Old Homesteads

[jirvin]

How often do you hunt around old homesteads or at least look for them when you get a new farm to hunt?

I would think it would be good to look for these,because maybe the past owners had an Apple tree or something around that would draw deer to the area now that it is abandoned.

[jplittlebuck]

not very often myself Jeff, there are a few old broken down home stead's, within walking distance from my yard, and i just dont see the sign that would draw me to a place like that, even though they work well for many folks, even with fruit trees, like wild apples, the surrounding woods for myself have always been the best choice !!
but like i said, have read many stories of such locations,
if the sign was right however, nothing would stop me from hunting one in the future,
as it stands right now, i have about 4 perminant stands around my house, all of which i can see my house from the plateform,
in fact durring peak rutt, sitting in the upstairs bedroom, on the PC,, with the window open, at night , i hear bucks grunting loudly, 20' from the window LOL kinda funny, chatting on a hunting forum listening to that, have been Jarred awake more times then i care to remember also, hearing deer snort in the middle of night, with the window's open, and human scent blowing threw the house, and out the window,

[ncboman]

Man that sounds nice.

I know of a few good hunting spots that were once old houses back in the woods but not many. Around here pines usually take over and shade out any old growth associated with the old places. Many times the only obvious reminders are the bulbs that sprout each spring.

[DaveHawk]

Jeff, my lease is part of an old farm from the 1800's it had a soap stone quary on it down by the creek and a few locations of only bards and houses. You can see the cuts in the drit where a house was or a raod leading to it. There are a number of wild pairs which may have been caltavated at one time. These are good early season locations to set up on.

[freedomrules3]

Back when i used to grouse hunt alot , I got real excited about old homesteads. they ussually always held birds due to some foodplots that were still growing. seemed we always jumped a few birds. problem here is lack of old homesteads where i hunt. i would like to check a few out with a metal detector though , could prove profitable.

[Eulenspiegel]

I always check them out if I find one. Two of the best blinds I ever used were in a second story window of an old farmhouse and the loft of an old barn that were still safe. Both were on abandoned dairy farms with passible roads that made getting the venison out of there easy. Both were on the tops of hills overlooking old fruit trees. Both offered relatively dry sheltered places during rotten weather for me to sit in ambush. Grown over fence rows and windbreak treerows converged on both buildings offering familiar 'safe' approaches to lead the deer to me. Old gardens and fields offered cleared spots right under my perch where the deer liked to bed down. Alas, both spots have been developed and are gone forever. Although I shared the sturctures with mice, rats, foxes and the occasional skunk hunting almost became too easy.
NOT!!!