New here, but I've been reading this forum for a couple of months now. I want to say you guys are a wealth of knowledge. Even though I live in the piedmont of NC, I work in corporate America so finding alot of good hunting conversations at work is minimal. Now for the introduction: I'm 26 and have been hunting the better part of my life. Last year I killed the two best bucks to date. Both were 8 pointers that scored 110" and 112" respectively. I know these deer aren't huge by any means, but it seems around here if a deer lives past 1.5 then he's really accomplished something. My hunting set-up is a diamond justice, HHA site, WB, etc etc, I bought it new after last bow season and so far so good.

Now for my question.
My Dad owns 12 acres that runs the around theside of a Mountain. It's all wooded with a house at the bottom and a house at the top. In other words it's a 12 acre length of woods with fields and houses on both sides. It is a natural travel corridor for the deer between the houses and fields. When we scouted the land we ran a couple of bedded deer out using the only entrance. I've hunted this property twice since and see a total of 6 does. My last time walking in I ran bedded deer off, but the kicker is I use the same trail each time i enter the woods. I don't want to keep pushing these deer off there beds, but sometimes they are there and other times there not? What plan of action do I take? I can't really enter from other directions without going into people yards?

Set up right on the edge,wait for them to come out. You might need a couple of set-ups for different wind directions

Watch the wind and thermals. The deer will bed where they can take the most advantage of the wind while still keeping a close watch out. Usually the wind will be over their back. In the morning the rising temps will cause the thermals to rise and often swirl, as temps cool, the thermals will drop. If you are hunting the side of a mountain, your wind is going to be your biggest problem. Try not to educate them too much, they won't tolerate alot of being bumped. LOL

Welcome to the forums NChunterman, 12 acres with 2 houses doesn't leave you many options.
Try moving slow and glass the area about every 10 yards till you get where you want to be, or hunt the edges as stated above. Good luck!

wonder what the odds are of recovering a dead deer from a homeowners back yard??? might pi$$ 'em off little... i'm not sayin, just sayin...

HI NC and welcome,
If you are going to hunt that property it's a pretty good bet that some day you will be tracking deer into someone else's yard.
I would begin by asking the neighbors if you could use their yards as an entry point. This will also put you in a position of breaking the ice on tracking deer onto their property which by your description will no doubt eventually happen.

MY THOUGHTS AS WELL

That's good stuff, DannyD. I have a neighbor who will NOT let me hunt.....I won't even ask her (actually 2 of them).....BUT....I have permission to access my hunting land I can hunt through their property. I even give venison to one of them....even though I know better than to ask her to hunt her land (small acreage, anyway....that I don't NEED).

What part of the piedmont? I'm near W-Salem. Welcome to the forums, NC.

breaking the ice w/ the neighbors is a great idea. I've hunted on my land for 9 days and already I've been on two neighbors property tracking deer. I now have permission from both of them.

as far as not bumping deer - I'd clear out your trails by trimming branches and moving dead sticks. then treat your walk to the stand as a stalk. be very very quiet. I'm sure you'll see more deer that way, even from the stand.

Let me explain a lil more. This tract is part of 1250 acres of an old apple orchard mountain land that I grew up hunting on. It was bought up about 5 years ago and my Dad was able to snag 12 acres. This is not a rural area. These so called neighbors have fields as yards or are totally surrounded by woods. I know 12 acres isn't much but all 12 are wooded, and the houses are not included in the 12. The deer are traveling through this tract and cross a gravel road to another tract. The only way in from the road is a small 4 wheeler trail, in which deer have bedded no more than 60 yards from. Someone mentioned wait on the edge, this is not an option because the edge is a gravel road. I currently have my stand right in between 7 (not kidding)heavily used trails, overlooking a old road bed. I was thinking this may be a good morning stand, see as how i can slip in before they decide where they are going to bed for the day? GMMAT I'm 25 miles north of W-S, in Jonesville. I'm sure you know where that is.