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Help with Stand Site Selection

KSHUNTER

KSHUNTER

PMA Member
Been hanging around this forum for a long time, just don't post much. I know there are some real experencied guys on here and was just wanting a second opinion.

Just taking a quick look at the area, if you had to guess do you think the red dot would be a place to spend considerable time come the rut? I use a Alpha, so I will change set up to adjust for wind direction. This is my first year on this property, it hasn’t been hunted and I’m the only person with permission. Here are some quick facts:

Ø All the brush to the west is un-hunted and I’m unable to gain permission at this time. The entire quarter is nothing but brush, it has been allowed to grow up and there are no cattle. When setting the crop edges that border this I routinely see 20 plus deer and have seen my fair share of shooters. Plenty of trail cam pics also. So I know there are big deer in the area.
Ø The land to the east is bowhunting only and amounts to 1000+ acres of huntable land, sees some pressure, but limited.
Ø Within about 100 to 150 yards east of my stand placement I will start bumping does out of beds.
Ø I have seen multiple large bucks cross the road, and have multiple reports from farmers and land owner seeing nice deer cross this area. This is the only property that connects these two properties.

I know there several families of does bedding on both of these properties, meaning there should be some bucks cruising back and forth looking for hot does. I have other properties to hunt, but this area holds the best chance of shooting a 4 ½ year old or older buck. I know I would be sitting close to the road but I feel the farther in I go the more access becomes an issue, plus the timber continues to get wider.

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Here a few bucks running this area, these pics are from last year and this year so far.


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This one is blurry because I took it with my camera looking through my spotting scope and he was 1/4 mile away. He was only 40 or 50 yards from one of my stands.
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Looks like a natural funnell to me...road or no road, I'd be sitting there. The number of sightings is proof enough. Good Luck...looks like a dandy spot to me.
 
I agree, the stand looks to be in an excellent funnel area. Does the field to the south of the timbered strip have crops in still? Looks like a good inside corner where the timber turns to the south just before you hit the "bowhunting only" zone.....Would that field allow for decoy hunting?

Looks like you have some great bucks, good luck!
 
Not too sure how far you are from the road but I would hunt closer to the corner and the road if you can. If you hunt there, once the wind changes to a West,NW pattern it will be a hot spot for sure since most all your scent will blow into the field. You will have the best chance of catching a big one coming from the unhuntable stuff with that stand position also. Roads I'm sure you know don't mean anything to deer when traveling and especially during the rut. It's just more an issue to the hunter sitting within sight of one.
 
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Its picked corn and yes I do decoy, but the problem seems to be that the does seem to bed very close to the feild edge. When I first walked the property I probly scared 10 plus does just walking the edge in the middle of the day. Although at that time the corn was still in and that could have contributed to that. The deer density in this area is way to high so its hard for your presence not to be noticed.

The last picture that is blurry is a giant 8 pointer, been chasing him for 2 years, this will be the third. He has a moster of a body. I got a report from a farmer that the biggest 8 pointer he has ever seen walked out of some corn 3/4 a mile south of this place back in August, Im sure it was him...
 
I can see where the does would be a problem being bedded along the fence to the south but it would be worse where you're at because the wind can blow your scent from two directions W and NW. Thing about hunting closer to the road you can actually hunt it with a S and SW wind also.
 
G6, I kinda over looked that option. I do like that option though.

I figure that with a North wind a buck would stay in the main draw and that would allow him to scent check everything to the North.

Booner- Those where my identical words when I seen his brow tines!! Would love to get a shot at him!
 
Well I might be hesitant to hunt it with a south wind. The brush to the west runs right to the road along the entire quarter mile. The tend to walk across the road anywhere, there is a half dozen or more trails coming across the road. When they cross from the west and they are north of the creek then the tend to hit that little draw splitting the pasture and take it back south to the main creek bottom.

I do see that getting closer to road would be a safer bet on keeping my wind from those bedding areas.

Thanks for the insight guys, giving me some ideas I haven't thought about.
 
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KSHUNTER said:
Well I might be hesitant to hunt it with a south wind. The brush to the west runs right to the road along the entire quarter mile. The tend to walk across the road anywhere, there is a half dozen or more trails coming across the road. When they cross from the west and they are north of the creek then the tend to hit that little draw splitting the pasture and take it back south to the main creek bottom.

I do see that getting closer to road would be a safer bet on keeping my wind from those bedding areas.

Thanks for the insight guys, giving me some ideas I haven't thought about.
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Then I take it you're trying to catch them on both sides of the creek where you're at now then? I'd still check out the option of closer to the road and field corner. Just my opinion though. :grin: Looks like a nice place to hunt regardless.
 
I should have been clearer, I don't have a stand in there, the dot was more of a generality to show where I thought might be good area for a set.

Sorry if I came off that I thought your idea was bad, that was not my intent. I actually think the stand location you gave me is one I will be setting a lot. I was just wondering if I should only try and hunt with a N or NW wind, I was just afraid if I hunted with a SW wind id get busted.

I just didn't know if I should move locations with a wind shift or mainly hunt the stand close to the road on that corner of the feild.

Thanks for the help!!
 
Not sure about the details of that picked corn to the south but it doesn't appear there's a road south of that field right? Can that field and in particular, the upper right hand portion of that field be seen from any road? If not, I would lean toward setting a secondary or even primary stand near that corner on the edge. ESPECIALLY if you can access it (white arrows) from the south as in the altered pic below:

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Now you can hunt basically ANY wind except east and southeast and you can slip in and out of there without disturbing anything plus you're over the food source, on an edge for potential scrape checks, etc. A west wind would give away the "bowhunting only" area but it may be ok since you're focusing more on the funnel and unhuntable brushy area to the west. I'm a huge fan of funnels but this setup at first glance anyway, looks like an ideal edge hunting situation. If you can see that corner from the west road, I migh rethink it but there appears to be a decent treeline between. Hard to tell everything from an aerial though.
 
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Iowabowtech- There is a road, but its an old closed county road. There is enough of a rise that the feild is hard to see from the road, really it is just a glance you can catch. If I was to try this set up wouldn't be hard to access/leave the stand when there are deer in the feild? What are your thoughts?


Also the farmer/land owner lives at the west end of the dead end road, and they use part of the crop feild as a bale yard and for equipment storage. Deer may see this as normal activity, but since this is my first year on this property I don't know how they will react??
 
If it was my ground, and it was the rut. I would probably sit in the dot labeled 1st pick below. It looks like a good low impact spot to sneak in and it also looks like a good funnel. Goodluck.
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Exactly where I was talking about Mike, if it's a dead end road not to many people will drive down it I'm sure. I have hunted close to roads and deer don't really seem to care about it as much as the guy hunting there. :grin: It may also be a good observation stand too so you can see what is going on on the east side of that field, I'd love to have that setup with a NW wind. I would also park my vehicle back up the road to the north to try to get the deer to cross down wind of it where I'm at.
 
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Mark,

Your just getting old and like hunting next to the road so you don't have to walk so far :) Joking. Goodluck!!
 
KS,
I don't leave the field until after dark to avoid making my presence known. Also, depending on whether you're talking morning or evening, there could be a sun factor in play. If evening and sunny, the stand I mentioned might not be ideal depending on the lay of the land. If cloudy and/or a morning hunt, it'd be excellent for a long stay. Like G6 and Liv, I also like the closer to the road approach if you're going to hunt the funnel itself. Makes for the least chance of getting winded with a N/NW wind. I'd be looking at placing 2 stands here, one near the road and one over in the upper right corner of that field where you have a max 30 yd shot to the corner. Liv also placed a possible stand right at the actual corner which may be good too. I'd look in that entire area for a setup and tree that just gives you that gut feeling of perfect.
 
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