Please help a newbie
 

OK so here is the deal. I have hunted gun for many years and then stopped. I have recently got the bug again and have decided to bowhunt for my first time. I live in Long Island New York and I have acquired some private land to hunt. 150 acres.

I need to know what you experienced hunters think is best for me. The land I have to hunt is basically a large grass field that measures about 600 yards wide by 400 yards deep. It then turns into hardwoods that are very thin and open. Here is the problem. I have seen a lot of prints but there is no water and very little of what I would see as food for the deer. I see the prints so I know they are there. I cant find many acorns and the field is grass. What the heck are they eating. There are some pine tree patches as well. In the woods are many man made trails and that is where I see the prints in the hardened sand. There are a few areas that are kind of swampish where water seems to pool after rain. I have not seen any rubs or scrapes but maybe that is becasue we are not in full rut. I am so dilligent, I am scent free, I stay out all day and have only seen two small does that busted me because I was hunting on the ground. Any suggestions of what to look for or where to hunt?

Thanks

RE: Please help a newbie
 

I'd hang a couple stands off some of the more heavily travelled trails. Bring a can call and try and call anything you see in the distance.

Find a low hanging branch and make a mock scrape. Use a big old branch to make it. I would hang a scent dripperover it. I would put active scrape scent init once November comes.

Sounds basically like your peice of land is a travel corridor. I bet the bucks will be moving through there once the rut gets going.

RE: Please help a newbie
 

Oh one more thing. Get a game camera. Find out when those deer are moving throught there.

RE: Please help a newbie
 

Get a arial photo of the area and post it. Take a marker and mark the property boundries. Maybe we can help you choose a area to hang a stand for that.

RE: Please help a newbie
 

Sounds like the kind of place deer may travel throughat night but not enough cover to hold them during shooting hours.

RE: Please help a newbie
 

Uh, that's a very hard question.

Hmm.......let me see..... I think they're eatingGRASS!!!!!!!!!!

Wow, that was hard,:D:Dglad I could help.

P.S. I do belive that deer a bovines, and cows and sheep are bovines, what do they eat? GRASS!
There is a great bestseller that's been around for awhile, I think just the title will help you out, the book is called "Common Sense".:D

RE: Please help a newbie
 

Deer are Cervids, not bovines! They are Browsers and not Grazers.:)

RE: Please help a newbie
 

You're right, but deer do eat grass, and that's probably what they're doing on the guy's land.

RE: Please help a newbie
 

What do Deer Eat (Page 1)

RE: Please help a newbie
 

Yep, they do eat grass, it says so in the link. On a thread, there was a debate on whetheror not deer eat grass, and they do.