I have a few different hunting sites. One is about a 5 acre timber surrounded by agriculture. The deer mainly use this timber as a pass through to bedding and feeding areas. The big bucks have eluded it so far though. I also have a 3 acre timber that is their bedding area. They tend to stay in it and the big bucks come in as well. It is surrounded by agriculture and grass land. I have newly acquired a 40 acre timber that is surrounded by pasture on East and West, and more timber on the North and South. The timber goes across a hillside for as far as the eye can see. It has big ravines and a lot of deer sign.

60 acres of hardwoods with alot of mature white oaks , 80 acres of canary grass as high as your shoulders and tagalders(sp?) that provide an excellent bedding area , 40 acres of corn and 40 acres of soybean(new this year). Theres a crick that runs right thru the middle of the property and thru the bedding area and a bayou off the wolf river that seperates our property from the neighbors.

"Nocked,cocked & ready to rock"


Edited by - bowfanatic on 09/18/2002 05:03:24

One spot is right out my back door. 83 acres of woods behind my pond. There's a thick 2nd growth, briar patch on the corner of my property. There are trails leading in & out of there. It's small so I won't go in, I'll just wait in the woods. A corn field is at one end of the woods. The deer cross a ravine with a creek in it to get there. I saw 3 nice bucks together this spring, and have seen does with fawns all summer. This morning a doe with 2 fawns was checking out my 3D deer target.

Phil.

My favorite spot is a funnel that leads to a field that the deer browse in. The deer bed on top of the hill then make there way down between the houses to a fairly open oak flat. There is a stream that concentrates the deer movement in one direction. Although they sometimes cross it, I have my stand positioned so I can still have a shot opportunity. The deer use this area as a little staging area before heading out to the field.

About 100 yards away is another excellent stand site where there is a fence that pushes deer movement to one corner and there is a number of trails beat into the ground.

The only problem is this year all of the bucks, but a smallish 7 point have been coming out to the field from the opposite side. I'm working on them though.

If you know just where to park and enter the wood, you can walk back into the bush about 50 yards and you will find my trail. It took me two days to cut the trail down into the draw that I hunt, but I'm sure my time was well spent. This place is so thick I'm not sure when the last human has been down there. I did find a soda can the other day, put it had one of those old pull tab tops so I don't think it was from anyone lately LOL! In this draw is a natural spring that runs year around, and in TX water is a great place to hunt. The good thing about this water hole is that it is in thick cover, and nobody else knows about it due to it's small size, and thick cover. I have several trees down this draw that I have prepaired for this season. I have taken some nice pictures of some good bucks with my game camera this year, including a nice looking 10 pointer that i want. Shooting lanes have been cut, bow has been tuned, just waiting on opening day.

I have a couple good places to go.

Behind my house I have 33 acres of very thick overgrown apple orchard. Very few good trees for treestands. There is a large creek running along the south border. (Great for big trout and salmon BTW) I really don't see many deer out there however, this is where I killed my first deer.

My father-in-laws farm is 120 acres. I'd say roughly 15 - 20% is woods. Fairly open with good treestand trees. On interesting feature of the farm is a long strip of woods seperating two of the fields. This strip runs from the southern end of the farm, around the field that sits on the southern left corner of the farm, and connects to a large patch of woods. This strip narrows to around 50 yards wide at a key location. Great funnel! Seen many deer in that spot.

My brother-in-laws farm is over 150 acres. Several hedgrows run between fields. Deer seem to love these rows. The eastern most portion of the farm is a large hill that is all hardwoods. This eastern section makes up the southern end of a huge patch of woods that runs for several miles to the north. Unfortunately the deer really seem to hang up off our section and more to the north. I don't have any confirmed permission to hunt up there. We had some logging done a few years ago so now there are some great logging roads and some clear sections on our land. Some of you may recall the photo's I posted of this piece of propery.

I just joined a hunting club last year. They have nearly 1000 acres of land to hunt. Almost all of it is hardwoods with a few swampy sections and a few real thick areas. I haven't even begun to see every section yet although I did hang one stand in a very promising spot.

-Mike

My prime hunting spot is located on top of a ridge with two small valleys to the left and right of me. Stand location is about 12 yards from a hay field, 100 yards from a stream, with corn and bean fields very close by. We hunt on 100+ acres of timber on a nearby farm with plenty of food plots, water and cover. The area produces some nice bucks and we're pretty fortunate we get to hunt it every year. Bow season is less than two weeks away in IL!!!!

I had to find a new spot to hunt this year & I found what looks to be very good. It's in the middle of a funnel. I have three trees picked for my stand. It's along side of a creek & I have 3 trails that go right by my tree the farthest trail being under 20 yards. The tree I will be in has hemlocks tight on my backside to break-up my outline perfectly. The trails come from a small overgrown field into a small thicket where I will be waiting & go into a thick stand of hemlocks. The trails are so worn down you would think they were cattle trails! The land has never really been hunted so I stand a good chance. On the side of the creek it is on the swampy side & goes out about 100 yards where it parallel a road. On the other side of the road is a mountain that is not hunted due to to much building. Anyway that's where I'll be in 2 weeks!!

Here's mine....This is a 1/3 of my property. I got my doe between 1 and 4.

I have two areas. My deer stand is located 60 yards off a dirt road on a wildlife management area. Straight across the road to the south is a food plot. There is a hole in the barbwire fence that the deer funnel through. To the west is tall grass and shrubs used as a bedding area. East is wooded timber slopping down with a creek at the bottom. North is thick timber of mainly oaks and hickory. My stand is in a tree that has 3 trees growing out of one base. My stand is on the middle tree and I have 3 lanes to shoot from. I took a buck from here last year while sitting on the ground up against that same tree.

My other area is on another part of the management area. It is a field planted with clover. The edges of the field is abutted with heavy timber and thick undergrowth on all sides. I have went in and cleared out 4 different sitting areas depending on the wind. I chose big trees about 5 yards off the field and cut multiple shooting lanes out for each one. While scouting a few weeks ago my dog and I ran across 6 does feeding on the clover about 7 in the evening. 13 more days!!!!