help me pick a spot guys
 

OK i posted this on bow hunting but since this will be both a bow site and my main muzzle loader sight i thought i should get you black powder guys to help me to.

I will be using the site for both bow and muzzle loader hunting from a ground pop up blind. i might make some limb built stands for those hard to get to spots
OK what you guys need to know not in the post below is this is on three bean fields with a corn field to the west
there is alot of dropping and trails in the field and wood strips dividing the fields.


OK i went and scouted the area with the bean fields again.
I went to the east of the fields to see if i could find some water or the bedding area.
I found a ridge about 20 or 30 yards in from the second field.
I climbed the hill. Then it dropped about 20 feet into a area or depression what ever you want to call it.

Which was about 40 yards deep and i would say 50 long.
It was clean of most Grass there was some weed grass about 8 to 0 inches high but not very thick. There were alot of trees. it was mainly shaded and about 10 degrees colder then out in the field i think due to all the shade.
There were trail that ran north to south, some ran east to west some went around the border of the semi cleared area. And some seemed to just room around in circles.
A few trails ran up over the hill into the fields and some went around the ridge to the south into a thicker area. Not a thicket but just a thicker area.
There seemed to be a creek bed that was dried up the deer where using to get to the strip of woods after the second field.
There were a few trail to the south of the area that went of or around the ridge to the third small field.
I did not find any droppings in the area which seems odd due to the hundreds of tracks there.
I saw one set i followed around the west south edge that was large the biggest i have ever seen. I wear a 154e shoe and they were near as big as the front of my shoe. Each huff was big and they had a good space between them.

I know this was long but help me out guys i need it .
here is the link to the changed map
http://maps.google.com/maps/ms?hl=en&ie=UTF8&msa=0&msid=1075618055 19961621604.000452dbbbcc50133d51f&ll=39.108976 ,-87.355138&spn=0.003089,0.006609&t=h&z= 17

RE: help me pick a spot guys
 

also guys i will be using a tc triumph with a omega bdc scope with 250 grain shockwave super slides. with pellets.
i am new to ml hunting so i plan to keep it at 100 or so yards but i will be doing some 200 yard shooting when i get my gun. just incase a big buck is alittle out there.

RE: help me pick a spot guys
 

It sounds like you might have a feeding and bedding area going on. So all you can do is make more trips out there and find the route they take. Then you have to decide if you want to ambush them along the way.

The problem with a real thick area is you often need shooting lanes or you need to be up over the thicket it self.

I personally would try to get out there and walk the area, learn their trails, and also if possible take some camo clothes and just go out with binoculars and sit on the edges of the field and watch to see where they come out from. This will all give you a much better idea of stand placement.

For instance, the thickets I hunt are on the edges of a cedar, alder, black ash bog. You can walk in there but the ground is very wet. The deer also walk through there all the time but I discovered an area where they like to walk along the edge of the higher ground out of the thicket. So I placed a tree stand in that area and ambush them as they wander out of the marsh at night. It makes for low light tuff shooting, but at least I see deer, and the shots are close..

RE: help me pick a spot guys
 

i thought about for ml hunting siting on the ridge in a pop up that would get me off the ground since the area is open i would be able to get a shot might need some clearing but not much
i thought about a decoy just in the field for rut hunting to draw them out into the open

RE: help me pick a spot guys
 

ok well were i think i should set up ont he ridge might give me a proplem with a west wind or even a hardwest southwest wind now a south east wind would be great

RE: help me pick a spot guys
 

What Cayugad suggested is the best way to approch any spot you plan to hunt, get out there any watch them and try to figure out their pattern.

One of the spots I hunt whitetails in is similar to what you have there. My family and I have shot many deer in a spot almost exactly like thesmall finger of field on the south end of the area on you map. If I was scouting the area I would try setting up in a treeon the SW end of the finger of woods between the small field and middle field where I could see back to the E/NE ends of both fields (as well as theopen areasof the feilds) and watch for deer movement. Then determine the best places to put stands based on movement patterns and possible wind directions.

I also noticed what looks like water both north and west of the property. The strip of woods between the north field and middle field could be a travel route to the water to the west. The property i hunt has several of these overgrown fence/ditch lines and the deer love to use them for bedding areas too. In fact my brother and I have shot several deer by hunting them like quail along those strips of overgrowth. We each get on a side and walk slowly along about 5 to 10 feet out from the edge, often getting within 10 to 20 yards of the deer before they jump up and try to get away. They always end up running out in front of one of us and most of the time we can get a shot. It can get quite exciting when one jumps out 10 feet in front of you.

RE: help me pick a spot guys
 

As you continue scouting there are some things you can look for; a low cornor in the fiels thats more or less out of sight of the large open area with tracks and dung, this is the kind of spot I hunt for bucks in the evening.
On the ridge look for an area where there is a sharp drop off look for single beds along the edge if you find them set your stand up high, and be there at least 30 minutes before first light,the buck will approach from down hill and you have to be high and still if any thing at all is moving or looks out of place he will bust you. Lee