I have the opportunity to participate in a management hunt starting Monday morning. The land is public, and very close to home. The deer herd is about 20:1 what the land can support in this area (probably not that high really, but that’s actually not a terrible estimate), and the DNR wants deer dead. Like, lots of deer dead. SO...
The only downside to this tract is that you absolutely have to hunt within pre-marked zones that are about 50-70 diametric yards. These “pins” are first-come reserve, and I can hunt different ones in a day as long as I come back to the main Pin board and indicate my new location. The pins are placed in various terrain types, but are generally close to nighttime roadside bedding or wooded edges of general-use areas such as picnic and sporting fields. A few are in the timber where soft edges are formed by terrain and browse.
Even though I know there are more deer present than any other public land I hunt, I am having trouble narrowing down the best stand locations for next week. Wind is almost impossible to judge in the timbered sites unless they are close enough to the road or a hiking trail in this heavy-use (hikers and such) tract. We’re expecting 60ish degrees and sporadic rainfall, so a “cold front” for this time of year.
Any ideas on what types of locations y’all would try to hit first, and whether you’d do morning or evening at them?
The only downside to this tract is that you absolutely have to hunt within pre-marked zones that are about 50-70 diametric yards. These “pins” are first-come reserve, and I can hunt different ones in a day as long as I come back to the main Pin board and indicate my new location. The pins are placed in various terrain types, but are generally close to nighttime roadside bedding or wooded edges of general-use areas such as picnic and sporting fields. A few are in the timber where soft edges are formed by terrain and browse.
Even though I know there are more deer present than any other public land I hunt, I am having trouble narrowing down the best stand locations for next week. Wind is almost impossible to judge in the timbered sites unless they are close enough to the road or a hiking trail in this heavy-use (hikers and such) tract. We’re expecting 60ish degrees and sporadic rainfall, so a “cold front” for this time of year.
Any ideas on what types of locations y’all would try to hit first, and whether you’d do morning or evening at them?