Help a first time hunter
 

Hey guys i'm about to be hunting for the first time on public land and the first time alone, i'm 23 but haven't hunted since i was 17 with my dad.

I found an area i'm interested in that's up north but i'm not quite sure where would be a good area to hunt, i will be using a climber so i'll be mobile and would like to find two spots.

Where would you setup a stand in this area and why?

Thanks for any input!!
-Dave

Pat lake is the are i was interested in

[URL=http://imageshack.us/photo/my-images/267/patlakezoomedout.jpg/]

[URL=http://imageshack.us/photo/my-images/62/patlakecloseup.jpg/]

hey buddy we need to know more.

Like what is the food source?
Where is the food source from your area?
What about some over grown fields or meadows we need to know a possible bedding area.
Have you set up a trail cam?
Are you allowed to use bait to get them on camera.
Really need a closer pic to be able to give good advice.

You need to burn some boot leather. I can't tell you what the deer are eating or where they are feeding from 10,000 feet in the air.

If you can't scout in advance, try to figure a way to avoid most other hunters. Get to an area early, and plan to walk a trail a good distance in the dark.

If the area isn't too mobbed with guys do some still hunting through mid-day. You're basically figuring the deer out on the fly. A gps may be useful to mark areas with good sign.

Looking at the aerial, the land appears somewhat hilly. I have always found good deer trails associated with saddles in ridges, especially if there are ridge flats with acorns nearby. A good place as any to start.

x2 on GPS and find 4+ spots just in case there is someone already in your spot. I would get as far off the beaten path as possible also try and put yourself on higher elevations so you can have a large area of view to enable you to see the deer and where they are moving. That is if you can't do any scouting first. I like to hunt hills about half way up or closer to the top if its a larger hill. Try finding intersections (where more than 1 trail come together) I hunt intersections more than anything.

Looks pretty flat to me (and I look at air photos all the time in forestry). From the looks of it, you have a mixture of mature woods and younger cuts (aspen?). Watch for trails on some of those edges. If that's young growth in bright green, there might be more cover there for them. As was said, however, nothing beats on-the-ground scouting. Look for a scrape line in cover (the ones on field edges are probably used at night) and you'll be golden. Can't tell much more than that from the image...not knowing where this is we can only guess at tree species, food, etc. Need info from on the ground to go further.

Also as was said, scout for other hunter sign as much as deer sign. Use the other hunters, especially the slob hunters (right next to easily accessibly main trails, and over hunted areas) as bumpers. Bucks will mostly go around those guys, so find the deers' detours and hunt those instead.

thanks for the replies guys ill be going out there tomorrow and spending all day scouting.
we are allowed to use bait, 2 gallons max.
i dont know to much about the area as ive never hunted it before, but a local guy at the bar told me back in the day he use to hunt a ridge over by pats lake so i figured id try my luck over there going in blind and all.
and yes the one thing im afraid of hunting public is all the other hunters so im willing to hike as far as i have to to find a good area, not full of other hunters.

this is located in the nicolet national forest around oconto county if anyone is familiar with the area

I don't know much about the land layout.
From what do see, I would look at the areas I have in yellow.
Walk creeks, and look for where they cross, and on ridges, and funnels, tree rows with fields on one or both sides.

JMHO

Good Luck

jrbsr