Farm Aerial

[DarkArcher]

Hey guys I have a new farm I am going to be spending some time on this Fall after late season & summer scouting revealed good deer sign. The farm is pictured below, thought I could promt some discussion and opinions on stand location and get some insight from the experts.

The property line is highlighted in green and the road that you see is the boundary on the West and North sides. The blue dot is a small pond that exist on the farm. The ag part of the farm is currently all in corn. The South and East fingers/timber are ridge tops that all funnel down (4 or 5 ditches) that meet in a large ditch at the red X, main ditches shown with the red lines. It is about an 85/90 acre farm with approx. 30 acres of timber.

Lets here from the experts

 

[revup]

Are they bedding down on, or around, the property any where?
What does that little timber spot, to the SE, look like on the ground?
One place that looks good right off the bat would be where you marked the ditch that comes out, just to the north of the pond.
Another good place would be where all of the ditches kind of meet up.
Do you have any trail camera's out?
What does the elevation look like too? Is it pretty flat? Where are the high and low spots on the property?

 

[Iowa1]

You have several intersecting lines of trees coming together in the northcentral part of the prperty. Looks like a spot where rut movement mioght funnel deer ontot he property from the north and northwest.

 

[DarkArcher]

Bed on the property some but no promising sheds last year...so that was a little dissapointing. Just north of the property across the road lays an highly intensive managed farm of nearly 1000 acres, so I know the deer numbers are high in the area.

To the south and Southeast of the property is mostly all cattle pasture.

Elevation - the timber edges that border the crop are all high ridge tops for 50 -75 yds into the timber and fall way down as you head Northwest and follow the ditches. Topo below:

Rev - I also believe the spot north of the pond is a hot spot, that inlet that runs Northwest towards the big timber is over grown CRP/brush and leads right into the corn, jumped a good buck bedded there when I put up a cam. I would like to get a stand there for anything moving from the timber to the corn or anything hitting the pond during early season/rut.

Going to pull the camera tonight, will hopefully have some pics to show you guys as well.

 

[revup]

I would stay close to the ridge tops then, and hunt it extra hard once the corn is out. They will really hug that tree line once the farmer pics the corn.

 

[Thump1]

Dark Archer, I think you asked about aerials. Google earth is good and free. Using a slider, you can see property change from 1994 to present (my farm changed a lot). You can also:
- advance the picture daylight to dusk for shadows and outlining ridges
- exaggerate the altitude change so that hills stand out better
- exports can be taken to some copy shops to make big maps.
Bill Gates did hunters a favor with this app!

 

[bowhuntr311]

Ok, so here is what I see. Im just looking at this photo and thinking nothing more than deer movement.

MY red lines are terrain features to consider when thinking about movement. If you notice their is some discrepentcies in the trees, Im guessing there is creeks there.
MY yellow lines are where I think the deer are going to be crossing in and out of the that chunk of woods.

Some of what I have showed might be quite obvisous to some but its just the first thing I see when I looked. I would spend some serious time looking near the read X and the terrain lines I drew in. Hope it helps some how.

 

[bowman]

I'm far from an expert, but here is where I would start. If the ravines are deep (red lines) I would clear each one for walking access as soon as possible. I would use them as entry in the mornings and exit in the evenings.

Looking at the topo, it appears that stand #1 could be good for bucks using the terrain to move from the north / south (blue lines).

If the ravines are deep by the road but more shallow as they approach the fields, stands #2, and #3 would capitalize on bucks skirting the top of the drainage as well as the inside corners of the fields, a double funnel feature.

Stand #4 has the same features but you capitalize on the terrain with two drainages as well as two inside corners.

Without walking the property, this is where I would start.

Good luck!:way:

 

[kurtish]

some good points already brought up. Could be an early season hotspot with the pond located in the timber. I'd set up on a ditch funnel to catch a buck moving from one of the high points towards the water. If you get some warm weather with a southwesterly wind....dynamite setup to catch him quartering into the wind from a bedding point to the north moving towards the pond. Great looking piece of ground!

 

[JakeWym]

I would prly wait for a NW sin and set up an observation stand somewhere near the pond, and then move in from there. It is best not to get too aggressive too early. I should add that I am not an expert either, but I have screwed up enough to know that it is easy to push big bucks off the property if you are not careful.

 

[JNRBRONC]

Bowhunter311 and I think alike, as I immediately started to think about how a buck cruising for does would use any type of cover for travel. His lower yellow arrow is Bowman's #1 and to add a number to Bowman's map, I'd label Bowhunter311's upper yellow arrow as #5. Those two places is where I would start to look for the seek phase of the rut.

Then, Bowman's 2,3,4 appear to be areas where the open field slants down into the timber, offer bucks some security as they feed out into the field. So maybe early season stands or hoping that a buck comes to check out does easing into the field.

 

[DarkArcher]

Bowman, BH311, & Bronc you guys are all over it and are extremely accurate from what I have noticed for deer movement on the farm. I did a little more light scouting the other day when I pulled a cam and found a main trail running east/west on top of the ridge above all the drainages.

Clearing the drainage ditches is on the list of improvements I have for this property in the near future. I also think that the gravel road will provide easy access to the N/NW side of the property in the mornings for deer coming back from the field. 311, I noticed some good trails in the vacinity of your yellow lines the other night as well.

I appreciate the insight and all opinions. Here is a couple bucks I got on cam around the farm it was right next to the #3 option. The big guy that I filmed in the adjacent property field wasn't on cam and I am hoping to find him on the cam next time.