Look it over

[FinsnFur]

And give me your opinions on this piece.
Approach is very limited, especially due to warm weather (no ice) and private property.

The yellow brick road...er...I mean gravel road, is the only vehicle access even remotey close for miles, but it see's plenty of traffic due to the boat launch.

The red x's indicate past furdown.
The green triangles indicate the stands that produced.

Winds typically dominate from the West.

The white shadey spots in the water are less then a foot deep and grow up with horseweed and cattails

I know for a fact they are using the drainage ditch on the right to approach this land coming off the bluff, but the owner is relentless.

The gray areas on each side of the drainage ditch and the yellow road are...extremely poor crop grounds  duh 

[Bills Custom Calls]

All I can say is good luck with that.I am sure interested in what the rest of the guys come up with  though   



Bill

[nailbender]

  I don't know.. If it's more access you want maybe you need a kayak.

[Jimmie in Ky]

If the gravel road is his property line then your screwed!

But then lets back this train up and look at the area as a whole. What I see is a circular route from the ditch along the bluff all the way back around to the stream or ditch that joins the road in the upper left center of th pic.You don't say whether these were early or late morning stands, but from the look I would say early morning.And your success rate in there is just high enough to keep you coming back but your just not real convinced it is the best bet in the area.

I am seeing something in the upper right center of the pic that has my curiosity up. It looks like a large hollow with south and east facing exposures protected from those north west winds. And I would say the sign you are seing there goes both directions and a fair amount of it. The way the winds would hit this ditch at various times and directions make it a good aproach to that hollow.If we can't hunt th one farm then lets see if we can get to the source on th other side of him.

Those bluffs and steep hollows above the flood plain of hte river make for good bedding areas with your type of weather. They would be where I look. Jimmie

[FinsnFur]

The gravel road isn't the property line, but it is a public lien way. And in all actuality, anything west of the RRtracks is suppose to be federal land clear to the river. So I'm not sure how he can deny me access but he insists that I stay off it.

The RR Tracks is the dark line running from 3 o`clock to 11`o clock on the right side. Parallel to the main road.

The three marked kills occurred between 9am and 11am, and there's one more about a mile north that the map doesn't show. All came straight in from the West, which was with the wind. And it was last year when the river bottoms were frozen solid.

I'm not for sure what your seeing that may look like a hollow, Jimmie. Everything East of that white road at the bottom of the bluff is flat low land. Mississippi backwater basically.

[Jimmie in Ky]

Field in th upper right corner next to th green arrow. There is what looks like it drops off there at the edge of the pic. It leads to that ditch running through the field. The travel through here would be in that rough circle from that portion of the bluff, around to the other stream or ditch at the top left where it joins the bluff. The better setups in my opinion are on that land the man wants you to stay out of. More variety of sights for crosswind, downwind and upwind calling. That field due east of the launch ramp , south of the ditch could be used in a variety of ways.

Got several very similar situations down here along the rivers.  I usually find them back away from th rivers up a feeder creek somehwere. Where they have protection from winds and human traffic.

And by thinking about all the responses you've gotten you are already figuring out your problem. Late morning says they are closer than you think. And with them coming from the west with the wind, we are both looking in the wrong direction for them by this particular photo. They should be within a mile or two of where you are calling.


I am assuming the river continues on towards the north west from here. Do the tracks and the road vere away from it any ? You know leaving a large area of limited access yet with a rise or hollow steep enough to give them protection from the winds? How high this hill is doesn't matter as long as it blocks the winds and has at least some southern exposure. Jimmie

[FinsnFur]

Yep, the bluff drops off damnear straight down where the pic ends there. In fact it's a valley with another gravel road headed North east. It runs maybe 1000 yds and dead ends into the base of two joining bluffs again.
That drainage ditch runs along side the gravel road in there and carries water from the bluffs to the river.

I agree those two field of numbnuts at 3'oclock on each side of that ditch would be sweet, but.....
That's why I try to utilize the open pockets East of it all but can't get to most of it right now due to warm weather.

Another thing that handicaps me here, is if I drive to the launch and park, that pretty much kills all odds of that thick patch to the East of it, with my scent blowing straight into it.

That little slough with the text written on top of it, that says "Main River Channel 200yds West" is also right where the natives gather to ice fish.  That's actually the deepest part of the backwaters shown here, 4ft.

Todayyyyy, I made a stand where the new green triangle is at the top of the pic pictured below...and managed to call one off the bluff about 1:30pm. He stopped on the tracks where the red circle is. He changed his mind about being where he was in a big hurry and vanished.

I added some "walking figures" where I'm contemplating approaching next time. But ... feel like I'm trapping myself in there unless I can find an area open enough to shoot in.  It's thicker then mollasses in there.

[Jimmie in Ky]

See that hollow and ditch to the right of your near miss this afternoon? What is on top of that bluff?

Something else I thought of after I last posted. Does the river channel itself freeze up at that point? Would explain your animals coming in from the west. They might be crossing the river or using those various islands after freeze up. Those islands would be really good places for them to hole up. If I rmember right there is a fair amount of large rock in the River in that region and they would be good shelter from t winds.

Your walk in area near the bottom looks as flat as a pancake in that photo. If there is any kind of elevation out there it could work. Buit if it is all trash, and flat, your going to be back doored way to regular . Down here an area like that would be flat and full of cane brakes. Very dificult to work the timber in that kind of area. Most guys down here work the field edges in the main river bottom and depend on the calls to bring them to the edge.  And there are a pot load of coyotes out in the breaks. Jimmie

[FinsnFur]

I've never been up top that one, but I'm told a small tillable field rests up there.

I DO know coyotes are using that point to cross under the road and enter the river bottoms. Because it's covered with tracks. That point of the bluff there also tapers down to the road rather easily.
The drainage ditch at the bottom there, you can see where it picks up on the other side of the road and enters the river bottoms. That thing is DEEP, for some reason, and when it... the sides are like 5-6 foot above your head.

I walked it today and found I pile of scat...maybe 4 5 days old. But the "worn to mud bottom" was so beat up with deer hooves you couldn't make a yote track out if ya had to. I mean every square inch. I should took a pic.

To the right of that bluff, where it drops off you also notice a small road dissappearing into the valley. That's a gravel road that follows the edge of that bluff clear through the valley for about 5 miles.

Then to the right of that little road piece showing is a small Yogi Bear campground that dribbles back into that valley for maybe 500 yds.