Rickym
Well-Known Member
Looking for any info that would be helpful on the dream hunt! Looked at some images from Google Earth. Any advice from those that have been there? Thanks!
Getting Ready for Presidents Island Any Advice? :)
- Thread starter Rickym
- Start date
Rickym
Well-Known Member
With ATV
you're one lucky sob.... i've been putting in for over 10 years... no luck at even a doe tag.
when I hunted two yrs ago, most bucks where taken on the sw side of the island. I hunted the sharp corner, pinch point near the steel processing plant on the south end. Saw two monsters, had em close, but chasing so hard couldnt stop em. Good luck
Hunt the field edges to see deer all day, more than you have ever seen, more bucks and more bigger bucks...hunt the woods to kill something.
95% of everyone heads to the river on scouting day first and hunt there...effective strategy, as most bucks seem to be killed closer to the river...but don't overlook those places right by the entrance and checking station.
Ground blinds and hang ons are my choice, as it is hard to find a good tree to climb.
Usually, so much sign you won't know where to hunt...typically, it doesn't matter as any one place can be as good as the other.
Rubs like this are everywhere...you can't walk 15 yards without stepping in an active scrape in many areas...
Rut should be right, hope for cold weather.
Mobility will be key...believe it or not, spot and stalk could be effective...I followed a good buck at about sixty yards thru the woods one year for over an hour and could never get close enough for a comfortable shot mid day.
Stay on stand all day, but don't expect tons of action, although there will be some. It could just be the deer of a lifetime.
If you are coming from east TN, hunt terrain features...as flat as it is you think I am crazy in saying terrain features, but this makes it all the more important! A slight 12 inch rise can make all the difference. Food will be secondary consideration as there are NO acorns on the island that I know of. Persimmons, ag fields...the key to me are those secondary food sources (locust, woody browse, weeds, etc).
Take a good camera into the field and shoot pics from the stand. You can have some amazingly close interaction with all types of wildlife on the Island besides deer (turkeys, coons, possums, bobcats, coyotes, potentially reported hogs from time to time some years ago, and ptetntially a bear! Not to mention all the cougars/panthers/mountain lions)
Bring good optics (binoculars)!
Fourwheeler is a handy tool.
There are a lot of really GOOD bucks on the island with a few really exceptional ones. Take the first legal buck you are happy with where you hunt at home...deer sightings are unbeleivable on scouting day, great on the first morning, really good on Friday afternoon, pretty good on Saturday morn, good on Saturday evening, decent on Sunday morning, and ok on Sunday evening...Obviously, they respond to the pressure.
Good luck to all the hunters! We expect up to the minute updates with all the smartphones out there now!
95% of everyone heads to the river on scouting day first and hunt there...effective strategy, as most bucks seem to be killed closer to the river...but don't overlook those places right by the entrance and checking station.
Ground blinds and hang ons are my choice, as it is hard to find a good tree to climb.
Usually, so much sign you won't know where to hunt...typically, it doesn't matter as any one place can be as good as the other.
Rubs like this are everywhere...you can't walk 15 yards without stepping in an active scrape in many areas...
Rut should be right, hope for cold weather.
Mobility will be key...believe it or not, spot and stalk could be effective...I followed a good buck at about sixty yards thru the woods one year for over an hour and could never get close enough for a comfortable shot mid day.
Stay on stand all day, but don't expect tons of action, although there will be some. It could just be the deer of a lifetime.
If you are coming from east TN, hunt terrain features...as flat as it is you think I am crazy in saying terrain features, but this makes it all the more important! A slight 12 inch rise can make all the difference. Food will be secondary consideration as there are NO acorns on the island that I know of. Persimmons, ag fields...the key to me are those secondary food sources (locust, woody browse, weeds, etc).
Take a good camera into the field and shoot pics from the stand. You can have some amazingly close interaction with all types of wildlife on the Island besides deer (turkeys, coons, possums, bobcats, coyotes, potentially reported hogs from time to time some years ago, and ptetntially a bear! Not to mention all the cougars/panthers/mountain lions)
Bring good optics (binoculars)!
Fourwheeler is a handy tool.
There are a lot of really GOOD bucks on the island with a few really exceptional ones. Take the first legal buck you are happy with where you hunt at home...deer sightings are unbeleivable on scouting day, great on the first morning, really good on Friday afternoon, pretty good on Saturday morn, good on Saturday evening, decent on Sunday morning, and ok on Sunday evening...Obviously, they respond to the pressure.
Good luck to all the hunters! We expect up to the minute updates with all the smartphones out there now!
bowhunter163
Well-Known Member
Have you only put in for presidents island ? If yogurt drawn for any other hunts you lose your priority points and start over .Don'tDrinkTinks said:
Rickym
Well-Known Member
Thanks for all the great tips so far!
PM sent
Dont forget your thermacell! Mosquitoes are thick there. At Ensley anyway. Good luck!
RiverBuck10
Well-Known Member
Man I hope you do better than we did 2 years ago!! I got drawn for the doe and spike hunt!! I only went to take pictures of monster bucks I heard about. (really I wasn't even going to kill, I brought my video camera to capture all theses deer I hear about).. I saw 0 deer in 3 days and my dad as 2 does!!
I hope you have much better luck!!
I hope you have much better luck!!
Rickym
Well-Known Member
RiverBuck10 said:
Let me know where you were hunting so I don't go there!
lolRiverBuck10 said:
That would almost seem impossible. Sorry for ur bad luck.
huntintn
Well-Known Member
if you stay at a local motel leave nothing of value in your truck.
woodswise
Well-Known Member
I have been lucky enough to hunt the island twice. The atv is a must I suggest you be at the gate when it opens for the scouting day. Everyone will have talked to friends that have knowledge of places to hunt and will head to those places to claim a spot off the gitgo and then scout for an alternative. I would suggest two portable climbers. There will be big sign everywhere the deer are not pressured and don't mind rubbing every stick bush and tree they walk by they also will scrape every 50 ft down the field edges and normal thinking does't apply. The scouting day will push deer around so much that actual sightings won't mean they will be in the same place when the hunt starts. My advice would be to check out the SW area along the river and look for good trail sign through a terrain feature that will funnel deer past. Get there early and be prepared to stay. People will get antsy after they sit the first day and start walking around looking for a better spot. I saw several giant bucks crossing fields in the middle of the day. The back of the area is 3-4 miles from the parking area and if it should rain before you go be prepared for gumbo mud I got covered with it from the atv ride and it made a miserable sit. I think by far its the most exciting hunt you'll ever go on and there is fantastic potential for the buck of a lifetime. Chances are I'll never get to hunt it again but I'm just like every one else it's the only place to apply for it's worth the wait.
i second that
Rickym
Well-Known Member
Great info everyone! Thanks for all the pms and replies!
BigAl
Well-Known Member
The year I hunted there 2 really good pics were killed in that think strip of woods on the north side that runs along the river. Not sure how that are was affected by the flood.
Crosshairy
Well-Known Member
BigAl said:
Everything was affected by the flood.
I could look down on the island from one of the towers at the refinery where I worked. I could see standing water on ~50% of it or more.
Persimmons may be about gone by then, but if you find some, consider it a decent spot to hold some does and direct deer traffic a bit. Because of the dry weather, the crop is not that great this year.
Poser mentioned the pond/lake - I've hunted it before, but it seems like everyone else does too. Since it's a relatively distinct terrain feature, it gets an inordinate amount of attention/pressure, so don't put all your eggs in that basket.
If I was going today, I would pay attention to the more narrow strips of timber that extend into the fields, especially if you can find a spot next to a thicket and food sources - those can turn into great highways for deer travel.
My most successful hunt (out of the 3 doe hunts I've been on) from a deer sighting standpoint has been when setup between thickets in a relatively narrow corridor with some locust and persimmon trees nearby. I had 2 groups of deer on either side of me on an afternoon hunt, and couldn't move because of all the eyes on me (in a ground blind).
I agree with a previous poster's comment about having trouble finding trees for climbers to an extent, but it can certainly be done. If you have a blind and a climber, certainly bring both. There are enough trees, you just might have to cut some vines off of one to make it work.
SAFETY ADVICE - don't climb on the ironwood trees - yes they might be in in a good spot, but it's not worth slipping and falling to your death by trying to climb up that hard, slick bark! Had a close call a few years ago out there...
Rickym
Well-Known Member
Thanks for the advice!
