please help me learn to hunt this area. central west il. farm is 1 1/2 mi. long by 1/2 mi. wide. all wide open corn and soybean fields except for a hardwood creek bottom that runs the entire length of farm. loaded with deer trails, rubs and scapes. problem is that in 2 years of hunting here there seems to be no pattern at all even though i did get a nice 8 pt. 1st year. everything i read says find the food and you find the deer. hell its all food. next is to find the bedding area, well there is only about 30yards between the fields (food) and the middle of the creek bottom (bed). so how do i possibly get in between them with out spooking them. any suggestions.

well i would say hunt next to the field or on a heavy used trail or maybe even a "four way " intersection of deer trails{thats what i hunt} and see if that helps because if you cant pattern them and they are using the trails id say just set up on one of the trails. try to do some scouting of the trails and see which one could be there main trail they use and i would set up on that.

THANKS FOR THE INPUT. WHERE IN IL. ARE YOU?

im in springfield, IL but hunt in schuyler county.

I would also pick out several stand sites for different wind conditions.

i'm in godfrey but hunt greene county

iv bowhunted in greene the past 2 years, got some real big bucks.

I think what you're hunting is typical of some areas here in Nebraska that I've hunted.Something to remember,is that usually the grain harvest coincides with the season so deer are getting pushed around and in Nebraska the Upland Bird season opens one week before rifle.What I've found is that the deer when pressured by these things tend to go nocturnal in their movement for the most part.Also,I've found that the bigger bucks will leave the obvious deer habitat and slink away to some unusual places.I've seen them lay in the middle of CRP fields,or some little fenceline or terrace when there was much heavier cover available.You almost have to expect the unexpected.Have you thought about developing a mock scrape area or two to try to patter the deer to a particular ambush area?Find areas that are being traveled out of your creekline perpendicular to the creek by scouting for tracks on either side once the season starts.This could give you a hint as to what the deer have changed in their travel patterns.

yeah i know what you mean about the deer using odd bedding spots. found that out the hard way last year. jumped a big buck up on my way to my stand. came out of now where. as for the mock scrape should i do this near a real one or not and should i ever go and scrape the ground after the first time. one thing that changed from the 1st to 2nd year on this farm was the crops came out way too late last year. i'm sure that changed alot of the patterns i started picking up the year before. also saw a whole lot more deer the 1st year. do you think it might have been from the late harvest?thanks for the advice.

Where do the deer go when the corn is harvested? I would try that spot, the big bucks need a staging area, they can hide in the corn for now but where will they wait till its dark to come out and feed..........find that place and you'll fine mr.big.