HunterLuke Posted June 30, 2009 Report Share Posted June 30, 2009 Where I deer hunt in Virginia I hunt all private land, woods and pasture land with cattle, Not really many fields where I could plant some foodplots because the farmers all use them and aren't really in good deer huntin areas. My question is during the deer season mainly from bow opener to end of rifle is when I hit hunting the hardest using the bow, muzzleloader, and rifle.(Early October-Late November) Where would I be most successful to bag a big buck, I know thats a broad question but I also know they're here because I see them during the off season alot and see they're rubs all through season near where I'm huntin, there is big tall 10's, numerous giant 8's and a monster 14, as of last year anyways. In the woods there's alot of old logging roads the deer use and I'm just about the only hunter who hunts around here. Like I said though where would ya'll say I'd be most successful through the times of season's and what could I do to "up the odds" of me getting a big one. It's mainly all hardwoods here with some cedar and pine thickets now and then. I know patience is key but I've been trying for about 4 years and the biggest buck I've killed has just been a tall/wide 4-point it almost like the bucks really just disappear when season comes I know they don't get that big being dumb but there has got to be a way. I'm sorry for all the questions and hope I haven't botherd everybody here with my "rookieness" But I'm just trying to get ready for season. I guess a simpler way to put this question would be where do ya'll kill most the old bucks at? I just seem to have a way of confusing everything..haha Thanks, Luke Gray Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Rhino Posted June 30, 2009 Report Share Posted June 30, 2009 First...welcome to the forums. Lots of questions there. JMO opinion but your best odds at killing a mature buck is during the early bowseason (1st week to 10 days) and during the seeking & chasing phase of the rut. You certainly can kill mature bucks outside of those times but that's when the odds are stacked more in your favor. Mature bucks act different than does and young bucks. Deer use old logging roads here too but you won't see many mature bucks using them during daylight hours. Logging roads generally run along the tops of the higher ground that will generally take deer out of cover. Does and young bucks will use those logging roads some in the daylight but older bucks have learned survival techniques that generally doesn't include putting themselves in harms way unless they are on a hot doe. During the early bow season here mature bucks are still on a feeding pattern. Usually during early morning hunts mature bucks have already made it back to there beds that time of year. Afternoon hunts just produce more sightings than mornings for me in early October. If I know the general area a big buck is bedding and where he tends to go to feed I'll leave him alone until the afternoon hunt. You have 2 options in the afternoon. If you've watched him go into a feeding area before dark you can hunt him there. If not you'll need to position yourself between his bedding area and feeding area. I prefer to get as close as I can to his bedding area provided I can get there undetected. If there's any question about being detected approaching a stand near a bedding area I'll back off to a point where I know I won't. No matter what you choose, always hunt your stand when the wind is blowing away from the direction you expect the deer to approach from. The seeking and chasing phase of the rut is a mature bucks achilles heel. The majority of the mature bucks I see is during this time of the season. Remember where you've been seeing a lot of does coming into this time because now they are the bait. Hopefully you have a feel for where some are bedding. If you don't already know the property you're hunting extremely well, get and aerial photo and a topo map. Even if you feel like you do they sure come in handy. I like to look for features that will cause a deer's movement to be restricted (funnels) to a small area (funnels) and where several potential restrictive type features come together (hub). Also as a general rule of thumb deer are energy conservationist and often choose to follow a path of least resistance provided they can stay in cover during daylight hours. They will certainly go into open fields at times to feed, make scraps, chase does, or whatever but they prefer to remain in cover during daylight hours. When you've identified some funnels and hubs, check them out well in advance of the season for multiple trails coming together, especailly multiple crossing trails for hubs to look for potential stand sites. Some hubs I've found have a wagon wheel type look to the trails that enter them. If you discover one of those is a rut honey hole. The more trails the better. Hopefully you'll have several funnels and hubs to choose to hunt for different winds. I don't like to risk overhunting a stand. Outside of the chase phase I prefer to let a stand rest for about 5 days between hunts. Sometimes more than that outside the seeking & chase phase of the rut. It's not as critical during the chase phase of the rut. During that time of the season I've been known to hunt the same stand back to back if there was a lot of activity going on. If I do I will give it a rest since I know I have other stands to choose from in similar type sets. On occasion I have taken some mature bucks during the post rut period. During that time most of those bucks have come from hunting feeding patterns again. Typically by that time of the season food sources are rare so any available food source is going to be hit. Might be after dark though. That's when you go back to the same hunting pattern used during the early bow season. The big difference is there's probably far fewer food sources for the deer to choose from. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
HunterLuke Posted June 30, 2009 Author Report Share Posted June 30, 2009 Thank you very much for that well typed advice! There is a holler that comes up from a marshy hardwood/cedar thicket and I know theres lots of a deer down there but it is posted and I am not able to hunt there but the holler comes out on a small field maybe just 1-2 acres of hay field with a house about 200 yards from there. Is that what you may consider a funnel as they come out to feed? If needed I can get pictures of that area and any other ones. When I hunt there all I mainly see is does and small spikes and 3 pointers but I may have not givin that spot enough time. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Rhino Posted June 30, 2009 Report Share Posted June 30, 2009 That hardwood/cedar thicket sure sounds like a likely bedding area. Think about how that bottom (holler) comes up toward that field and how deer might go around the field too. If the land is timbered all around that field chances are the field itself creates some funnels near the bottom that connects to the harwood/cedar thicket. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
HunterLuke Posted June 30, 2009 Author Report Share Posted June 30, 2009 It'll be hard for me to explain this all they way so today I'll take some pics of what I'm getting ready to explain today. The woods behind the field are a ridge top the back side of the ridge there is almost a drop off it's so steep but the ridge goes all the way around a pasture field then hooks back on that posted property but that field would be they're only close food source unless they're surviving on acorns. Like I said though I know that was a breif description but I think pictures will help better. Heres a picture from the top of the ridge, I think they bed back out in them cedars but would they possibley travel them powerline cut outs? Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Rhino Posted June 30, 2009 Report Share Posted June 30, 2009 What you just told us is the back side of the ridge is so steep it creates a restriction for deer movement. That's a funnel. The deer will certainly feed on any available food, be it acorns, browse or whatever is growing in that field that suits them. Will they walk that powerline cut? Sure but they are more likely to travel inside the wooded edge of the cedars. They are also more likely to cross that powerline where that cover is in your picture. Sounds like you have a little boot leather to burn checking out how the deer are traveling between the ridge's steep drop off and the pasture. Here's the best example I can find of wagon wheel type hub from an aerial photo. This is part of the property I've hunted in Kansas. The 1st time I hunted this property my scouting started off with an aerial photo and a topo map. From that I chose specific spots to scout for stand postions that appeared to be hubs and funnels from those maps. This was my 1st choice to check out. The red dot is approximately where I hung my stand. The green lines with arrows shows basically the trail systems that converged on this hub. The light tan spot northeast of the red dot is the end of a ridge that was very steep with enough loose shale on it that nothing grew there. It didn't take me long at all after easing in there (sneaky style) to see the potential of this hub with the number of criss crossing trails it had. Some rubs as big as my forearm also confirmed that a big mature buck was in the area. On my 2nd day bowhunting (1st day on that stand after letting the area rest from hanging the stand) I killed a buck of a lifetime out of that stand. Aerial photos and topo maps are an essential part of my scouting tools. They can save you a lot of boot leather and keep you from blowing the deer out of your hunting area. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
HunterLuke Posted June 30, 2009 Author Report Share Posted June 30, 2009 Thanks again a bunch for your great advice! I will try and locate a topo map of my area. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
redkneck Posted June 30, 2009 Report Share Posted June 30, 2009 Great advice from Allan as always. It's always aggravating when almost every article you read talks about staging areas, funnels, etc., when your hunting a big ole thicket of mixed pines and hardwoods! Well traveled trails can be a bit hard to come by. However, the private lands I hunt that include pastureland, generally do provides such opportunities, as most of the time with some scouting and hunting you'll begin to find these funnels as deer will tend to move down the old fencelines where trees and bushes provide cover to move between blocks of timber. I have also fenced off corners of pastures to plant food plots. Works out well for the landowner because in mid-winter he can turn cows out into it and feed. Just my two cents. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
HunterLuke Posted June 30, 2009 Author Report Share Posted June 30, 2009 Thanks for your advice also redkneck, I will defiantly ask the landowners about that! I am not able to be able to edit this ariel photo to point out what I'm talking about so heres a link to it. http://www.mytopo.com/maps.cfm?mtlat=36.6597&mtlon=-82.58533&z=17 That 1st green you see there to the left of the fence is a that small field I was talking about, and to the left of the field you will see those cedars and it's to the left of them is where that holler goes down to the bottom in that marshy stuff. I'm not very good at readin topo maps but maybe you can see some sweet spots that I am unable to. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Rhino Posted June 30, 2009 Report Share Posted June 30, 2009 Is the pasture you're talking about the one where I've put the red arrow on the east side? If that's the correct pasture, the bottom area you've been talking about must be the area off to the west. There's also 2 distict looking marshy areas to the southwest and souteast of that bottom with a pronounced saddle between those 2 high hills. Looks like that bottom continues on to the north all the way to the creek although it's not as pronouced as it is between the 2 higher areas. There's also another secondary saddle in the eastern hill that provides about a 40' elevation drop from the top of either one. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
12-point Posted June 30, 2009 Report Share Posted June 30, 2009 good looking maps Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
HunterLuke Posted June 30, 2009 Author Report Share Posted June 30, 2009 (edited) No sir, it was this field. I prolly done something wrong though when getting the address and may have moved it.I hope you didn't mind but I copied the one you had and put on here, the field is the red arrow pointing in it, the yellow line is the holler going down to the bottom, and the green lines are the deer's main trails that go around through the ridge, but almost all come from that bottom, and come out into the field, I guess in a way it's a 1/2 wagon wheel..lol And also heres some pictures I took today of the field and holler leading down. I would have went to the bottom and took some pictures but I have a compressed fracture in my spine right now from a 4-wheeler accident and could probally get down there but have a hard time getting out. heres the field heres to the right, a cattle pasture heres looking down to the bottom and heres a little fawn I spooked up at the edge of the field Edited July 1, 2009 by HunterLuke spelling Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
redkneck Posted July 1, 2009 Report Share Posted July 1, 2009 The technology at our disposal is unreal this day and time. I think i quickly found the trees in your pic on google earth, and they have some good resolution for your area. Looks like some pretty open timber in places. Not sure where your boundaries are. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
redkneck Posted July 1, 2009 Report Share Posted July 1, 2009 The more I look, I sure do like the look of that powerline! Personally I try not to over-analyze things. Sounds like you've seen some super bucks there, so you got 80% the battle out of the way, that is: access. The rest is just you hunting using what you already know and then getting lucky. Dont know if you mentioned about how much acreage you got there, but just make sure you got lots of options, spread your hunts out by having several stands, dont put too much pressure on one area, and you'll catch up to him sooner than you think. A big transmission line like that gives you an opportunity to cover a lot of area without being seen or winded too. That much land to glass over has got to yeild a good buck during the chasing phase, it's just a matter of you being there. In the early part of the season, (bow season) like allan said is one of the best times of the year to find a buck in a feeding pattern. Scout your acorn crop early if you dont get a food plot in, and be sure to pass on smaller racks, cuz they're generally travelling in groups with the larger ones bringing up the rear. Good luck. john Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
HunterLuke Posted July 1, 2009 Author Report Share Posted July 1, 2009 On the powerline cuts I can shoot as far as my gun will go cause I have permission to all that land and on them field pics I have permission in the field and all that pasture land to the right of it, But on that holler deal I can only hunt it 'till I get about 3/4 way to the bottom then it goes to this jealouse, hateful mans land that lets nobody but himself hunt there. I do not know about any acreage as I'm not good at estimating that. You can see in my topo map the powerline cuttings, it is about 1inch above the rear end of my furhest right green line, that straight cut out, Just incase that may have been of any interest. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
rhine16 Posted July 1, 2009 Report Share Posted July 1, 2009 First of all, welcome to the forums! Some great info above. After looking at the picture of the field, I strongly suggest asking the landowner about the possibility of fencing it off and planting a food plot. It would cost a bit to buy the material for an electric fence, but it would pay off in time. Make sure you tell him that he is welcome to allow the cows into the plot as soon as deer season is over(that way he is more likely to say yes). If you are allowed to plant, make sure you start a thread in the Land Management forum so you can get some advice since it will be your first time planting. From your topo maps I can see that the country you hunt is much like ours, heavily wooded with pastures. Pinch points and funnels are hard to come by, but if you can find one then make sure you hunt it. Also, that powerline looks like a great spot to set up a tripod or box stand for gun hunting. Would be a perfect place to catch a buck cruising. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
HunterLuke Posted July 1, 2009 Author Report Share Posted July 1, 2009 First of all, welcome to the forums! Some great info above. After looking at the picture of the field, I strongly suggest asking the landowner about the possibility of fencing it off and planting a food plot. It would cost a bit to buy the material for an electric fence, but it would pay off in time. Make sure you tell him that he is welcome to allow the cows into the plot as soon as deer season is over(that way he is more likely to say yes). If you are allowed to plant, make sure you start a thread in the Land Management forum so you can get some advice since it will be your first time planting. From your topo maps I can see that the country you hunt is much like ours, heavily wooded with pastures. Pinch points and funnels are hard to come by, but if you can find one then make sure you hunt it. Also, that powerline looks like a great spot to set up a tripod or box stand for gun hunting. Would be a perfect place to catch a buck cruising. When would it be to late to start planting your plots? I have all the material needed to fence because I work on a farm and help out alot around here. But the reason I ask is I still have about 6 1/2 weeks that I cannot be working to much or lifting heavy objects and bending over alot because of the compression fracture in my back. Docs told me if I keep working hard and puttin stress on it to where it cannot heal they will have to do surgey and put cement between my vertabrey to straightin myself back out and I really don't want that..haha Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
rhine16 Posted July 1, 2009 Report Share Posted July 1, 2009 My plots will go in the first week of september. I'm guessing you could plant some winter rye and a couple other fall seeds then also. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
HunterLuke Posted July 1, 2009 Author Report Share Posted July 1, 2009 Okay, Thanks a bunch!!! Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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