Tell us about your spot

[dante322]

It occurred to me that here, in Ohio, We have a lot of different types of terrain. From huge Timber, to agricultural, to hills. What type and style of hunting you use depends a lot on the type of area you're in. Some have little experience hunting around corn and bean fields like in the northwest ,with little topographic feature, while others hunt large tracts of Woods in the hills of southern and eastern ohio. So what type of terrain do you hunt and what tactics do you find most effective?

Here in Crawford county, we are in a transition type area. A few minutes north and east of us is the fabled "flatland" Which consists of huge corn and bean fields, with smaller wood lots thrown in. To the south and west, there are more hills but still plenty of agriculture.

On the smaller farms I hunt, The best bet is to concentrate on creek drainages, And corners of crop fields. A funnel in this area is typically going to be narrow tree lines that go from one larger woodlot to another, or a trail that stays within the treeline, but follows the edge of a crop field.
Inside corners are usually dynamite, as well as outside corners where there are oak trees in the area.

The most difficult parts of hunting this area are finding a morning route into your stand and knowing where bedding areas are. With so much food around, it is hard to tell what fields the deer will be in when you want to get to your stand and it is hard to get to a stand without having to work through a field. there are those exceptions where there is a treeline or a drainage that can be used as access but they usually arent far from the corn so you have to be very quiet, and use your flashlight as little as possible. As for bedding, seems like they could be anywhere, especially the bucks. you normally would look for a thicket of some sort. probably a good bet for does, but It seems the bucks prefer to bed on hillsides next to an ag field where they can see all around them, or next to deadfalls within the woods. i have had many occasions where I have busted a bedded buck in the middle of the woods in a spot where he hadn't bedded before.

another spot i like to look for, are fences within the woods that divide property lines. if there is a break of some kind in the fence the deer will use that instead of jumping it.

 

[Hortontoter]

My area is the small farm type dante describes. My 10 acres is 90% wooded with lots of black oaks and a small smattering of white oaks. I have a creek drainage in my bottom that has the best funnel on my property. There are two good fence crossings, where the top strand of barbed wire is low from deer jumping it for years. My only problem is the lack of crops nearby. I have to depend on heavy acorn drops to really draw deer to my area.

 

[Blackbeard]

Here in Jackson county it's pasture fields surrounded by big timber and lots of clear cuts and thickets. The big timber is for most part gone though due to years of logging and cutting just about everything down. So we are left with lots of 1-15 year old clear cuts, a lot of which are tough to bowhunt, and the timber that is left is small parcels and thickets. My place is 35 acres, 10 of which is overgrown field with clusters of locust and honeysuckle, and the rest is thick since I had most of the logs cutoff three years ago. Two other places I hunt are crabapple thickets and big timber. I also hunt my MIL/FIL's farm which is 120 acres, half pasture and half small timber. One thing for sure, there's always an abundance of things for deer to eat- acorns, persimmons, honeysuckle, crabapple, other woody browse, pasture grass, and your occasional bean or corn field although Jackson county is cattle mainly not crops.

 

[hickslawns]

I live in pancake flat country. Around here 20acres of woods is big. If you find a 20+acre parcel it is probably split up between several property owners which makes it tough. There are opportunities to pick up 60-80-100acre properties but generally 90% or more is farm fields. Fence rows, and small wood lots are the norm. Sharing the properties with many others is common. Sadly, on many of these properties which have neighboring properties with hunters you find the hunters on the neighboring properties crossing the lines. I have found other hunters in my stands. I have found does left and not tracked. I have found everyone losing permission because all hunters get blamed for something stupid one hunter on another property did.

I am fortunate to own a property just under 8 acres. It is narrow but goes 1/3 mile off the road. Once you are back in the woods, everyone seems to think they can use your property as they wish. Whether you own it or just hunt it, the problems exist. I am also fortunate to hunt with a buddy who owns a prime location with 70+ acres. We have very strict buck rules. We try to stay out as much as possible but unfortunately we are forced to man this location during gun season simply to keep trespassers out.

Don't take this wrong. I am not complaining. It simply is what it is and it isn't getting any better. I still wouldn't trade it for the troubles locating land many guys surrounding big cities face.

 

[Bigslam51]

I hunt mostly farmland in Stark and Northern Tusc County with small to medium size woods, and CRP. I have a new spot that I just got permission to hunt this year that is 40 acres, 13 are woods and the rest is corn and there are beans in the neighbors field separated by a thin strip of trees 40 yards wide. I am worried about the type of pressure this place gets cause when my buddy and I went to scout a hang stands we saw at least 6 treestands scattered in various spots, I think people sneak in and that pisses me off!

 

[DJK Frank 16]

I'm not too far from Phil. I don't hunt a property with more than 5 acres of woods. Mostly fence lines and ag fields around here.

 

[bowhunter1023]

I hunt the hills and hollers of SE Ohio, so I'm all TOO familiar with terrain and how that effects deer movement. Our farm is 80 acres and I have access to 65 acres right next to us. Our place is 30 acres of fields which are either cut for hay, overgrown, or planted in something and the rest is timber. The 65 acres is 95% 4th year growth following a select cut timber harvest, so it is as thick as it gets. The terrain on our place varies greatly with a large creek bottom running through the middle from E to W and another running N and S. A distinct ridge defines the northern portion of our property, with two other ridges marking the E and S boundaries. The 65 acres lays on a ridge with two drainages helping to create a nice saddle in the middle of the property. Elevation changes from our creek bottom to any of the ridges is as much as 200 feet.

One of my best pieces of ground is the 11 acres behind my parents which is all wooded. The terrain is not as steep here, but it is still marked by two ridges and the best portion being a creek bottom where 4 hollers come together. This place is loaded with acorns every year and that helps make it the hot spot it is in late October.

I have access to a 265 acre farm that is mostly crops with some random areas of timber and plenty of overgrown fields. The terrain is more gently rolling here, but it is still a trek to get from the lowest point to the highest. I also hunt a 280 acre farm that is relatively flat. It has about 80 acres of corn on it this year with several areas of overgrown thickets and fields. There is very little timber on this farm and what good trees do exist, typically sit on fence lines.

There is another 180 acres I gun hunt that is more "mountainous" and consists of mature hardwoods. Serious elevation changes make this place tough to hunt, but 2 long ridges make it a great place to drive.

 

[rgecko23]

I hunt mostly farmland in Stark and Northern Tusc County with small to medium size woods, and CRP. I have a new spot that I just got permission to hunt this year that is 40 acres, 13 are woods and the rest is corn and there are beans in the neighbors field separated by a thin strip of trees 40 yards wide. I am worried about the type of pressure this place gets cause when my buddy and I went to scout a hang stands we saw at least 6 treestands scattered in various spots, I think people sneak in and that pisses me off!

Stark and Tusc man myself.

 

[finelyshedded]

I hunt mostly Warren county in the SW and Morgan/Washington counties in the SE. Both are somewhat similar being rural farmland with a pretty good balance of AG and timber. The terrain is a mix of rolling hills,deep ravines,two or three tiered hollars and ridge lines throughout. I have much more of an issue with houses and other forms of tranquil interruption during my bowhunting here in the SW where I hunt most. The influx of city folks with ass loads of cash have bought some small to large chunks of acreage and built their dream homes. Don't blame them one bit as I'd do the same but it sure has cut down on the access and peace and quietness of bowhunting.....but I'll gut it out!lol

 

[Redhunter1012]

I hunt the flatlands as well. Fortunately, I have atleast a couple thousand acres between Wood, Hancock, and Hardin counties to hunt. It's probably a 75-25 ag field to woods ratio, but more than enough. But, most of it is stuff atleast 1 or 2 other people at minimum can hunt as well. But most of those only gun hunt fortunately. Alot of it (Wood County) I only make it to gun hunt. I do my best every year to aquire as much as possible and to keep it

 

[Beentown]

200 acre fields and 20 acre wood lots. Rarely any kind of elevation change.

 

[Mike]

Smaller woodlots in AG, all near creeks or rivers. There is a little topography at one location which is odd.

 

[cotty16]

I'm a hills hunter here in the east. Not a cornfield anywhere near any of the places I hunt.

The private property I hunt, if you look at it on a aerial map, looks like a football. Pointed at both ends and wide in the middle. It also resembles a football if you look at it right at the point and cut the ball in half. Go from a creek bottom on the right to a high middle to a creek bottom on the left. Get the picture? I'm basically hunting a high saddle with a busy road on one side that follows the creek and a private sportsman club on the other that also is separated by a creek. It's about 140 acres of logged ground with one patch of red oaks and a few whites sprinkled in.
There are no grazing fields on this property so it's not one of those places you can set your clock to and expect to see deer moving into the field. It's basically a deep woods with the nearest fields on either side of the property about 600 yards away. Oh, and did I mention hills? The hollows that border this property are ones that do not make dragging a deer very fun.

The club ground I hunt is a mixture of big woods, scrub, and reclaimed fields. It is roughly 12,000 acres and I tend to focus on about 500 acres as best I can. Almost all the property has been stripped at some point either back in the 70's to the mid 90's. the terrain is a potpourri of series of "spoils" or banks that roll out of the fields and then down into the steep hollows. It's a must see for you flatlanders.

 

[RDM]

ditto hickslawns, same scenario here. I am fortunate to own the land I hunt now, but before that when I hunted farms it seemed open season for anyone to do as they pleased. I now have control of that and haven't had many problems

 

[buckstar25]

Our 52 acres consists if 13 acres of creek bottom which is sandwiched between 2 large crop fields. We had it clear cut about 7 years ago, thick is not even close to describing it. The willows have taken over a section and it is next to impossible to get into it. Chinquapin and Pin Oak have came in nicely since the clear cut. We have a ton of Ash that came up but sadly it will meet the same fate as the Chestnuts, so we are culling them to make room for the oaks and hickories. Original design was submitted to the Soil and Water office for a duck pond, we looked at WRP but in the end the almighty Corps o Engineers had the last say and we had to go to plan B. this is where our food plot is located now.

The other 39 acres consists of big hills, benches, saddles and hardwoods. The bench runs lengthwise East to West and is the divider between open the open hardwood section and old pasture thicket. The north section is where the long ridge turns and the terrain is nasty and steep, it is also what some would call a sanctuary, I call it "no way in hell am I going in that shit!"

I have access to another 600 acres all bordering us and the hunting is tough, big woods and crop fields seems easy enough to get on deer but the main bedding area is all but off limits! It took me 20 years to find a pattern that produced consistent sightings and to actually figure these big woods deer out. My buddy has got the best spot on the entire ridge, he is on 35 deer out of the same tree he labeled "the buck tree". It is the highest point on the ridge and just so happens to have a huge saddle directly below him that basically funnels any deer using any of the surrounding property right by his stand. It really is the ultimate stand set up! Any deer in the general vicinity will, at some point walk past him.

The biggest struggle we have is running deer out of our property on the way to a stand in the mornings, they are out of the fields and into our property well before shooting light and we have to adjust accordingly by leaving an hour earlier to walk all the way to the top and down to our stands, but it has paid off from time to time. The successional growth of the clear cut is now finally in the "awesome" stages and continues to serve its purpose, it is only going to get better from here on out.

Good read so far!

 

[mightymet]

The place I hunt is in the very NE of the state. Fairly flat. We have about 35 acres of woods consisting of oak, beach, hard and soft maple, ash an some others. The area was logged out about 20 years ago so there aren't a lot of large trees. The property runs north to south like a bowling alley. About 575 feet wide and 3500 deep. About 100 yards behind us is a 200 plus acre farm that this year has beans on it. Last year was corn. Both sides are wooded for quite always. We have several creeks running east to west. Aside from gun season we don't really have any close competition with other hunters. We currently have 5 stands set up. Considering taking the climber out this year and trying a spot I usually see deer in the evening from my favorite stand. But I know when I do that they will walk past my other one.

 

[00buck]

200 acre fields and 20 acre wood lots. Rarely any kind of elevation change.

about the same here in morrow county