Please help me find a good stand
 

Hi everyone,
I'm a relatively young hunter, at 19, especially in bowhunting experience and it would be great if some of you older, more educated hunters can help me out. I thought that i picked some great stand locations for this year but i've been out everyday almost and i have yet to even see a young doe or anything except turkeys! I've put down some maps of terrain and satellite showing the new location im hunting this year. If you guys could explain where to set up a stand or even better copy my pictures and repaste them showing areas where you would put up a stand you guys would really help me save myself and make this a great sucessful season for me. I've tried hunting inside field corners, bottlenecks and funnels, saddles, benches....the works. But i have a hard time identifyying these and a hard time placing stands in general. I marked out in red the area i can hunt and the blue dots are my current stand locations. If you guys can lend a helping hand I'd be eternally grateful.....so i can put up that picture of that nice buck i shot or send you guys some delicious doe venison. Any help would be appreciated for helping a new hunter out. Thanks everyone!!!

Locations
 

It appears that there are many draws coming up through the property. I hunt a lot in south east ohio in the hill country. Our best stands are at the head of the draw, or find the heavy used trail running across the draw on the face of the hill. If you walk the draw from the very top of the ridge down till it ends or where your permission ends you'll find good crossings. Deer are lazy and will find the easiest way to get from A to B. Not every draw is the same. You'll put in some miles up and down, but it will be worth it. Remember to use the thermas for picking your stand locations on the face of the hill. Good luck!

I'll leave you and the others to pick out your spots on your property. My advice is completely different. Go to your neighborhood/state parks that have deer and scout them out daily. The same spots and same areas you need to go over on a regular bases. Read and re-read the deer sign and become a custom to what fresh and old sign looks like. You'll get real good at telling the difference between fresh, few hours old, 12 hours and days. If you do this, your stand locations will fall into place. This will be really helpful come rut time. Not sure where you want to go, walk in quietly and find fresh sign and then climb just off the trail. Mature bucks are always traveling around looking for the fresh @#$%^&*%T#.

What is planted in the fields? Do you know of any bedding areas on the property?

Always hard to tell the best spots 'remotly' like this... But here's a few spots to check out. That strip of trees could be awesome if they are using it to travel between the different areas... Good luck!

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I would say your best bet is to look for heavily used trails and invest in a trail cam. This way, you can see what times they're used and by how many. If this is private property and you feel comfortable leaving a cam out there, I'd go with that option. As for this year, once the rut starts and the deer seem to throw caution out the window, you'll start to seem them. Nothing we can say can match a good scouting effort. Still hunt the morning and evening, and take 3 or 4 hrs to scout different areas. Mark the bigger trails along the property line and see where they lead. Once you know the area like the back of your hand, you'll feel comfortable knowing which stand will produce, with what wind, and what time of day. Good luck and let us know how you made out this year.

get a few game cams...your best chance...no pics...move em..

+1 I agree with south dakota....that looks like a good funnel!

I also agree with southdakotahunter with that woods line separating the two fields. Even if they arent traveling it a lot now, the bucks will be once the rut starts heatin up more. It would definitely help to know what is planted in the fields. Have you tried finding a vantage point where you can watch one or two fields and see if and where deer are entering the field? that could help you in placing stands.

Looking at the elevation pic, I like the lower right corner of the picture. It looks like there is a gully there. I assume the top of the map is North. With prevailing west wind, I would get off the corner of that field in the lower right to get them on the way to feed in that field. If you do some exploring there, I'll bet you find some good trails going to that field from the gully. With the "chasing phase" of the rut a couple weeks off, it is best to hunt their feeding patterns right now. Good Luck and post the results!