Scouting New Ground...A New Perspective
A couple of the most powerful tools to scouting and hunting whitetails...or muleys...is an updated property map and a cell phone. I've also found that being a bowhunter never hurts either. It's mid March and turkey season is just around the corner. The shed hunting season has been in full swing for most people except me. However, this day was a particularly perfect and mild day so Kaleb Archer accompanied me on a scouting/shed hunting trip to some new territory.
I have turkey hunted a particular unimpressive, but extremely productive, feeder creek in an open pasture for several years now and was totally unaware of the fact the adjacent property was owned or rented by the same individual...duh. This area is far from your prototypical whitetail or turkey terrain. But it really doesn't matter what anyone thinks as "prototypical" because they use the pasture much more than the small strip of cottonwoods following the small creek. Now, what once was a scrubby 'ol rolling pasture with patches of intermediate grass, some dense pockets of yuccas, and mixed in a few deep draws and that is now the type of habitat I have begun to focus my attention on when scouting. Of course, this is post Heads Up Decoy thinking.
The HUD's have totally changed my mind set. In this example, I look at this skinny 500 yard strip of cottonwoods bisecting a 160 acre piece of ground with 1 or 2 treestand possibilities and the HUD's have turned it into 640 acres of opportunity. Mostly because of it's position. You see this piece of ground abuts some of the best "prototypical" river bottom whitetail habitat in the area. 2 miles of contiguous uninterrupted river bottom with 1-2 miles on each side before a public road. There is river bottom that trickles into the property, but it is essentially open with most of the food sources well beyond the security of the river bottom...meaning they will need to use the pasture to get to the food and most likely an area for big bucks to bed up with a hot doe.
So when you are out scouting for turkeys or shed hunting, take a fresh look at your hunting area and I hope you come away with a whole new perspective of ideal whitetail habitat...the Heads Up Decoys can do that for you.
The picture above shows the openness of this area with a small slope in the distance with a pocket of dense yucca...an ideal bedding area for a rutting buck with a hot doe. On a side note, the heart of a yucca makes a great back rest or pillow.
The HUD's have totally changed my mind set. In this example, I look at this skinny 500 yard strip of cottonwoods bisecting a 160 acre piece of ground with 1 or 2 treestand possibilities and the HUD's have turned it into 640 acres of opportunity. Mostly because of it's position. You see this piece of ground abuts some of the best "prototypical" river bottom whitetail habitat in the area. 2 miles of contiguous uninterrupted river bottom with 1-2 miles on each side before a public road. There is river bottom that trickles into the property, but it is essentially open with most of the food sources well beyond the security of the river bottom...meaning they will need to use the pasture to get to the food and most likely an area for big bucks to bed up with a hot doe.
So when you are out scouting for turkeys or shed hunting, take a fresh look at your hunting area and I hope you come away with a whole new perspective of ideal whitetail habitat...the Heads Up Decoys can do that for you.
In the back ground you see the property line. We don't hunt on property lines, but you can see the river bottom bend to the right into the pasture.
The take home message is, use every inch of property you can. The Heads Up Decoys can literally take a wheat stubble field with a terrace, a pasture with knee high cover and some terrain, intermediate grass and yuccas with a few slopes, and turn it into a bowhunting memory you will never forget. The picture below gives you some perspective what little cover it takes to come up with a hunt you will never forget. Be Mobile...Stay Mobile.
Kaleb, I had a great time today buddy. I can't wait until you are toting bow and arrow along side me.