o.k., I just joined a hunting club with lots of weyerhauser land, basicly pine forests. There has been nice bucks taken in the past on this land, so I know they are in there, but I am used to hunting the edges of fields and not pine woods. How should I go about setting up for a nice buck, keep in mind the dense pine needle floor is hard to see tracks and there are hardly no trees small enough for deer to rub. I am kinda lost trying to set up. Thanks in advance

Pine forests that are of adequate size, usually shade out anythind else, and become , primarily bedding areas. Whenever I hunt these types of terrain, I look for edges that intersect with another type of terrain, especially hardwoods, and then trails that come outat these points. Also, look for places where the 2 types of terrain form corners, inside or outside. Is there any creeks running through? Usually there are hardwoods along the edges of these creeksand these areas provide travel corridors.I usually walk these to find crossings that are lateral to the creek, and sometimes trails can be parallel, at least for a ways.The shade of pine plantations usually cause the other vegetation to die out, removing browse a s a source of feed.

Sounds like the plantations are probably over 5 or so years old, so setting up on the SMZ's or old roads will probably be your best option. Do they allow food plots? You may be able to scout around and find a edge around the plantations you can at least make a food plot strip. Try contacting one of Weyerhauser's foresters and see if they will help you pick out a small area for a food plot. Most of the timber companies have a good relationship with their lease holders. You may be able to spend a day scouting and find a good area with old scrapes still visible, look close.

The land I hunt is mostly hardwoods, but there is a large area of pines that is bordered by both hardwoods and a field. I agree with manuman because that is usually where the deer bed down. I sit across the field under this huge tree, and have taken a few bucks in the early morning as they make their way across the field. I would search along the edge for the trails going in and out of the heavy stuff. Watch them for alittle because the deer use different trails out in the morning then they do going back at night. This way you know where to sit at which times would be productive. If their are no edges look for a waterway however small or large, the deer will follow those, and ofter you will be able to see some tracks left in the mud. Since it is hard to see tracks there because often they wont showup with all the needles, look for dropping and then move some stuff around it to see if u can see which way the tracks were going. Just move in that general direction and see if you can see some more sign. It might take some time to find the travel routes, but they are there. It a tough place to hunt thats why the deer bed and hide there, but they also get damn big hiding there haha. Goodluck I hope you get a nice one.

This is exactly how I approach the situation as well. We have several pine tree groves interspersed with hardwoods in my hunting area. In each case the easiest way to hunt them is to follow the trails that lead into them and then pick a likely ambush point for when the deer emerge.