waterways as property boundaries/best approach

Bigeight

Active Member
Our main property that we hunt has a deep county ditch that runs the entire length of it as the property line. It's in the back of the property away from the Ag fields, so it is the main part of our bedding areas, and nice and thick. Neighbors do hunt on the other side of the ditch.

It has 2 distinct differences as there is usually a blockage about the mid point of the property that leaves one half of the property boundary as shallow water:

A) Easy crossing back and forth with deer crossing it with little trouble to the neighbors properties. Most of the travel is paralleling the ditch, but they do cross the deep ditch whenever they feel.

Thoughts on a good set up?

I Ponder putting a blockade Paralleling the ditch leaving a couple heavy crossing areas and blockading some of the more faint trails.

B) The ditch above the blockage can be 8' deep water during the season. Deer rarely cross it and mostly parallel it.

Thoughts on a good set up?

I think of setting up right on the bank, going out 35 yards and starting a blockade running away from the stand running perpendicular to the ditch to funnel deer. Any risks in running this blockade THROUGH a main part of the bedding area?

Figuring that a LOT of properties have rivers, or ditches as a property boundary, I hope some of you have done some improvements around these boundaries that have worked well, or could share ones that were good in theory, but didn't pan out.

Any experiences with either of these situations would be helpful. Thanks :)
 
Our main property that we hunt has a deep county ditch that runs the entire length of it as the property line. It's in the back of the property away from the Ag fields, so it is the main part of our bedding areas, and nice and thick. Neighbors do hunt on the other side of the ditch.

It has 2 distinct differences as there is usually a blockage about the mid point of the property that leaves one half of the property boundary as shallow water:

A) Easy crossing back and forth with deer crossing it with little trouble to the neighbors properties. Most of the travel is paralleling the ditch, but they do cross the deep ditch whenever they feel.

Thoughts on a good set up?

I Ponder putting a blockade Paralleling the ditch leaving a couple heavy crossing areas and blockading some of the more faint trails.

B) The ditch above the blockage can be 8' deep water during the season. Deer rarely cross it and mostly parallel it.

Thoughts on a good set up?

I think of setting up right on the bank, going out 35 yards and starting a blockade running away from the stand running perpendicular to the ditch to funnel deer. Any risks in running this blockade THROUGH a main part of the bedding area?

Figuring that a LOT of properties have rivers, or ditches as a property boundary, I hope some of you have done some improvements around these boundaries that have worked well, or could share ones that were good in theory, but didn't pan out.

Any experiences with either of these situations would be helpful. Thanks :)

Curious to see some of the responses here. We are closing on our new property Feb 26 and the entire southern boundary is a small river and I have some thoughts on how I can make it more effective to hunt. It looks like most of the movement is paralleling the river so a few "obstacles" to re-direct past a stand location are probably in order. There are however a few good crossings that i plan to set up on like this one below...
major river crossing.jpg
 
I have a similar situation with a nasty creek bottom in the back of my place, its close to the line and runs parallel to my ridge. The whole line is blockaded except for 2 spots. 1 is a outside bend in the creek and the other where 4 finger ridges descend down to creek bottom. I leave it as sanctuary until i'm not seeing activity on plots and bedding area's on the ridge, which hasn't happened yet. I have no doubt they would be great rut hunting setups, I just have similar options that are less invasive.
I prefer to access perpendicular to line of movement. If they are traveling parallel and your accessing the same way they might catch on fairly quickly with option B.
 
The paralleling obstacle is one I think about a lot. With your stand being ON the waterway, an obstacle perpendicular to the waterway out about 35 yards makes a lot of sense to me to funnel deer traveling.

Then I think it would Might make sense to put an obstacle STARTING at the water way and going perpendicular to it, flipping the deer OUT and away from the waterway that everyone up and down the waterway has stands on. I hunt 85 yards away from the waterway, with a 50 yard barricade redirecting the deer out from the waterway, with a 30 yard gap between it and my stand. This would also give me a different wind direction than the other way...
 
So you would be 85 yards from your property line with the wind blowing into your land?
Everyone up and down the waterway has stands on it? Sounds like they have to run a gauntlet and pressure on the ditch may make them nocturnal.
With a parallel blockade you can have 2 stands at one crossing. 1 upwind and 1 down wind and there coming directly into your property.
 
Its hard to picture this stuff since every property has different topography and shapes which play a crucial role in stand selection. You should throw up a pic.
 
2 scenerios for the uncrossable water feature
9c3307b291999d62f0333dd2b42caae3.jpg
19f1fb9b29879dce46b292db0ba26581.jpg


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I would suggest you let your prevailing wind direction, the topography of the area and stand access dictate which one is best for you.

I would try to avoid crossing any deer trails on way to the stand, and don't be afraid to put more than one stand in the area to take advantage of different wind directions IF everything allows you to do so.
 
This is just an example. The waterway on my property doesn't stand out as a waterway. Used this waterway as I wanted the drawings to stand out more.
We access one end of the property right down the edge of the property line. Only during the rut/all day sits. Very thick cover.
The other end of the property we follow a tributary ditch down the middle, then into the larger water way and walk on the edge of the banks DOWN IN the depression, hidden by the banks, right to the base of the tree
 
Is there a reason you wouldn't just combine the 2 scenarios?

The barriers would be in/around a lot of bedding. I really wanted one, or the other to not "block" off really long way through the bedding fearing it would make them feel "trapped" in there, causing them not to use it as much, or bed further away from the area. These would be rut style hunts only from these stands. Possibly only accessed 2-3x a season.
This is a small woodlot, so I'm trying to not sacrifice any bedding if a larger blockade would inhibit bedding in any way. I feel like gaps in a barricade get a different reaction from deer, rather than going around something that doesn't force them to a specific spot.
 
The first option lets you hunt it more days but may funnel the deer for the line of fence sitters whereas the second option would not do that. I really like the second option. Your wind will still disturb some of your property but not that much and you would not be creating a slam dunk for others. The second pic. looks a like a great scenario.

Would a short blockade off to the right of the stand just out of sight also add a little traffic without making too good of a deal for those at the property line?
 
This is just an example. The waterway on my property doesn't stand out as a waterway. Used this waterway as I wanted the drawings to stand out more.
Have you looked at prior year Google Earth images? They may show the creek better. You can also draw a line on the image where the creek is so we can see the layout better.
 
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