Lots of good sign in there....and I think it'll be good, too, for the time you mention (Nov.) and beyond.

The spot I mentioned .....I can access from the N. That's my in-law's house on the extreme top, right of the road. I can skirt the woods edge and come in that way. There's beans in those fields, now....and that little patch of brush that separates the fields "might" be a good spot to hunt the ground on an early evening. We'll see. That little secluded fied is shielded from the road and they're KILLING the beans, there. I haven't (probably won't) go in there, though, before the season. Too risky.

Once gun season rolls in.....I need to get out of this property. I'm sure the poaching neighbors hunt here.....and I value my life.