Brainstorm with me - Help me decide stand access

[Chipdasqrrl]

So basically, I just had 20 acres of pines clear cut and I've laid out the plans I have for the ground. The soil is good quality despite the fact that pines were planted there, so that's no concern here. My concern is accessing an existing tower blind without bumping deer or being scented.
The block of brown on the West side of the road is 10 acres of young maple & mixed hardwood regeneration.
I'd like input on what you'd do differently, and how I can create a good access trail to this tower blind. I attached my plans, and a blank copy in case anyone wants to draw something else up.

 

[j-bird]

Where will you be entering the map from? Where you are going to start from is just as important as to where you are going. The wind direction and the route you take can either push your scent to or from the deer along the way...
What sort of distance/scales are we looking at here? The distance you are looking at specifically how far you plan on being able to shoot and the area you can cover with your weapon of choice may impact where you want the food relative to your hunting location.
What do your prevailing winds look like? Obviously you want to set up for at least the prevailing wind direction and maybe a few other wind directions if possible as well. But knowing where there is can be important.
Where do you expect the deer to be bedded? What routes will the deer take? It's easier and less intrusive in my opinion (and you know what they say about those) to hunt the deer as they move between bedding and feeding areas vs sitting on feeding areas. This tends to reduce bumping deer off plots as you enter or leave the blind if that suits your desired means of hunting.

Just looking at where the blind sits...I would want to hunt that location with the wind coming from the NE or E...this would carry your scent right over the pond/lake. You want your scent to go where the deer won't be....

 

[Chipdasqrrl]

Where will you be entering the map from? Where you are going to start from is just as important as to where you are going. The wind direction and the route you take can either push your scent to or from the deer along the way...
What sort of distance/scales are we looking at here? The distance you are looking at specifically how far you plan on being able to shoot and the area you can cover with your weapon of choice may impact where you want the food relative to your hunting location.
What do your prevailing winds look like? Obviously you want to set up for at least the prevailing wind direction and maybe a few other wind directions if possible as well. But knowing where there is can be important.
Where do you expect the deer to be bedded? What routes will the deer take? It's easier and less intrusive in my opinion (and you know what they say about those) to hunt the deer as they move between bedding and feeding areas vs sitting on feeding areas. This tends to reduce bumping deer off plots as you enter or leave the blind if that suits your desired means of hunting.

Just looking at where the blind sits...I would want to hunt that location with the wind coming from the NE or E...this would carry your scent right over the pond/lake. You want your scent to go where the deer won't be....

Good questions... I avoided putting some of that in the OP because I know some people don’t like to read essays... I’ll address them one by one right now:

1) I should’ve mentioned that there’s a house just outside of the picture in the SW corner of this picture, which is where I have to enter from.
2) The entire picture covers about 20 acres, from the blind to the east pine buffer is about 200 yards
3) The prevailing wind is W / SW winds, but North winds are preferred for this blind.
4) I expect the deer to do a lot of bedding on the West side of the road on the left side of the picture. I’ll have switchgrass in the oak Savannas to promote daytime movement in the area, so that’s where I expect them to use for travel. I agree with what you said about hunting close to a plot.. I may want to make the plot further away or just have no plot at all. As I think more about that, I’m starting to lean toward no plot...
5) Lastly, I agree about the N/NE wind direction preference. Sadly, NE winds are the least common, but they do happen. I may have to avoid hunting it with South winds altogether, which is disappointing because this blind is the most enjoyable to sit in and can’t be moved.
Thanks for the input

 

[Chipdasqrrl]

Here's revision #1. I made the plot smaller and moved it further away from the blind. The strip of clover is to provide a buffer between the access trail and the savanna, to avoid bumping deer that may be in there. (Clover doesn't get used in mid November here).

 

[j-bird]

Ok - keep in mind we are simply "brainstorming" here. So...I think you need 3 hunting locations...simply to take the most advantage of the various wind directions. I realize that may not be in the cards....but by doing this, you educate fewer deer which means a lot!

So...below I tossed out some ideas.
Location/area #1 - you hunt this area when the wind is from the west, Southwest and south. I don't care if your blowing scent to your neighbors place....that's his problem...unless you KNOW the deer are bedding there. You can move this area closer to the center if you wish, but the further in the corner the better. Access is from along the southern and eastern property lines. You don't want deer in those areas any way.
Current location (red) - you hunt when the wind is from the east or northeast. Access is as you show above. I would NOT use clover where you have it shown. If you want a screen visually...use cedar, MG ....not something the deer will eat at ANY time.
Location/area #2 - you hunt when the wind is from the northwest and north. Your scent will essentially be blown to the pond. Access would be along the east edge of the pond


My thinking here is that this disrupts the least amount of your place via scent distribution. The distances may be greater, these areas may not even allow access...I don't know. However...peripheral access vs central access tends to reduce the pressure on the core of your property.

 

[Chipdasqrrl]

Ok - keep in mind we are simply "brainstorming" here. So...I think you need 3 hunting locations...simply to take the most advantage of the various wind directions. I realize that may not be in the cards....but by doing this, you educate fewer deer which means a lot!

So...below I tossed out some ideas.
Location/area #1 - you hunt this area when the wind is from the west, Southwest and south. I don't care if your blowing scent to your neighbors place....that's his problem...unless you KNOW the deer are bedding there. You can move this area closer to the center if you wish, but the further in the corner the better. Access is from along the southern and eastern property lines. You don't want deer in those areas any way.
Current location (red) - you hunt when the wind is from the east or northeast. Access is as you show above. I would NOT use clover where you have it shown. If you want a screen visually...use cedar, MG ....not something the deer will eat at ANY time.
Location/area #2 - you hunt when the wind is from the northwest and north. Your scent will essentially be blown to the pond. Access would be along the east edge of the pond
View attachment 14738

My thinking here is that this disrupts the least amount of your place via scent distribution. The distances may be greater, these areas may not even allow access...I don't know. However...peripheral access vs central access tends to reduce the pressure on the core of your property.

I appreciate the thoughts, I truly do. And brainstorming is exactly what I’m looking for. I also should’ve mentioned that this is just a 20 acre portion of an 80 acre property, but the South and East edges of the picture are property lines.
I like that you mentioned adding additional hunting locations. I have a movable ground blind that will be rendered useless by the clearing of the pines that I could use here, but I wouldn’t have the visibility that a tower blind offers. I’ll be pouring hundreds if not thousands of dollars into these habitat improvements and it wouldn’t hurt to spend some money on a new blind, so I’ll strongly consider constructing a new tower blind to effectively hunt this section.
About the clover... maybe I should just keep a 30ft strip mowed and plant nothing there. The goal is to keep the deer away from my scent trail. The savanna will be planted in switchgrass so that should already serve as a visual barrier.
And here’s a post-logging picture from this past weekend, taken from the NE corner of the pines in the aerial picture. You can see the tower blind, and the house is in the background as well.
I’ll have to scout out the #1 area you mentioned. I haven’t put much thought into that spot, but I will certainly check it out on foot and see what I think

 

[j-bird]

Not a problem....I look at these like puzzle sand try to see if we can come up with at least something that works. I have no issue with just tossing out ideas. The thing is that you have so much more info than everyone else so that is where you have to take the concepts and ideas and adapt them to what will work best for you and your situation. There is more than one way to skin a cat as they say.

If you build a new tower blind consider putting it on a wagon frame....thus you can move it if/when needed OR design/build your blinds in a modular fashion....just so your not absolutely fixed to one location. Things change and sometimes we need to adapted to those changes.

I think you get my idea about stand location and access and how the wind should be a very serious consideration when considering not just the location, but also how your going to get to it and how much area or deer you may educate in the process.

 

[Chipdasqrrl]

The thing is that you have so much more info than everyone else so that is where you have to take the concepts and ideas and adapt them to what will work best for you and your situation.

I completely agree, it’s impossible to make a well informed decision about what to do on a property without even seeing it in person before.
The thing that’s so great about this forum is seeing all of the brilliant things that people do on their property, and applying those same concepts and strategies on your own property in some way, if it makes sense.
Everyone seems to bring something to the table. You’ve got hundreds of years of combined experience and a variety of philosophies all coming together, and it really gives you a lot to think about.

 

[Buckly]

I likeJ-Birds access and stand location 1. On 20 acres I’m not enthused about hunting or accessing the middle of the property. I would put that blind on the other side of the water somewhere along where he put the white line but access from the open as shown isn’t too good. Although if you get in a blind early enough and stay there. You will see deer

 

[pinetag]

I appreciate the thoughts, I truly do. And brainstorming is exactly what I’m looking for. I also should’ve mentioned that this is just a 20 acre portion of an 80 acre property, but the South and East edges of the picture are property lines.
I like that you mentioned adding additional hunting locations. I have a movable ground blind that will be rendered useless by the clearing of the pines that I could use here, but I wouldn’t have the visibility that a tower blind offers. I’ll be pouring hundreds if not thousands of dollars into these habitat improvements and it wouldn’t hurt to spend some money on a new blind, so I’ll strongly consider constructing a new tower blind to effectively hunt this section.
About the clover... maybe I should just keep a 30ft strip mowed and plant nothing there. The goal is to keep the deer away from my scent trail. The savanna will be planted in switchgrass so that should already serve as a visual barrier.
And here’s a post-logging picture from this past weekend, taken from the NE corner of the pines in the aerial picture. You can see the tower blind, and the house is in the background as well.View attachment 14741
I’ll have to scout out the #1 area you mentioned. I haven’t put much thought into that spot, but I will certainly check it out on foot and see what I think

Based on this clear cut pic I think that tower blind would be a great spot for the next year or maybe two but after that, when things really thicken up, you might run the risk of bumping deer every time you access the stand. They will start bedding in that thick stuff and maybe even in close proximity to the blind, especially with the water being so close. I like j-birds thought for stand #2 as well as putting the blind on wheels so you can move it around. I would bring it down along the lower right portion of the pond (where your access trail turns N) and you could leave your clover strip where it is giving you a good opportunity as they come out of the clear cut to feed.