Originally Posted by
*twodogs*
The blue dot in the valley is where you have been seeing deer and you were busted by a nice buck. The blue dot is the transition area off the bedding area(the thick stuff), make sure you set your stands according to the prevailing winds. You've found the bedding area, now it is just a matter of setting your stands properly according to the wind and getting in and out without much noise. Bucks will troll down wind of the beds to locate hot does.
Look to the SW area as well, where all the thick stuff is, that hardwood between the two bedding areas is where I would set a stand as well. Looks like cultivated fields to the North (food sources) of this area with steep slopes, find a saddle and the trails from the beds and get a stand in there as well.
Thanks TwoDogs. The problem I have is that the deer bed everywhere because it's so thick. I've seen both bucks and does bed anywhere in that valley from the bottoms to the ridge benches.
So if I hunt that blue dot, I'd want the wind to be anything from the north, correct? Most of the time I've hunted that area I've been on the ground...the time I was busted I was on the ground with a slight SE wind. Although I can't hunt the upper part of that valley, I think if I set a stand there and have the wind blow down the valley, it will carry my scent out and disperse since I will be higher. My problem is I have to walk through those pines where deer may be bedded to access that stand. There are trails all through that area and they cross over and go down to the river to the SE.
That SW area you mentioned is almost impossible to get to. Those green lines are bluff areas where they mined. The only access is where the that yellow arrow shows and I have to walk through a bunch of thick stuff to get there. The woods open up closer to those fields north of the bluff. Also to the west of my valley stand they open up into hardwoods.
