Late Season Strategy and Stand Placement?

[HuntingAgain]

Looking for advice on a small wooded lot that we have access to Bow Hunt from a farmer. There are deer in the area as the farmer has seen them eating flowers around the house (lower left corner of picture). The creek seen in the picture is usually dry unless heavy rains as the fields are tiled for drainage. A walk of the outside edges shows some tracks, a few rubs and scrapes that appear to be old.

They have also had coyotes running out of the corn fields during harvest and we will deal with them after the season. Predominate winds are usually out of the west but not unusual for cold winds to come from the north.

I have 4 stands and 4 cameras that I am going to dedicate to this woods and would like some advice and thoughts for their locations. The first picture is the woods and surrounding properties. The second picture is a zoomed in with some notes.

Thanks in advance,
Hunting Again

 

[hickslawns]

Open country deer can be tough. Not that I am telling you what you don't already know. How many acres is the woods? 10ish? Only thing I see is maybe the drainage being used for bedding if it is overgrown. Otherwise, I can only think to try and figure out if they are using it to bed or just a pass thru woods onto the "No hunting" property. Any other large woods nearby? CRP land? Just trying to think out loud with questions which might spark an idea for you.

 

[HuntingAgain]

The woods is about 12 acres in size. The grass on both sides of the drainage is overgrown and looks like it has been used as a bedding area at some point. Also a small strip of tall overgrown grass along the south edge of the woods that has an area that looks like it was laid on also. I think it is a pass through woods just like the other in the area. None of them are large woods and according to others no one has ever hunted the woods to the north, so it is most likely a safe haven. There are no CRP fields in the area, just crop fields rotating between corn and beans with some winter wheat occasionally.

Here is a larger picture of the area with the woods outlined by the yellow box.

 

[hickslawns]

Too bad there is a stand on the NE corner by the drainage leading to the larger woods NE of you. Any chance of getting a stand on the north edge between your woods and the other one directly north? Might be a slightly low spot in the field or something where they cross? Not much to go on without boots on the ground. Like I said, just sorta throwing darts at the wall and hoping to turn on a light bulb for you. Probably not much help but at least I am listening and trying. haha

 

[HuntingAgain]

Thanks again for the reply. We were able to talk with others familiar with the woods and they confirm that deer travel through but do not stay in the woods for any period of time. Cameras have shown deer on the west edge, SW corner, and a trail that goes through the center of the woods.

This is consistent with some old rubs that we saw doing a general walk through. One problem is the coyotes in the area that we will have to work on as we found a carcus about 10 yards from the north edge near the center.

I am going to put a homemade PVC feeder in the center after gun week and then hope for some snow to see tracks and routes. Will be hunting the woods either way and maybe get lucky.