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New Hunting Property Help

SouthernIowa

SouthernIowa

PMA Member
I just received permission to bow hunt (Oct. -Nov. not late season bow) a new piece of property that looks to have a lot of potential. But this isn’t exactly an ideal situation. When I asked permission the land owner seemed very hesitant at first. They gave me permission but said to check back a little closer to Bow season just to make sure everything was still fine.
Not wanting to press my luck at all I didn’t ask if I could shed hunt now or go in and scout any time soon, so essentially the first time I’ll be able to scout and set up stands will be around August when I call to make sure everything is still okay. I know it would have been helpfully to go in now and check the fresh sign but I really didn’t want to press them and give them any reason to change their mind.
I know August is a long ways away but I’m really chomping at the bit for the upcoming bow season and this might give me an idea of how many stands I need to buy. So I was wondering just from an aerial photo is there any potential stand sites that really stand out at you guys? Thanks for the help.
Here are some detail-
· The property is outlined in white.
· The part of the property outlined in red in cattle pasture. I’ve had bad experiences with bow hunting around cattle and would just like to avoid stands here.
· The bottom/field outlined in green has been put into wetlands reserve program.
· There is a large creek running through the middle of the property outlined in dark blue. The land slopes down the WRP bottom and the creek very steeply.
· The red markers are some potential stand sites in funnels and fence lines that jumped out to me.
· The fields outlined in light blue are the only close crop fields, the rest are either cattle pastures or hay fields.
· The only way I can access the property as of right now is the boarding gravel road on the West side of the property. I know this will make it difficult to access stands without bumping deer. Maybe try using the creek as a way to access stands?
· I have other properties to hunt so I can wait until the best times of the rut to hunt here to avoid burning stands out early.
· Cant plant food plots (wish I could there would be some killing locations)
9967-new_hunting_property2_654369.jpg


Larger view of the section-

9967-new_hunting_property1_949246.jpg
 
Tough to say without putting boots on the ground, that's for sure. Your choices look logical. The only advice I'd have is don't give up on the pastured ground. I know they're a pain and deer sometimes avoid them, but not always. One of the places I hunt has a similar situation...part of the ground not pastured and part is. Hands down the best stand location is in a deep timber bedding location that cattle could reach, but don't. You have to walk through cattle most mornings to get there, but it's not called the "killer tree" for nothing :D Good luck :way:

NWBuck
 
Like NW Buck said, tough to know without walking it...things always look different on foot than arial. To me, it looks like you have some logical and potential good spots to check out and if nothing else give you a starting point while scouting in August or the first few days in the stand that you can observe and make adjustments from there.

For some reason a stand to the east of your "stand 2" location looks like it might be a natural funnel into some thicker timber and possible bedding areas which might be decent as well. Obviously you will have to get on the ground and do some scouting when you can.

If it were me, I probably wouldn't be banking on this place given the information you gave above. It sounds like this could fizzle out quite easily. Given that you have other places to hunt I'd count on those and hope for this new spot but not commit resources until you get the green light in august or whenever.

Good luck
 
Yeah I knew it'd be pretty hard to determine good stand sites without walking it. And I'm not "putting all my eggs in one basket" with this property at all. I just thought it'd be a nice break from the family farms I've been hunting and also it looks to have potential to produce a giant. I've never hunted a property like this either. The farms I hunt now are are Ag. With small draws along creeks and some crp.
 
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What part of southern Iowa?

For early OCT- I would also look at going in the lower left of the entire outlined property- in the corner of the finger- appears to be decent area that they will travel at dusk-
 
Any idea why they didn't fully commit? Wonder if they are wanting to lease it for more $. Not sure if you are leasing it, but I know that happens. I know of one place that was leased for a couple years (guy beat me to the ad!) and then they guy got told he didn't have the lease any more (probably around June-August) because the owner got a better offer from other guys. Anyway, hope you get the go for this one since they've said maybe already.


I think the locations you have picked out would definitely be a good starting point anyway, but I'm no expert! Haven't really hunted around WRP, but I'd be walking around it checking for sign when/if you get the chance. I wonder if a stand somewhere east of Stand 1 would be good to catch them going to the crop field to the north. May be hard to get there without busting something tho. I hunt around cattle alot, and it can suck. I'm sure some deer have been pushed away from me by them, but always a chance they will push them to you too! Any idea if they pull the cattle out and when? If not, they're gonna need to feed them in winter, which will tend to keep them in a smaller area. May be a chance for a late season stand in the pasture away from the feeding area.
 
They were hesitant at first because they have a grandson that just started bow hunting. They know me because I grew up on a farm not too far away and my Dad is actually the one who had surved the piece to put it in WRP. If it wasnt for them knowing me and my family I dont think theres anyway I would have recieved permission.
 
Gotcha. My dad and grandpa are the same way. Since me and my brothers like to hunt, no one else gets access. Maybe you could just get permission for part of the farm that they may not be hunting. Or offer to take the grandson with you. I only hunt public and family farms, so don't have experience with getting access to other's properties, but maybe those two are good options. I wouldn't be too upset since it's a family deal. But on the other hand, it's hard to beat free access!
 
I wouldn't have been upset at all if they would have said no. I know my Dad has told a lot of people no because I hunt our farms. When I get stands in there Ill tell the land owners where they're at and that their grandson is more then welcome to hunt them if he wants.
 
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