Pros & Cons of YOUR hunting area
07-07-2008, 01:13 PM
#1
Giant Nontypical
Thread Starter
Join Date: Feb 2004
Location: Pittsburgh, PA
Posts: 7,208
Pros & Cons of YOUR hunting area
List them out, what do you like about your main spot, what do you NOT like about it
(feel free to list out all your spots if you like)
Main hunting area
Pros
Good bedding area
Usually low bow season hunting pressure
Lots of deer
Generally able to get up a tree anywhere I need to.
Usually a decent acorn crop
Cons
Entire property is either field or bedding area, very little “transition” type.
No close agriculture and there are other good bedding areas closer to the food
The oaks are in, or very close to the bedding areas
Lots of non-hunting pressure year round (quads, firewood cutting, random trespassers, kids partying, trash dumping)
Extreme gun season and late season hunting pressure
Access is tricky, unless you hunt 50 yds from the road, odds are you have to walk past deer to hunt the rest of the property.
Best hunted in a north, northeast wind. Prevailing wind is south, SW & west.
(feel free to list out all your spots if you like)
Main hunting area
Pros
Good bedding area
Usually low bow season hunting pressure
Lots of deer
Generally able to get up a tree anywhere I need to.
Usually a decent acorn crop
Cons
Entire property is either field or bedding area, very little “transition” type.
No close agriculture and there are other good bedding areas closer to the food
The oaks are in, or very close to the bedding areas
Lots of non-hunting pressure year round (quads, firewood cutting, random trespassers, kids partying, trash dumping)
Extreme gun season and late season hunting pressure
Access is tricky, unless you hunt 50 yds from the road, odds are you have to walk past deer to hunt the rest of the property.
Best hunted in a north, northeast wind. Prevailing wind is south, SW & west.
07-07-2008, 01:24 PM
#3
Giant Nontypical
Join Date: Feb 2003
Location: Dover, PA USA
Posts: 5,497
RE: Pros & Cons of YOUR hunting area
All of my spots have:
Pros: TREMENDOUS potential to grow big bucks.Good cover, fair amount of food and very good genetics.
Cons: Plain and simple hunting pressure. I am confident that if I could have any of the 3 primary farms I hunt on TO MYSELF with exclusive rights and it was archery only I could hang a mature buck on a consistent if not yearly basis.
Problem is that the deer go nocturnal, get pounded in archery AND rifle season and the ones that are smart escape to a few unhuntable patches to live out the season in peace revisiting the core area and destination feed fields at night.
If you do not have a lease, or be lucky enough to have a family farm or some other Honey set up 9 times out of 10 if you get permission to hunt a particular farm or patch of woods there are already 1/2 dozen or more guys hunting it. Its not hard to get permission on many farms here in SC PA, whats hard is getting permission on ones where other guys aren't going to screw it up from the opening bell.
It's so bad that I am heading up to my one landowner's place this week to throw some cash and a plea at him to give me exclusive bow rights to the property.
I can't take it anymore. It CAN be done but you have to set yourself up perfectly for opening day or at most the first 3 days or so of the season OR rely on some sort of forced movement to see a buck in daylight where I hunt.
After that you might as well almost put your stuff away until Nov 1st and then when you finally see a buck or 2 on it's feet again the second week of Nov, season is OVER ,thanks for playing ,see ya again next year.
Pros: TREMENDOUS potential to grow big bucks.Good cover, fair amount of food and very good genetics.
Cons: Plain and simple hunting pressure. I am confident that if I could have any of the 3 primary farms I hunt on TO MYSELF with exclusive rights and it was archery only I could hang a mature buck on a consistent if not yearly basis.
Problem is that the deer go nocturnal, get pounded in archery AND rifle season and the ones that are smart escape to a few unhuntable patches to live out the season in peace revisiting the core area and destination feed fields at night.
If you do not have a lease, or be lucky enough to have a family farm or some other Honey set up 9 times out of 10 if you get permission to hunt a particular farm or patch of woods there are already 1/2 dozen or more guys hunting it. Its not hard to get permission on many farms here in SC PA, whats hard is getting permission on ones where other guys aren't going to screw it up from the opening bell.
It's so bad that I am heading up to my one landowner's place this week to throw some cash and a plea at him to give me exclusive bow rights to the property.
I can't take it anymore. It CAN be done but you have to set yourself up perfectly for opening day or at most the first 3 days or so of the season OR rely on some sort of forced movement to see a buck in daylight where I hunt.
After that you might as well almost put your stuff away until Nov 1st and then when you finally see a buck or 2 on it's feet again the second week of Nov, season is OVER ,thanks for playing ,see ya again next year.
07-07-2008, 01:27 PM
#4
Nontypical Buck
Join Date: Oct 2005
Location: Iowa (Heartland USA)
Posts: 3,249
RE: Pros & Cons of YOUR hunting area
Pros:
1. Ag on two sides
2. Plenty of watering holes
3. Bedding on property and nearby
4. Plenty of movement through the property
5. Stands placed to where I can hunt no matter what the wind direction
6. Monsters go through on a regular basis
7. I'm the only bow hunter on this and the neighboring properties
Cons:
1. One farmer does not usually harvest his corn until late December or early January
2. Poachers seem to be nearby during bow season
3. The deer are not completely predictable (which is why they call it hunting not harvesting)
4. I still have to work to support my hunting and cannot go hunting whenever I darn well please
1. Ag on two sides
2. Plenty of watering holes
3. Bedding on property and nearby
4. Plenty of movement through the property
5. Stands placed to where I can hunt no matter what the wind direction
6. Monsters go through on a regular basis
7. I'm the only bow hunter on this and the neighboring properties
Cons:
1. One farmer does not usually harvest his corn until late December or early January
2. Poachers seem to be nearby during bow season
3. The deer are not completely predictable (which is why they call it hunting not harvesting)
4. I still have to work to support my hunting and cannot go hunting whenever I darn well please
07-07-2008, 01:31 PM
#6
Giant Nontypical
Join Date: Sep 2007
Location: Central Minnesota
Posts: 9,445
RE: Pros & Cons of YOUR hunting area
What I like-
Great quality buck potential at times. It goes off of the gun season.
Good size herd
Great area
A few oaks and cedars
Very thick in spots
Swamp
Low hunting pressure during the archery season
What I don't like-
Neighboring land owners that complain about no big bucks but shoot the 1st 1.5 year old they see
Gun season in the prime of the rut
Longer gun season this fall then ever before
High out of control hunting pressure during the gun season
Not a big enough chunk of land that I own
Buck quality has gone down hill big time from what it use to be
Dogs running
Trespassers
Great quality buck potential at times. It goes off of the gun season.
Good size herd
Great area
A few oaks and cedars
Very thick in spots
Swamp
Low hunting pressure during the archery season
What I don't like-
Neighboring land owners that complain about no big bucks but shoot the 1st 1.5 year old they see
Gun season in the prime of the rut
Longer gun season this fall then ever before
High out of control hunting pressure during the gun season
Not a big enough chunk of land that I own
Buck quality has gone down hill big time from what it use to be
Dogs running
Trespassers
07-07-2008, 01:33 PM
#7
Typical Buck
Join Date: Mar 2003
Location: McDonough, GA
Posts: 754
RE: Pros & Cons of YOUR hunting area
Pros:
1) Plenty of trophy class bucks.
2) Great cover and funnels.
3) Great food sources.
4) Lots of does for 'bait'.
Cons:
1) Not many morning spots that are easy to get to without spooking deer.
2) Most spots are hard to hunt the wind.
3) The big bucks seldom do what you expect!
1) Plenty of trophy class bucks.
2) Great cover and funnels.
3) Great food sources.
4) Lots of does for 'bait'.
Cons:
1) Not many morning spots that are easy to get to without spooking deer.
2) Most spots are hard to hunt the wind.
3) The big bucks seldom do what you expect!
07-07-2008, 01:40 PM
#9
Nontypical Buck
Join Date: Jan 2008
Location: Southern Illinois
Posts: 1,559
RE: Pros & Cons of YOUR hunting area
Pro's
Good number and genetics
Great Cover
Bedding on property
Low pressure
Con's
Bedding area are numberous
Few funnels to hunt
No crops nearby
2 hour drive
Good number and genetics
Great Cover
Bedding on property
Low pressure
Con's
Bedding area are numberous
Few funnels to hunt
No crops nearby
2 hour drive