DaveHawk

[ncboman]

I was walkin around in the woods

http://img.photobucket.com/albums/v50/ncboman/ncboman%209%207%2009/ncboman9709038.jpg

and look what I found.

http://img.photobucket.com/albums/v50/ncboman/ncboman%209%207%2009/ncboman9709039.jpg

:D

[DaveHawk]

LOL welllllll gooooood LOL

And look what you found on the trees around them.

Is it a nice area, good sign?

[Wismon]

Can y'all clue in this poor ignoramus? What's significant about those leaves and what makes it a good area? (I won't tell anyone...)

[DaveHawk]

Wismon it's an old woodsman secret but now that the cat's out of the bag. DId you ever hear of Sassafras tea? Deer will pull little shoots up to chew on the roots. Heck I pull up little shoots to chew on the roots. The leaves are very taisty to the deer and as much so as popular leaves. Both trees you will have a hard time finding leaves that will be easy to reach.
Sassafras is a hedge row tree and you don't find them back in the woods unless the area you find them in was once a hedge row and then you will have a big sassafras tree. But they are the most desirable tree along the edge of the fields. That's why when you find one you will find either a good trail or a staging area.


Alan I'm done with my scouting trips, so explain what you found in your area. Have you ever made tea from the roots. The best id tender young shoots if you can find them.

[dave-t.]

Wismon- If you find a smallish tree with three different shaped leaves, scratch that bark give it a good sniff. They are unique trees, pioneers liked sassafrass tea so much they about wiped them out.

They can get big, but I've never seen a big one in person.

[DaveHawk]

Dave-t we are seeing them get really big. Mainly because the builders and leaving old hedge rows standing which have them.

[dave-t.]

Where I grew up there was a good population and they were fairly common. Here in KC we are just out of their range, but I'm still thinking of putting together a little patch of sassafrass and some paw-paw, just for me and because I like them, as good a reason as I can come up with.

I never knew deer like sassafrass. I figured a buck would rub on one because of the strong scent, but hadn't noticed them browsed down in east MO. Good tip.

[Wismon]

Well I used to chew on sassafras as a kid. It's been so long that I didn't realise that's what those leaves were. Isn't that what they originally used to make root beer, hence the "root" part? Also, I didn't realize I was competing with deer for it.

[ncboman]

I doan know that they eat it much. They seem to like rubbin their nubbins on it, although it doesn't smell nearly as sweet in the fall as it does in spring. :)


Right now around here ...

http://img.photobucket.com/albums/v50/ncboman/ncboman%209%207%2009/ncboman9709088.jpg

everbody is enjoying premium quality muscadine grapes at the peak of perfection. ;)

[dave-t.]

Bowman annd Dave- I have to ask you guys, do you flat out scour and area while scouting before the season?

I do that type of scouting after the season, but my tree ID in winter is the pits. :o

[DaveHawk]

I scout up till 3 weeks before the season open then I do my scouting when I hunt.

[ncboman]

When I'm looking over new property I walk it pretty good, mostly just following deer sign and trails enough to see where they go and come from ... and why. I like cloudy or rainy days for this so it isn't so hot. I usually back out of heavy use areas at least 2 hrs before dark though so as not to shake them up.

Although I prefer to give a place several days rest, I have no problem walking one day and hunting the next. The way I walk isn't sneaking about and I doan pay attention to the deer I see so they generally perceive no threat from me. It's kind of funny the way it often works out. I've killed a number of them just walking in to my hunt tree. My son says they get use to me but I know better. It's the 'walking attitude' that lulls them.

Winter is good for learning the lay of the land and where main deer trails are, but it's very difficult to ID many trees and shrubs in winter. Early fall, things are changing rapidly in the deer woods and if I don't keep up with it, I just don't know the good stuff. Being there is the only way to know which trees are dropping acorns or where the grapes are thick.

http://img.photobucket.com/albums/v50/ncboman/ncboman%209%207%2009/ncboman9709070.jpg

Heavily browsed soybean field tucked back in the woods, a good place to kill 'a deer'.

... but not really likely to see a good buck during daylight.

http://img.photobucket.com/albums/v50/ncboman/ncboman%209%207%2009/ncboman9709064.jpg

but back in the woods by the swamp edge with the acorns and grapes may play out differently.

We'll see soon enough. :rolleyes:

[DaveHawk]

For big bucks before the rut the closer to the bedding area you can get the better.

[dave-t.]

I do much the same on a new property. I'll walk a terrain feature until I find a trail that catches my interest, and then follow it and connecting trails until I find the high use areas, and see where the big trails start breaking off into thick cover.

I guess I look for things a little different though. I seek out the most dramatic funnels comming from the bedding spots, and don't worry as much about the feed. My thoughts on that is feed changes through the season, but a fence, river, bluff, blowdown, etc. is there year round.

You can't put a lot of hunting pressure on a funnel and expect it to be hot all season though. I also hunt from fixed position lock-on stands, and that may change a bit with use of a climber where you can change locations around in the funnel.

Another thing is the terrain where I am is a lot more open than the east part of the state. Deer may use all of the land though the year, but when 60% is open, and 40% is thicket/woods, it eliminates a lot of guess work on bedding and travel lanes, compared to vast Ozark forrest, where elevation is about the only thing that changes, and creek/drainages are at the bottom of every hill. Funnels are a lot more obvious and hardfast on this side of the state.