BackwoodsBuck

Went out with my dad yesterday evening to show him where I put a salt lick on a field that he plowed. Deer travel down that path to get from bedding to a soy bean field, so I will be hunting there out of a blind Saturday (opening day) it the wind is right for it. There is a pond back there, but it has gotten so thick over the years that I could not remember where. My dad decided to take me to it while we were back there. The bank was COVERED with tracks, with at least one really good sized buck, and there were a couple of extremely worn trails right by a tree perfect for a ladder stand, coming out of some EXTREMELY thick crap. Now I know where I should have put a stand a month ago. My dad is always running the tractor all over that area, bush hoggingor plowing or cutting hay or something. I think I will see if he will bush hog a path to the tree fromt he other side of the pond than the bedding Saturday after the morning hunt ( I can't hunt evening), and then us put one of his ladder stands in that tree Sunday. Then I could hunt that in the next week or two.

I forgot to mention, with everything as dry as it is now, that pond is pretty much the only water without them coming into the open in my dad's pasture, and it is just a few yards from their bedding area. I don't think that they are likely to abandon it, especially with the tractor running being a normal thing, and sitting over it in the morning as they are on their way back to their beds would be perfect. Also, my dad doesn't bow hunt, and rifle season doesn't open until mid November, so I am the only person to hunt this area for a month.

What do you guys think?

cynikalHC

You dont want to spook them out of their bedding area going to and coming from your stand. You also dont want to spook them out with all the tractor work. But if you are going to cut a path then the sooner the better so you can get it over with and they will hurry up and get used to it. Dont forget that getting it done this year will mean that you are one step ahead for next year.

BackwoodsBuck

I have hunted for a while, but always over food plots. Going after the deer is new to me, so forgive the asking of obvious questions.

Tractors are running all over the property all the time. The deer should be used to it. My dad tells me about cutting hay and having deer come out into the field to see what was going on, as well as finding deer tracks the day after plowing a field, a lot. Also, I will not be cutting a path through the bedding area, just in some weeds and briars so I can get to the pond and edge of the bedding area without making a lot of noise. They should come by the pond to drink before entering their bedding area, giving me a shoot at the pond or as they enter the bedding area.

Does this sound right, or am I making some bad assumptions? The spot would have at least a week, maybe two, before I went in and hunted it.