Farm Country Bucks

[neonomad]

I’ve spent a fair it of time hunting southern and central Ohio, but in the past few years I’ve found possibly the biggest challenge for me is the scattered wood lots in flat farm country. Especially in the past three years it’s been kicking my butt. Anybody in the same boat? And there’s really not that much “self help” content dedicated to it, so it’s been a bit of a lonely struggle!

 

[floydfreak]

I hunt in Ontario and it's much the same. Lots of farm with isolated pockets of Bush. The landscape is flat, no elevation at all. I've also had a lot of trouble the last few years seeing deer.
I've tried isolating in on water but the majority is long creaks so unless you sit on a crossing it's tough.
I've tried hunting the transitions in the woods from very thick nasty bush to stuff you can walk through with no luck.
I feel like the deer have gone to a more nocturnal routine. Hitting the farm fields at night when its safest for them to be out in the open.
Long story short you're not alone lol

 

[Westdesign03]

You’re definitely not alone. That’s all I really have myself where I hunt unless I drive 40 min- 1.5 hrs +. Taking a long time to learn it and not much out there specific to this elk day of areas I’ve found. I just try to diversify and find good public spots, which I have but I’m so new to them I still have no idea about travel patterns or hunting pressure or any of that.


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[neonomad]

I hunt in Ontario and it's much the same. Lots of farm with isolated pockets of Bush. The landscape is flat, no elevation at all. I've also had a lot of trouble the last few years seeing deer.
I've tried isolating in on water but the majority is long creaks so unless you sit on a crossing it's tough.
I've tried hunting the transitions in the woods from very thick nasty bush to stuff you can walk through with no luck.
I feel like the deer have gone to a more nocturnal routine. Hitting the farm fields at night when its safest for them to be out in the open.
Long story short you're not alone lol

There’s one specific buck a few buddies and I have targeted since 2017, other than rut I’ve never seen him make a mistake. I haven’t passed other bucks because of him, he’s just #1. In 2018 I was just getting my stand set up and he slowly walked by on Nov 12th, 8 yards broadside, that hurt. But before rut and into the late season, like you said, it’s very nocturnal action and accessing the property always feels like they’ve probably put eyes on me, and they have the advantage. One adjustment I’m considering is try harder to find buck bedding and be there in the dark in the morning in October, before they’re back from feeding. But locating bedding has been challenging, it’s not that I haven’t been trying. And maybe need to focus more on little features outside of the main woodlots. Maybe spend only 50% of my time in the woods, other 50% glassing the fields sitting tree rows and drainages. Set more trail cams in these areas. Property I hunt, trail cams say there’s lots of bucks, but in stand sightings are still low, they’re winning.

 

[neonomad]

You’re definitely not alone. That’s all I really have myself where I hunt unless I drive 40 min- 1.5 hrs +. Taking a long time to learn it and not much out there specific to this elk day of areas I’ve found. I just try to diversify and find good public spots, which I have but I’m so new to them I still have no idea about travel patterns or hunting pressure or any of that.


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I’m leaning more toward focusing on the farm country at least for another few years, because it’s definitely it’s own different puzzle. If you presented 200 acres of public hill country and 200 acres of flat private Ohio ag with 75 acres of woods in it, I’m probably more confident I could succeed in hill country, which is not what I would have guessed 5 years ago.
Edit: Obviously it depends on the specifics of each property, but my point is the difficulty of flat Ag land is a bit underrated.

 

[Westdesign03]

I’m leaning more toward focusing on the farm country at least for another few years, because it’s definitely it’s own different puzzle. If you presented 200 acres of public hill country and 200 acres of flat private Ohio ag with 75 acres of woods in it, I’m probably more confident I could succeed in hill country, which is not what I would have guessed 5 years ago.
Edit: Obviously it depends on the specifics of each property, but my point is the difficulty of flat Ag land is a bit underrated.

Right. Yeah the more I get into this hunting stuff the more I’m finding that out. You would think it would be the exact opposite. I’m going to be focusing more on some pieces of land in northern Ohio where SOME hills are, compared to my stomping grounds anyway. I had amazing luck last season up in an area kinda like that, although it was not very hilly still, it was definitely a different vibe going on than here in the flat lands.


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[floydfreak]

There’s one specific buck a few buddies and I have targeted since 2017, other than rut I’ve never seen him make a mistake. I haven’t passed other bucks because of him, he’s just #1. In 2018 I was just getting my stand set up and he slowly walked by on Nov 12th, 8 yards broadside, that hurt. But before rut and into the late season, like you said, it’s very nocturnal action and accessing the property always feels like they’ve probably put eyes on me, and they have the advantage. One adjustment I’m considering is try harder to find buck bedding and be there in the dark in the morning in October, before they’re back from feeding. But locating bedding has been challenging, it’s not that I haven’t been trying. And maybe need to focus more on little features outside of the main woodlots. Maybe spend only 50% of my time in the woods, other 50% glassing the fields sitting tree rows and drainages. Set more trail cams in these areas. Property I hunt, trail cams say there’s lots of bucks, but in stand sightings are still low, they’re winning.

When it comes to bedding I just look for the thickest of thick stuff. If it looks impossible for me to get through without sounding like a herd of elephants running through the woods that's where I'm setting up. And them I'm literally waiting for the last 2 minutes of shooting time to hope a buck wanders out to the field. It really seems like you have to hunt the rut they just dont come out during the day otherwise.

Like you mentioned the biggest problem is getting in. Either your walking down the edges of a field which is the food source you're hoping they are going to be either going to or coming from. Or you're crashing through the brush trying to get around them and no matter how slow I go it never seems quiet enough. It always seems like the best way to get into the spot you want to hunt is through someone else's property.

 

[MattMan81]

"accessing the property always feels like they’ve probably put eyes on me"
I think that's the name of the game there. Open farm feilds leave you supper exposed to them seeing you long before you see them. I have come to believe they see you, hear you, and know how to avoid you if they do. I think entry and exit with out being detected is the name of the game on farm feilds. I stopped hunting over the food plots/feilds for that reason. Unless I can get in quietly through the cover. The big boys watch and know if your there.

 

[neonomad]

When it comes to bedding I just look for the thickest of thick stuff. If it looks impossible for me to get through without sounding like a herd of elephants running through the woods that's where I'm setting up. And them I'm literally waiting for the last 2 minutes of shooting time to hope a buck wanders out to the field. It really seems like you have to hunt the rut they just dont come out during the day otherwise.

Like you mentioned the biggest problem is getting in. Either your walking down the edges of a field which is the food source you're hoping they are going to be either going to or coming from. Or you're crashing through the brush trying to get around them and no matter how slow I go it never seems quiet enough. It always seems like the best way to get into the spot you want to hunt is through someone else's property.

Maybe you’re 100% correct but I have a suspicion I’ve underestimated the unconventional bedding spots as well. In this pic green is where we park, the pink circle is bedding as you describe, a timbered area that grew back thick. Without corn in the field accessing it is a dice roll because they usually sit in that bedding with a view of the woods edge or the field. But the yellow areas is where I suspect the smartest bucks often bed. A local told me that when the woods get pressured at all the deer often just trot out to that deep drainage far east. Then they just wander back over once the suns down.

 

[kyler1945]

tradeoffs.

Things that make it easier:

deer are significantly more predictable with the defined geography/topography/terrain/cover/edges in farm country.

deer are significantly more limited in the areas they will take cover during daylight.

deer are much more used to people in farm country.


things that make it tougher:

even though the deer are more consistent in their behavior, they often have more sight/smell/noise advantages than monolithic hunting terrain. This can make gaining an edge on them tough sometimes.


Deer generally don’t move around in broad daylight when the temperature is warm enough that the dont have to do so to survive, or height of rut. You should start from the ground truth that deer generally move at night, and the daylight movement is the exception. This Straighten out your expectations, and will tighten your Proximity to bedded deer by default.

from my five years of hunting Midwest deer, access seems to be number one priority when deciding on a spot to hunt. Down here, they bed anywhere anytime on any wind with any weather. Access becomes less critical.

 

[woodsdog2]

Up here, they do the same!!! They bed anywhere, anytime on any wind with any weather. The best strategy I've found so far is find sign in tight cover and wait for a windy day to cover your noise. Climb high enough to minimize the constant swirling winds and hope for the best. I've had luck late pre-rut grunting and rattling but I'm always tucked in close to bedding areas. If I can sneak in on a place in the morning I will do that. I envy the guys that can "pattern" bucks.......just doesn't happen for me too much. About the closest patterning I find is slipping in relatively close to a bedding area and calling them in. I do like staging areas in the evening but I try to set up before the actual staging area but that is oftentimes difficult to figure out too. That's why I love it so much! Its like playing chess with a grandmaster all the time. For some of you this is old hat but I always see game when I'm actively thinking about my access to my set up location. If I get hung up on wanting to hunt a spot and I begin to discount my access, I always lose.