Big Woods Deer Tips

[FishingWebGuy]

Ok, last year my son and I started deer hunting. My son was able to get a nice doe on archery opener but I feel like I left some unfinished business in the woods -- I didn't see a single deer while in stand in the big woods.

So, I want to learn as much as I can about deer behavior in the big woods. I know Bear55 is a seasoned big woods hunter from all his help last year and I am hoping he some others on this forum can chime in with some big woods tips.

What I have learned so far about deer in the big woods:

- Water sources don't matter much

- Food is everywhere

- Deer don't use the pines much and stick more to the thick brush and popple

- Bucks hide out in the swamps

- Look for trails on high ground crossings of swamps and water

- 3-4 year old logged sites are good food sources. Look for trails along the edge of cuts

- Grassy openings are a food source

- Does will use the thickest of thick for bedding

- Wow it's hard to find a rub when trees are everywhere

Any other big woods advise out there?

Any good big woods reading to recommend? I think there was a book called big woods bucks that I saw last year. I'd love to find one called Big Woods Minnesota Whitetails

Some year I will live up there and be able to watch the habits year round but until then I have you guys

[Deep]

I hunt east of Hill City, the major thing I have found is to find the nearest points on the the high gound (which may not be that high) just enough to stay out of the swamps. Buck seem to skirt the edges of the higher gound.

[jay83196]

Use scent attractants, calls and scent free products, they can help. Spend the time look for sign and find trails leading to food and bedding areas and pick a spot between (they head toward bedding area in am and food late afternoon too evening times. Don't be afraid to hunt in the rain/snow sometimes that gets them moving more. good luck!

[tunrevir]

I would look for terrain features that will concentrate deer like saddles, benches on side hills. A good topo map of the area can help out. Next I'd look for an area where 2 or more different types of terrain converge like a field edge, woods, swamp change from hardwoods to conifers, oldclear cut next to old growth. Old rublines can be a great place to setup as well in the big woods.

Tunrevir~

[nik]

What I have found that works in big woods hunting is to get out of the woods. Look for the swamps within the woods. As mentioned before, the highground in these swamps are really good. When I deer hunt, waders are a very important tool. If the woods are preasured, you can gurantee you will see deer hidding in the swamps. I try to get out to these swamps early. It sometimes can be very difficult to stay quiet when splashing through the swamps. The best part is, alot of people avoid these areas beacuse of the difficult terrain.

[Bear55]

Hey FWG, if you just want to see deer here is the best advice I can give. Big Bucks are a whole different animal up there but don't be surprised to run into one at any time.

To start, shooting any deer with a bow in the big woods is a challenge, deer densities are much lower and the cover is never ending so you picked about the hardest bow hunting there is.

If you want to see deer hunt the funnels and hunt the edges. Find an old logging area and start there, any logging area from 1 year to 10 or even 15 years old should be good. Walk the edges of that area and kind of zig zag back and forth to look for sign. You are probably going to find a good funnel to hunt on and inside corner of a logged out area or a couple of nice trails along the edges of the young trees/big woods. Nik made a very good point, skip over they big mature forests because they really don't hold many deer. Another good place to hunt are old grown over logging roads, I'm talking the thick nasty ones that you can't even get a wheeler down any more, if you can find a spot where these old roads junction together it should be even better. If these old roads lead out to a fresh cut they should be even better.

Another tool I use to find deer is just getting on their trails and see where they go. A lot of the time I find a network of trails that leads to even better sign and a good ambush site. This might mean totally messing up the area for a while and busting the deer out of their bedding area but if you do it early enough in the year the deer will move back in. You might have chased off a mature buck that uses that area or turned him nocturnal but most of the other deer will come back. Plus you just gained some very valuable info for future hunts the following years. If you can learn a little bit more about your area year by year in time you will kind of get the big picture and have a much better understand of how the deer use the land and the cover. I've been hunting big woods deer for 20 years and I am still trying to figure them out.

[BobT]

Quote:

- Deer don't use the pines much and stick more to the thick brush and popple

I agree that pine groves are not usually your best bet but there are some that can be good. Mature pine groves are typically devoid of underbrush and deer do not like to be out in the open so much during daylight hours. However, placing a deer stand among or along a patch of young evergreens like balsam or spruce can be very productive because these young evergreens grow thick and provide extremely good cover for deer from predators, wind, and weather. Unfortunately, we can't see very well in these areas and hunting can be more difficult and that is why using a stand can be more effective.

As far as them wanting to remain in thick brush. Think edges. Deer are edge-relators. What I mean is take a look at the most often used trails and you'll find they tend to follow edges. Edges can mean anything. The edge of tag elder swamps, edges of evergreen patches, edges where one type of foliage meats another, edges can also mean ridges and valleys.

[leech~~]

My # 1 spot to be on opener in big woods. "Funnels" "Funnels". I sit up on a big hill between three large swamps and have collected a 14,10,8,and all the Doe's I could need as they get pushed through. Most of the time I don't even see much sign when scouting, but once shooting starts!

[Bear55]

I have a similar spot leech, 3 fingers of high ground, two swamps and a lake all merge together. Another spot is on the other side of the lake where 3 more areas of high ground come together and pinch between the lake and a river. This funnel isn't all that small (300 yards wide) but it works. My other favorite big buck spots are the downwind side of doe bedding areas or hunting between doe bedding area.

Its kind of a #1A and #1B thing for me with funnel and doe bedding areas, I have good luck in both locations and scored a some nice mid-sized deer and two nice bucks. Now if only I could have gotten to see the ones that got away, a couple of encounters didn't go my way but wow were they exciting.

[Coach1310]

#1. Spend some time overlooking some aerial photos of your area. If you just head out to a spot that "looks good" you might now understand what is around it... aerial photos are great for finding a starting point... especially with all the new programs with GPS coords and such..

#2. Spend A LOT of time just walking the area/terrain. The hardest part for me in narrowing down the Good areas to find a GREAT spot. I can't seem to spend enough time getting to know the terrain.

#3. Understand it may take MANY seasons to get a real good handle on the area, especially because if it is public, the PRESSURE is the hardest thing to calculate. One year your area may be void of anyone and the next year a group of 8 hunters will be there trying to find a home.

#4. MID DAY... can be great. The big woods aren't like farm country where the deer have to feed in the wide open and don't show until last light or after dark. If they don't feel pressured, you can watch deer all hours of the day if you are in a good funnel or near a good bedding area.

[Powerstroke]

Personally, I love the big woods and I find it easier to hunt than farm country. If you look at the DNR's deer density maps, the deer are actually MORE NUMEROUS up in the woods. This is because of the increase in habitat and food. Almost everything in the big woods is edible. Deer may get to eat corn and beans in the farm areas, but they are only available for a few weeks during the year. Also, there is very little habitat in the farm areas if the corn isn't 4ft tall.

I totally agree its all about funnels and edges. Those are the things you can look for and be reasonably successful with if you scout. Since most of the woods is suitable habitat its hard to believe that deer typically use few little of it and they use the same portions all the time. The "home area" for a woods deer it typically smaller than a farm deer because they need to travel less to find everything they need. Some deer will live in the same square mile their whole life.

Things that will come slower are learning the foods that are more preferred in the woods. There are oaks if you know what they look like. Shrubs like dogwood and hazel are very good for deer, young poplar (not birch) and finding plants like elderberry can narrow your search. Ridges, funnels (high or low) and common trails along edges of differing cover are what you need to look for. An aerial photo and and a topo map can save you lots of time before hitting the woods.

One of the most productive spots I have in the woods is public state forest, less than 100yds from the main road, not even 40yds from private land and is in mature pines. But it is on the edge of a clearcut, joins a trail that is a funnel between two ponds and is dead quiet under the pines.

Don't try to outsmart yourself. Deer use the same routes until they get pressured out. Finding a good looking place on a map and aerial will almost guarantee a doe or two. Find a spot with all the right parts nearby and you might find the hub of the wheel. You narrowed your search down from 20 square miles to 1 square mile without even hitting the woods.

[lakevet]

Ok, last year my son and I started deer hunting. My son was able to get a nice doe on archery opener but I feel like I left some unfinished business in the woods -- I didn't see a single deer while in stand in the big woods.

There is a reason why the Minnesota big woods are not a hotbed of deer hunting video production and the season is 16 days long. Also why deer drives and party hunting are popular around here.

It is a process of elimination and collecting experience over the years. Sounds like you found a stand where the deer are not. Good. That narrows down the search by eliminating an unproductive area (til woods is logged, grows more, etc.). It will take time. Go with your best ideas. Don't be afraid to still hunt, if only to get a better idea of what is going on. Of course this is harder to impossible if your area in heavily hunted. Then scout after season, or move stand sites, or midweek in season. Many of our best spots, especially for large bucks, were found by trial and error and are not funnels, but "zones" of travel that go thru woods/swamps nowhere near the funnels that are filled with deer stands and hunters. Some of these are patterns over 100 yrs old and exist no matter what the maturity of the woods. Some are recent due to increased hunting pressure. Often it takes a couple seasons to pattern a bucks tactics he is using to evade hunters. In season observation is critical after the first day as the deer adjust to conditions. Glad your son was successful, esp if he is young. Focus on any deer at first, then on bucks if you want to target them. The fun part is you have to spend more time in the woods in general to get a deer vs farm country. We are always have a sense of sadness when our group fills out because hunting is over for the year.

basically think "zones" and what can I do for long term success over the years

lakevet

[FishingWebGuy]

Great posts everyone! I've been looking at my topo maps as I read the posts and some new potential spots have jumped out at me. I can't wait to get up there and scout again next week.

I went back through our TC pics from early summer and there is definitely a lot more activity at dusk than any other time of day. One thing I haven't done that I think I will start doing is glassing over some of the 1-5 year-old cuts for a couple hours each night as the sun sets. Somehow I want to figure out where they are going when they walk past our camera every night.

One thing that surprises me up there is that we know there are good numbers of deer. We have daily appearances on our cameras. But only once have we actually seen deer while driving in or out of the area. It takes 15-20 minutes @ 5-10mph to drive back to our area. And we drive past many acres of clear cut. They must hear us coming long before we get there so maybe if I park for a couple hours and wait, I'll see them. Wishing I was up there glassing right now...

I think also one mistake I made last year was not going up in the winter. I have no idea how much their travel patterns would change between the seasons but it sure would be nice to see the tracks in the snow. I think I enjoy trying to figure out their habits just as much if not more than the actual hunt.

My youngest son and I made some brats a couple months ago from last years deer. With every bite I am reminded of all the great time we had up there scouting, sitting, hunting, planning, and finally tracking, quartering and butchering. What great memories you guys have helped us make.

[mabr]

FWG, There are way to many variables when it comes to deer hunting. BUT reading your post set off a red flag in my mind. Again without seeing your land its hard to say, but you driving in may be one of the issues your having. It doesnt take deer long to associate traffic with danger. Now if you did it all season long I wouldnt worry about it.

You might want to consider walking, or riding a bike in instead. Just a thought.

[FishingWebGuy]

FWG, There are way to many variables when it comes to deer hunting. BUT reading your post set off a red flag in my mind. Again without seeing your land its hard to say, but you driving in may be one of the issues your having. It doesnt take deer long to associate traffic with danger. Now if you did it all season long I wouldnt worry about it.

You might want to consider walking, or riding a bike in instead. Just a thought.

We actually camp while hunting so our driving in and out is limited. But we also don't drive past the actual area we hunt either. What I call our "area" is 10,000 acres which is inside of an "area" that is ~40,000 acres carved out between maintained roads. Of all this land we have about 1200 acres somewhat scouted that is the "area" we actually hunt. About 300 acres of that is swamp, 300 was logged in the last 3-5 years, and 600 is mature popple and pine.

The 1200 acres that we hunt is almost in the furthest corner of the 40,000 acres. From camp we hike 1/4-1 mile to our various stand sites.

I'm sure when driving in we scare deer out of the clear cuts and back into the woods but it probably doesn't effect our hunting at all. We usually drive in and setup camp the night before hunting also.

One thing that has surprised me is that we have had deer on camera only hours after we setup the camera. Granted they were does but it still surprises me. I thought the deer would be more skitish.

This year we have found a good trail with daily travel only 70 yards from where we planned to camp. It'll be interesting to see if setting up camp destroys the travel patterns. Or maybe we will relocate -- not sure yet.

This is how we live while hunting

[leech~~]

[skolfoppa]

There is a lot of good info here. When I started hunting about 8 years ago there was an initial learning curve. After reading books and mags, studying sat and topo maps, I found that my best learning came from walking the hunting areas. Scouting has been a key factor for my hunting strategy. Walking the land allowed me to find travel routes, bedding and staging areas, and more importantly how they relate to the topography. When I started I remember straining to find rubs and scrape lines, or bedding areas. When you know what to look for they seem to standout. Not sure if you are strictly stand hunting or mixing in some still hunting or stalking, but here are a few thoughts:

Learn to read tracks. Sometimes an area can appear to be perfect, but if the deer aren't there you can fool yourself. Tracks don't lie. If there are animals in the area you will know. Sometimes you can target an individual animal by recognizing tracks.

Keep a journal. When in the woods I keep a detailed journal of what is seen and heard. Over time the logs help paint a picture and remind you of what worked, and more often what didn't work so well.

Use the wind. Have your spots strategically placed to account for wind coming from different directions. Scent masking and locking has its place, but if you can be in an area without the animals having any idea you're there, your success rate will increase. Same goes for scouting. Keep it stealthy.

Hunting Big Woods Bucks by Hal Blood is a good reference book.

Sorry for the long winded post. Have fun.

Skol.

[BobT]

One thing that I've learned over the years is that you have to train your eyes, ears, and nose to pick up the little things that improve your chances. Ever notice that some people have a knack for seeing more game than others? It can be a learned trait.

I remember the first time I ever went hunting for snowshoes during the winter. My buddies were seeing them everywhere and I couldn't. It took a few trips before I began to be able to pick them out among the brush and after a while I got to where I'd spot the tip of an ear or an eyeball out of the background.

Same is true for deer in the woods. The more time you spend out there the more in tune with nature you become. After a while you begin to notice things like a belly line or leg that you don't even recognize when you first start hunting. A good pair of optics can be helpful even in the woods, believe it or not. I take my 10X Leupolds in the stand with me every year.

[psepuncher]

One thing that I've learned over the years is that you have to train your eyes, ears, and nose to pick up the little things that improve your chances.

true true true.

I think maybe it's because many places have abundant wildlife and we either take it for granted and haven't fine tuned those skills, or it's not instilled into the next generation.

Anytime I have the grandkids with out running errands,

I can slow the car down they really become attentive.

Anyway, I don't have to say hey kids look over here, because they have learned it as a game. It's fun for them to find it first.

Today we saw a hen with her poults. I just eased off down the raod and asked them what they saw.

When out hunting, the best tracker and scout was my son. He's color blind and can't see red or green as they are.

He can't follow a blood trail, so he relies on checking distubed ground, instincts and being around seasoned hunters. When scouting he sees the obvious, but discerns fresh vs. old sign.

What really blew me away was early on, we were walking along thick trails,

and he says, deer scat. He's walking behind me and I'm wondering how he's seeing this brown stuff, {as he's color blind}. I didn't see it, I'm walking right past it. He just keeps finding it as we go along. These trails have oak leaves and semi tall grass covering the trail. I'll never figure out what was maknng it stand out to him and I don't care. It's just those kind of memories money can't buy.

[FishingWebGuy]

It was a big decision for us to finally get a Nintendo for our youngest to bring along on car rides. He went 7 years with just looking out the window and enjoying nature on our 4-5 hour trips up North until we finally broke down and got him one.

Anyhow, he still puts it down for most of the car ride and will just enjoy the scenery and wildlife we are passing. When we leave for up North it is almost always at 0400 and there are plenty of deer out and about during our drive as the sun rises. It's a game to us also to see who can spot them first. The more you look, the more horizontal lines and triangles begin to stand out. Hopefully some day I can get rubs and scrapes to jump out at me.

Yesterday we were out scouting near my uncle's farm. I'm checking the fenceline for matted down grass and my son says from behind me, "Dad I found a deer trail". I turn around, walk back to him and there is a nice pile of fresh scat. I was so proud of the boy. I walked right passed it and he found it.

That reminds me of a question. When I see matted down grass about the size of a deer lying down, I imagine it is a bedding spot. The problem is I see so many of them that I figure something else must also be matting them down. Or the deer use different spots in the same area. I know scat would confirm that it's a bedding spot. Is there anything else?

[Bear55]

FWG

I wouldn't worry about the drive in. The deer up there are use to truck traffic and wheeler traffic from bird hunters all fall. Most of the time they will just stop and let you drive right on by, you won't even know they are there. Deer up there are use to very thick cover all of the time so they do get very skitish out in the open so they either leave an opening, lay down, or take off right away when you drive up. If you get there early and wait for them you should be able to spot where the deer are entering a cutting. Sometimes they bed a mile or more away from the food sources so its not uncommon for them to not show up until well after dark.

[Bear55]

Ok just for fun I copied some random MN bigwoods area and marked it up with locations I might scout and why. I like to use aerial photos to kind of pre scout an area, then strap on the boots and hit the woods. Sometimes the areas look good in the air and then they are terrible when you get there, sometimes people already have stands in place and every once in a while you hit the jack pot and find all kinds of sign. I should also note that this is just a starting point, it might take 10 years of hunting to really "master" an area and know where the deer are and where to hunt. It may turn out that some of the best looking areas don't hold deer and the best locations for a stand site might be where you least expect it.

Ok lets get started, anyone else feel free to suggest potential stand locations. I'd love to hear how other people view some of these locations or spots I may have overlooked. Again I have never hunted this area, just going off aerial photos.

1,2,3,4 and many others are your classic funnel locations, these examples show narrow area of higher ground near swampy/creek/beaver dam areas. I would cover this stretch of woods and try to find the best stand location basted on the sign I found. Also remember that these funnels can work more like intersections, you might have some deer traveling the high ground east/west while other might travel the swamp edge north and south.

5,6 are areas that were logged maybe 10-15 years ago and are now very thick cover, the deer can bed and feed in these areas and they tend to spend a lot of time in these areas. The hunting can be good on the edges of these areas or right in the center. I would scout the edges and check out the two islands of mature trees in these areas, they could be a great place to setup on a deer and be open enough to get a clean shot off. The deer also will feel very safe in these areas because they are surrounded by cover.

7 I'm not 100% sure what this area is but you can bet if I see something different I am going to check it out. It could just be a low swampy area or a shadow from a larger hill but it is a topo feature that would be worth a look.

8 appears to be a finger of clearing that the logger may have cut into the woods, these small openings are places a deer might feed during shooting hours. They have all the food that large clearings have but the deer are just a few hops away from cover.

9 is your classic inside corner, in this instance there is a road fairly close to the locations so you might get a few people driving by but it won't stop the deer from moving through if they want to get somewhere.

10 is another area that is close to the trail/road but it might be one of those overlooked areas that the deer use.

11 this is again a funnel area but it might also be a good feeding area that appears to be away from the main roads and trails. When bigwoods deer feed in clearings during daylight hours they usually do it in locations that are off the beaten path or at least out of sight of roads and trails. This isn't always the case but remember these deer don't see to many human or vehicles any time of the years so they won't stick around to see if you are a threat or not.

12 this is just an area that I want to check out, not really a specific reason but a lot of times the back sides of swamps, lakes, or just the next ridge over are where you might find more activity.

13 is sandwiched right between two recently logged areas that provide great cover. This could be a good area to catch a buck cruising for does, they sometimes jump from one thick area of cover to the next. Always try and remember to take the wind direction into account when hunting these areas, you might be cutting your odds in half if your scent is blowing into one of these areas. You are also very close to one of the funnel locations too so like all good hunting spots you have more than one thing working in your favor.

14 is right next to the road but I wanted to point this out because it is the single biggest funnel location on the map. You can see that the loggers have cut this entire area in half and that is the only bit of cover connecting the large blocks on woods on the right and left. You can't say for sure if this is going to be a great spot or not but its worth a look and probably worth a hunt or two if the rut is close.

15 another spot that is worth a look based on all the info above.

Now one thing you have to remember about the bigwoods is that your deer sightings and opportunities are going to be limited and its going to take a lot of trial and error. You might not see a deer in one location over many years of hunting and then suddenly BAM a big buck is right in front of you. To narrow down your best locations try and keep tabs on where people are seeing the deer and over times things will come together. The best stand locations for this particular area might be no where near the areas I highlighted but it might take some serious time to find those locations. Also don't give up, you might think you are in a bad spot but over 5-10 years you might realize you are in a great spot. We had one stand that I had not even seen a deer on in 8 or 9 years but I kept going back because other hunters in our group saw deer and saw big bucks off that stand.

Ok I probably rambled on way too long here, one last note, do not try and do everything in one year or even a handful of years. It might take 10 or 20 years to scout out and hunt and area before things come together for you. Like I said before I have been hunting one area for 20 years and I am still scouting and hunting new locations trying to fine tune my setups.

[nik]

Great examples! I think this will help alot of people out in starting to get the hang of finding key areas. Good work bear55!

[FishingWebGuy]

Wow! Thanks Bear. Lot's of great info/ideas there. I love scouting by satellite.

One thing I thought when we first entered the big woods was that there was so much land, where do we start. I'm a total newb at this but my only recommendation is pick 1 area that looks good and start there. I can easily see now how a person can spend 20 years learning one general area.

How do your recommendations change from looking to fill a tag and searching for a big buck? Or does finding a big buck become more an issue of passing on smaller deer and waiting than an issue of scouting? Just curious...

I just want to fill a tag right now but when I see the big pictures posted on the forum, I wonder what did go into finding those big guys. Or maybe they mostly come from well-managed land.

[Archerysniper]

My favorite spot is #16 how did you find where my hunting area was.

If you want to kill a deer hunt where there is the most fresh sign during the early season this will be where the does and bucks are feeding or stageing in the area. If you want to kill a good buck spend the early season scouting and hunting the frindges of the area you might get a crack at a nice buck but this is more for scouting locate the doe feeding and beding ares find a funnel between two or more doe beadding areas and wait till the wind is right you should have bucks cruising all day during the rut