Hunting big woods.....
 

I've been thinking about this, lately. If you hunt big woods.....what's your strategy? What are the food sources (assuming the ansence of crops)? We hunt deer (at least I do) by patterning their movements to the best of our abilities. In "Big Woods"....what prompts them to move? Why are they moving?

Serious questions.....

RE: Hunting big woods.....
 

I like to hunt near water sources when i am in the "big woods". Deer here really seem to follow rivers, creeks and hang just on the outskirts where the vegatation is changing from willows to poplar. I like to find conveient places for animals to cross the river such as a beaver dam and hang out there also. There will be 20 different trails that come together into one to cross a dam so it is a type of a funnel.

RE: Hunting big woods.....
 

There going from the mast ie; acorns, hickory nuts grapevines etc to their bedding areas,( sunny slopes when the weathers cold or where they can see and smell danger coming. Look for the travel routes, gullys , drainage, rhododendrons etc. Get out there now and find there trails in the snow.

RE: Hunting big woods.....
 

There is a great book, which i am currently reading, its called Hunting Big-Woods Bucks (Secrets of tracking and stalking deer). It has a bunch of great information about big woods buck. You might check it out.

RE: Hunting big woods.....
 

I admittedly don't hunt big woods. I'm trying to understand what people who do hunt big woods are looking for to pattern their deer.

I hunt an old farm.....that's adjacent to an old farm....that's adjacent to an old farm. I KNOW where "my" deer are going (they're going to an acorn flat or a soy bean or cornfield). I know where they sleep. In my neck of the woods....it's pretty simple to identify the food sources. I would assume it's that way in most people's hunting areas.

Big woods just make me wonder. It must be tough to pin them down to a certain area.

RE: Hunting big woods.....
 

It does take a while to pin down travel routes for deer inbig woods. I hunt mainly big woods that are public land as well. You can literally walk miles into the woods without seeing a field or road. I try to hunt where multiple ridgetops come together. Usually the deer are using these areas to avoid going down the steep ridge sides and through the ravines. Find an oak flat that is dropping acorns and you can guarantee the deer will be there sooner or later. Hunting new areas is tough at first because it can take a long time to figure out where the deer are traveling to and from.

RE: Hunting big woods.....
 

Scout as much as possible. Winter time (snow) is a great time to scout. I look for prior year rub lines and I pay attention to track size.

I look for small game trails with rub lines which usually run perpendicular to heavy used trails. I also look for convergence trails crossing reveins or natural funnels. I also looking for this sort of stuff in thick stuff, that are not necessarily bedding areas.

Deer in the big-woods that I hunt mainly graze. Identifying only one food source is tough. But apples in the fall are always a good bet.

RE: Hunting big woods.....
 

Food, food and more food. If you can find where they are feeding and some bedding areas, set up between the two and you will see deer. There may not be any food plots, but you can really see an area where they have been eating acorns cause the leaves and ground are all dug up. I took my best buck deep in the woods where they were feeding on acorns. One advantage to hunting big woods is that they move earlier since they feel more concealed in the woods.

RE: Hunting big woods.....
 

GMMAT i hve two really hotr stands in my stretch of woods one is on a land bridge wher three trails intersect one coming from a bedding area going and then splitting to go to a small pond and the other goes across a small strectch of swamp to end up in an old overgrown wheat feild the other stand site sits right on the edge of a bedding area wher a trail comes out following an old fence behind this spot there are some beaver cuts and some ponds if i were you i would concentrate on old pastures new young tree growth mast (acorns and such) beaver cuts and maybe try stilll hunting thick cover

RE: Hunting big woods.....
 

I grew up hunting big woods deer in Vermont and my buddies property I hunt in Oneonta, NY is pretty much big woods hunting. I learned a lot about deer movement, you kind of have to that way. I would start the same way you describe. Find what and where they are eating. Then look at wind movement/terrain features/possible bedding areas. I really hunt certain terrain features that force the movement in certain areas.........saddles, certain stream crossings, etc.

RE: Hunting big woods.....
 

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...

RE: Hunting big woods.....
 

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.

RE: Hunting big woods.....
 

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.

RE: Hunting big woods.....
 

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.

RE: Hunting big woods.....
 

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.

RE: Hunting big woods.....
 

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.

RE: Hunting big woods.....
 

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..

RE: Hunting 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.

RE: Hunting big woods.....
 

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.

RE: Hunting big woods.....
 

near water. crrek beds and beeding and food and trails

RE: Hunting big woods.....
 

Water sources and Big White Oaks

RE: Hunting big woods.....
 

I hunt a8,000 acer area of woods,I find the best thing that has worked for me is Find the trails in the winter sit those area's in the fall and I have been pretty lucky, otherwise I look for the high ground and then the closest cluster of white oaks with Fresh droppings and sith that area so far it;s been a 90% sight rate and shottwo and missed 1 and seen deer amolst every time out. also find the pines !!!!!!! they love to bed in there especially if it's on high ground

RE: Hunting big woods.....
 

Right now I am reading "Bow Hunting Forests and Deep Woods" by Greg Miller. He discusses a lot of the things talked about in this thread. Excellent book for hunting big woods.


You can get it here

RE: Hunting big woods.....
 

Yah I am reading the same book it's pretty good, I just finished Hunting Rutting Bucks by John Trout Jr. that is a deffinate must read also

RE: Hunting big woods.....
 

I just finished Gregs book as well. Good read on Bigwoods.

RE: Hunting big woods.....
 

I hunt 800 acres that is boardered by only two fields the rest is all woods with the exception of some old four wheeler trails and power line cuts to divide some of it. Its actually bigger, but the 800 is the only part i have access to. two roads also divide it.70% of it arespoil banks which are long side by side hills left over from strip mining a long time ago. the other 30% are flat woods that join the hilly. There are huge pine trees everywhereas well assome thickits with under brush and honeysucle. I have my best luck hunting edges as being where two things come together such as a thicket and open woods coming together. bucks travel these edges frequintly.There are some low ares with water laying in them and creeks that sway deer movement as well. There are alot of strip pits (large bodys of water) left over from the mines that create funnel ares as well, and i have good luck in funnels. There are whiteoaks spread out all over property so its hard to hunt them as they could be feeding anywhere on acorns. I have learned alot where the deer move from just hunting it over the years and moving frequently.

RE: Hunting big woods.....
 

Northern Wi and Upper Mi they bait the heck out of the woods.

RE: Hunting big woods.....
 

I will be all over this book.

RE: Hunting big woods.....
 

I have tried hunting big woods, just do not have the patients see more candy wrappers, drink bottles an people than I want to see.