ORIGINAL: busterbrown77
i am a relative newb when it comes to hunting. growing up, my dad was handicapped, so he couldn't indoctrinate me into the ways of the woods. recently, i've regained an interest in hunting and am doing as much reading and research as possible to get spun up before the season starts this fall.
right now, one of the places i can hunt is on base here in "wonderful" south eastern louisiana. the available areas are thick THICK cover and i'm wondering what the best strategy would be.
here's a sat pic of a representative area (click for full-size image):
thanks for any tips!
busterbrown77, I got to thinking about your area and I've got a couple of ideas.Without first hand viewing it's tough but here are a couple of thoughts anyway.
1) It looks like there may be a depression running from the area south and crossing into your area about 250 meters from the SE corner. Can't tell if it's water or what but my firstrecommendation would be to scout that area out and eitherground stand/blind just inside your area on that breakpoint. I personally would stillhunt it.
2) The whole eastern edgeappears to bea great big buckbedding area. Very often the largest bucks will move through the thickest cover they can find then bed just the other side of it, sometimes right in the open. They rely on their hearing to pick up anything following them and their eyes and nose for light covered areas. In addition, there is a great panic escape route to the east and through the water.With a predominant wind from the west it could offer a lot of potential.
3) No visible food sources so I would guess browse and mast. Look for internal edges and oaks, beech, etc.. Chances are though that most of the big bucks will spend 90% of their time browsing and resting in the very thick stuff, just coming out after dark.If it's as thick as I imagine it they'll just let you walk right by and never move. Scent will make them aware but probably not cause them to move unless your are going to step on them.
Quick summary: I'd focus, (until I had more first hand knowledge) on the southern and eastern edges. I'd still hunt, very slowly, the western edge of the thick stuff from north to south, which should be crosswind. That way you have a chance to see any deer moving west to east into the prime bedding area. Good Luck..
laxdad