The Silence
PMA Member
I just acquired a small piece of property I can hunt but it looks like it could be a puzzle to figure out exactly how to go about hunting it. It's basically a small woodlot located on fencerow which is bordered by a open ditch on the backside. It faces a large soybean field with the woodlot being located on the lowest elevation of the property. The deer can come out of the woodlot and be totally secluded from the front by a fairly tall hillside. The woodlot is probably 300 yds. long, with the ends being fairly narrow and the middle part being 60-90 yds. deep. I know deer bed in the deepest part and cross the ditch from the backside from neighboring woods on their way to the soybean field. I believe I can reach the edges of the woodlot via the ditch or a couple of outlying fence rows. From what I can tell the deer have been using the face of the woodlot (on the soybean field side) as a travel corridor as well. How would you approach something like this? (1) Sneak into the edge of the woodlot, stay on the ground using a deadfall as a blind, and pick off deer as they move along the face (2) Go in, set up a treestand along the outside edges disturbing the peace in the process, come back later and attempt to get into the stand without being busted (3) Set up a decoy a little farther out from the largest part of the woodlot and use the curiosity factor to pull out some does/buck. Most of the time I have used my decoy, does have come into about 20 yds. from the decoy simply out of curiosity. I know it's not an ideal situation but I would still like to give it a try for the challenge of it.
