My first year hunting with a bow!

[Kyle]

This will be my first year hunting with a bow. Im really excited, and I have my bow tuned up, and sighted in perfectly. This is what I am looking at for the upcoming season. The land I have available to hunt is directly between a corn field and an alphalfa field. A chunk a woods about 2-300 yds long which curves and is cut off by the two fields merging into a pie shaped chunk. It is about 100 yds wide at its widest. A creek runs directly the the center of the woods, along with a snowmobile trail. in spots between the chunk of woods and the alphalfa field are swampy spots with standing water and mounds for the deer to lay. My plan is to scout the area for deer trails intersecting the snowmobile trail and creek. Any further advice for my situation would be greatly appreciated.

[Dahitman44]

Wow --

Sounds like you have a heck of a spot!

I would put out some trail cameras. They are fun and they will tell you a lot. Watch you scent, even when you put it out also spray the camera.

That should give you some great stand ideas.

[Stratosman]

Not sure how many acres you have, but my advice to you is to be carefull how often you go into your hunting area before the season...Once deer sense your presence, they will change their behavior for a few days, do this a couple times and they may alter it altogether, especially when it comes to mature bucks... Be scent free as possible, try to scout and hang stands during mid-day. I personally do not even enter my hunting area until opening day, I sometimes do not even hang a stand until opening day. It sounds like you have a solid gameplan and knowledge of the area, which is a good start.

A few more tips about the area you seem to have... I would only hunt evenings if you can for the fact that you have two fields in close proximity to one another and the woods seems to be relatively narrow, you do not want to spook deer going to and from your stand and in the darkness of morning it is impossible to know if there are deer out feeding in the fields, once you spook them out a couple of times, you may never see them again. Hunting in the evenings allows you to enter when the deer are in thier beds and if you have deer feeding in the fields when you leave, you can alter your exit route in order to not disturb them.

Speaking of bedding areas, you want to know where the bedding areas are located before you enter the woods, agian to avoid bumping deer out of your area, try to do some scouting from a distance say from a vehicle or such in order to get a read on thier patterns, entrances and exits to fields, ect. Once you get this general info it is much easier to come up with a gameplan. It may be possible to set up a stand a ways off the area and consider your first few outings scouting trips and once you establish a pattern, move in.

Wind will also play a very important role in where you set up. You must pay attention to prevailing winds and set up a couple stands that work in different wind directions, and if the wind is wrong, don't hunt. You don't want to be set up on a trail leading to the field with your scent blowing right over the trail. I always check the flag before I leave home and do another check once I arrive at the woods, I never have a pre-determinded stand in mind, only making my decision based upon wind direction. Having multiple stands affords you the greatest opportunity. I you have only one stand, I would set up for a west/northwest wind, the predominate wind its seems, two stands, set up another for a east/southeast wind.. you get the picture. I have talked to so many bowhunters that neglect hunting the wind and neglect proper scent control, and compared to the people I know that take the proper steps and are cautious regarding the above, thier sucess rates are much lower.

Sorry to go on and on here, probably more info than you wanted. I just get so into bowhunting and since it is a ways off yet, this kinda helps kill the time.

And remember, safety first. And any deer with a bow is a trophy, especially your first. You will never forget the first one, big or small.

[harvey lee]

I would not even walk into this area unless you have to.Any buck that sees you or scents you will more than likely leave the area.The does will come back unless you have spooked them numerous times.

Afetr thinking about this I would also wear rubber gloves when putting up your stand and trimming shooting lanes if you do.Keeps the scent off the trimmed branches.Dont trim out to many branches as the deer will know what you have moved if you move to much.

You can hunt either crop early,but when the corn has been harvested,head for the alfalpha.Hunting the crops I would do only in the evenings as the deer are coming out to feed.

You could hunt the inside trails in the morning but you should be very,very carefull with the scent issue and getting to your stand without bumping deer already beeded down or on thier way to there beds.

The most important to remember is to keep the wind in your favor.Once the deer scent you they can get very smart,very fast.You are going to bump deer and some are going to scent you untill you learn how to get in and out of the area.Also,dont always use the same stand to hunt day after day as you will educate the deer in this area very fast also.

Now,go hunting and have a great time.There is nothing better than your first archery kill.

What I personally would do is check out the permitter of the area around the food source and the woods ans see where the trails are coming out and hunt those trails.I would also put up a couple of stands so you can hunt when the wind is in your favor.You do not want to hunt with your scent blowing from your stand into the woods from the direction of where the deer are coming from.If you only use one stand,hunt it only when the wind is in your favor.

[Kyle]

Unfortunatly I only have one stand. Like I said this is my first year so I dont have an abundance of gear. Only the nessessities. I have been rifle hunting for 8 years now and have had great success. Im really worried about getting into the woods without spooking deer. I understand everyones theories on wind and scent conrol, but I am not an expert with that being those kinds of precautions are not used while rifle hunting as often. On the left side of the woods right before the corn field, there is a little grass patch about 20yds X20yds but is enclosed by oak branches. Im thinking that this would be a superb spot to hang a stand, but then again I havent scouted it for trails at all yet. Let me know what you think. At this point if I even see deer I will be happy. And unless there is a monster buck that I see or am seeing signs of I wont even try for a buck with my bow simply because there a plenty of big bucks where I hunt up north. I guess no one has bowhunted the area I am in for 5-6 years, so I am interested to see what happens or if there even are deer using it.

[harvey lee]

With a new spot and knowing that there are deer in the area,probably the best approach would be to walk in with your stand the day you want to hunt,find a good trail and set it up.Then you have left very little scent and probably have not spooked away any deer.If you think the deer are bedding in the swampy area dont get to close or upwind of the area or the deer will wind you.The spot you talked about sounds like a good area if you find some trails.

Remember that the does will travel the heavy trails and the bucks will or might travel a different route.Usually the thicker the brush,the more thwe bucks will travel.

[Kyle]

I went out last night and scouted. Sadly to say, there wasnt a sign of deer anywhere. Lots of coyote tracks but not even a deer trail to speak of. So I found some new land about a mile away, and the guy that owns it says he see's an average of 6-10 deer daily in certain spots. We walked around a little bit and within five mins I had spotted three heavily used deer trails. More scouting will take place before the season opens.

[carpshooterdeluxe]

no deer and lots of coyotes? throw up a trail cam, see when the coyotes are coming through, hang a stand, and shoot those suckers with your bow. it will give you the most realistic practice on getting over the excitement of an animal right under you so when that big buck comes in this fall your arrow flies true!

[troutmaster]

if the guy has been seeing 6-10 deer daily about a mile away from your original spot, you can be pretty sure there is deer in your original spot.

[Kyle]

troutmaster-

I was thinking the same thing except that my previous spot was in the middle of two big fields with huge woods on the northeast end of the fields which I am not allowed to hunt. My new spot is situated nicely on the edge of a corn field and timber. I will have to sit ou ton my previous spot just to make sure though.

[Kyle]

carpshooterdelux-

Thats a great idea, and sounds like a blast too, but if there really are that many coyotes in the area, I might just leave it alone until this late fall or winter so their coats are nice and call them in and get 'em with a rifle.

[Deitz Dittrich]

H4L- Welcome to the awesome sport of Archery!!!! Its a blast.. Do not put a whole huge play into what you are seeing right now. Things will change as we get closer to season! And then they change during season!.. I really do not like hunting early season much anywya as the bugs can be a bear!

Main thing.. keep it fun.. dont get frustrated, and enjoy the peace and solitude in the woods with nature!

Please do let us know what you see! Enjoy your season!

[Kyle]

DD- Thanks alot, I will be sure to share my experiences, and will definatly have lots of questions for everyone!