Caledonia Area for deer

[Walleye #1]

Hello fellow hunters -
My wife and I just moved onto an acreage near Caledonia, and I plan on doing some bow and muzzleloading hunting this fall.

My landlord says I can hunt on his land all I want. I am looking for some advice from you guys on tree stand locations.

The layout of his land consists of quite a few groups of trees, usually no longer than 80-100 yds and about 10-15 yds wide, then strip cropping all around these groups of trees. Corn and alfalfa. Is it worth setting up my tree stands all in the trees? Or should I concentrate on setting up most of them on the edges of the trees, in order to see movement from the other clumps of trees and the field edges? The land looks prime, now I just have to figure it out.

Also has any ever had much luck setting up blinds for muzzleloading?

Thanks for any advice.

Walleye #1

[Creek Kid]

Welcome to the area! I grew up in Caledonia. Without giving your exact location, which way from Caledonia are you? Are you on the ridge or in the valley? Not sure how many (if any) other users are from this vicinity. I might have a big buck story for your area. If you own a spotlight, you can learn more about deer in a night than you can in a week of sitting. It makes it a lot easier to stay in a spot after you've seen deer in that area at night. It sounds like the land you are on doesn't have real dense woods. Are there a lot of oak trees? As soon as the acorns fall the deer will, more than likely be feeding on them. In the area that I hunt, as soon as the corn gets picked the deer are gone. This is all real vague info and probably nothing you don't know. Best I can say is look for sign and watch the deer. If you post some specifics, I probably won't have much advice, but I'd be happy to tell you a story or two. I bowhunt out of a treestand. I've only bagged a few with a bow. I mostly just like to sit in a tree and watch. It's getting to be that time of year to start thinking about getting set up. Also, there are some bow shoots around LaCrosse during the summer. I'll try to post dates if I hear of them.
-Creek Kid

[Walleye #1]

Creek kid-
Great to hear that you grew up here. I live about 4.5 miles west of town, out on Beaver Ridge Drive. Are you familiar with this area? I sit up on top of a ridge. Can see Beaver Creek off to my left.
The trees behind me aren't a huge forest, but the clumps of trees that are there are thick, I walked around in them the other day. But just pass my house the trees thicken, I just have to find out if my landlord owns any of that, or will just have to go ask. Suppose next thing I need to do, is go and start looking for the heavily used deer trails, located near a food supply. I would love to hear back from you. If you want to send me an email that would be great, or you can just reply on hear. It is tough to beat a good deer story.

Walleye #1 - [email protected]

[TomBow]

The narrow strips of trees could serve to funnel deer and provide bedding areas. The thicker areas will probably be bedding areas, I would avoid them and hunt the less thick trees. Consider the cover on the properties around you also for deer holding potential, and food opportunities there. If it's corn and alfalfa for miles around, the deer could be anywhere. Again, if there's oaks among the trees on the property you can hunt, that's another food source for the deer. Yup, on the spotlight, get out there ASAP before dark, sit down some distance away and glass the area with binocs. You may be able to locate where the deer are coming from when they enter the fields. The light will give you an idea what deer are out there, I'd wait at least an hour after sunset, to give a chance for the deer to get into the field. Small deer and does will come out first and the bucks will hang back until they see that everythings A-OK (after dark). Once you know where they come from, set-up a stand ASAP (lock it up and don't tell ANYBODY where it is) and leave it alone until season opens. Establish the predominant wind direction by using a wind checker or a bag full of corn starch, throw some corn starch into the air and watch which way the particles go. Small smoke bombs will also work to check wind.
Set-up your stand and plan your routes so you can get into and out of the stand without spooking all the deer. Terraserver has topo maps and aerial photos, print out some of these and study them. If you're gonna scout the property (as far from the season as possible) by walking around it, use scent control techniques, where rubber boots, rubber gloves and scent-killer so you don't tip off the deer that their being hunted before season. Best of Luck. sounds like the property has some good potential.

[Creek Kid]

Sounds to me like you're real close to the state park boundaries. If that's the case, you're gonna have a hay day! Don't have any big buck stories around there though. The trick will be finding a well used trail between the bedding and feeding areas. If you are where I think you are, there isn't much for crops in the valley. Mostly fields on top. If you are in a postition to set up close to the edge of a hill, I'd try and get a good look at it from the bottom and how steep it gets. There may be some natural funnels (or walls) that will help you decide where to ambush a bruiser. I like to set up along field edges on the ridge. It seems that 90% of the time the deer bed just over the edge, close to the top of a hill. IF THE WIND IS IN YOUR FAVOR, it's a lot easier to beat their noses than eyes and ears while they're bedded. They always seem to be bedded so they can watch what they can't smell though! The two deer I did take in a valley stand (not far from where you are) with a bow were shot from the same stand, on the same trail, and the same situation. They were both sneaking out of a drive during gun season and in a hurry. I never saw much for deer just browsing there. If the land you are on is pretty flat across the ridge it may be hard to zero in on the where deer are coming from. Like I said not much advice, just stuff I do, and have noticed over the years, that may or may not help you out. I'm no buckmaster and have only taken a handful of deer in my life. I plan on hitting it pretty hard this year. Someday soon I plan to get my stands back up. I'll let you know if I run into anything of interest.

[This message has been edited by Creek Kid (edited 07-17-2003).]