It’s a cool Colorado morning, and I am sitting in my absolute favorite stand, and cars are whizzing by on the highway less than 300 yards away. This is a scenario that plays out in my best hunting areas day after day! Some uneducated hunters believe that all the good bucks are in the Colorado foothills or high country, and while it’s true that these areas hold some huge bucks, I have found that most of the river bottoms in this great state hold some super opportunities to harvest a real “wall hanger”.

Location, Location, Location!
While Colorado has millions of acres of public land, some of the states best hunting lies in the agricultural regions. I have hunted the same alfalfa fields for almost 20 years now, so on our properties we know the deer movements really well. If you are looking for new hunting spots, here is one of my best scouting tips; I hop in my truck and just drive through farmland and river bottoms, take the family on a Sunday afternoon cruise! You can do some pretty effective scouting from behind the wheel of the family SUV! Early season buck activity mimics summertime patterns, so you can find a buck in early July, and there is a good chance he is in the same area come late August. Use these outings as a way to possibly get your wife and kids involved in your hunt. This is one of the ways I got my wife into archery. I just had her tag along, until finally now she is leading our scouting trips!

A buck that I took a few years ago was taken using just this type of scouting. I had permission to hunt a field that bordered a large drainage canal that was about 30 feet wide. With large cottonwoods and willows on both sides of the canal, making for perfect cover for the deer in this area. I had observed a bachelor group of five or six bucks using this field. One in particular caught my eye, (a 5x5 that would score in the mid 160’s) and I decided I wouldn’t be happy until I got within bow range of him. The field hadn’t been farmed in quite a few years, so it was nothing but weeds probably four to five feet high. This field was bordered on two sides by one of the major rural roads in the area, so cars were constantly driving by, making these bucks almost immune to human scent and activity. I observed these bucks (from the road) using a bedding area right out in the middle of the field, they would get up and feed and then just bed back down. My family spent many countless hours glassing and calculating the best approach on these bucks. I waited until a stormy, windy evening when these bucks couldn’t hear as well, and I could be sure that the wind wouldn’t swirl and alert them. I prefer stalking bedded animals, as it is easier to keep an eye on them when bedded. The real game starts when you are within bow range of a shooter buck! Over the years I have seen bowhunters that get in this position and aren’t patient enough. Some decide to throw a rock and get the bucks up, or maybe a light whistle. I have found that patience is a much better tool at this point. When you toss that rock, there is no guarantee that he will just stand up and stretch his legs. The opposite usually happens, especially with a seasoned mature buck, he will jump and run, and then look back once he is at a safe distance. This would be fine for gun hunters, but not with stick and string! The whistle trick works at times, but I have found that you can never predict what a wily old buck will do. So, armed with patience and my bow, I crept to within my effective range of the before mentioned bucks. Once within that range the waiting game begins, I don’t have to wait long and the big buck stands to feed. A tough 51 yard shot and a short tracking job later, my Father is helping load him in the back of the same truck I used to pattern him!

Obtaining Permission
Most of these river bottoms and farm country are privately owned, but don’t let this scare you away. I once hunted a small farm that bordered a large gravel pit and quarry, every day I would observe huge bucks moving all about this property. I would sit in my stand and just hope that one would come my way. I sit and stewed about this for two years, thinking, who would I even get a hold of to obtain permission for this area? Finally one day I decided to call the gravel company. A short phone call later I wound up with not only permission for this place, but with all of their property! The landowner told me that in all his time owning the company I was the first to ask for permission. Don’t underestimate yourself! Most landowners, especially farmers, are down-to-earth people. What appear to you and me as merely deer are actually profit-eaters to the farming community. I know many farmers that will give permission to hunt their land on nothing more than a name and a hand-shake. But don’t disrespect them, if a farmer asks you not to go in a certain pasture, and then you do, not only will you probably lose permission, but you make it harder for the next bowhunter that would like to hunt his property! He will become skeptical of bowhunters shady practices (your practices), and will shut down his farm to bowhunting. I have heard of more hunters losing permission by leaving gates open than probably any other factor. A farmer or rancher doesn’t want to have to baby sit you, so you have to police yourself. Hold yourself to a higher standard! I have a large ranch where every year the owner’s best friend comes out bowhunting. On this ranch I set up maybe five treestands, but I let the owner know that his friend can use them while he is here. During the week that he is here I don’t hunt that ranch, it is almost 3000 acres, but how would it look if he wanted to hunt a certain treestand and I was already in it? Granted it may be my treestand, but most bowhunters have at least three or four pieces of property that could produce. I could just butt right in and mess his hunt up, but would that benefit me? You have to see the big picture, he is only there for one week. In fact during this particular week every year in September for the last eight years, I have got to hunt with a friend or loved-one where an animal was taken. I would have missed out on this had I been consumed with hunting the ranch while that guest was here. This unselfishness has earned not only more properties to hunt, but respect among the local farmers. Believe me if you impress a farmer he will give your name to his friends and business associates. If you try this, the next time you call a local farmer he may have already heard good things about you! Be optimistic. The glass really is half-full!

It’s the little things (and places)
Of all the property I have to hunt, my favorite is a forty acre alfalfa field with about five acres of Russian olive trees that border the field. The city limits to my hometown is right across the river, and when I sit in my stand I am facing the back of a trailer park! This field has produced many bucks in the past, as I’m sure it will continue too. There is very little human activity on the actual property, but I can sit there and hear kids in town, playing at the park. With human intrusion being ever present, the deer that live in this little slice of heaven aren’t even bothered at all. At any time of the day you can drive by and see a 150 inch buck out feeding. Deer are amazingly resilient animals, I recall a time when I hunted a 110 acre parcel surrounded by national forest lands. When the land owner decided to log his place, I thought that the hunting would suffer, but the exact opposite happened! I saw deer and elk every time I went in there, even with the loaders and bulldozers all around. On the landowner’s advice, I sat in the cab of one of the loaders, and had it not been for a stray limb from a downed tree, I would have taken a huge buck (it’s kind of a touchy subject). Here is my latest and greatest example. Last season I traveled to Ohio to hunt with my close friend Jeremiah Upp, he set me in a stand nestled in the heart of fifteen acres. He knows me, and that I like to hunt where the bucks are! On my second morning, I was lucky enough to harvest the largest buck of my life, a 186 5/8 gross monster! If you play your cards right, you can hunt that small woodlot effectively. During the 2002 seasons alone, we used this type of hunting to harvest five Pope and Young trophies, three mule deer, and two whitetails. This recipe for success can work for you regardless of the size of your hunting area!

Conclusion
If you have only a small area to hunt, don’t be discouraged. If you will not tromp around spreading scent in these little “honey holes”, they will produce bucks year after year. Spend your time patterning these deer from ridge tops and high vantage points, if these high vantage points don’t exist, use your vehicle to jump from area to area quickly. Glass one field until dark one evening, and then jump to another field the next. I personally use a calendar to keep track of deer movements in my areas. I quickly jot down notes about things I have seen, which may include a particular trail they are using or possibly a specific bucks’ movements. By using a calendar I can quickly see patterns developing, this will tell me where a buck will be on any given day. Put in your time scouting and on stand, and good things will happen for you. I have used this technique to harvest many P&Y bucks, and I think it will work for you.