Utilizing Unique Access for Hunting

We all know that access can be vitally important for deer hunting, yet it's often still overlooked in terms of ease or convenience. This is especially true in areas where you might only have one parking area or location to access a property. Depending on the type of habitat you're hunting, a unique access could be either water-based or land-based. Water based access has the advantage of typically allowing you to enter from an area where deer aren't used to. It can also allow for less scent on the ground, and easy back-side morning access when deer are bedded in brush against a creek, for example. You generally have options for kayaks (either sit-in or sit-on-top kayaks), canoes, or small boats. They each have pros and cons and areas where they excel, and I talk through those considerations in the podcast. 

Land-based access doesn't have as any tools or equipment associated with it, but there are still important considerations for unique access. Wind or thermals and other hunting pressure are very important. Dropping thermals in hills can make morning access from the bottoms more advantageous, especially when deer are feeding up high at night. Accessing from up high in the morning could blow those deer out before you're even set up. Morning access in swamps or flat ground can often mean looping around to the backside for set up options. In the evening, rising thermals and the fact that deer are bedded are the important things to note. Deer in hill country will often bed close to busy access points where either sight or rising thermals allows them to keep tabs on access. It can be to your advantage to access from higher locations, even if it means starting out low, climbing up and then paralleling the hilltop before a final top-down access opportunity. 

 

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