Last year I had trouble deciding which area to hunt out of the 4 available to me. I spent most of my Bow season on a 80 acre tract surrouded by hundreds of acres of soybean and hardwood forest. In all I saw 18 to 20 Does and 5 Bucks,the largest a nine pointer which a friend shot on his first gun hunt. I took a nice Doe 3 weeks or so into the Bow season and mised another opportunity the 3rd day of the season by overshooting another Doe. I had one shot at a Buck but let him walk only being a 4 pointer. My second most hunted spot yeilded one Doe and another miss with my ML at a Doe. An 18 pointer which scored 196 5/8 was taken in this area the same day the 9 pointer was taken in my first area by my friend Nick. This area is broken up into 2 sections,135 acres of woods and 85 acres of corn last year beans this year,a road seperates these two areas. The last area is public land in the Hoosier Forest which surrounds my best friends house, I saw a nice 8 pointer during ML, no shot on him though, a four pointer which I passed on twice and two nice Does. With so many good places to hunt I'm having a hard time thinking through where to hunt this season. Based on what I have shared,If you were me how would you go about narrowing down your choices or planing your Bow,Gun and ML seasons? What are some deciding factors I should consider having a limited amount of days for the whole season? All these areas are within an hour and a half or less of each other so driving to any of them is no big deal for a morning or evening hunt. Thanks for any input.

Well what are you hoping to accomplish. You want that big buck or are you looking to put meat on the table. Do you have any trail cams to help you decide. If you are big buck hunting and you have no pictures of any in 3 months you may want to try the other. However I have had cameras out for 6 months and never saw a certain buck, then get to the stand and see a great bcuk 50 yards from where my camera is at. Maybe make your best guess and if one does not pan out for several days you can hit the other. Never enough time to hunt is there?

I'm mainly a meat hunter,it's the meat I enjoy more than the antlers. Trail cams I can put in 2 of my spots but not the others because of theives. So far the Hoosier site cam is getting good pics of 3 bucks and 3 Does who love my corn. I will be putting a couple of trail cams at my first spot this weekend hoping to see some movement in areas where I know they come through at. My problem is that there are good deer in all 4 of my areas until the shooting starts in November then they are forced into different movement patterns. I'm just fishing for opinions on what other hunters would do in my situation and setting.

Totally understand the part about the thieves. Give me back what has been stolen from me and I could buy myself a nice used atv for the farm. If it were me I would hunt the place with the smallest amount of pressure. Love to be away from farm houses and other hunters that I know of. I follow the does. Pictures will not tell the whole tale but they do help. If you find the does you accomplish both filling your freezer and if the rut is on a big buck might be right behind. The first one sounds like where I would spend my time.

The weather may make the decissions for me this year again,we have changed over from endless rain and chill to no rain and high heat just like last years season shaped up. If we stay in this hot dry pattern all summer I will at least know which spots to choose in 2 of my spots which have a pond and a underground stream that provide the only water source for the areas.

I f the weather shapes up like the last 2 then you have a heck of a starting point. Love to see some game camera pictures that you get from the properties.

When I get my other spot set up I'll try and put some up. I likewise enjoy looking at others cam pics from all over the country.

Well my cameras are out. I will check them in July and put out some good ones. Good Luck