This is a little late, and actually took place on a fine day in March. I love scouting in March. In my areas in the midwest, there are things that you can see on the ground in March that you simply cannot see during the summer, or even during season. Sign accumulates over the course of the season and is preserved during the winter months. During the month of March it is all right there to see...plain as day.
A few years back I spent a few days at Barry Wensels bootcamp. I learned some subtle yet priceless pieces of information that I could not wait to apply to a particular piece of property. The last few years have been very busy for me and scouting/hunting time has been greatly reduced. Not cool! Couple that fact with this property being 4.5 hours away from my house, and I just never made it down there to scout when I should have, but rather used what March scouting time I had to focus on smaller, less productive areas near my home. That all changed, when this past February I marked off a couple days on the calendar at work specifically for scouting this far away hunting land.
There is one area on the property that I was very interested in, but had only previously scouted it in the summer. The main feature is a large and seemingly signifigant ridge running mostly east to west. At the top and bottom of this ridge are crop fields that are rotated from beans to corn. Anway, this ridge actually runs for miles onto adjoining landowners properties. I decided to spend a full day just learning the nuances of this ridge. We get alot of northwest winds during November. So my theory was that this ridge would likely see cruising bucks during November. This would allow the wind to come from over the top of the ridge, while they can see down below.
To make it even sweeter, there is a shelf that runs along this ridge about half-way down. Now, running perpendicular to the ridges there are a number of drainages running from the top to the bottom. We all know that there are normally "headers" at the upper ends of these drainages that allow deer to cross through without having to drop down into the "gorges" which aside from steep walking are often littered with log jams. I knew where all the headers were at the top near the field but I was interested in seeing what may be on the side of the ridge. And was really hoping there would be a good stand site along there. I started walking down the ridge from the top until I came across the first major run. I followed this run for 200 yards or so in one direction, and then 200 yards or so the other direction. Not finding anything significant, I then moved down the ridge to the next major run. These major runs are not noticible in the summer. But they really stand out in March. Anyway, I followed this run for probably 300 yards in either direction. Here I found where the run passed around a header right on the shelf. I also found that the original trail from higher up the ridge also passed through this header. Perfect! Laying right at the header was a 4pt. shed antler. I'm liking this spot more all the time! Anyway, I continued down the hill and found 3 more major runs, and guess where they all converged? Right at that same header on the shelf! That is 5 major trails each running for hundreds of yards and each of them converging in the exact same spot. Now to sweeten the deal even more, I followed all these trails back the other direction even further and again all 5 of them merged again at a fence line with an old gate opening in it! Bam! Two instant stand sites! With any northery wind, the deer can travel this shelf, smelling anything above them and able to see below. I now have 2 stand sites where all 5 trails converge in different locations! At the header, there happens to be a perfect tree 15 yards away that will take a ladder stand on the downwind side of where all 5 runs converge. I have been dreaming about sitting in this tree each night. To top off the day, I ended up finding the other side of the shed antler just further down the trails past the header. No doubt, that buck had walked right around the header, right past my new favorite tree, and then shed both antlers along the way. I cannot wait for November!
Topic: Scouting a "header" and dreaming of November (Read 3940 times)
