Advice on hunting big grown up field?

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catman529

catman529

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Franklin TN
So it's 40+ acres and probably half of it is thick brambles that you cant penetrate. The rest is like native grasses and forbs like broom sedge, goldenrod, etc. and young Bradford pears scattered across the field, a few red cedar, and random grown up patches of small dense trees. Some people say deer don't have bedding areas but this whole field is a bedding area especially in the thicker parts. There are no trees big enough to get a stand on. I would be bow hunting from the ground with the tall grass for cover. I don't know how to hunt it because there is too much deer sign. Rubs are scattered, trails are a giant cobweb with only one trail I can think of that is used so heavily the bare mud is visible. Trails, fresh poop, fresh beds are everywhere. Basically the deer could appear and disappear anywhere and having one in bow range would be by chance I think. I've considered finding the best-used trail I could find that comes from the impassible briars into the more huntable tall grass area. I suspect the biggest bucks on the property probably live in the thicker parts of this big field and I might see one if I hunt it the right way. But I don't know where I would set up. Any advice on bowhunting it or should I leave it alone as a sanctuary?
 
maybe some of the trails exit this area to a food source or the direction of a food source?
 
RKenney said:
Maybe a tri-pod stand?
Click to expand...
I had the same idea but don't have a tripod.

Poser said:
That's real tough for bowhunting. There are sloughs just like that out at Hatchie and, same thing, full of holes where deer bed. Are there any trees surrounding the field where you could climb real high -40,50+ feet and be able to see down into the field?
Click to expand...
maybe so, would this be just to observe deer movement so I could then move in on a spot to actually get in bow range?
 
Find some trees to climb on each side do you can hunt with the wind. Spend some time hunting /watching you will eventually figure out how the bucks travel. They will prefer some trails over others. Sounds to me you have a honey hole right there....
 
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Sounds like a good spot to hunt. I would just hunt trails coming out on whatever wind suitable. Maybe you will get lucky.
 
i agree with kenny tri-pod dude,probably best ,get a 15 footer good luck and send some photos dude of hunting ground and your kill,lol sounds like a good spot, good luck
 
A Bic drive is one of the most effective means of hunting thick, grownup areas.

You must have a strong, constant wind from one direction. Place a stand on the downwind side of the field, some distance back from the field. At midday, take a red, Bic Lighter and set the upwind side of the field on fire. Then quickly get to your stand and get ready.

Also works well on dry cornfields.
 
Where I hunt we have 100's of acres of native grass fields. Most of them are inpenetrable. The deer use them heavily for bedding and traveling. I've seen as many coming out of them as I have going into them. About the only way you can hunt them is to hunt the edges or find a tree inside them and chop or stomp your way in. The deer really like using any paths or strips that might be cut into them. If you can't get in then I'd check the outside perimeter for any signs of entrance/exit and any terrain features that might dictate deer movement at certain points. Bow hunting will be hard because of the close range unless you can pinpoint those. I generally hunt as high up a tree as I can get but with a rifle.
 
Well the old buck I killed early this month came into the small strip of woods from this grown up field, following 3 or 4 does. On one other hunt, I saw about 6 does and fawns come through the woods by my stand and sneak out into the field. The perimeter of the field is bush hogged. I guess my bet bet is to keep hunting the perimeter where they are likely to travel to and from the field?
 
I don't know about right now, but at the end of the season I would bring some garden shears, a machete, and a weed eater (and possibly some weed killer), and create a couple of small pockets about 20 feet off of the trail that will accomodate different wind directions. They can sit dormant for the rest of the year, and you can probably go in and do a final clean-up prior to archery season. Consider cutting a path to your spot that's not on the main deer trail, so that you can minimize stinking the place up (although they will probably start using your trail, too).

Park a ground blind in there prior to archery season and let it sit, and sit, and sit...while the deer get used to it. When you get ready to hunt it, you might have an awesome spot to stick deer.

All that said - what you basically have is a deer sanctuary that's holding deer on the property at large (assuming that this field doesn't comprise the entirety of your huntable land). Keeping this in mind, "common advice" is to either avoid hunting it at all, or to wait until late season when deer sightings begin to fall off. Basically, this spot becomes your last resort. Furthermore, the late season cold will drop off leaves from that stuff and improve what little visibility you have - early season hunts in that stuff can be really tough.

Good luck! I have a spot like this on public land, and I have elected to just not bother with it because I see a fair amount of deer on the outside of it, so it's just not worth all the sweat each year to fight back nature just for one spot.
 
I hunt a over grown field with a gun. A very few trees on the edges to hang a stand or lean a ladder. To late now but every year I cut a few good trails for travel routes. Deer prefer to travel the path of least resistance like most things.
 
i would try to find a common rise or low spot in this over grown field from one side to the other,wind direction favorable and on either end that had the best sign of fresh rubs,our field is semi overgrown and i wish i had some pics but there is a slight depression in the middle that runs across it,and from year to year nice rubs at both ends of this low spot deer enter and exit these points and 85 % of the time they cross in the low spot..... good luck hope it helps
 

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