Hey guys and gals
After 10 years I have finally got drawn on presidents island,excluding ensley,oct hunt
I have no idea what the land is like,
Is it hardwoods,thickets,fields
Any help would be great,not looking for any spots just want to know what to expect
Are there good trees for climbing stands also
Thanks
I'm a little late in the conversation here..
For the Oct hunt can expect it to be hot, sweaty, dried up sloughs, a nice odor which will smell like cancer and sewage on any S or W winds, skeeters, skeeters, skeeters and skeeters. Don't expect a Thermacell to be 100% effective. in fact, I don't waste my time with them when hunting the Miss River, I find them to be useless and resort to straight up Deet. (Ticks arent really a concern) The terrain will be absolutely flat with the biggest rise in terrain being about 5 foot in one area. There will be blocks of hardwoods, grown up fields/thickets that were once bean fields prior to the 2011 flood but there is still a lot of planted bean field. My best advise for hunting flat big bottom terrain is to focus on food, water, edges and thick stuff. As Will Primos once said, "when hunting the flat hardwood bottoms of the Mississippi River, deer will act like a rat and stick close to the edges". Many edges you won't see until you put boots on the ground. It could be a large stand of cane or a old dried slough bed lined with cypress under the canopy.
I would bring more than 1 type of stand like a climber, lock on with steps or perhaps a saddle. You very well could find yourself in a area of the island where you may not find trees where a climber simply wont work. Another thing, after the 2011 Flood, there is a lot of ground that is now new growth timber/ crp. Finding a tree to climb is impossible, so ground blinds may be a good option to have too.
I'm not sure of your lodging plans, As for a life long resident of the Memphis area that works in public safety, I would camp on the Island, you're as safe there as any where else. I wouldn't worry with theft or undesirable people on the Island. If you do choose to get a hotel the rule of thumb is to get out of Memphis. I highly recommend Millington or Southaven as they're easy to get to via 51 or 55.. DO NOT grab a hotel in Memphis. The he Sycamore View area (Drugs, Homeless, Pimps and Hoes are thick in that area), Wolf Chase Area, or even Lakeland. Even though Lakeland is a higher end area, the hotels at 40 and Canada attract a lot of drug activity and a rough crowd. West Memphis is just as rough as Memphis too. There is a KOA outside of Marion Ark that is perfectly safe too.
I hope that helps, good luck on the hunt.
