John's Journal...

Successful Deer Hunting’s Top Secret – Match Tactics to Terrain for Success

Day 2: Learn the Terrain and Consult with Specialists to Help You Take a White-Tailed Buck

Editor’s Note: You know the deer are there – yet you can’t seem to get a buck in your sights. You may be hunting your area all wrong. And, if you do jump a buck, don’t fall for the often-repeated advice that they’ll stop and take a last look at you before they disappear. Most will tear out of a region without a backward glance.

Learn the Terrain:

Click for Larger ViewBefore you can determine how to take a deer, you first must learn the terrain you plan to hunt. Find an area that you want to hunt. Then spend a day or two driving over the region, walking the woods and talking to the people who live around the woods and to conservation officers and foresters who work in the area.Learn where the creeks and the rivers are on that land as well as the open spaces. Find the clear cuts if there are any, and search-out briar thickets and other thickets where deer may hide. Locate the hardwood bottoms. The critical ingredient is to learn the road systems that go through the places you plan to hunt as well as the firebreaks, if there are any in “your woods.”

Click for Larger ViewDon’t take-on too much territory to try and learn. Most of my very-successful deer-hunting friends prefer to concentrate on learning only 500 to 1,000 acres to hunt during the entire season. Obtain a topo map from the U. S. Geological Survey of your woods. Draw-in the creek bottoms, the firebreaks and other points of reference that will help you identify on the map where you want to hunt. Find out if there is a recent aerial photo map available of the property. Check-out Google Earth and mytopo.com. Learn all you can about the woodlot you plan to hunt. This information will save you hours of wasted time of hunting in a region where a deer isn’t going to show-up.

Consult With the Specialists:

Click for Larger ViewOnce you know the area well enough and have the maps available to study, call your local conservation officer in the place you want to hunt, and ask for a meeting with him. Buy the conservation officer’s lunch or dinner. The price of a good meal is little expense compared to the hours of hunting time saved by the information the conservation officer can provide. Show the officer the maps of the land. Click for Larger ViewTell him what you know of the place, and ask him if and where he has seen deer in your woods. Find out if he has any suggestions about where to hunt, or if he knows any other outdoorsmen who are hunting the same woods. Then you may be able to get together with them and share tactics for the upcoming season. I’ve found that often the more people you know who are hunting the same woods you are, the better your chances are of taking a deer. You can share tactical as well as helpful information to enable you to stay-out of each other’s way.

Tomorrow: Mapping Out Your Deer Hunting Strategy After Consulting with the Specialists


Check back each day this week for more about "Successful Deer Hunting’s Top Secret – Match Tactics to Terrain for Success "

Day 1: Learn White-Tailed Deer Methodology
Day 2: Learn the Terrain and Consult with Specialists to Help You Take a White-Tailed Buck
Day 3: Mapping Out Your Deer Hunting Strategy After Consulting with the Specialists
Day 4: Hunting Thick Cover for Deer
Day 5: Finding Someone Who’s Had Deer Hunting Success on the Property You Hunt

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Entry 637, Day 2