Johnny Herrmann walks us through the process of scouting a new hunting property. He guides us on what to look for and how he makes the most of his woodland property.
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Foreign Here Um I am standing on one of my buddies Leases uh him and I hunt out here and uh I wanted to give you guys uh some tips And breakdowns of how I I go about Hunting a property like this that's got A lot of open Hardwoods it's got a lot Of uh areas without a lot of understory It's got full canopy you know shading Out the forest floor Um so I'm just gonna kind of go through How I attack a property like this and Maybe you guys can pick up some uh some Tips and tricks from how I go about it When I first look at a property probably The first thing that I'm going to Identify is I'm going to try to identify The bedding areas so when you've got a Property that's got a lot of open Hardwoods obviously that is not going to Be bedding areas there's There's times during the summer months When you got some Ferns and you got some Stuff growing up that the deer are going To bed in in the open Hardwoods there's Not a lot of human intrusion at that Time of year but that's not really what We're looking for we're looking for Where those deer are going to be bedded When we're hunting them so What I'll do is I will walk the property And what I'm looking for is slashings Clear Cuts uh any thick understory
Swamps Um something of that nature something That's going to give the deer cover Um When the leaves come down because Basically in November all of this is Going to be leafless and the hardwoods That are around me right now are just Going to be bare there's going to be no Deer using these open hardwood areas for Bedding so this property happens to have Some really nice small clear-cut areas And from hunting it the last couple of Years that is exactly what the the deer Are using for bedding we also have a Main Area that's that's swampy and also fully Slashed 10 years ago that's kind of the Main Hub of this property it's kind of Sits right in the middle of it it's Really thick it's really wet and the Deer feel comfortable bedding in there So that's kind of our main focus I guess I guess the first thing I'm going to Tell you people is if you've got a Property and you control it you own it You're able to do whatever you want to Do with that property if you've got an Area if you've got areas that are just Solid Hardwoods One of the best things that you can do Is to either do a full-on clear-cut Small areas irregular areas create a lot Of edge just just do Select Cuts if you
Don't want to do a full clear cut take Some of your your valuable trees out of There open up the overstory so that you Get some some growth on your understory That's going to create a bunch of Bedding the other thing that you can do If you've got some undesirable trees Some younger trees that are kind of Choking out your your understory is to Go in there and do some hinge cutting You know knock some trees over you know Leave them connected to the root system So that they continue to grow I did a Similar hinge cutting at my property Back at my house five six years ago it's It's so thick in there that you can't Even walk through it right now the deer Are bedding in it the turkeys are Nesting in it it's it's a wonderful Thing so that's probably the number one Thing to look at when you're scouting And going to start hunting and new Property that's got a lot of open Hardwoods is identify your bedding areas That's going to all fall in place with Your stand placements how you access Your stands in into and out of how the Deer are moving through it to get to the Food and so on all right so identifying Your primary food source it's a pretty Simple premise Basically any of your big AG fields Around your property that the deer are Going to be using all the time this this
Property has one large egg field that Sits up on the North End of the property It happens to be in beans this year Um you know beans and corn hunt two Completely different ways I like hunting Beans early in the season it's a it's a Perfect setup to shoot a big buck In the first two or three weeks of Season you know coming out from the Bedding which in this case is to the South they're going to come through the Open Hardwoods maybe feed on some acorns As they come out but they're going to be In this Bean field Probably every night Until these beans are picked almost Every deer on this property is going to Be utilizing this Bean field so Um So just identify your primary food Sources identify what you've got going In those primary food sources and know How to hunt them Um beans are a great early season hunt Corn if this is all standing corn this This property hunts completely different Because now what you've got here is You've got 40 acres of bedding until That corn is gone so a lot of times You're going to have your your bigger Bucks bedded out in this corn and then You've got to hunt this properly Property differently but The way it sits this year we've got our
Bedding to the South and we've got Bedding to the East and or the west and We've got bedding to the East and so We've got stands set up along this Bean field all the way around it to hunt Different winds but what we're going to Do with this property this fall is we're Going to primarily hunt evening sits the The first at least couple weeks of the Season so that we don't disturb any of The bedding areas back in this property And that's the reason why we've got Stands set up along these edges so that We can walk right across these Bean Fields for our access we're not going to Bump any deer The stands themselves sit right on the Edge of the uh the woodlot which is then Open Hardwoods and then it goes into our Bedding area so Um we can almost assuredly get into These stands with a some sort of a south Wind without spooking any deer Um this is a perfect scenario for Shooting a big buck early in the season On a south wind on this property so your Secondary food source Um if you guys aren't familiar with you Know what an oak tree looks like or Whatever the secondary Mass crop stuff Is in your area make sure you get Acquainted with what the leaves look Like but pay attention to the ground as You're walking around even if the new
Acorns aren't falling in this case this This one broke off we had some weather Here the last couple of days and and This is something that was up in the Tree that got broke off by either the Weather or a squirrel so here's Something that maybe even some of you Wiley veteran Hunters don't know about But uh Um what I got behind me here is a is Raspberry bushes and there's a bunch of Them on this property that's been logged Multiple times over the years and Generally on these Old Logging roads you Get a lot of berries uh Growing Up So This has got blackberries and Raspberries on it but Um this this is a very very good Secondary browsing food source for these Deer when you start getting Frost and Freezing temperatures at night what Happens with these with these leaves is You start getting some sugars to come Out in these leaves as they freeze and Uh the deer here at least in my my neck Of the woods in West Central Wisconsin Really Hammer these uh raspberry and Blackberry leaves from about Mid-september until mid-october so if You can identify some of these patches You might be able to figure out how your Deer are moving through a property Better on your early season hunts this Property has a wealth of water on it
We've got a creek running through here We've got a big pond in the middle we Don't really worry about water these Deer can water just about anywhere on This property but I know a lot of you Guys are are dealing with areas that Don't have water supplies you've got Your own little stock tanks out there or The deer have to go off of your property To get water so identify your water Sources that's another big key putting Those three together Are are going to give you your stand Locations it's it's just it's it's Pretty simple math right if you can Identify this is a bedding area this is A bedding area this is a bedding area This is a primary feeding area these are Some secondary feeding areas and then Just get your stands up in in those Travel corridors where the deer are Using all three of those things Put it on the downwind side of those Runways and get ready so hopefully uh You learned a tip or two and maybe it'll Help put some some extra meat in the Freezer for you this fall so it's just Around the corner kids uh I'm I'm Looking forward to it I'm sure you guys Are too so we'll see you this fall