Originally Posted by
DennyF
The TSF isn't as remote and secluded as it seems.
Talking about far more than the TSF, Kev. Besides, TSF is broken up into many smaller chunks over a very wide area, not just one big parcel. Drive across 362 from Ansonia and gaze of to the north and north east while up on the high parts of the road. One helluva vista off in those directions, for many, many miles. And there is no shortage of such vistas in them parts.
Sure you can see for a long ways from those vistas. What you can't see from those vistas, is the patchwork of roads. There's plenty.
Hell, SGL 208 has 8,000 acres on it. How much of that gets trudged during firearms deer? Most of the guys I know that hunt there, never get more than a quarter or half mile from the road. You wouldn't have found great numbers of deer well back-in prior to HR, but there have always been some deer in the most remote corners. The higher concentrations of deer on that SGL have always been closer to the few food plots and ag lands.
208 gets hit pretty damned hard during the firearms season. The side south of 6 gets plenty of pressure. On the west side of that tract back through Elk Run, private landowners allow family to access it easily by driving damned near to the top. On the north side it gets accessed by hunters from Kenshire. Over on the east side up through Lick Run it get accessed by the logging road in Deer Lick Hollow along with access roads from the Patterson Timber Co. property. On any given day, you can see 3-4 vehicles parked in the little cemetary back there.
As for the side north of Rt 6, that section gets hit pretty hard to. From the intersection of 349 and 6 on out to Phoenix Run, there's dozens of camps with hunters that hit 208 from the south side of that tract. Then on back through Phoenix Run just about every wide spot will have 3-4-5 vehicles parked. And that's not even taking into consideration the hunters from the camps at Phoenix Run or the camps behind the trailer park on 6. How about the food plots up on top? You ever wander around up there? Those food plots are huge and they get hunted hard. Then there's the pressure from the 349 side. Not all of those guys get less than a half mile from the road. I've been dropped off at the top food plots on that SGL and hunted my way back to Gaines with snow on the ground and found hunters tracks most everywhere I've went. 208 isn't as inaccesable as you think and it sees its fair share of hunters every year.
You wouldn't have found great numbers of deer well back-in prior to HR, but there have always been some deer in the most remote corners.
Huh? Prior to HR, the more remote areas of 208, with its thick laurel and oaks, always had good numbers of deer. I'm not sure where you are thinking of, but it surely can't be 208.