Lets talk hunting spots

[410001661]

I am very fortunate as I hunt a good friends farm (actually 3 seperate 100 acre farms on the same road near Smithville), and I have permission on 4 other farms I can turkey hunt on from Binbrook to Dunnville. My main 3 farms hold a good deer and turkey population and from my house I am a 40 min drive to the laneway.

My main farm is two 100 acre farms located beside each other. The one farm has a large poultry operation on it, cash crops and a wood lot and the other the other farm he uses for cash crop, grain bins and implement storage barn and he rents the house out. His 3rd 100 acre property is about 800m down the road and it 1/2 bean field and 1/2 woodlot that holds a nice turkey population.

We have a small group of guys that hunt this property 4 of us including the property owner. On this property we have 8 ladder tree stands, one double elevated blind and one single evaluated blind as well as 3 cell game cameras. At the end of each turkey season we put out salt/mineral licks at various spots throughout the property and at the end of each summer we clear the trails of blow downs, clear shooting lanes and then run a bush hog through to clean the trails up.

My fav stand is what we call the creek stand. Great view of water, field edge and game trail.


I also like hunting along the creek in my climber


The huts



The game camera pics

[Gilroy]

Very nice John, I like those properties and those stands are pretty nice.

[410001661]

Very nice John, I like those properties and those stands are pretty nice.

Thanks Terry. Unfortunately, the wet fall swelled the creek and cut us off from the one blind and a couple of good ladder stands this year. This summer we have plans for a TV antenna bridge to get across it for the fall deer season.

[Gilroy]

Thanks Terry. Unfortunately, the wet fall swelled the creek and cut us off from the one blind and a couple of good ladder stands this year. This summer we have plans for a TV antenna bridge to get across it for the fall deer season.

Oh don't feel bad I have about 100 yards of approach to my dock under water this year, it normally dries up down there by end of June but this year between rain and invasion of beavers she it wet. When you got to wear waders to get to your boat things are bad. LOL

[DanO]

I followed the same path..the past few years I've ended up sitting in the bush on my Turkey chair a lot. Still have few treestands and pop-ups over looking choke points and common trails, but have really enjoyed just sitting on the ground shooting over a dead log.

Are you hunting with a bow or a gun? I love turkey hunting using that approach but I really wonder if I can sit still enough to shoot a deer with a crossbow while sitting on the ground.

[MikePal]

I usually sit behind a log or screen of some sort to give you some cover while you raise the x-bow or Muzzel loader. If you can set up so your shot is set to be broadside and hopefully there is a tree to two between you and the deer. Wait till their heads are behind the tree to raise it up.

[rf2]

I still haven't found a spot that consistently produces deer year after year. I am lucky enough to be able to hunt a certain private parcel in 64A that I just love going to. I've been hunting it for close to 20 years now (man, time flies!), but even after all this time, I haven't found the "spot on the spot", meaning the one spot on the property that I can always go to and expect to see and shoot the deer of my dreams. This property is about 240 acres, and I like it so much because it has a real great variety of habitat types.

There are two pretty big hardwood forests at the back of the property, which usually provide a fair amount of deer sightings each year. They are filled with maple and red oak. I have yet to find any white oaks in there, which the deer apparently prefer to red oak. I try to stick to the edges of these hardwood bushes, and set up portable stands in different spots each year in an effort to find the optimal spot. I also have a few ladder stands in these hardwood bushes that I move every couple of years when I find that the sightings have dropped off.
The hardwood bushes are surrounded by swamps that are really difficult to access unless they are frozen. The deer use these swamps as escape routes, but also likely for bedding areas. There are a couple of "islands" in these swamps that I have ventured into on occasion. They have a mix of old cedars, spruce and firs, along with young spruce and firs. I usually see a lot of deer sign on these islands, but they are pretty remote and would be very difficult to access in the dark without making tons of noise, so I haven't figured out a way to hunt them effectively.
The middle of the property has some really thick cedar bushes that join up with the swamps on the back side and a huge clearing on the front side, closest to the road. Up the east side is a mix of dense red pine bushes, more open white pines, another relatively small clearing, all mixed with open hardwood, and beside a huge clearing on the neighbour's property. There is no agriculture anywhere near this property, so it is closer to big woods hunting. Because of this, I find that the deer don't use the same areas of the property every year. I have to stay on my toes to make sure I am still in the action. This keeps it interesting I guess. Also, the deer population seems to fluctuate quite a bit on the property. When I first started hunting it with a group, there was an insane amount of deer. I would see nice bucks almost every time out. Then the population crashed in the mid to late 2000s, and there were a few years of dismal hunting. Lately the population has been pretty stable, but it doesn't compare to the populations in southern Ontario.
Even after all this time. I still find it a challenge to consistently find bucks on this property. Actually, I should say I find it hard to shoot bucks on this property because I know where the bucks are, but I can't consistently find them during daylight. This year, with the help of trail cameras, I was able to confirm that a certain area where I always find fresh buck sign is only used at night, which is what I always suspected.

Anyway, that's a description of my favorite hunting property. I hope to be able to hunt it for many more years to come.