Hey Jimmy. I know the area you hunt and it is pretty similar to my area down here in Southern NH. One thing I have found in the last 2 years in my areas is that while the oak flats definitely have a lot of deer sign, for the most part it is being made at night. So I started backtracking from what looked like the best sign towards the most likely bedding area. For my area it was a very nasty swamp edged by some impenetrable mountain laurel. I had set up right on the edge of that swamp and seen deer... but deer aren't stupid and they rarely leave the swamp from an angle they can't scent check what's waiting. I found for me setting back about 200 yards in an overgrown draw (which I had originally thought was thier bedding area) on the way to the best mast had me in deer all season. A lot more than by setting up on the swamp edge. Last year in the snow I saw a deer leave that swamp and it went 100 yards in each direction of where it left the swamp to scent check that all was clear. It did that while in the swamp where you could never have seen it. I found if you set up on the flat itself, you may see deer but you will bust them when you leave or bust them when getting in there in the morning as they are already there. This year I saw 57 deer within bow range while in stand in NH, and all of them moved past me on their way to feed or bed leaving me able to get in and out without getting detected as they were well gone by the time I was climbing in or out.

The one thing I was really surprised at is just how far a deer will travel between where they eat and bed. I think most guys tend to think it is only a few hundred yards, but the deer around here are travelling a 1/4 mile, sometimes farther. I believe the secret is not to hunt on the bedding or food area or within 200 yards of it. Because if you get busted, you've just blown the whole pattern. Since I hunt out the back door, if I bust deer in a spot.... I don't see them again very often in that area because they have lots of oak flats to choose from in the pure forest we hunt.