big woods hunting can be tough because there is so much land. finding the food source the deer are keying in on is the ticket. of hunting bedding areas etc...but some big woods i hunt deer seem to wander pretty aimlessly..and seem to bed wherever the heck they want. behind a log..under a hemlock..in a thicket..wherever..never the same places...im still REALLLLY wet at bowhunting the big woods..as you know i gave it heck this year at school. every day i hunted i found another spot i needed to be. one day the ridge was lite up with scrapes..the next not a hint of deer sign..ill get there one day. its definently a diffrent ball game. the land i hunted was only about 10,000 acres..plus its surrounded in more woods mostly..only broken up by a few small dirt roads that most guys wont/cant drive. which leads me to next years adventure. hunting the bottom lands where i hope other people cant/wont go. one road i hunt off of you sometimes need 4WD to get back up it when its DRY. rain turns it to a mud slide which is always an adventure, and snow..well that can be a mess if its packed. last time in i had to put it in 4WD low range. never had to do that before..and i was the only one on fresh snow. when im back there fishing this spring im going to do my scouting. i know i found some WHOPPER rubs down in there last year while fishing. also i want to look for side valleys that run into the large drainage. hunt the points and edges of those..thats been good to me in the passed. but the diffrence between my big woods and yours is probably hunting pressure. thats why i look for "out of the way" areas..like the bottom of the mountain..that cuts out anyone without 4WD atleast..then i will walk longer, farther, steeper, thicker etc..

the best piece of advice for big woods is a TOPO! then couple that with an area and try to highlight areas of intrest. thickets, pinch points(funnels, saddels, bottle necks, draws etc) stands of mature forest, fields etc..that can cut down the leg work and ground pounding that needs done..doesnt eliminate it but it can help a bit..

if you find any good reads or anything let me know...i got alot to learn about it before fall!! funny i got big woods hunting to worry about at school and then i got small wood lots etc with highly super pressured deer to learn to hunt at home on the farms...

I pretty much hunt "big" woods exclusively here in WV. I concentrate on food, food,and food. I hunt oak flats and ridgelines. Where I hunt deer usally wlk these areas aimlessly feeding and bed inthe middle of them.

Gut....

Other than the oaks.....(And I've hunted a 1900 acre 'big woods' area of WV/VA).....what are they heading to (food-wise)? The guys I hunt(ed) with plant plots.....but other than that....I have NO IDEA what anyone would look for (I'm talking HUGE wooded areas).

How in the world woud you pattern ANY deer with ANY decisiveness.....int hat situation? I'm impressed that this is done. But once the source is identified.....doesn't that make the (_______) acreage much smaller?

Still fascinated.

I hunt big woods almost exclusively, and my best success has come when setting up on shelves along steep ridges. Easy travel corridor for deer. Another good setup is at the base of very steep ridges. Deer are like you and I, they will almost always pick the easiest way from point a to point b.

Its called trial and error with a touch of experience. I have been hunting the big wooods for 24 years and when ya think you have them figured out they will fool ya. The deer I hunt have never ever seen corn,alphalfa or any other agraculture ever. Why he travels that ridge and not this one, well your guess is as good as mine.

GMMAT: I've found it very hard to "pattern" deer movement when hunting big woods only. That being said I seem to have sucess in the same areas every year. To me it's like when you are hunting the only food source in a particular area, like a big food plot, where you know that this is where the deer are going to feed. Where I hunt the deer travel all over the areas. so hunting one particular deer is almost impossible.

Pines when it is cold, water in dry years, acorn in good yeild years. Clear cut areas. You have to find food water and cover just like anywhere else. But you need alot more luck in the big woods..

TeeJay...

I've just learned a respect for guys who hunt the way you do.

There....I said it. That's got to be tough going.

NO agricultural fields? Nothing? If your woods have HUGE oak flats.....I don't see how you have the patience to bow hunt.

NOTHING here but a compliment.

if they arent feeding on mast(nuts etc) they are feeding on browse. logged areas, open areas, blow downs etc etc...anywhere there is low browse. deer are naturally browsers. but they are opprotunist..if they find a good yield of nuts they will be there. if they find a food plot or agriculture they will be there. but big woods looking for browse is usually the ticket. less seasonable and more consistant than mast and other food. but alot of spots they browse they might also bed...trails coming in and out of sapling thickets are usually good.

near water. crrek beds and beeding and food and trails