Hunted a section of my grandfather's farm this morning and came across an area that could be dynamite. I had never really been in this particular area until recently but discovered several scrapes that looked like they had been worked hard this fall. I'm a little stumped on the best way to hunt this. In the picture the red lines represent the trails and the yellow represents three big scrapes i found at the intersection of the trails. The blue line represents my best means of access through the pasture field. Where would you place your stand? And with what wind? Probably a West wind would be my thoughts but wanted some ideas from you guys. (http://[attachment=1])
I'd hunt in the southeast quadrant of the red "x" on a NW wind. Stand/blind facing north( right handed hunter).
Have you walked that East timber line? Say, you walk in on your blue line and once at timber edge, turn left (as photo's drawn)... Anything along that line??? I'd be sitting at the end of that edge toward the South, where the finger comes out to the E/SE. If that much traffic is in the timber, I'd be sitting on the edge.
Let me hunt it a few times and I'll let you know :biglaugh:
Quote from: Boone the Hunter on November 21, 2018, 02:10:48 PM
Let me hunt it a few times and I'll let you know :biglaugh:
Boone, Pick me up on the way? 4 eyes are better than two.
northeast corner of intersecting trails, find a good tree within shot range. assuming predominant wind comes from southwest. as it does around here. I would enter farther north to.
(https://i.imgur.com/HgVO5y0.jpg)
Boone and Teal you guys would be more than welcome to hunt it if you weren't from that state up North :goldtooth:
Ha! Fair enough ;)
But on a serious note there's a few different possible options I would recommend, what arrow30 said would be one great option. Depending on deer traffic that funnel a little further to the east could be a good spot if deer go that way often. Depending what side of the funel you set up on would determine what wind direction you would hunt. Another option would be going straight into that timber on the line you walk in and set up just on the east side of that first trail you run into or possibly set up a little to the south where that trail hits the other one still on the east side hunting with a west wind blowing out towards the field. If you have other access points that could open up other options but I really hate going to deep into a block of wood and crossing main deer trails with your scent if you don't have too. Happy hunting!
If access is possible from these other two options it will give you more chances to hunt it.
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I appreciate the replies! Boone I do have a stand currently in the funnel to the east. However it has not been as productive as I thought it would be. I believe this is mainly due to there not being another block of woods further to the east, it basically just dumps into another pasture field. The main activity looks to be where those two secondary trails cross. The problem with access from the west is there is an extremely steep ravine almost directly to the west of that main trail that runs southeast to northwest which it pretty much sits on top of the ravine. I believe the deer like to bed just to the left of that main trail in the blow downs and thick stuff along the ravine. I think at least for next year I will have a stand to the southeast and northeast corners as basinboy has pointed out.