Any Bowhunters Hunt the Pine Barrens?
- Thread starter Mate Mike
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[QUOTEwhere are you hunting and what part oif the state did you hunt before hunting the pines.][/QUOTE]
I'm hunting Manchester WMA, zone 18. Since moving to New Jersey I started hunting The Pine Barrens after 40 plus years of hunting hardwood forests in New York, Pennsylvania and Maine. This area is nothing but Pitch Pines and flat sandy land with some swamps for miles. Being a bow hunter, I’m used to locating food sources and bedding areas and setting up in between. I have found scrapes, rubs and tracks but I can’t figure out what the heck they eat or where they bed down. Any help?
I'm hunting Manchester WMA, zone 18. Since moving to New Jersey I started hunting The Pine Barrens after 40 plus years of hunting hardwood forests in New York, Pennsylvania and Maine. This area is nothing but Pitch Pines and flat sandy land with some swamps for miles. Being a bow hunter, I’m used to locating food sources and bedding areas and setting up in between. I have found scrapes, rubs and tracks but I can’t figure out what the heck they eat or where they bed down. Any help?
Deer in the "core" of the pines appear to survive on a diet of air, pine needles and sand.
Actually, in those areas they survive as browsers, eating woody growth from shrubs and trees with whatever grass and scrub oak acorns they can find.
Patterning them in that kind of environment is hard because they are not going to a particular feeding area.
Their bedding areas are typically along the swamp edges or along creek beds.
If there is enough scrub oak, they will sometinmes bed in the middle of wide expanses of that but usually not after the first week of shotgun.
I used to hunt near the Great Swamp between Atsion and Batsto and you would be amazed at the abundance of deer and the apparent absence of any decent food source.
Good luck!
I am muzzleloading all this week.
Scott
Actually, in those areas they survive as browsers, eating woody growth from shrubs and trees with whatever grass and scrub oak acorns they can find.
Patterning them in that kind of environment is hard because they are not going to a particular feeding area.
Their bedding areas are typically along the swamp edges or along creek beds.
If there is enough scrub oak, they will sometinmes bed in the middle of wide expanses of that but usually not after the first week of shotgun.
I used to hunt near the Great Swamp between Atsion and Batsto and you would be amazed at the abundance of deer and the apparent absence of any decent food source.
Good luck!
I am muzzleloading all this week.
Scott
im somewhat familiar with manchester and zone 18. i hunt just down the road in greenwood zone 21. manchester is very similar but a smaller piece. the couple of state fields in zone 18 i dont think have been planted in a couple years so holding deer in good numbers isint happening. the pines and scrub brush are kinda thick. i have hunted maine-newyork, and pennsy many times including this year. one thing i have noticed is that you have to get a bit higher if you hunt from a tree. i think the vast wall of pines has sharpened there sence of smell and all the years of deer jacking make them way more skiddish to me. they tend to look up at you way more than the other states. they are way smaller in size than the rest of the state. good thing is there arent many bow hunters in the pines so you will most always have the place to yourself. winter time extreme cold weather in january herds them up in bunchs like 6- 10 deer. winter bow season is fun if you dress for it. baiting them is some what of a help but you will never shoot a good buck off it. better to hunt trails that lead to feed. good luck!