It’s that time of year again, where we hunters wage war on our woods, fields, and brush lots. Management of your hunting area has its time and place, and that’s now.

I love deer hunting, but dread this time of year. This is when all the hard work and planning gets done in preparation for the upcoming season. There are a plethora of tasks to complete that will up your odds of having a successful season. Managing your trail systems and placing stands and blinds are likely at the top of the list for most. Food plots for late season plantings should be winding down and the focus should be on setting up places of ambush. The weather, wind, time of season, and available food should direct you to the perfect stand site, but being able to adapt will make all the difference.

As stated before, this is the time of year when I get swamped. I had intended on writing my column on different topic all together, but ended up sidetracked by another. I’m in the middle of setting up nearly 1000 acres to be hunted this season. I thought it would be a good idea to explain what I do to set up a property that I have never hunted before. If you organize and plan properly, you can save yourself a lot of time and effort.

I would recommend starting with inside information and locating someone with a little knowledge of the property. Ask where they regularly see deer enter and leave an area, or try and find out where the most deer are seen on the property. You may be as lucky as I have been and have a landowner that can show you what tree to hang a stand in. This can save you a lot of leg work and help you familiarize yourself with the area. If you aren’t as lucky as I have been, I recommend looking at maps or photos that show the terrain from the air.

Once you have got an idea on the lay of the land, you should have been able to locate the typical high traffic areas. I focus on pinch points, where the land features cause the deer to be funneled into an exact location. These can be found in areas where hedge rows connect large adjoining parcels of land, on the border of streams, ponds, and lakes, or where high ridges or cliffs leave the animals no other choice than to pass there. It’s now time to hit the woods.