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The One Hundred and Eighty Acre Challenge |
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I have been permitted the use of a private one hundred and eighty acres to bow hunt. The best part, other then the cool friends I have that let me use the property. I live only six miles from the land. No long distance driving, or camping in a cold tent. I can park far enough away to be completely silent getting ready. A flood light beaming down on me so I can see what I am doing at five in the morning to boot.
I have been on the land the previous three years with one year being fortunate enough to get the better of a six point. Over that time I have been learning the lay of the land and the habits of the deer that use it. Trying to pin point beds, food, and travel patterns. I think I have a pretty good understanding of what is going on and where to be at most times of the day. Providing everything is at ordinary circumstances with weather, food and intrusions from unregistered guests that is.
This year I have decided to record as much as I can in photographs. With added descriptions of what I see and think about each one. Basically a journal of the year to use as a reference guide for future hunts.
So check back often, I will update this page as soon as I get information and photographs to do so.
The topographical and aerial map of the land is set at a north and south position. On the aerial map you can see a minimum maintenance road about a third of the way down on the left. This series of pictures are locations north of the road and west of the river. The farthest north west section of the map. |
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This first picture is from the county road looking to the east.
This first ridge in the foreground, in most any season other then the winter. Is knee high with saplings, field grass, and weeds. To the left is a small wooded section of the same grade. Deer frequent this section often, returning from a bean field to the north adjacent to it. |
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Just farther ahead east, a saddle with perfect cover. Deer use this line of trees and shrubs to travel back and forth. From the bean field to the north, then south again returning to a wooded ridge to bed.(the wooded ridge used for bedding looks like a dogs head on the topo and aerial maps) |
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The wooded section in the background goes back in about a quarter mile from that point. That�s where I have the most fun. |
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This next picture is of the same area but looking west the other direction. You can see where the saddle of trees meet with the woodlot.There are four trails used that cross this field to the woods. One is a secure trail hidden in the saddle trees, another just this side of the saddle, (east side of the trees) a third crossing the ridge top and joining the trail that runs along side the tree line, and the last on the farthest eastern base along the river thicket. (behind me from this picture) |
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This picture is showing a ridge in the background. Where the saddle of trees and shrubs meet in the previous picture. I am standing at the summit of the open field of wild grass at a rifle box stand looking north west. The open area at the base of the ridge is usually wet bogs and loaded with tracks. There is a bow stand almost in a strait line from the point of view inside the woods about twenty five yards. |
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The bow stand is in the wood line to the left in this picture. You can`t quite see but the break line closes together farther back in the distance. That is closer to where the bow stand is. The swamp willows are getting up to twelve and fifteen feet tall and thick as, well you know. In the spring they are very hard to walk through because of winter thaw. Sometimes if the summer months are dry this is a great place for stalking in the early September season. The bogs are a challenge to step over and around, but that forces a slower movement and more binocular work. |
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Not quite to scale with the pictures but you get the general idea of the landscape. You can see the field in the back ground to the right in the bow stand picture.
The bow stand is only about ten feet in the air. That is a perfect height because the ground cover and willows in the back ground during early season is very thick. Any higher and there is a good chance on being seen from the deer looking above them. At that height they can not see it through the thick stuff. There are three good shooting windows that are cleaned every winter and trimmed a month before season starts. They give a slight quarter away shot at 20 yards for two and a fifteen yard broadside with another. During rifle season the box stand is used by the land owner. So needles to say I do not hunt at that stand during that time. |
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This picture is of a natural funnel between the saddle trees and the woodlot. The ridge in the background has the box stand on it. If the trees to the left were gone you could see it. The trail forks in two. The left trail circles east between the box stand and the swamp willows. The right trail turns south along the saddle tree line and heads to the dog head wood lot. |
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Where I was standing to take the picture of the funnel is the exact spot of this rub. I guess this would be a great location for an ambush.
YA THINK ! ?
The first thing I noticed was the height of the rub. Keep in mind the snow is eight to ten inches deep. Look at how the bark is shredded. I can`t wait to see the brow tines on this bad boy. |
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I would think that it would take a good size rack to be able to snap a branch one inch in diameter. This scent branch is about 10 yards from the rub on the tree. The trail below it to the left a bit is very well used. There used to be a scrape about three foot in diameter under it but new snow covers the evidence. This is out into a clearing about fifteen yards from the woodlot the bow stand is in. The trail is used to move back and forth from the bean field. |
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| The trail continues on and splits into several others once into the woodlot. This particular picture is one trail that heads to the top of the west ridge. Last season I had seen several scrapes located across the full length of the woodlot ridge top. Directly behind me from this picture is the funnel and rub location. |
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This is the kind of sign that makes you stop dead in your tracks and look around. This was so fresh I could smell it. If it were still deer season I would have scraped it up and used it. I did follow the tracks for a little while but they headed into the deep cover of the willows. I may have spooked it there by not paying attention while walking around. |
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Even in the dead of winter the swamp willows are so thick that seeing anything is almost impossible. The farm in the far background is where the deer go for the beans. There is also an alfalfa field north east of this point that is frequented also. More so by deer families using the woods and the river bottom trails. Across the river side of the property. |
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What a view, considering the beaver have done quite a bit of damage in the years that I have been watching this land. The thicket in the foreground used to be a lot thicker with cover for the deer. They still use it every night, but very cautiously before any sign of daybreak. I have seen rubs and scrapes all through there with trails worn down to dirt. This time of the year the river freezes thick enough so the deer can cross in narrow sections. Especially near the beaver dams. To the far right is the minimum maintenance road bridge. Before winter freeze this is a great funnel for the deer families that cross to this side heading to the bean field. |
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Page Two
Across the River |
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Page three
Northern territories |
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Page four
Bedding grond blind |
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Back to the Home Page |
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