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Lease full of pines...

D

dirtroadhound

Member
Joined
Dec 1, 2019
Messages
47
I am a member of a lease that is 1200 acres and most of it is PINES (15 minutes from my house). We have hilly terrain, no swamp, and PINES everywhere. PINES in the bottoms, on the hills, on the points, etc. The PINES are all different ages from 5 years old to 30 years old. We have two cutovers, one was cut 5-6 years ago and now is to thick to see into (75 acres) that is bordered by the access road and 15 years old pines and the other side is bordered by 30 year old pines and a creek bottom with giant hemlock and nothing else, and the other was cut last year but sprayed with weed killer right before the season (100 acres). This is timber company land and they are not concerned with deer hunting. I killed a big buck the first year I was in the club that was chasing a doe from a creek bottom into the 75 acre cutover but it has become too thick to see into so I did not hunt that spot this year. I was seeing a lot of small bucks and doe cutting through it and heading into a pine ridge in the mornings the year I killed the big buck but since then the sightings dwindled and then became non-existent so I did not hunt it at all this year after seeing only one deer, a small buck, out of it last year after several hunts. The small buck responded to a buck bomb. I have been on the club for 4 years and most people hunt fixed stands and there are stands in every creek bottom that was not allowed to be cut but I don't feel like there is a lot of hunting pressure bc the 40 members don't hunt hard or at all or only turkey season. Seems that there are at least one or two big bucks killed every year but not by the same person (seems lucky or random) so I think there are big bucks on this lease. No fields and no food plots but roads and atv trails to access most of it but the tallest/steepest ridge which runs the whole east/north edge of the lease which is where I focused this year but was not able to hunt the rut. I saw small bucks and doe up there on several hunts. I jumped one shooter buck (8 points or better) in the new cut over on an uncut creek edge bedded in golden rod-like weeds but never saw him again and had my bow at the time. Someone put up a tripod in that area later.

It snowed one time this year and I went out and noticed that the main place I saw tracks were in the middle of the huge PINE stands (10-12 yo pines) and most beds were in the PINES on elevated humps or on long ridge points into the wooded steep areas or bottoms. The open woods had hardly any tracks. I was not able to make it to the ridge during the snow.

My question is for those that hunt similar types of areas: Where do you find/see/kill big bucks on this type of property? I know this type of property is very common in the south. Do you hunt the pines or focus on the bottoms or steep hills? I do not run cameras but love to hike/walk/scout but have not found anything that just blows my mind. Wondering where to focus for post-season scouting. I have hunted the transitions from the different age pines and the creeks but have never seen anything other than rubs and a few scrapes so I am thinking night time activity here. Are there any beasts out there hunting this type of property that can point me in the right? Need to kill a deer next year, three years without a deer is trying, although my son killed his first deer this year on a buddies lease that is 3 hours away, so that helped get through this year.

Thinking of buying some cameras and deploying them this offseason but not sure where to deploy them and it would only be one or two bc of money?

Thanks
 
I would scout, hard.

Take a week of two off after the season ends, then just keep hunting, but with a gps and camera. Go ahead hunting, look for this years rubs. Find the water sources, look for thick impenetrable terrain where a buck might sleep. Find the food source.

Western hunters often dont think of treestand hunting as hunting, because they dont know all the actual hunting takes place before you hang a set.

I started a new property in s new state last year. Small stretch of moderately hunted public land in mid Atlantic region. I've been more successful than most of the other hunters I've seen.

Go scout. Food water shelter ridges.

Sent from my SM-G965U1 using Tapatalk
 
You have a 1200 A bedding area for the joining properties, very hard to hunt your property because of the way they will feed at night and bed on you in the daytime. But the good part is they have to move to get to and from your area, hunt the property lines, should be some trails.
 
What are they eating. If there are concentrated food sources find security bedding in that area that is getting use.
 
Our southern pine forests, unless there was a recent burn, have a thick under story of palmettos and gal berry bushes. What I have found is during scouting season I'll carry sticks and my saddle and I'll climb up 10-15 ft and youll see the game trails. If your on foot you can be 5ft away but still not see any trails. Once I see where they are I'll pick out a tree or other landmark then climb down and find a way to that spot. Once I find the trail throu that stuff I'll follow it till I come to recent sign then start forming a gameplay from there.
 
I’ve hunted similar scenarios. 1200 acres for 40 hunters is no bueno. I would do a few things. 1) bait with cameras after season if legal and even in season if legal, 2) cut some trails into the best cover. I’ve had success manipulating deer movement by cutting trails into pines. Deer will begin to use them which can concentrate their movement. 3) look real hard at some topo maps. Those monotonous pines are not as monotonous as they seem. 4) learn your local browse super well and key in on preferred species. Browse is all over in pine stands, but it’s not all equally desirable. 5) this may sound crazy, but walk 50-100 in the opposite direction of what the fixed stands are looking at. For example, if a stand is looking north, walk south from the stand. I’ve found excellent trails where the deer are basically avoiding fixed stands and people. 6) consider some public ground, 7) be patient. Pine plantation leases vary by the current rotation. They may clear cut or thin an area next year and change the hunting dynamic entirely, making it much better. There’s an ebb and flow to it. 8) post a topo map on here so some good folks can put fresh eyes and point you in some potential directions.
 
Another thing I look for are the landing zone where the pines are processed ...... Around here it will usually be 75yd square clearing that will be grown up super thick. I'll set up on the down wind side as quiet as possible..... There's usually deer bedded in the middle of that really thick stuff
 
It’s tough to really say within it looking at the property. You also don’t say where you are. In Georgia depending on the amount of habitat diversity I prefer about 100 acres per member. Depending on the habitat you may get away with more or less. I’ve never seen a predominantly pine landscape that I would be happy with one member per 30 acres. It could work if each member was allowed one stand and one deer but where’s the fun in that. At least on public you can use your feet to escape most pressure. On most private the road system is too good to get away from anyone. You say the 40 hunters don’t hunt much. How many deer are killed per year? Usually for every member that barely hunts you have a member who’s retired and is there m-f hunting. Some of them don’t even hunt the weekends. I was in a club last year with 35 people on 6000 acres and it was too much. A bunch of the members reportedly only came up and camped/ hunted once or twice a year. That was true but left out was the fact that they camped the whole month of November and two weeks at Christmas.
 
Sorry for the rant above but also check out all the transitions. Old roads, clear cuts, fire damaged areas, wind damage, beetle kill, areas where young pines meet older pines, fire breaks, creek bottoms, thinned pines etc. An old firebreak through some thinned pines that dead ends into younger pines will almost always be a area deer travel. Look at an aerial and every time the color changes mark that as a place to check out.
 
EricS said:
It’s tough to really say within it looking at the property. You also don’t say where you are. In Georgia depending on the amount of habitat diversity I prefer about 100 acres per member. Depending on the habitat you may get away with more or less. I’ve never seen a predominantly pine landscape that I would be happy with one member per 30 acres. It could work if each member was allowed one stand and one deer but where’s the fun in that. At least on public you can use your feet to escape most pressure. On most private the road system is too good to get away from anyone. You say the 40 hunters don’t hunt much. How many deer are killed per year? Usually for every member that barely hunts you have a member who’s retired and is there m-f hunting. Some of them don’t even hunt the weekends. I was in a club last year with 35 people on 6000 acres and it was too much. A bunch of the members reportedly only came up and camped/ hunted once or twice a year. That was true but left out was the fact that they camped the whole month of November and two weeks at Christmas.
Click to expand...
Southeast Tn and we do have a couple of the retired hunters that hunt a lot but only hunt preset stands. Not sure on the total deer killed each year the manager does not keep records and no reporting system. He was talking about cutting down members to half but lease price would increase a lot and not sure if it is worth it. Biggest bonus is proximity to home. I do have a lot of public land nearby but it is hammered by everyone, rock climbers, nature lovers, side by side/ dirt bike riders, campers, kids drinking, horse riders, and some hunters. I will find a topo to post. Thanks for replys.
 
Man you should have said that to start with. If your in southeast Tennessee the heck with the lease hunt Cade’s Cove. :)
 
If it were me I would hunt the edges of the 2 cutovers where they transition to larger trees. Bounce around the edges and If the cutover butts up to a creek, there should be a 15 yard zone where they weren't allowed to cut and that should be good. Tripod stands are usually a good option and you can create landing strips or if you aren't allowed to cut the trees down you can usually "strip" them of the branches. Make a few small strips parallel to each other that way you can see deer in strip one and get ready to shoot them in strip 2. Hope it helps
 
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