PJ, I really hope you were joking about having your kids hold a newspaper to shoot through for papertuning. Really. nuff said.
Ryan, not sure how much free time you have before your Oct 3 opener. Sounds like you might already have a decent place selected. I've skipped through some of the messages. Are you placing treestands or using a climber? If you are using a climber, try to pick a few trees in that area so that you can play the wind. The only other option I can think of for you is to cross through the timber areas and hope to find some decent trails, then walk alongside the trail and hope to find a decent cross trail - and hopefully it would be near the edge of the timber to make it easier to access. Go get'em.
I managed to get a couple of treestands hung last Saturday. Just going from tracks in the area, but both locations look promising. One had both a rub and scrape. The rub wasn't massive, but still encouraging. I'll be ready and out there on September 15 - just 5 days away!