It’s fairly safe to say that more hunters than ever are skilled at picking productive hunt areas by correctly reading maps. From where I sit, that’s a direct result of the explosion of high-tech digital mapping available through the best hunting apps — maps that are quickly and easily accessible via your smartphone.
We’ve covered the many advantages of hunting apps in previous tips, but this one is about the importance of old-school, boots-on-the-ground scouting — to find what I (and many other veteran bigwoods hunters) believe is one of the most important land features you can find in the bigwoods: conifer islands.
Yes, the best apps will help guide you to these islands because their advanced mapping will differentiate conifers — thermal cover — from hardwoods, and some will show monthly satellite imagery that will help them stand out in winter, when deciduous foliage is down. But you still have to investigate on foot to determine if they are drawing the necessary deer attention.
With the term “island” I’m not specifically referring to higher, pine-covered dry-ground areas in an otherwise swampy marsh area — but it certainly could mean an area like that. More generally, I’m referring to any isolated patch of conifers in those huge, dry, relatively flat stretches of aspen/poplar so common in the big woods. That sea-of-sameness terrain is what drives most new big-woods hunters to tap out, because, well, where do you start?
Whitetails are creatures of edge habitat most wherever they are found, and conifer islands certainly provide that. So it’s not a huge mystery as to why they’re attractive. And if the island is a cedar swamp, of course it will also provide a steady food source all winter. But not all conifer islands are attractive to deer, and it requires boots-on-the-ground scouting to figure that out. And when you find a good one, you know it almost immediately.
Hunt-worthy conifer islands will have fresh trails beaten around and through them, and they’ll be littered with fresh scrapes — maybe even a primary scrape visited by many bucks and does — and a least a few fresh rubs. You won’t have to look too hard to find the good ones. The better islands will have trail systems that can resemble the spoke on a bicycle wheel — with trails shooting in and out in all directions. Come the rut, such islands can become deer magnets — with bucks moving through in midday hours to scent-check them for does that frequent the area.
A great stand site is an island point — a neck-down of the island that will funnel deer into or out of the island and provide a close-range shot. Just as good can be the midpoint of a long, narrow island (say 100 yards long by 30-40 yards wide) where bowhunters will have no more than a 20-yard shot at any deer passing through along its length. Those can be money.
If I find myself in a new, seemingly sea-of-sameness, big-woods area that’s relatively flat, one of my first moves is to search out and walk the area’s conifer islands. Chances are, come the late pre-rut and right through the rut, the area’s mature bucks will have the very same idea.