Okay, I've asked this a couple other times in different ways but I really am clueless on setting up a blind as I've never hunted from a stand before and am looking for some input. (All my hunting has been spot and stalk type hunting out west). I'm going to list out all the details that I know, if you are willing to read through it and give me any additional input I would appreciate it.

Here's a satellitte image of my land:



Details about the map.

The white line is a rough road that runs through my property. I couldn't decide if I should maintain it or let it grow back over, but for now I've been keeping it maintained to some extent.

The green line in the northeast corner is where I have a travel trailer. The guys that lease the land north of me have 3 trailers right across the property line so I figured my trailer wouldn't be any more of a deterent to wildlife than theirs would be.

The yellow dot is where I put in a mineral lick back in the spring. The camera that I had up watching it quit working during the summer and I just got it fixed and put it back up this weekend. Before that only the resident split eared doe and her last years fawn had been using it a little.

The purple/pink dot is where I have a spin feeder set up. It goes off at 8 in the morning and 6 in the evening but based on the camera I have watching it, nothing is real predictable at coming in at specific times to eat from it. The resident split eared doe and her new fawn are regular visitors but sometimes can go a couple days without visiting it or at least without the camera taking pictures of them.

The dominant wind is from the Southwest. This time of year we can occasionally get some winds coming in from the North but generally only when a front blows in or something.

Details about my neighbors.
The neighbor to the North leases about 700 acres to 5 guys and several of them have young kids as well. They said that they place is good hunting and that they have been passing up younger bucks and shooting does for 5 years now and said that they have seen good results. They made it sound like there are several 150 class bucks around. Their place is about 300 acres of heavy mesquite and 400 acres of open CRP ground. They have 5 feeders and 5 stands placed mainly around the edges of the mesquite. To the North and West of them is a place about 15,000 acres that focuses on quail hunting with limited deer hunting.

To the West of me is pretty much mesquite pasture. Not really thick, but thick enough you aren't going to see much. I don't know if they actively hunt or not, I can't see any feeders or stands on that property.

To the East, the guy leases his property to some folks that mainly bird hunt. Right now the field you can see in the picture just to the East of my property is planted in cotton. There is at least 1 guy that does deer hunt that property though and I think he has a couple feeders and blinds.
To the South I'm not sure. Immediately to the south I haven't seen a blind or a feeder, but the creek bottom is THICK and there is a pond just across the property line from me about 100 yards. South of that I know there is about a 3,000 acre ranch that practices heavy QDM and supposedly has some really nice deer.

Aerial Photos.

Here are some recent aerial photos that I took from my brothers plane. You should be able to figure out my property by comparing it with the satelitte photo above.

Northwest corner:


Looking from the East:


Looking from the South:


Looking from the North:


The 5 acre and 35 acre field were planted in winter wheat last year, but right now they are fallow. Generally they have dead wild sunflowers throughout, they probably average 4' tall but in spots they ar 8' tall. I worked out an agreement with my neighbor that he could graze his cows on my place for 5 months out of the year if he planted the 35 acres in winter wheat for me, but he hasn't gotten it planted yet. I may plant the 5 acres but I might wait and plant it in something this spring.

I planted the 2 and 13 acre fields in the Southwest corner in winter wheat, oats, triticale and winter peas, but it hasn't rained since I planted and nothing has come up yet.

You can see from the topographic overlay on the satelitte map there are 4 or 5 high spots on the property. What I have been doing is climbing up to the top of one of the hills during predawn and then watching as it gets light to see what is moving around. I've seen and shot a few pigs this way and saw a few deer this summer that way but not sure if that is a very good method or not. If you go all the way to the top of the hill you get silloetted and any movement is really easy to pick up.

There is some really thick cover right in the area where I put the mineral lick and I know that there are some deer that bed down in that area. It is too thick to effectively hunt from the ground and the dominant winds are wrong to hunt it from the hill above. It might be a spot I could hunt if I got a good North wind but still, I'm not sure if the deer are going to spot me really easy on a hilltop like that or not.

Here is a picture of that hill from this past winter:


I've been sitting all the way up on those standstone rocks on the top of the hill and I think that is a mistake. I can see my feeder from that hill also but I'm thinking that if the wind is from the South like normal the deer are going to be able to smell me moving from their bedding area to the feeder directly to the north of the hill.

The creeks are generally dry especially by late fall and are a relative interstate highway system for wildlife. I think setting up along the creeks maybe a good idea. Not sure if I need to buy a ground blind to setup or if I can just make my own ground blind from some fallen branches and some canvas style camo netting.

The cows are off the property now through the end of the season so I'm starting to be able to tell the difference between a cow path and a wildlife trail. I haven't seen any scrapes or rubs yet and the rut is supposed to start in a couple weeks so I would think I should be seeing some signs by now.

I've now got a camera at the feeder and the mineral lick and I made a mock scrape down in the creekbed to the south and put a camera on it and I'll check those when I go back down in a couple weeks.

Since the wheat isn't up it isn't going to be a draw so not sure where to be looking for them.

I'm just looking for any suggestions. I think this year is going to have a steep learning curve for me. I'm kind of just planning on kicking around down there with my gun and seeing what happens for the most part. I'd be willing to try any suggestions and let everyone know how they turned out.

Sorry for the novel but I wanted to put all the information I could in it. Thanks in advance for any input.

Nathan

WOW! I have never seen such a detailed scouting report! With the amount of time you have spent studying this area, I would say you would probably know better than anyonewhere to setup. I would offer suggestions, but I am still learning as well. Good luck.

-Rick C.

I don't claim to be the best hunter in the woods but I would be checking the wooded area between the 2 acre and 13 acre fields and see if the deer are using that as a funnel to head to the pond.

I'm trying to learn the very skill your asking about, so keep that in my mind.

Like Bake north, the wooded strip between 2 and 13 acre fields jumped out at me as a potential highway. I like even more, though, that wooded patch between 13 acre and 34.5 acre fields. Judging from the aerial and map, it looks to be a funnel between two large wooded areas with a creek running through it. It looks like a good place for a blind or stand, even better if the creek is dry and the deer have no alternative but to use the pond for water, and/or those fields are planted in some sort of food source. You'd have food, cover, water, and a place that channels the deer to you as they move. The road gives you easy access, and it takes you directly into the wind from the trailer. It doesn't get any better than that.

The other place that looks interesting is the place between the two humps on the northern part of the property. A saddle is a natural deer pathway, though I don't know how the lack of wooded cover would affect things. I would investigate if deer use it to get from the NW to your pond, or skirt the west edge as they move towards the two fields to the south. I speculate that they would run the valley on the western side, perhaps to escape the hunting pressure from the folks who live north of you. Perhaps a stand that takes advantage of the wind and allows you to monitor the saddle and the valley would be good.