KB_boy

Hey everyone i am new to the the forum and hunting as well. This is only my second season deer hunting and i got real lucky and drew an archery quota permit for Tosohatchee WMA. I would really like to use this opportunity to harvest a nice buck. The area is just about 30,000acres and has marshes mixed with hard pines. I guess my question would be how would you guys attack this w/ about a month and half left to my hunt. I began to scout it but i dont think i have put a dent in this amount of land that is left to explore. What would you look for at this time of the year and where do you begin in an area that is big to my standards???

Centaur 1

Hey KB, welcome to hni. A good place to start is bing maps and use the birds eye view feature. http://www.bing.com/maps/ There are a few people on here who hunt there, you'll find them in the south regional thread. Also, make friends with Huntnma, her name is Casey. She's from Palm Bay but her day job is with the state, at Tosohatchee. She does things like road maintenance, cutting fire breaks, etc. Basically she gets paid to scout. I wouldn't expect her to put you in a good stand but I'm sure that she'll give you an idea of what you should be looking for while you're there. What you have to do for the next month is scout, scout, scout. If you have a gps, bring it; if you don't, buy one and bring it. I use the Garmin Venture because it's the lowest price one that you can add maps to. First visit just drive all of the roads, if you see something interesting mark the spot, then get out and scout around. When you get home upload you daily track into the computer. Then view it in google earth. You'll be amazed at what you learn from studying the map you create. Next weekend go do the same thing only scout deeper and learn more. Have fun scouting and hopefully you'll get lucky come hunting season.......Mike

KB_boy

I guess i am on the right track i have looked on bing maps which used to be msn maps live. I went on sunday just to get familiar with the area and had an area picked out before i left the house to venture into the woods. Im going to try to scout it out at least 6 more times. I have a gps but not one that i can upload maps to. I guess i got very intimidated with how much land there was and so little time to really scout it. I really hope huntnma can give a few pointers especially on what deer do at this time of the year. I am going to scout as much as i can and i also have my trail cams to put out.

huntnma

You know it might be easier if you told me where you were thinking of checking out, either p.m. or you can tell the whole world in a reply, lol.We can go from there....
The deer should be losing their velvet soon, if they haven't already started...look for rubs and scrapes, tracks, trails.....
I personally like hunting the creek or the marsh, but this time of year , the water level always seems to go up right before opening morning, lol...and then it's plan B....I'd keep that in mind too....Don't be scared of getting wet, just keep in mind, where it's wet now, could be 4' of water there on your hunt.Always have a plan B
Do you prefer the hardwoods, marsh, creek, palmetto's ?
If you're a chickenchit about wandering too far, I'd suggest the gasline, can't get lost out there, at least not for long, lol...lots of deer down there too...And I didn't mean any disrespect by the chickenchit comment, I just know how I am when it comes to new areas.After I get to know the land, I'll go anywhere but not until, lol.
Even with my GPS, lol.
I'll talk to ya soon