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Dave Richey

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September 13, 2008

Dave Richey: Learning your hunting land

By DAVE RICHEY

The complexion of deer hunting has changed. Bait piles are no longer legal in the Lower Peninsula, and hunters must return to their roots and learn how to hunt trails, scrapes and farm crop locations.

There is no better way than laying down boot leather when it comes time to learn a new or old hunting area, and that is what most people do. Some take this "learning-the-land" attitude even further.

The use of topographical maps is a key element to learning new land, and aerial photographs is another. Combine these strategies with time afield, and a hand-held GPS unit to mark your hotspots, and a hunter will have a recipe for possible success.

Nothing is 100 percent when it comes to hunting whitetail deer, but having a firm grip on the terrain is a very important factor. There is a quarter-mile-wide field in one of my hunting areas that runs mostly north and south, and through this open field are several small rolling hills and dips. Deer have learned to use those tiny depressions and wee hills to sneak through the open terrain without being seen.

Walking such areas is one way to learn how deer travel in each location, and doing it with some snow on the ground is even better. There are places where bucks can enter the field on the west side, and by moving left and right, they can stay down in the dips and out of sight of sportsmen.

What I've done is build hunting coops, and they are strategically placed so that most travel routes are covered for firearm hunting. Deer often move east in the evening and west in the morning, and hunters can place themselves in key positions to waylay the animals.

I talked with three hunters last week who will be hunting new areas this fall, and all asked for advice. What follows is some of the information they were given about hunting new areas without bait.

When hunting strange land, topographic maps and aerial photos -- when combined with walking the terrain -- will help hunters find some good spots to hunt, and now is the time to learn these areas before hunting season opens.

Learning where deer live can be easy. It's important to understand that deer, like humans, get lazy. They often rely on time-honored trails that lead directly from the bedroom to the dinner table. Check your carpeting at home: the most heavily used paths from one room to another is obvious to anyone who takes time to look.

The same basic principle applies to deer scouting. Deer trails are like those in our carpeting. They are there for anyone willing to look for them. Some trails are more pronounced than others, and if a big buck lives in the area, chances are good they are the animals that make the faintest trails. Don't look for big mature bucks to follow the same trails used by does, fawns and young bucks.

Remember that deer are willing to take the easiest route providing they don't feel threatened. Hunters should understand this situation, stay off the main trails and be scent-free. That means starting out with knee-high rubber, not leather, boots. Check out areas where one or more trails converge, and do it before the bow season opens.

Some key locations are great spots to check, and that doesn't mean walking into or through them. Most of these key locations can be checked from a distance with binocular, and always glass areas from a downwind position. Walk the extra distance to do this job right.

-- Funnels are deadly spots to hunt. A funnel is created by a narrowing of heavy cover. It can be a brushy fence row that connects a wood lot and swamp, two wood lots, a wood lot and a pine plantation, and other such thick and narrow places where deer movements are funneled through a skinny corridor of thick cover. Funnels are natural deer travel routes that should be hunted.

-- The base of hills can be a hotspot. Often the thick cover is at the lower elevations, and if there are two or three hills, only one will be vitally important to deer hunters. Deer often choose the one hill that offers easy access and exit routes to other nearby heavy cover, and they will ignore the other hills. Frankly, deer know the land far better than most humans do. It's time now to learn.

-- Abandoned apple orchards often grow up to briars and brambles, and walking through them is nearly impossible. Oddly enough, a good buck can negotiate such locations without a problem. Learn how they enter or exit these old orchards, and again, learn where the deer go.

Knowing the destination of a buck that exits an old orchard is important. That's the place to be when a deer jumps the fence out of an orchard and into an open field. The first 200 yards of an open field is a danger zone for bucks, and they seem to sense it.

Know where deer will slide into thick cover on their way to the feeding field, and this will be the first place to waylay that buck. Keep watching him, and soon we will determine the exact trail they use. Find a key spot downwind of that trail, and don't hunt it often. Once or twice a season is plenty. Do everything right, and it's possible to shoot that buck the first day you hunt him.

-- Field corners that border swampy or wooded areas are great. Again, only one field corner is most likely to produce deer, and again, it is usually the thickest corner that provides animals with a good view of the open field.

-- Saddles or breaks in flat or low-lying areas or ridges that allow easy access to feeding fields are good bets. Such locations may have one good trail that leads from higher ground, down through the saddle, and through swampy or wooded areas and into the crop lands.

-- Dry or wet creek or river bottoms are especially good because there is a good cover, the possibility of mast crops such as acorns and beech nuts, and most bottom land areas are thick with berry bushes and other foods and cover.

-- Sumac clumps on hillsides or in the middle of open fields can be a hotspot. Most sumac clumps are surrounded by open land, and the clumps offer cover for a motionless buck while providing 360-degree visibility for the animal. Knowing where deer head once they leave such open cover is one of the key things to learn. Discover this secret, and ambushing a big buck becomes much easier.

-- Cedar swamps always hold deer but the biggest bucks often choose key locations where they can watch for danger and still have a quick escape route. They often seek the edges of a cedar swamp, and will be found near a funnel that allows a quick escape to other thick cover without being seen.

Some deer seek refuge on small dry hummocks or mounds in a wet cedar swamp, and can usually hear or see approaching danger. Learn where such locations are found, and how to sneak in to them without being seen or winded. You'll be heard coming through the water, but walk and stop, walk and stop, just like a moving deer, and it's surprising how close you may get to a bedded deer.

-- Small cattail marshes are another good bet for deer habitat. Deer will wade through belly-deep water to reach a muskrat house in a cattail marsh. Once there, they climb up onto it to stay dry.

If danger threatens, the deer will ease off the dry mound and escape. Finding those escape routes is the important thing, and having a friend walk downwind through the cattails toward the muskrat house, can move deer in your direction.

Walking the land is fine, but putting aerial photos and topo maps together enable hunters to obtain a birds-eye view, and the topo maps will show contour changes. Most maps have contour lines and special colors or symbols that indicate hills, wooded areas, swamps, creek or river beds and other terrain features. It's easy to punch in GPS coordinates that can provide a direct way to the hotspot.

Spot the funnels, saddles and other topographical features, find their relationship to the aerial photos, and plot the best way to move into these areas to hunt. Find the key locations, determine the bedding and feeding areas, and then begin scouting for active deer sign.

Locate the closest food sources, and then locate the bedding area, and then the trails deer use will be relatively simple to find. Learn the prevailing wind direction in that area, and start looking for good trees for a stand downwind of the key travel routes.

Finding hotspots in new areas isn't terribly difficult but it requires a large measure of scouting time and some sweat equity. Most of all, carry a compass or GPS, and know how to use them. Find such out-of-the-way areas, where other people seldom hunt, and you'll have your own little gold mine for deer this fall.

And you won't need bait to attract them within bow range. Do it right, and the deer will walk right up to you.

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