Where would you hunt
 

My dad and I just recently received permission to hunt on this land. The whole farm is 170 acres, but I just want to focus on the area inside the black lines. I put up three blue spots in areas i thought would be good when i scouted over it. I know it is hard to say what spots would be good without walking onit, but what areasseem to look good based on the topo map.

thanks

RE: Where would you hunt
 

what is the normal wind direction for the area?

RE: Where would you hunt
 

the wind seems to come from the northeast

RE: Where would you hunt
 

It looks like you gotta nice saddle to sit on,although i would move that stand site to the other side for your prevailing winds.

RE: Where would you hunt
 

Does Deer hill Cem have a place for deer to go hide and people can not hunt? If so I would think about hunting near there. If deer(mature buck)feels a lot of pressure this might be one of his get away spots. Could catch him coming back to it after a night of looking for doe's.

RE: Where would you hunt
 

Between your 2 northernmost dots, where the point jets out into the field from the east, that is a great hilltop field funnel, as well as a crossing point from the finger of woods due north. The deer will funnel that point to stay in cover, and that is the most narrow place to cross into the other woodline. That would be my first spot. Next, due west of your second dot from the north, go due west. Right where the 870 ft. marker is. Great saddle as well as another funnel. Your southern most marker is good, as well as to the northwest there is another saddle, almost right in the corner.

RE: Where would you hunt
 

I have a hard time visualizing land just from topos. Use a arial photo also and you get a better grasp of the land. The below link is the best FREE one I have found, you can get awsome Res. If you could post that on here too(might not be able to if too high a pixel count) if would help all the not so analytical hunting fools like me....
http://terraserver.microsoft.com/
The one bad thing is the pics are 10 years old, but if the farm hasn't changed much......

RE: Where would you hunt
 

Thanks guys for all the replys. Here is an arial map of the area. Mobohuntr is the red dot on this map aboutwhere you were talking about putting a stand.

RE: Where would you hunt
 

The one between the two blue dots.....move it farther to the west, not right on the edge of the field, but inside the woods ....bout 30 yards. The other one is right on the money.

RE: Where would you hunt
 

i would hunt both of the area where the lakes are close to the woods they got everything there from food to water and cover also i would set up a stand in front of the brown dot that is in front of the blue dots in that funnel goin into the woods

RE: Where would you hunt
 

Thanks for the photo...All the other guys seem to have good ideas...one other one that looks like an awsome rut funnel is your far southwest corner of land right where your biggest chunk of timber thins down and then bottlenecks to the bigger timber on the adjoining land. Put a stand for then on the downwind side of that funnel. I think you will see a lot of brusiers there in November. It apears to be kind of a saddle too, the more I look at it the more I like it. The best funnel on the place. GOOD LUCK!

RE: Where would you hunt
 

I forgot...even if you dont see much sign there doesn't mean it will not be a great funnel come November. If it is only used at that time of year there may only be faint trails but some of the greatest funnels for that time dont have much sign. You wont be able to use a NE breeze though, wait for a NW or SE depending on which side of the funnel you are on. Keep us posted on how you do this fall!

RE: Where would you hunt
 

I had the same thoughts as OneShot7, archery season is early here though and I never overlook the water holes.

RE: Where would you hunt
 

One question for everyone, when looking at this and other tops, how can you be sure if your in the right area. I would think you would look at the map select 3 or 4 areas then put up trail cams and let them do the scouting for you. I myself do look at maps for new areas but until I see and scout itfor myself their is just no way to be sure if it will be good or not. I do realize that I am also comparing hunting here in Idaho thats mostly elk and muley's wherethey havemillions of acres public land compared to small private farms with whitetails.

RE: Where would you hunt
 

Honestly, you can't without scouting it. But there of course are natural funnels deer will use, saddles, inside corners, things like that. If I've never set foot on a place before, that's where I go to, natural funnels. If it's a place I'm going to continue hunting, I'll do some scouting too, but once you can identify the natural funnels you are pretty much assured you are in a good place. Next you just have to hunt it right, and that, obviously, is the most critical and difficult.

RE: Where would you hunt
 

Here is another map of where i think all of your recomendations were to hunt. Again thanks for all your helpful hints, i'll be sure to get out and scout these areas.
Mobowhuntr you're brown -ignore the brown dot on the very right-
Ghemry you're red -good idea you're starting to think like a buck-
Oneshot7 you're yellow -i didn't quite understand where you're second recomendation was.
Sandilands you're also yellow -i'll be sure to huntnear wateron ourhot days in October-
JoeRE you're black -nice eye that looks like a great funnel-

RE: Where would you hunt
 

I see the funnel I mentioned earlier is really in an old creekbottom...some say shy away from hunting down in a valley but I do with great success provided the wind blows strait up/down the valley...which is tricky because often the wind does not blow the same down there as given on the weather forcast. You have to kind of experiment before the season a little... I would if it looks as good from the ground as it does now from above, the deer should funnel right down off the bluffs and the key is to eliminate as many variables as possible BEFORE you even sit in a stand with your bow.

RE: Where would you hunt
 

On the SW section, where the big timber is go to the western edge and find where the best trails are going to the crop/hayfield and pond are and set something there. To the east of your blue dot, find where they are crossing the road to get to the northern crop field. Of coarse you don't want to get too close to the road, but find were the most trails intersect and set something there.

In the N section (N of the road) it is mostly crop, so why not hunt the crops. The deer are going to come to thisarea for food and will likely go to the areas with the best cover from the farmsteads.The western red dot, I would move to the timber edge to the NE so you can cover the pond, unless there are good trails cutting through that piece of timber. It appears there are 2, maybe 3 ponds on the property. Walk them all and see which shows the most deer activity.
Take the center blue dot to the SE, to thefinger going to where the timber breaks.
The NE blue dot is fine anywhere in the backwards L of the crop field, because the deer won't be pressured there by any farms.
Another spot would be the NW corner, the Island of timber, or the timbers N edge just to the SW of the island.

Of coarse anything can change between now and hunting season. But the deer will come to eat and drink(that is a given). All of the property needs to be walked out now to find the best areas of travel and scout the fields to see where the most activity is. I would suggest to scout 1st, because walking it will scare off deer that would have come to the field to eat.

These recomendations are from the 2nd topo on page 1

RE: Where would you hunt
 

Deer Hill cemetary is where I would put out a Double Bull Blind.