No problem....its my pleasure but you have plenty of time to get it right before your season starts...so good luck! I just saw that your new to the forums so welcome if you see at the top of the BWhunting forum and at the top of the DEER hunting forum there are those 2008-2009 sign-ups....if you like to hunt a fair amount sign up for both i did it last year for the first time and its a blast a good way to meet new people and learn some new teqniques to make youa better hunter......we all learn something new

Good luck

BH818

Cool thanks for the tip.

My experience in hunting public land is that many hunters will show up in the prime locations on opening day. I've found the best spots are escape routes, hard to reach locations that lazy hunters won't walk to, or unexpected locations such as just off he main road. I have a spot on a game land in NC that is 100 yards of the main road leading to the area. I've killed two bucks there and have seen deer 90% of the time I hunt this location. Its so close to the road, no one else considers it.

When hunting public land, you not only need to scout the deer, you need to scout the other hunters.

I'll speculate a few things on my behalf to show my decision process...

Choice #1 - If you just want to get "any" deer, then I would suggest 6 o'clock or 8 o'clock stand positions from the "hub" of the 5-spoke trail intersection, this will help your odds with all the trails converging, also the prevailing winds and the least amount of human scent going into the area.

Choice #2 - If you want to go for a buck, then I would suggest scouting more in the direction of the 10 o'clock trail from the "hub", as that particular trail looks like it's going towards a thicker pine grove, along with a swamp. Possibly a bedding area??? If this holds true, then find a smaller trail running along side a well used trail, as bucks tend to follow doe trails toward food and bedding areas, but in a little thicker cover and of course downwind.

I would go by the trail closest to the waterhole until that freezes up.

Public land, find the thickest woods no one else wants to go and sit and wait. The brusers will come.

If you can find any kind of a trail through that thick stuff you described, I would set up about 20 yards downwind of that trail and you should be good to go! That's how I like to ambush em!