Food plots are planted, nice box blinds are comfortable, and the stands hung in August are in the prime positions overlooking travel routes from bedding sites to food sources.
So why would you hunt anywhere else on your lease? Those spots are easy to get to and don’t require much effort to hunt, and if you kill a deer, they’re accessible for ATVs or vehicles.
The reason to look elsewhere is because we always fall into easy habits. We’re lazy and comfortable and maybe don’t have a lot of time to hunt, so we go to the quickest or best spot available. We try to pattern deer movements but often forget that deer can pattern us when we arrive at camp regularly for a weekend hunt and head out to or leave stands at specific times.
Throw a wrench into your hunting plans this season by considering these new areas to hunt.
1. The Obvious Spot
What is it about the obvious spot that we tend to ignore, even when someone in camp says they spied a good buck or a few deer there a couple of times during the season?
We’ve all heard tales about Uncle Bob, the notorious late sleeper, sipping a cup of coffee on the back porch of the cabin and spying the ol’ gray ghost. When everyone returns from their stands later in the morning, he already has the buck at the skinning shed and is grinning like a mule in the briar patch. Lucky, everyone says, laughing amid mild frustration at his success.
Several years ago in central Georgia, I hunted a large tract that had been carefully managed for about three seasons after being overhunted for years. Prescribed burns, major habitat improvements and doe management had turned worn-out land into a budding property. Trail camera photos showed several good bucks using specific areas.
Behind the lodge, according to the map we studied, was a narrow strip of hardwoods between two large wooded areas. The strip split an overgrown, dried swamp and an open field, and in my mind it looked perfect for a morning sit. In fact, it was within walking distance from the lodge, and my hunting partners laughed when I said I’d be back relaxing with a pot of hot coffee within an hour of sunrise.
The coffee was especially tasty after I returned, in less than an hour, with my high-racked 8-point lying less than 15 yards from my stand. Study your property’s maps, and don’t overlook the obvious.
2. The Swamp
A lot of hunters hate swamps, or so it seems, which is a shame because big bucks often frequent these overgrown, hard-to-access areas, and that makes them perfect security zones.
Some swamps are definitely boogers to deal with. They might be jungles of near-impenetrable vegetation. Some might not offer high ground or ridges, making travel nearly impossible or, at most, difficult to traverse even for fleet-footed bucks and does.
When dealing with these booger swamps look for a couple of things. One is travel routes around the edges leading to food sources. Oaks and soft-mast trees might provide easy meals for deer to enjoy before they slip back into the safety of the swamp or to nearby wooded areas. Taking time during spring, before it gets too dadgum hot in summer, might reveal these hot zones.
If your swamp isn’t knee-deep in muck and has internal ridges or high ground — “high” being maybe just 2- or 3-foot ridges or little islands — your access might be greater. Again, locate your own entry and exit routes near food sources or the routes being used by deer. These little high spots might provide not only a travel or resting area for deer, but also some areas for ladder stands, climbers or a ground blind.
When establishing your access routes, be liberal with reflective tape or thumbtacks that can be spotted with a small flashlight. Getting turned around in a swamp isn’t fun. Definitely have a Thermacell and extra refills of butane and pads to combat mosquitoes.
3. Abandoned Barns, Home Sites
Our hunt in West Virginia had been successful on multiple accounts, with new friendships made and a few deer in the cooler after great shots during a drive, along with a lightning-fast poke on a powerline right-of-way.
Now, on the third day during lunch at the old barn, it was suggested that one of us could stay there for the afternoon to watch the big field. It didn’t look like much of anything at all: a giant hay field with a bisecting road and a barn in the middle offering views of the entire property. We had driven to the barn in pickups, clanged around making lunch and talking, and there was no obvious change looming in the weather forecast.
What the heck? I figured. Why not stay there for the afternoon? Everyone else would be in stands around the property in the woods. Perhaps a deer or two would show itself, maybe even a buck chasing a doe, and even if I didn’t take a shot, the long ranges would afford some time on the binoculars and rifle scope.
Abandoned barns or old home sites can be great places to hunt. They sometimes are near a water source, a pond or creek, and the latter might have a strip of trees bordering it. In some areas of the Midwest, shelterbelts protecting barns or feeding areas provide a little cover in the midst of open spaces. During a pheasant hunt in North Dakota a few years ago, upon seeing an overgrown shelterbelt, my thoughts immediately turned to the possibility of that near-impenetrable strip being a deer magnet for a wide-antlered buck.
Abandoned houses or barns also might have a few fruit trees growing nearby. Even decades-old mast trees that occasionally produce bumper crops of apples, pears or plums can still attract does and bucks looking for a quick, sweet meal. Whenever you’re touring hunting properties to buy or lease, or if you’re a guest, ask about these areas, and give them a look.
That afternoon in West Virginia became productive when three deer stepped out of the treeline. They were 300 yards away, so I didn’t worry about making noise or my movements inside the barn. I was nestled comfortably amid some hay bales — after double-checking for wasps and snakes — and watched them for 30 or 45 minutes.
I finally pulled the trigger on my Steyr .30-06 and dropped one of the deer. It required a second killing shot, which I wasn’t happy with, but more venison was headed to the cooler.
4. Cutovers
Clearcuts and select-cut timber management typically create grumbling among hunters, especially on leased or permitted property when landowners decide to thin planted pines or hardwoods before deer season opens or during the season.
Arriving at camp for a weekend hunt to discover a giant swath of trees is missing isn’t fun. There’s no getting around that sickening feeling, and even if you know it’s a possibility it still isn’t enjoyable to know that men with big machinery were there downing trees and making noise.
Despite their rough appearance, cutovers can provide outstanding hunting opportunities, especially after a couple of years of growth. What looks incredibly ugly the first year or two still offers deer and other wildlife, including turkeys, some great forage as young plants begin pushing through the disturbed soil and sunlight fuels their growth.
By the third or fourth year, especially in the Southeast, gnarly swaths of cutover property will begin to look even worse. Sweetgums and briars begin to take over. If no burning or clearing management is being conducted, it might seem like these areas are worthless. Hunters often avoid them.
But that could be — and often is — a mistake.
Deer still will use these cutovers for bedding areas and food sources. If the cutover area is bordered by woods, those newly created edges offer new areas for bucks to leave scrapes and rubs. What once was a huge block of woods now has open space and new edges.
Scout these cutovers in spring and summer to identify oaks or persimmon trees along the edges. Look for any travel routes from those edges into the thick gunk where deer might be bedding. Take photos or video to study at home, and maybe pack a map of the property so you can make notes to compare with those photos and video. Pick stand sites for ground blinds or stands. And don’t discount the opportunities of a good cutover, no matter how ugly it is.
5. The “Crappy Spot”
If you’ve ever been in a camp with an evening stand draw or at a hunting lodge where guides are choosing the next day’s spots, no doubt you’ve witnessed a range of emotions more akin to grade school children than adults.
Eye-rolling at getting the stand that requires a long walk. Rubbing it in about getting the hotspot where Dan saw the 10-pointer last week. Disappointment because the shooting house overlooks a field where only ‘possums and rabbits have been seen a time or two in the season.
Sometimes there’s a stand location that is just off the charts. It’s not that it’s something minor, like a long walk to it. For whatever reason, no one ever wants to hunt there and tries to avoid it. It’s even debated whether a stand needs to be there, but it’s left standing because no one wants to go pull it out.
That’s where you should hunt.
We all know that deer hate being pressured. They might tolerate a little intrusion now and then, but constant noises and unfamiliar odors eventually put them into red-alert mode. They might go nocturnal. Their feeding habits might be just before dawn or dusk when you’re sipping that last bit of coffee or shrugging off the jacket for supper.
Most often, they’ll search for the place where there is no pressure. It might be a jungle thicket. Could be the edge of cutover, a small patch near the abandoned barn or house, or maybe the ugly spot no hunter wants to visit for some unexplainable reason.
Take that stand. Be the last guy to pick a stand site and pin out. Ignore the weird looks and jokes about wanting to sleep in the ground blind or box stand. Throw on that climber and walk. Leave earlier. Pack a lunch and stay later. Don’t forget your binoculars and ammo.
Put in the extra effort, even with the stand that no one ever wants to hunt in, and you might be rewarded.
— Alan Clemons is an avid hunter and former D&DH staff member. He hails from Alabama.