Scouting Overlooked Areas

[woodsdog2]

I dropped my daughters off at bible quizzing practice this afternoon at my brother in laws farm but he had a driveway full of cars so I just left and went up the road from his house to check out some property. He has a small beef and horse farm (52 acres). My wife's cousin is older and pretty much hunts it exclusively but my brother in law said I can always just hunt it whenever I want but our cousin is getting older and its harder for him to get around so I just leave it alone. I may have to change that thinking up a little bit for this season. There was a road crossing at a creek drainage that ran to a pond to the north. State land isn't very far away either and I found this nice little pinch point just north of the ponding creek. Walked around the back part of the pond following the current and came across this nice crossing with a decent rub next to it. This is a strip of woods running north south from a road and is bordered east and west by open fields so its a cover strip the deer like to follow. This trail bisects the cover strip running east west right to an old apple orchard. The pond pinches movement to the north side and the apples only extend so far. I'm thinking this may be a great rut set up or even early season. What I like about it is its just off of a road and nobody really hunts it at all. What are your thoughts??? Would you all hunt ? What time of the season? I know it requires much more information but from the terrain features and other information I provided, would you hunt it or not?

 

[woodsdog2]

I also unfortunately found these two winter kills at the ditch just by the road.

 

[woodsdog2]

Here's a screen shot of the cover strip with the sign I found today marked in the location I was discussing fyi. Thanks.

 

[Sziggy2.0]

Yes absolutely I would hunt it. If there is decent sign like you said and I had permission/access to hunt it I would.

 

[woodsdog2]

Yes absolutely I would hunt it. If there is decent sign like you said and I had permission/access to hunt it I would.

Yeah I wanted to get the road in the pic but to the very west is my brother in law's hay fields and more apples..... that cover strip connects bedding cover up past the road to the south with the hay fields to the North, east and west. I couldn't get the western most fields in the screen shot but that strip goes right to them.

 

[CooterBrown]

Sounds like a great place to hunt.

 

[NMSbowhunter]

I would definitely hunt it and I would go back soon and prep a tree or two like described in the video below by John Eberhart. If it's on private I would set up presets. If those apple trees produce this year, you might have a great spot. I wish we had wild/feral fruit trees growing around here.

(229) Apple tree on free knock on door permission property in Michigan - YouTube

 

[Jimdude]

I would put a camera on that trail no later than August 1st and see what’s going on. Looks good to me though.

 

[MattMan81]

I have a similar area on the property I hunt. Mine runs east to west. But it does get some buck traffic. The few times I have run a camera near by, usually gives me night photos. The crops in the fields across the way, and how high the water is affect how much they use it. I should have hunted it more as there was corn standing over there through gun season. Late season I saw a good buck come from it. I was to far away.

 

[7mmremmag]

I have a spot like that 2 miles from the NY line in PA. Its 100 yards off the road and I can jump into it on my way home from work. You have to cross some water in a real thick area on the outskirts of a giant swamp surrounded by farms. It's a dry spot about 50 yards in diameter with two apple trees. None of the trees are big so I am only about 10 feet up. I had three bucks >110"s hit it in scrape week last year (including one 11pt in the 135 range) in the daytime (I had a cell cam on it). I was just after a different buck (that I ended up with a failed opportunity at) and never touched that spot.


THP has a video from I believe 2020 in a spot like that as well. Rut funnel just off the road and they were in bucks all day.