Management success with hogs?? Doubtful unless they are trapping and using helo's and even then they are likely only maintaining.
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Post season scouting
- Thread starter BTaylor
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If there are pigs there you'd see rooting sign even if you don't actually get eyes on the pigs themselves. It doesn't mean they won't be back at some point, and the presence of that old trap tells me they were there in sufficient numbers at one point to make someone go to the trouble to put it there. Pigs don't mean no deer, however. I hunt a block with a lot of pigs and the deer are there too.
They may be bedding in the woods if there are blowdowns or left over tops from the cutting. Deer don't need a lot to bed. Just low cover. Around here they will bed just about anywhere they can lay down and blend in. There is not a lot of rhyme or reason to bedding here, unfortunately.
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I went out to the new club today and cleaned out a spot and prepped it for the fall. I found it last September but it was so thick back in there I never got around to hunting it. The spot consists of 3 persimmon trees out on the point of land on the edge of a big marsh. The brush around the trees was very thick so I went out today and cleared out area under the drip lines of the trees and cleaned out the existing deer trails that enter the spot. I also prepped a small red oak for the little LWCG .5 stand. If those persimmons are hot again this fall I will be ready to take advantage of that spot.
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Cbigbear
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Hit an area yesterday that is holding a fair number of deer & hogs. Hogs bedding low & pushing the deer up higher.
Mschultz373, I hunted the west side of that NWR back about 10 yrs ago. Found good bedding between the transition line & the cut coming off the bayou.
Mschultz373, I hunted the west side of that NWR back about 10 yrs ago. Found good bedding between the transition line & the cut coming off the bayou.
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mschultz373
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Cbigbear
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It’s either travel farther too hunt better deer in LA or pay the money for MS. I haven’t found a way to make more time so I just figured out how to make the money.
Took a walk with the boys and walked the area I hunted some late season. Didn't find anything to exciting. But at least got a better feel for how some more of the terrain lays. Marked a few spots to try and few other areas to consider. 
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I went out and did a scout today. I'll update on all that I found today in the morning, but I just thought I'd throw this in tonight since it is pretty interesting to me. On November 3rd I missed a doe at about 18 yards with my 44 pound draw weight bow and buried this single bevel broadhead up to the threads in an underground root. This was the broadhead I killed the doe with back on October 22nd, 2025 with the spine shot that exited out the neck so I was keen to get it back. I was in the area today so I went out and retrieved it.
The retrieval went smoother than expected and I was able to split the root easily when I got home, in no small part to the torquing the broadhead had done to the wood. The force of the opposing bevels had put a pretty good split in the grain of the root, as can be seen in the third picture below. . Anyway, It came out fine with no damage in spite of going through a few inches of dirt and then penetrating its full length into a root, where it stayed for almost 4 months. This is pretty impressive to me that a 585 grain arrow can do this out of a 44 pound draw weight bow.
I'll have this broadhead touched up and back in the quiver ready to meet the next deer this fall.
The retrieval went smoother than expected and I was able to split the root easily when I got home, in no small part to the torquing the broadhead had done to the wood. The force of the opposing bevels had put a pretty good split in the grain of the root, as can be seen in the third picture below. . Anyway, It came out fine with no damage in spite of going through a few inches of dirt and then penetrating its full length into a root, where it stayed for almost 4 months. This is pretty impressive to me that a 585 grain arrow can do this out of a 44 pound draw weight bow.
I'll have this broadhead touched up and back in the quiver ready to meet the next deer this fall.
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neonomad
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Last year I took a field point warm up shot from the stand, something I used to do all the time years ago… this stick looks rotten but it was solid dry wood, and looked bigger in person. I had a heck of time getting this arrow out, didn’t feel like carrying the whole stick home.
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Early in my bowhunting I used to shoot a practice arrow out of the stand like that. I ended up losing so may arrows I quit doing it. I'd shoot, be sure I could identify exactly where it was, get down, go over and it would just be gone.
Yep. The Critters Steal Them When Ur Not Looking..
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The scouting portion of yesterdays outing was productive. My first stop was to scout the perimeter and then interior of an approximately 80 acre block of 12 to 13 year old regrowth pine stand. I killed a doe off the East side of the stand on January 1st of this year, as she came out of the thicket and walked along just inside the cover along an old overgrown logging lane.
I decided after that encounter to really dive off in there post season and see how the deer are using it. First I went back along the lane, and visited the spot where the doe was quartered out. There were only a few tufts of hair left, no bones to be found at all. Nothing is wasted in nature.
About 50 yards to the North West of the doe's final resting place I found a very nice community scrape with three scrapes under one privet hedge bush. The three together were about the size of a truck hood. It's thick back in there with plenty of low understory. The scrape spot is one of the only areas with a little openness. I plan to go back in there following turkey season and really dial that spot in really well and be ready to hunt it this fall as soon as I see the scrapes start opening up.
I then started walking the perimeter of the stand, with nothing to report until I hit the North East corner where the thicket butts up to an open patch of woods and a gas line easement. The easement is overgrown in weeds and sawbriars but the deer are definitely using it. Two well worn trials cross the easement at the intersection of the thick pines, the open woods, and the easement. Trails parallel the thicket and cross the easement trails. There are several trees that offer good shots to these trails where they converge, yet it is nice and thick in there. I did not see any hunter sign back in there. I think this sort of location just doesn't appeal to most folks, thankfully.
After I finished the scout of the pine block I drove a couple of miles South and investigated the narrow SMZ that I killed the doe on October 22nd of last year out of. After thoroughly walking it out, and checking the area, I feel like my best bet is to do just what I did in October. Ease in very quietly early in the afternoon, identify which feed tree is hot and climb accordingly. There are too many trees in there and they are too far apart to really make a game plan in advance. I went over to where I quartered the doe, and at first I could not find any trace. Then up on a little knoll I found what I though was her, but it turned out to be the skull of a buck with no rack, just the pedicules. He looks to have died several years ago. I also found a mylar balloon on that little knoll. Buck bedding? Lol. A little more looking and I was able to find the skeleton of the doe from October. There wasn't much left there either, but more than at the first spot.
By that point I had pretty much used up the afternoon so I headed out. I have several brand new areas that need a full day to work. That will be soon.
I decided after that encounter to really dive off in there post season and see how the deer are using it. First I went back along the lane, and visited the spot where the doe was quartered out. There were only a few tufts of hair left, no bones to be found at all. Nothing is wasted in nature.
About 50 yards to the North West of the doe's final resting place I found a very nice community scrape with three scrapes under one privet hedge bush. The three together were about the size of a truck hood. It's thick back in there with plenty of low understory. The scrape spot is one of the only areas with a little openness. I plan to go back in there following turkey season and really dial that spot in really well and be ready to hunt it this fall as soon as I see the scrapes start opening up.
I then started walking the perimeter of the stand, with nothing to report until I hit the North East corner where the thicket butts up to an open patch of woods and a gas line easement. The easement is overgrown in weeds and sawbriars but the deer are definitely using it. Two well worn trials cross the easement at the intersection of the thick pines, the open woods, and the easement. Trails parallel the thicket and cross the easement trails. There are several trees that offer good shots to these trails where they converge, yet it is nice and thick in there. I did not see any hunter sign back in there. I think this sort of location just doesn't appeal to most folks, thankfully.
After I finished the scout of the pine block I drove a couple of miles South and investigated the narrow SMZ that I killed the doe on October 22nd of last year out of. After thoroughly walking it out, and checking the area, I feel like my best bet is to do just what I did in October. Ease in very quietly early in the afternoon, identify which feed tree is hot and climb accordingly. There are too many trees in there and they are too far apart to really make a game plan in advance. I went over to where I quartered the doe, and at first I could not find any trace. Then up on a little knoll I found what I though was her, but it turned out to be the skull of a buck with no rack, just the pedicules. He looks to have died several years ago. I also found a mylar balloon on that little knoll. Buck bedding? Lol. A little more looking and I was able to find the skeleton of the doe from October. There wasn't much left there either, but more than at the first spot.
By that point I had pretty much used up the afternoon so I headed out. I have several brand new areas that need a full day to work. That will be soon.
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neonomad
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I’m progressing through the Dunning-Kruger graph / process in the hill country of southern Ohio… after two years of success on decent 2-1/2 year old bucks, and after getting some great bucks on cam last season I was feeling pretty good. Hiked 20 miles past Fri / Sat (legs are still sore), and reviewed trail cam folders while sitting solo at a state park campground… the reality is sinking in. I found no sheds on that hike, and one nice buck bed. And big buck pics were so sporadic through season I realize how low odds any given hunt is. My overall process is scout wide swaths, pay my dues to the universe, and keep looking for a few hidden gem higher odds spots / funnels. That process is working, I’m learning things, but the suspected premium spots still are low odds dice rolls. That said, this scouting is way better than walking in blind in October with no idea what’s going on.
Walking really way too fast for real detective work, averaged about 1.25 - 1.5 miles per hour.
Walking really way too fast for real detective work, averaged about 1.25 - 1.5 miles per hour.
mschultz373
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got out for a couple hours today - gorgeous weather. did not accomplish much, though: I walked out an overlooked area closer to access, walked out two points that jut into the bottoms, and I found a thick patch which I could set up on the edge. it was mostly inconclusive, but i took some video anyway.
If it were me, I would spend some time in that open area with the big water oaks at about the 6 minute mark. You mentioned you had seen deer there. I would pick a couple trees to climb around the oaks for when the acorns are falling. The other thing I would do is walk both drains and try to find where deer are crossing. They will cross that deeper drain with out thinking twice about it. If there are deer there, there should be a trail paralleling the drains too. Find where they are crossing the drains and hunt the X where the parallel trail and drain crossing trail intersect, esp if it is close to those water oaks. But I would give any of those crossing intersections a hang or three when they show active use.
Dont hunt em where you think they should be, hunt them where they tell you they are. Like the deer you mentioned coming out of the thick cover and catching the trail along the drain. Sometimes it is dang near impossible to discern why deer are doing what they are doing. Gotta listen with your eyes.
Dont hunt em where you think they should be, hunt them where they tell you they are. Like the deer you mentioned coming out of the thick cover and catching the trail along the drain. Sometimes it is dang near impossible to discern why deer are doing what they are doing. Gotta listen with your eyes.
Looks good on paper. lol.
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In low deer density areas where there are few deer to choose from, I have adopted an approach that is probably 95% dynamic, 5% static. By this I mean that 95% of my hunting is based off what is going on in the woods at the time I am hunting. For example, if it has been a hot, dry summer I look for isolated water sources. If the white oaks had a bad year I scour the woods for the few that may have had enough water to make acorns when most did not. If the deer are on red oaks, I try and key in on that. I look for like kind locations. That's why it is dynamic. I can't go in the woods right now and walk an oak flat and identify which tree will be hot out of thousands of trees spread out over hundreds of acres. That has to be determined just prior to the hunt. The 5% exception to this are spots like primary scrape areas in dense cover and very tight pinch points created by topography that get used all the time.
When I'm scouting, I try and identify the sign left from last season, and note that as a predictor of future activity, and I try and get a general sense of
the area, a lay of the land, so that when I determine what the common factor the deer are keying in on to feed or bed, I have a good base to start with and can go check numerous spots that might also be active. On public I like to have a lot of spots I can go check based on what the conditions are.
That's why I favor high mobility, and really don't get much out of fixed locations.
When I'm scouting, I try and identify the sign left from last season, and note that as a predictor of future activity, and I try and get a general sense of
the area, a lay of the land, so that when I determine what the common factor the deer are keying in on to feed or bed, I have a good base to start with and can go check numerous spots that might also be active. On public I like to have a lot of spots I can go check based on what the conditions are.
That's why I favor high mobility, and really don't get much out of fixed locations.
Sounds like maybe you disagree. Curious why? I'll explain the spot in the video I referenced a different way. It has food, cover and water. It also has two for sure edges and possibly intersecting travel related to a terrain feature if there is a defined ditch crossing. It is the definition of a compounding features spot with the added benefit of the big water oaks for a primary food source. It might not be worth a flip for killing a mature buck but I would bet my lunch money that you can kill deer there. Just have to let the sign tell you when it is active for the highest odds hunt.
That said I am always looking to learn so if you disagree, please elaborate.
Just messin with ya. Just remember the old saying: Best laid plans, that's all.
Cbigbear
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It’s been ten yrs since I’ve hunt this place so it may have changed a good bit. However, back then water oaks as shown were a night time food source mainly due to pressure. They were hammered by squirrel hunters. I sat plenty of trees varying distances from public access and all were the same. I found over cups in or near blackberry or green briar thickets more productive.