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Planted pines hunting

Root

Root

Well-Known Member
Joined
Dec 4, 2016
Messages
620
I finally got the ok to set up locations on the property next door. That's the good news. Bad news is there is a lot of pressure from other hunters though most of it like every where else I hunt. I scouted it last year and the best spot I've located is in planted pine trees that run between the bedding and the rest of the property. _20171001_174007.JPGthis is from the outside looking in. They are roughly 4' apart with mostly crawling under branches for access.
_20171001_173833.JPG
Here's the bedding. I don't have permission on that property. It's roughly 60 acres of brush and golden rod. The pines would be to the left of this picture. Deer come out of it and into the pines to travel around the border around where the other hunters are to get to the crop fields on the other side. I've found and observed three main trails leading into the pines. But the question is how do you hunt inside these pines? It's so jammed up in there that it's literally dark in there during the day.
 
Root said:
I finally got the ok to set up locations on the property next door. That's the good news. Bad news is there is a lot of pressure from other hunters though most of it like every where else I hunt. I scouted it last year and the best spot I've located is in planted pine trees that run between the bedding and the rest of the property. View attachment 2825this is from the outside looking in. They are roughly 4' apart with mostly crawling under branches for access.
View attachment 2826
Here's the bedding. I don't have permission on that property. It's roughly 60 acres of brush and golden rod. The pines would be to the left of this picture. Deer come out of it and into the pines to travel around the border around where the other hunters are to get to the crop fields on the other side. I've found and observed three main trails leading into the pines. But the question is how do you hunt inside these pines? It's so jammed up in there that it's literally dark in there during the day.
Click to expand...
Sounds like a honey hole..
We have taken a few nice deer in planted pines like you have there. As soon as hunting season wraps up, we would clip the limbs off the pines to make shooting holes/lanes but we don't cut the pine. We would then make ground blinds from the limbs we cut.
If you are going to climb, we cut limbs down through the trees to crossing/trails.
This is kissing close hunting and you will get tired of the color ..... GREEN, but exciting and rewarding. .
 
My biggest problem is I think I need to get pretty high to stay out of site. But since I couldn't prep it until today I'm not sure about altering it as severe as I'd need to for shooting lanes.
 
Root said:
My biggest problem is I think I need to get pretty high to stay out of site. But since I couldn't prep it until today I'm not sure about altering it as severe as I'd need to for shooting lanes.
Click to expand...
Height is not that big a deal in thick pine. Just be sure to have a thick background and be as still as possible. Don't forget the wind direction.
I've had deer so close, while hunting on the ground in pine, I was beginning to think that the deer were going to step on me. I was sitting in a predator chair with leafy wear on.
If in a tree, the trees are so skinny that if you get very high, any movement will make the whole tree shake, so being lower is better.
 
Root said:
How close to the action did you set up?
Click to expand...
Depends on how thick but most of the time, -15 yrds unless I've prepared the area ahead of time, then it's no more than 25 yrds.
Using pull ties/zip ties, I try and tie limbs and things in and around my stand spot for cover. It really seems to help.
 
You didn't mention the orientation of the stand of pines. I used to hunt a stand of pines that was 50 yards wide and 300 yards long and ran east to west. Prevailing winds here, especially during the late season, are out of the northwest. The deer loved to bed along that brushy south edge of the pines. It was a great spot to bow hunt until the land owner decided to harvest all those trees. That sure was disappointing. :(
 
Read an old story about a fellow who fixed a good shooting lane in thick pines and then dug a hole and buried a 55 gallon drum to the top rim. He made a seat for it and killed a number of deer from it. I've scouted big thickets in the past and found rub lines, beds and a particular mushroom that grows after a rain, that the deer love.
 
Autumnrider said:
Depends on how thick but most of the time, -15 yrds unless I've prepared the area ahead of time, then it's no more than 25 yrds.
Using pull ties/zip ties, I try and tie limbs and things in and around my stand spot for cover. It really seems to help.
Click to expand...
That's good advice!

Sent from my Galaxy S8.
 
We hunted a spot just like that on our old lease and we put a blind in the pines above 6 rows in from the edge. The deer liked to travel about 3 rows in from the edge and it was a killer set up. They walked by the blind at 10 yards all the time skirting the open edge. Had we kept the place another year we were going to dig a hole and sink the blind down so the windows were level with the dirt and cover it in pine needles lol


Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk
 
If I can figure out how to screen capture on my android I'll post some aerials for you guys.
 
On my phone if I swipe with the side of my hand across the entire screen it does a screen shot

Sent from my SM-G955U using Tapatalk
 
_20171002_192423.JPG the red dot is where I have my box blind that the above pictures were taken from. The green dots are the locations they have stands. The gray dots are roughly the two main runways leading into the pines. The blue circle is a swap. I would have drawn the other hunters access routes to get to their stands but I'd have to color in most of the map. My property is the L shape you can make out with the pine tree boarder. Beyond my property I don't have permission. That's where the main bedding in this area is. The backside of the swamp buts up to a brushed in power line cutting through.
 
_20171002_204244.JPG
Although I can't hunt there I have tracked many deer through the bedding area. The red line is a draw they follow into the pines. It splits into two runways. One follows the edge along the green line to cross the road to crops on the other side. The other cuts through the swamp to the power line and splits to the crop fields. The blue circle is a patch of around 20 apple trees. The three gray marks are where I picked in spring when I scouted to prep trees, but I wasn't allowed to until the caretakers signed a new agreement. So I'm a bit behind but it's a great property.
 
Well I went and scouted it today and found four scrapes have been opened up coming out of the pines leading into the swamp. Tree is prepped.
Moved on into the pines and I found a small opening where a popple tree is growing amongst the pines. Good news is three trails converge there. Bad news is there is only three shooting lanes from it at only ten yards making for pretty steap angle. Non of the other trees are large enough to hunt from so I prepped it incase. It should be a decent secondary spot.

I didn't make it to the other end of the swamp today I had to pick between scouting or hunting. Hunting won....

I hunted the afternoon/ evening out of another pine 20 yards into the pines from my border. Four does and six fawns went under the tree and lurked around for thirty minutes and moved on into the brush. I could have taken any of them but I'd rather not track through the bedding just yet. I have to say if I was in my normal hang ons they'd have picked me off.
 
I'm a little confused. The description of you property as the l shape looks like the bow blind pretty much covers all of your property. Then you say you didn't make it to the back edge of the swamp? If the planted pines are yours to hunt I would hunt them. Trim some limbs after season. Three shooting lanes at 10 yards is plenty. The big boys may not be bedding there but if there's not many people going into the pines I would say there are more does probably bedding in the pines than the swamp. Good place to be during the rut. If rifle hunting from the blind I would go for a high shoulder shot and drop them right there so I didn't have to track them into the pines and risk ruining the rest of my season.
 
_20171008_132822.JPG Not the best drawing. The red is the property I gained permission on roughly 300 acres. The blue is my property. The green is the planted pines. The gray is the swamp it's actually larger than I drew it but you get the idea.
 
Well I can't believe no one is hunting that power line. If you rifle hunt and can get there without spooking the deer that's where I would spend some of my time. Since no one else is hunting around the swamp and in the pines I would try to hunt there.
 
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