Guys, I'm out of town and have very little time to go back and get thoroughly caught up on everything leading to this little squabble... I'm on lunch break during some pretty intense medical training, and don't have the inclination nor time to care who's right or wrong. For the sake of the thread-starter, let's take personal grudges and vendettas off-line, and not destroy the intent of this thread.

Further bickering will be deleted so save yourselves the typing.

Hey News,

I had never compared my "Urban Areas" the the big woods that I hunt, but after your post I put some thought to it. You are exactly right, I get away with a ton of stuff that would ruin my mountain hunts. I don't know if it is easier, I just think they are different. I really enjoy them both, but the Urban hunting is great right now since I have little ones at home. They are just more convienant and easier on my wife.

I just go where the deer are. I don't know any other way. I have access to land around me that has a lot of deer on it. I'm pretty certain I get away with some scent issues that others don't.....but I still approach EVERY hunt with scent elimination fanaticism.

I used to live on the coast of SC (Charleston).....and I routinely ran to 30 miles ofshore in my 21' Hydra SPorts to get to 100' of water. I fished out there and everywhere in between there and the coastline for kings/wahoo/cobia.....and we'd take a friend's Key West into the tidal creeks for reds/flounder/trout/etc.... I LOVED fishing the big waters (even going further offshore with friends.....but I also love roll casting in a mountain stream no wider than my kitchen for an 8" rainbow. I don't draw much distinction between the two when I'm doing them. I'm simply fishing.

I've not had the opportunity to hunt big wooded areas (other than the 300 acre lease my buddies have on the eastern side of our state). I guess I'll have to see how I like that (although I like killing a deer last time I was there). For now, though.....walking 1/4 to 1/2 mile outside my back door to hunt deer that are fairly abundant appeals to me. I'm not trying to make this as hard as possible .

What defines "urban" deer hunting, anyway? A road? A house? A fence line? A food plot? An agricultural field (ALL agricultural fields are pseudo food plots to the guy hunting BIG woods)?

I doubt many experienced deer hunters would argue with that.

New (and anyone else):

How big is the farm you hunt? I only have access toabout 60 acres on a few tracts that are part of a "triangle" of farms (surrounded by roads) that is likely 700-800 acres (with no internal roads in that 'triangle'). So basically....I'm hunting deer that are not bordered on any side.....aren't fenced by any stretch.....and routinely range outside the 700-800 acres that I know they roam.

I was just wondering what others consider a "farm" and what constitutes "urban" archery hunting (what's the line of delineation)?

I have(2)24 acre tracts with no homes on them that I hunt. I shot my first buck on one of these tracts (my honey hole). I shot all but 2 of my deer from this same area.

When I think of "urban" hunting, I think of no farmland at all. I'm talking just woodlots behind houses. You can get some gardens, apple trees, oaks etc for food sources but nothing like a cornfield or anything like that. I think urban hunting can be one of the easiest orone of the MOST frustrating things to do. With the woodlots so chopped up, often times the deer are in a woodlot, 3 roads over and youhave no chance at them. Other times if you've got a honey hole where they are always in, you can do pretty well. AS far as the human activity making them easier to kill....I don't buy too much into it. I'll stand there and have deer watch me shoot in my yard as long as I am close to the house. Should I hang out in the woods its a different story. And if they know you are there, they'll be just as skittish as if you were out in the mountains. They don't mind people when they are where they are supposed to be. But venture out of routine and they just ain't going to stand there and let you shoot em.

Amen to that, and another thing I noticed is that urban deer seem to know that somebody in camo is a threat whereas somebody in street clothes isn't. I can walk through the woods in a pair of blue jeans and a t-shirt and if I jump a deer up he will usually just stand there and stare at me until I either walk away or he gets bored and walks away. Now, put me in a camo suit and that same deer would run as soon as he saw me. You always hear the comments "the deer know when season starts" and to some extent that is true. The deer just notice that something has changed, if they are use to human interaction with humans wearing street clothes then they are going to get accustomed to them wearing those clothes, when the human puts on camo the deer notice the differance and that is unsettling to them, hence why the deer become more skittish.

My farm is around 100 acres bordered by 3 other pieces totaling close to 4000 acres or more. I don't consider that piece urban even though there are a few houses nearby. The area I hunt that I consider "urban" consists of some small pieces from 3 to 17 acres that are side by side by side. Most of these pieces are the backs ofneighbors yards and some old fire lanes/power line right of ways. This area is near several neighborhoods, roads, traffic, people, etc. It does back up to another piece of woods but that piece is also divided and bordered by the things I mentioned above. So even though there are a couple of 100 acres(or more) for the deer to move through, their movement is predictable due to the landscape and the fact that yards, roads, and otherhuman interferences create lots of man-made bottlenecks, pinch points, and other areas that make it easy to predict how a deer may travel.

So I guess what I consider urban areas are areas that are more city than country, where human interaction has a higher than normal levelofimpact on the deer and their movements(i.e. a yard light, barking pet, kids playing, people walking, high school band/track practice, or a new neighborhood thathas just cut up 300 acres of prime hunting land).

Thats just my take on it. Iguess I justfeel like the deer for the most part are a little more patternable (is that a word?) on the smaller pieces because they have less optionsand even though they could technically bail out of there if they wanted and change up their patterns a littlethe fact that they are creatures of habit and the lack of optionskind of handicaps them.Even if they don't know it, I know they will be back or I know where they probably went. GMMAT I don't think of you as less of a hunter for taking advantage of your situation, I do the exact same thing but I also knowthatwhat I do theredoesn't necessarily applyto other areas I hunt.But that can be said about lots of hunting, I don't hunt a corn field the same way I hunta swamp or a thickcreek bottom the same way I hunt an oak flat etc. etc etc.I doknow one thing, in those small areas I usually get to see a lot of deer and the more deer you get to watch the more you can learn from them as far associal behavior,body language, and things of that nature. And that is pretty valuable info that can be applied to lots of different areas and styles of hunting. Sorry, a little long winded.

I hunted a spot like that the person that lived close to my stand really didnt like hunters and of course when i shot my deer ran and died in there front yard man she was mad!!!

I have many spots in the urban setting. Infact some of my best spots are there. I have spots inside the city limits of Philadelphia. PA thatI been hunting since I was 10 years old. I have spots on the outskirts of Phila near farms and some near farms that sold out to the house Barons. These spots are close to home and are great spots to hunt. I have some nice tracks of land in the big Woods of Pa too that I have permission to hunt . Urban hunting is ok by me!

Hatchet Jack