"Big woods scouting"

[DePalma]

Hey guys I hunt big woods up here In RI and it gets really tough finding destination spots and set up points..besides oaks and rut locations what do you guys look for??

 

[redsquirrel]

I moved this to the scouting section...

Welcome to the site DePalma!

I would say it depends on the type of areas that you are hunting. I grew up hunting thick flat brushy areas with lots of swamps and catbriars. When I hunt there I get close to the thickest stuff that I can find and look for travel routes out of there. That is where they are bedding and I try to catch them coming and going. Where I live now it is open hardwoods and hilly. It was quite a culture shock for me. I started out just looking for areas with deer sign to try to narrow it down. I have since learnt that I should be concentrating most of my efforts up high because that is where most of the deer bed. Similar concepts but drastically different terrain.

So basically figure out where the deer bed. Thats where you need to start. If you want more information than you will ever be able to read on this check out http://www.thehuntingbeast.com. There are some awesome hunters over there and just some great guys who are willing to share so much useful information.

 

[DePalma]

Excellent I will take the advice and I'll check out the website..

 

[redsquirrel]

I hunt big woods in NJ so I understand exactly where you are coming from

 

[Sniper4hire]

I hunt deep in beaver swamps which are surrounded by big woods in my area. Big woods hunting where there is a consistent blend of big pines and big oaks presents its difficulties in trying to pattern any deer, let alone big bucks due to having such an attractive food source be literally everywhere. However, the beaver swamps tend to provide the most help as they offer travel corridors and funnels to direct deer movement. After spending a few seasons in the same couple square miles, year-round scouting, and studying the terrain from Goggle Earth, I'm starting to score on more and bigger bucks.
The saddle then, is an invaluable scouting tool when I need to go up a tree to have a better look at something. And of course, when the hunt is on, its nice when hunting public land (which I do exclusively) to be able to set up several trees in advance and not give myself away to the occasional hunter who ventures in as deep as I do. Being deathly afraid of heights, the saddle, being so safe, allows me to go up a few extra feet whereas I would never do with any type of hang-on stand or climber.

 

[Matty]

Sniper4hire,

What are you looking for with beaver swamps? Routes around them? Bedding?

Are you talking phragmite and cattail swamps too (not necessarily any beaver activity)? Because I find a lot of bucks will live in those swamps, but penetrating into the thick, tall, noisy grass without screwing everything up can be very difficult, so instead I'll hunt the edges. Dry islands in those phragmite and typha swamps are usually big buck hotspots though.

Hopefully you can give us some more info on it, as I know of a few big old beaver swamps that I kind of just skip over. They are mostly water though...

One thing that has always helped me with "big woods" hunting is focusing on terrain. As you guys have mentioned, food is basically everywhere in the form of woody and leaf browse and acorns, bedding areas can be numerous too. Looking at aerial maps rarely helps because it usually all just looks exactly the same, sometimes if you're lucky you can find subtle changes.

However, if the terrain is varied enough like most of the big woods I hunt, you'll be able to key in on shelves or benches, points, saddles, etc....Most of the time you can find these features on topo maps. However, I'll also mention that there are many micro terrain funnels that don't show up on topo maps....Watch for them when you do boots on the ground scouting. Benches and saddles always work well for me....I also have a lot of what I call "chutes" that let the deer go up through terrain from bench to bench without being seen. Great spots during the rut as bucks go out cruising looking for does bedded on different benches.

 

[jlh42581]

I live in the big woods, 25,000 acres of it less than two miles from the front door and even more within 20 mins. What i focus on is the following, keep in mind I live in one of the highest pressured states in one of the highest rifle pressure areas, im 99% public.

1: If someone else hunts it, its eliminated, period
2: If its not thick, as in I can see more than 20-30 yards, off the list UNLESS its got multiple stacking factors
3: Edges, this can be an exception to 2, clear cuts or previous year burns are great
4: Points, the deer are bedding on leward points, they could be traveling miles to food
5: Access barriers, nasty walking, water, vertical climbs

Once you start recognizing bedding areas, get in an area you think the bed should be and look hard, it might not be immediately obvious. Lone weird trees, blow downs, patches of grass or laurel.

After finding the bed I attempt to put together a circuit. The rubs face this way leading out of the bed, the opposite side is rubbed coming into the bed, Ive got direction of travel now. Wheres the destination food and water, do I see similar sign in the circuit?

The big woods is way different then most things you read about. I covered 4 hours of boots on the ground yesterday and found 1 stand location.

 

[redsquirrel]

I live in the big woods, 25,000 acres of it less than two miles from the front door and even more within 20 mins. What i focus on is the following, keep in mind I live in one of the highest pressured states in one of the highest rifle pressure areas, im 99% public.

1: If someone else hunts it, its eliminated, period
2: If its not thick, as in I can see more than 20-30 yards, off the list UNLESS its got multiple stacking factors
3: Edges, this can be an exception to 2, clear cuts or previous year burns are great
4: Points, the deer are bedding on leward points, they could be traveling miles to food
5: Access barriers, nasty walking, water, vertical climbs

Once you start recognizing bedding areas, get in an area you think the bed should be and look hard, it might not be immediately obvious. Lone weird trees, blow downs, patches of grass or laurel.

After finding the bed I attempt to put together a circuit. The rubs face this way leading out of the bed, the opposite side is rubbed coming into the bed, Ive got direction of travel now. Wheres the destination food and water, do I see similar sign in the circuit?

The big woods is way different then most things you read about. I covered 4 hours of boots on the ground yesterday and found 1 stand location.

Great post! Very concise but great info on hunting the big woods!

 

[Stykbow1]

Hey Guys,

Some great info here the only thing I would add is try and locate areas on Google Earth or other mapping programs first to narrow down the search area since big woods is just that and anything you can do to reduce how much walking you have to do to find productive areas saves you time and sweat. Also if you can do your scouting after a fresh snow that is sometimes very helpful and makes it easy to see what areas are being used at that time of the year. The difficult thing about the big woods is there is just so much land for the deer to utilize compared to some areas, like urban areas, that even narrowing down the area still leaves you with a lot of ground to cover.

One thing I've found very interesting is that the area that my In-laws live in, which is part of the Adirondacks and what many consider true big woods by many, the hunters are telling me the deer are moving closer to the houses than ever before. A family friend from NJ that relocated right down the road from my In-laws after he retired has spent tons of time in the big woods deer hunting, maintaining snowmobile trails, and doing BTI treatments, which is a chemical that is added to the streams to kill the black fly larva, so he is in the woods constantly. He said that both the deer and turkeys are gravitating towards the houses more and more each year and while he continues to search the deep woods for those mossy horned recluses the sign and sightings are always closer to the houses than further away. The only thing I can think of is that as the area gets more populated and people clear the land and plant grass, shrubs, and trees the deer capitalize on this new food source. I also think more people are staying year round, it used to be just hunting and snowmobile camps during the season, but now many people are living year round. Just food for thought....

Roger

 

[parkersdad]

Re: "Big woods scouting"

Hey Guys,

Some great info here the only thing I would add is try and locate areas on Google Earth or other mapping programs first to narrow down the search area since big woods is just that and anything you can do to reduce how much walking you have to do to find productive areas saves you time and sweat. Also if you can do your scouting after a fresh snow that is sometimes very helpful and makes it easy to see what areas are being used at that time of the year. The difficult thing about the big woods is there is just so much land for the deer to utilize compared to some areas, like urban areas, that even narrowing down the area still leaves you with a lot of ground to cover.

One thing I've found very interesting is that the area that my In-laws live in, which is part of the Adirondacks and what many consider true big woods by many, the hunters are telling me the deer are moving closer to the houses than ever before. A family friend from NJ that relocated right down the road from my In-laws after he retired has spent tons of time in the big woods deer hunting, maintaining snowmobile trails, and doing BTI treatments, which is a chemical that is added to the streams to kill the black fly larva, so he is in the woods constantly. He said that both the deer and turkeys are gravitating towards the houses more and more each year and while he continues to search the deep woods for those mossy horned recluses the sign and sightings are always closer to the houses than further away. The only thing I can think of is that as the area gets more populated and people clear the land and plant grass, shrubs, and trees the deer capitalize on this new food source. I also think more people are staying year round, it used to be just hunting and snowmobile camps during the season, but now many people are living year round. Just food for thought....

Roger

I have seen this as well. I hunt 50,000 acres of public land that are big Woods. Out of the seven nice bucks I have killed six of them have been within half of a mile of houses.

 

[redsquirrel]

Roger- I think you hit on it perfectly. The reason is food sources associated with houses. The "big woods" that I hunt are not nearly that big, but still decent chunks of land where you can get back a mile or more. A lot of these areas don't have agriculture around so when we figure out what food source they are using, I am usually looking to the closest neighborhoods and houses. Some of the areas I hunt in parks that border houses, I hunt really close to the safety zone boundary because thats where the deer go!

 

[jlh42581]

Part of the reason isn't just browse either. Many have licks or bait sites right in the yard. Greg miller discussed big woods bait influence in his book. I find some bucks bedding in places too where I believe they know other deer travel so they simply lay there till a hot doe runs by in the rut. I've got a bed pegged he's doing exactly that but has not only the double travel saddle in play but it's an oak flat and he has a head water within feet of the bed. What more could a buck want? A mile away in his circuit is a major turnip plot. Those guys gotta have him on cam, they're so far off his daytime travel area no way they see him.

I do a ton of map work and really most times it pays but there's times I dive in and find virtually nothing too. Our population is so low currently not all great features are even in play.

I've got enough good light gear to go deep and stay, most likely to happen as early as spring gobbler. I'm talking elk type setup with the saddle I'm going way back, can't wait.

 

[redsquirrel]

I've got enough good light gear to go deep and stay, most likely to happen as early as spring gobbler. I'm talking elk type setup with the saddle I'm going way back, can't wait.

Nice!

 

[boone0]

Re: "Big woods scouting"

Part of the reason isn't just browse either. Many have licks or bait sites right in the yard. Greg miller discussed big woods bait influence in his book. I find some bucks bedding in places too where I believe they know other deer travel so they simply lay there till a hot doe runs by in the rut. I've got a bed pegged he's doing exactly that but has not only the double travel saddle in play but it's an oak flat and he has a head water within feet of the bed. What more could a buck want? A mile away in his circuit is a major turnip plot. Those guys gotta have him on cam, they're so far off his daytime travel area no way they see him.

I do a ton of map work and really most times it pays but there's times I dive in and find virtually nothing too. Our population is so low currently not all great features are even in play.

I've got enough good light gear to go deep and stay, most likely to happen as early as spring gobbler. I'm talking elk type setup with the saddle I'm going way back, can't wait.

What do you mean by that? Camping out in the woods prior to the hunt?

 

[LASOutdoorsmen]

Most of my hunting is in big woods. One thing I learned the hard way is deer are not always where you expect them to be. Just as deer readily change their habits you must willingly and readily to do so too. One day this past season I hunted this one spot 30 yards from a gravel leading to a neighborhood. My dad and the land owner laughed at me. I saw 15 deer walk under me at 9:30am. This was a week before the end of the season when deer are skittish. These deer were bypassing dozens acorn trees because of hunting pressure. Aerial photos help me a lot, but there nothing like getting your boots dirty. One tip I'll share is try to always stay one step ahead of the deer. Figure out what they'll be eating next, not what they are eating now.

 

[boone0]

Re: "Big woods scouting"

Most of my hunting is in big woods. One thing I learned the hard way is deer are not always where you expect them to be. Just as deer readily change their habits you must willingly and readily to do so too. One day this past season I hunted this one spot 30 yards from a gravel leading to a neighborhood. My dad and the land owner laughed at me. I saw 15 deer walk under me at 9:30am. This was a week before the end of the season when deer are skittish. These deer were bypassing dozens acorn trees because of hunting pressure. Aerial photos help me a lot, but there nothing like getting your boots dirty. One tip I'll share is try to always stay one step ahead of the deer. Figure out what they'll be eating next, not what they are eating now.

Just picking your brain...what made you choose that spot?

 

[LASOutdoorsmen]

Re: "Big woods scouting"

Most of my hunting is in big woods. One thing I learned the hard way is deer are not always where you expect them to be. Just as deer readily change their habits you must willingly and readily to do so too. One day this past season I hunted this one spot 30 yards from a gravel leading to a neighborhood. My dad and the land owner laughed at me. I saw 15 deer walk under me at 9:30am. This was a week before the end of the season when deer are skittish. These deer were bypassing dozens acorn trees because of hunting pressure. Aerial photos help me a lot, but there nothing like getting your boots dirty. One tip I'll share is try to always stay one step ahead of the deer. Figure out what they'll be eating next, not what they are eating now.

Just picking your brain...what made you choose that spot?

I want able to hunt or even get on the woods as much as I wanted to until December. So much of my scouting was done by trail cameras. Which I only use to monitor deer movement. My trail cameras are set on the two major trails in my woods(pinch points). I had great movement by both sexes during October. I only had pictures of does during November and I didn't have any pictures during the first two weeks of December. I didn't know what to do by December because as far as I knew the deer had skip town. It was time to think outside of the box because my hot spot which I'll bet money was dry. I started to hunt lone spots, places where I've spooked deer before, places where I'd considered for bow season(October),places where I knew hunters wouldn't think twice about, and places I'd considered night trails. Let me tell you, I saw more deer during the late season(post rut) than any late season in the past decade.

 

[LASOutdoorsmen]

Re: "Big woods scouting"

Most of my hunting is in big woods. One thing I learned the hard way is deer are not always where you expect them to be. Just as deer readily change their habits you must willingly and readily to do so too. One day this past season I hunted this one spot 30 yards from a gravel leading to a neighborhood. My dad and the land owner laughed at me. I saw 15 deer walk under me at 9:30am. This was a week before the end of the season when deer are skittish. These deer were bypassing dozens acorn trees because of hunting pressure. Aerial photos help me a lot, but there nothing like getting your boots dirty. One tip I'll share is try to always stay one step ahead of the deer. Figure out what they'll be eating next, not what they are eating now.

Just picking your brain...what made you choose that spot?

I wasn't able to hunt or even get on the woods as much as I wanted to until December. So much of my scouting was done by trail cameras. Which I only use to monitor deer movement. My trail cameras are set on the two major trails in my woods(pinch points). I had great movement by both sexes during October. I only had pictures of does during November and I didn't have any pictures during the first two weeks of December. I didn't know what to do by December because as far as I knew the deer had skip town. It was time to think outside of the box because my hot spot which I'll bet money was dry. I started to hunt lone spots, places where I've spooked deer before, places where I'd considered for bow season(October),places where I knew hunters wouldn't think twice about, and places I'd considered night trails. Let me tell you, I saw more deer during the late season(post rut) than any late season in the past decade.

 

[jlh42581]

Re:

Part of the reason isn't just browse either. Many have licks or bait sites right in the yard. Greg miller discussed big woods bait influence in his book. I find some bucks bedding in places too where I believe they know other deer travel so they simply lay there till a hot doe runs by in the rut. I've got a bed pegged he's doing exactly that but has not only the double travel saddle in play but it's an oak flat and he has a head water within feet of the bed. What more could a buck want? A mile away in his circuit is a major turnip plot. Those guys gotta have him on cam, they're so far off his daytime travel area no way they see him.

I do a ton of map work and really most times it pays but there's times I dive in and find virtually nothing too. Our population is so low currently not all great features are even in play.

I've got enough good light gear to go deep and stay, most likely to happen as early as spring gobbler. I'm talking elk type setup with the saddle I'm going way back, can't wait.

What do you mean by that? Camping out in the woods prior to the hunt?

Correct, going in deep enough that coming back out would be more energy/work than worth. Miles well make it a couple days. Set up a spike camp in an area back off the intended area to hunt far enough back to not effect movement.

 

[redsquirrel]

Re: "Big woods scouting"

Part of the reason isn't just browse either. Many have licks or bait sites right in the yard. Greg miller discussed big woods bait influence in his book. I find some bucks bedding in places too where I believe they know other deer travel so they simply lay there till a hot doe runs by in the rut. I've got a bed pegged he's doing exactly that but has not only the double travel saddle in play but it's an oak flat and he has a head water within feet of the bed. What more could a buck want? A mile away in his circuit is a major turnip plot. Those guys gotta have him on cam, they're so far off his daytime travel area no way they see him.

I do a ton of map work and really most times it pays but there's times I dive in and find virtually nothing too. Our population is so low currently not all great features are even in play.

I've got enough good light gear to go deep and stay, most likely to happen as early as spring gobbler. I'm talking elk type setup with the saddle I'm going way back, can't wait.

What do you mean by that? Camping out in the woods prior to the hunt?

Correct, going in deep enough that coming back out would be more energy/work than worth. Miles well make it a couple days. Set up a spike camp in an area back off the intended area to hunt far enough back to not effect movement.

You're in PA right? Can you legally do that in PA? I'm looking for somewhere to do it but I can't in nj. I know I can in ny state forests.