Woodsmanship in the Neighborhood

Continuing with the theme of gaining permissions I thought of adding a situation that I discovered late in the last season that gave me an additional hunting opportunity and allowed me to flex my woodsmanship ability within a few minutes of my home.  No, this story does not end up with a photo of me with a big buck but it does end with some hope for a future promising hunt.

Throughout the last hunting season I ventured onto both private and public hunting land for hunting opportunity.  Most of that time was on private land with some public land hunting.  By far the public land hunting was more difficult but way more memorable.  The separation from the security blanket our modern environment provides is invaluable.  The problem for me with public land is that it is not close and requires more planning than throwing a few things in a backpack, grabbing a gun or bow and walking out to a stand or blind that I placed a day or week before.

Because I attempt to gain access to promising properties nearby I looked at a small wooded area near my home where I knew the owner and access was not the issue, the issue was,  ”am I completely wasting my time”.  After a quick call I was granted permission to scout. 

Before I go on about any findings, I want to lay out why I would wonder about this property.  It is in the middle of a populated area but there are patches of big woods on one side and the other that are connected by small corridors of cover and cover along a railroad track.  There is enough cover to provide bedding areas and lots of browse along the way to potential feeding areas and the area I have access to is along one of the potential corridors.

Aerial Homework

You can see with this overhead view that the area I have access to, circled in black, is in the middle and only plus or minus 3 acres.  Yes, I said 3 acres.  There are plenty of places that could be chosen to hunt in this location that make more sense, near the field in the afternoon, near the bigger bedding area in the morning but since I don’t have access to those locations, I will have to make due with that little spot in the middle and see if there is any activity that may invite me over with my bow since this is very close to residential area.  I have shown potential deer travel paths with the red arrows and some labels to help describe the area.

The newer residential area shown just north west has low cover and may keep deer tighter to the area I am looking at and the older residential area to the south east, with medium cover still would be less likely to hold deer during any legal hunting light time. Movement during those dusk and dawn times could funnel through the little spot I am interested in.

Time to step out into this little spot and see if this is even worth extra attention after my aerial homework is done.

As I walk to the wooded area that is bordered by tall grasses leading into this thick undergrowth of small saplings below large white and red oaks, I see sign.  The tall laid over grasses already show sign of a game path but at this point, it could be a couple local dogs or some neighborhood kids.  At the back of the property is a railroad track that is high above the wooded area I am focusing on and some of these tall grass beaten paths come off the railroad and towards the wooded area I am focusing on.  The tree line along the edge of the railroad may provide enough cover for night time travel. Further in this small wooded area the paths seem to continue, not in a clear way you see travel routes in bigger wooded areas, but as though these paths meander around and between all these saplings but never the same way twice.  The ground is covered with the foliage from this year’s fall and many years past so a scrape will stand out tremendously. Unfortunately,  I am not that lucky so I look for other sign; nibblings on branches torn off while browsing, wet and shiny or dry and faded droppings, depressed leaves indicating a bed and then I see it.  I rub, a decent and fresh one.  Then another rub, wow, I have a buck coming through here, and he has been here recently from the looks of the tree.

Backyard Buck Rub

At this point, it was mid-December and the season was coming to a close soon here in North Carolina so I quickly set up one of my spare tree stands and decided to hunt it a few mornings when I didn’t have the time to go to more proven grounds.  I sat in my stand for several mornings, not long mornings either since after day fully broke there was no way deer would be moving about in this little spot.  Nothing was seen during these morning sits but because the evidence was undeniable, I decided to set up a camera where I thought something may walk through based on the tall grass entry points. 

Weeks went by and nothing was on camera.  I would come by and switch out the memory card and see only a few photos of squirrels, birds and a cat.  That was it.  I was discouraged but reset the camera and let it sit.  This past weekend, after the season has been over for 2 weeks, I ran over to check the camera assuming I would be deleting a few squirrel photos.  I open it up to grab the camera and check the number, WHAT?! 250 photos?  I take it home and load it up to see what I had. 

I expected a bunch of squirrel shenanigans but to my surprise, two does spent some on the property.  I was happy to see them and as I scrolled through the photos they appeared at 2AM, 5AM and  in the daylight 8AM.  I assume after this they bedded down in there since traversing elsewhere during the day would expose them more than they would be comfortable with.

I kept clicking through the photos, only about 20 remained.  I expected more of the same does but in walked a nice 7 point backyard buck.  He didn’t stay long but I assume he was interested in the does that had spent some time there just 16 hours earlier.  This must be the guy that is rubbing up the trees in this little wooded funnel and I feel privileged to have caught him on camera. He obviously didn’t like the addition of the camera to his environment because he backed out of view just as quickly as he came in. 

Next year, I will add this little spot to my options of hunting locally.  Because of where it is and it’s access corridors it will be a long shot but will be a great success story if a handsome buck is taken from the backyard. 

If you are having trouble finding places to hunt nearby, you never know what is walking around in the neighborhood while you sleep, so do some aerial homework, see if you can work up some connections for permissions and go practice some woodsmanship in the neighborhood.  

Followed some #whitetail tracks where I have a trail cam. Single track but no dragline in shallow snow. The single makes be think #buck but the lack of a toe drag makes me think #doe. Check out all photos, the answer is at the end. #woodsmanship

A post shared by @ zmountain on Jan 21, 2018 at 12:33pm PST