This Thursday I'm going on a deer reduction hunt at the Quabbin Res. in central Mass. There are going to be quite a few hunters in the area I'm hunting on the selected days of Thursday and Friday. I figure it to be approx 1 hunter per 33 acres. The area is almost 10,000 acres.

I saw a map of where most of the deer kills were last year and I was planning on setting up near but not at those spots. I'm hunting what I think/hope is an escape route.

Most of my hunting is done with a bow so I'm very comfortable in a tree stand. Since I have never hunted such big hilly country with so many other hunters I was wondering if I should just set up and sit in my stand or travel light to get to far off areas with less pressure?

Any tips would be grealty appreciated.

Thanks

I mostly hunt public land in Georgia where there are rolling hills. I prefer to hunt from a hillside, since a stand can be a pain to carry around. You can use other hunters to your advantage. It may take time to figure where deer trails are as well as where other hunters will be, but many people have told me to bring your lunch with you, and the other hunters will get em moving when coming back from lunch. I have taken several deer at midday.

I wanted to add that I will be hunting with a bolt action slug gun, not a bow since I didn't make that clear.

Would you guys bring the tree stand?

It all depends on the underbrush, if where you are going to be hunting is fairly open I would skip the stand, but if you do find a really thick area a tree stand could be just the ticket once the other hunters get them moving for you.

Without knowing the land at all, I would bring it and get up high to give yourself a good view of what's going on. You may be able to see a little more from high in a tree and then adjust your location if you see some tantalizing things happening. Then again, sounds like there are some pretty high ridges where you can accomplish the same thing. Be observant and get high with a good view someplace at first then adjust if needed.