Game Plan for 1st Scout of New Area

[rs2893]

I recently discovered a new piece of public land using ON-X and I am fairly confident it is a spot that does not see a lot of hunting pressure. This is for a couple reasons, the way it is labeled on maps, the access road in is rough and the good spots on the property require going down and up some pretty significant elevation.

You can see in the picture below how only the smaller two portions (100 and 47 acres) of the “reforestation land” are highlighted in yellow. The larger reforestation areas that are 870 and 240 acres are just to the south look like private property at first glance. I called the county planning department and confirmed the entire area is county forest and open for public access.

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My initial thoughts are that the southern portion, south of the river is a good place. The deer have access to food from the farm and then bedding with the ridge located roughly 400 yards into the woods. See below for a topographical map view of the area.

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The purple dotted line is the path I plan on taking this Saturday when I go scout. I have two cellular trail cameras that I can put up if an area looks good for a camera.

Couple Questions:

1. This area is located on a plateau in Upstate NY. Do you think that cold northern winds will deter deer from bedding along that northern facing ridge? Should I instead focus more towards that eastern facing ridge?

2. With regards to hunting this during the rut. The drop to the river bottom is pretty darn steep on both sides. Would it be worth it to try and locate an area where the bucks travel from one side to the other? Or should I focus on locating the travel routes along just one side?

Thanks for the help!

[mpernest]

If you haven’t already seen it, take a look at the Leeward wind thread that is currently in Active Topics. There is a post with links to some banger videos on initial cyber scouting.

[PK_]

You are on the right train of thought with both of your questions.

Although you may find a good spot where bucks are traveling up and down the steep section, you will likely have more ‘consistent’ activity with bucks traveling parallel, just above or below the steepest section. But ideally you can find a good spot to setup where you can catch both directions of travel…

Good luck.