Where Would You Hunt?
 

Here is an aerial view...


Map is aligned with North up. There are fields to the south and a mountain with public hunting to the north. The red line is about where the old logging road is that we walk in from the west. A friend of mine has permission to hunt this private property. He took me out there Tuesday night to set-up a camera. We walked around to get a lay of the land. When we walked up to the right of the clearing I noticed a grassy area (dark blue) to my left down in the thick brush. There is a small water crossing (dried at the present) where the light blue dot is and crosses the road there and goes down through the dark blue area and out into the open field. I liked what I saw so I turned off into this area when we came back down. The light blue dot is where a bear had torn apart an old log. There was bear scat all over the area in HUGH piles. They are the largest piles of scat I have ever seen. We walked down the drainage to the dark blue area and all the grass was laid down with bedding spots (I'm assuming deer) all around. Hope this makes sense..
Now the questions? Where would you put up a stand? At the top where the blue dot is? Along the southern edge of the bedding area between the road and the grass? Or at the edge of the field to the west? Or maybe further down the tree line? At what times would you hunt this area (morning, afternoon)? I'm going to see if I can talk my new hunting buddy into placing his camera just off the road to see what is using the area and at what times.

There are also serious game trails cutting the logging road from the south and going north where we walked in. This is the area to the west of the red line. I'm guessing there might me either water or bedding areas down in the valley to the north. Would this be a good area to set-up an ambush stand? Morning or Afternoon?

Thanks for any suggestions and I will try to answer any questions you might have about the area.

RE: Where Would You Hunt?
 

i would need a topo map to see but if the yellow lines are a funnel hunt at the end on the downwind side. Green is stand location for a wind coming out of the west blowing east.

RE: Where Would You Hunt?
 

I don't have access to my Topo map at work so I tilted the map a little to get a 3D view.



The red line is our path in. The light blue dot is the bear sign, the dark blue area is the bedding area. The pink line is a large game trail (old logging road) that had elk droppings on it. We will be hunting deer, bear and elk from here if they show up.

Reid

RE: Where Would You Hunt?
 

the red is a funnel i think and it leads to that field if u can find out what is in that field it migtht be a food plot. If u can hunt it i would hunt there.

RE: Where Would You Hunt?
 

I don't think the private property that we have access to goes that far north. The field with the green triangle is just a wild grass field. There is a good trail going across it from the middle of the ...never mind...let me load up another picture....




The lighter pink line on the left is a game trail that we could see from the road (red line). We didn't have the time to scout the area to the west. That is my next area of concern. Mainly because there are a lot of game trails cutting the logging road from the fields to the south into this bottom.

Reid

RE: Where Would You Hunt?
 

have u seen any deer here yet?

RE: Where Would You Hunt?
 

Here is a view a little to the left...



The main road is just to the left of the picture. The red line is more or less the old logging road we walked in on. The grass field is to the right. The yellow lines are some of the game trails cutting from the grass field across the road and down. Looking at this 3D view shows the lay of the land and a nice choke point to the north. I put a purple dot on what might be a good spot for a stand. Again I will have to find out how far the property goes. I might have to go out and scout that area this weekend.

Later
Reid

RE: Where Would You Hunt?
 

Based on these pics I would definitely have a stand at one of the two red dots I have marked on the pic. The one on the left would be my first choice. Those deer will be coming out of the public land when the pressure starts and those look like two really good escape routes for them. Especially given the fact that they are already using the one to the left as a game trail. Just my two cents.

RE: Where Would You Hunt?
 

You won't know where to hunt until you spend more time in the area. Signs of where the animals are will tell you more than a map. Personally I would use this map along with signs of Rubs, Scrapes, and pictures from a trail cam to find where you go. Based off of a map alone you won't be able to do it. Spending time in the woods in priceless!

RE: Where Would You Hunt?
 

There were some in the field to the south Tuesday night when we walked in. My friend had a camera out for a couple of days and snagged a few does and a spike on camera. He moved the camera Tuesday night to the edge of the grass area. We will check it again this weekend.

Waiting
Reid