that is borderline...815. i think i would look for them first light. sounds like u have the big boys number. good luck..i will scout wed. i looked at a aerial shot of my spot and i see a pond that i have never seen. we will see anyway, i will post my findings. where i am hunting...it is a swamp and the deer can cross all of the little water fingers and hide n the tall grass and such. i would think that setting up on a plot of woods or one of the DEER HIGHWAYS that they r using will be productive. i have to find the right trail though. i have seen bucks n the swamp, nice bucks at that, and the swamp is surrounded by beans and corn..

Lemond, believe it or not, some farmers are starting to cut down the corn crops already. This drought has really hurt bad. I was told that farmers in the area I hunt in DE have started and my dad saw cornfields being cut in my home state of NJ today. Never seen it this early. If they cut the WMAs corn in NJ we might actually have a chance to put a hurtin on some of those pesky resident canada geese. In DE, if they cut the corn around the area i've been scouting, it changes everything. I cant scout this weekend, but i'll have to get down there just to drive around and see whats going on the saturday before 9/2. We need rain bad, never seen it this dry.

Any day spent huntin, is better than any day spent workin,,

Duckmastor2

if they cut the fields where i hunt in de...i will throw some whitetail clover out there first rain and it is up,,,the deer will tear it up to...anyone ever use a mineral in the ground...it works

Went for a ride again last nigh...you guys are right alot of the farmers are cutting the corn. Saw a real big feild near where I hunt in Harrington completely cut!

Not as many deer moving last night. Can't figure out why.

Lemond33, I don't see much on my morning scouting missions. I think the window of opportunity is smaller in the am as deer generaly leave the fields soon after sun-up.

I put out a few mineral licks after the season ends but don't generally refresh them for hunting season. The do get used alot! Most of them are just two foot holes in the dirt now.

does anyone know of any BIG deer ever killed on the public tracts during archery..or 4 that matter..period i am seeing some HUge tracks where i hunt...and it can only mean one thing.

lemond33, Big bucks are taken off public land all the time. As I recall, the state record was taken in Redden State Forest. A friend has taken 3 P&Y qualifiers from a heavily hunted parcel in New Castle county. The coastal properties hold alot of big bucks! The marshes offer great refuge. Killing them is tough...but where there's a will, there's a way!! One of only a few B&C qualifiers I've seen was on public land in Kent County. To my knowledge, he's still there!! A second was on Primehook refuge. Big bucks are where you find them! If you found big tracks...sounds like you found one!!!

There are some properties that produce more than others. But they generally get hammered because of word of mouth. You know the story...so and so killed a big one last year now every feels the need to go out and hunt a deer that's already dead! May work on occaision but never very often!!! Good luck!!!

debob, thanks for the info. i have seen a few big 8 pointers..and heard about a few 10's, but i know there are bigger deer in the swamps i hunt. they seem to jump across the little water fingers and hide on the islands. do u know of any patterns that swamp deer tend to keep???

One of thhe biggest deer taken in this part of the country was taken from the ROCKS, which is a couple miles East ofc Odessa at the end of Staves Landing Rd. Where the Nuclear power plant looms high in the air. It has been purchased by F&W and is now public hunting.. The deer weighed over 250 lbs. cant rmeember how big, but it was tagged by Cap;n Bones brother,, (the bait shop on the S/B lane).

the power plant in NJ??? salem i think it is...across the water

Do you guys actually get out there and hunt them in the marshes? I used hunt a spot with shotgun in NJ a few years back that was in the meadows. My dad and I would go in by boat to get there. We had success esp later in the season when deer are really being pushed on the Upland. Its tough hunting though. I couldnt imagine arrowing one in there. Even if i place a great shot and the deer went lets say 50yds, that could be 50 yds across deep ditches or mud every step over your knees. I dont even want to think about the drag!! <img src=icon_smile_shock.gif border=0 align=middle>

Any day spent huntin, is better than any day spent workin,,

Duckmastor2