New to Zone 3

[BowhunterNJ]

Welcome to the site and hunting!  Good luck in Zone 3!

[ImNewToThis]

Went in at 5:50am yesterday in Abram Hewitt. Did a lot of homework and planned to go in from the south side since wind was coming in from the northwest. Bushwhacked as quietly as I could while looking out for good pinch points and game trails. I'll say this, you all weren't kidding when you said it's rugged and thick! After seeing nothing but old deer scat and two squirrels for 4 hours, I decided to try to find my way back to the car. I pushed my way towards a trail that runs down the west side of the park. On my way I found someone's ladder stand that looks like it has been there for quite some time. Then followed the trail south back to the road. Today went for a hike with the wife in Norvin and saw two nice sized does right next to the trail. It's like they know it's Sunday and I don't have my bow with me! It was nice to be out in the woods but I hope others were more successful! 

[Livesintrees]

My opinion on state. Walk in the way everyone else does. Find their stands and bait piles. Mark it out your god or phone app. And then keep walking deeper. Pull up some aerials and find some pinch points, saddles, terrain features and you’ll be further ahead then the bait and wait crowd. 

[OneShot1Kill]

Use Google maps, and apps like Huntstand, scoutlook,  onX maps. Use the terrain features and topos to look for natural breaks and ridges, benches , saddles etc. Like us deer in most cases use the path of least resitence, for us due to laziness, for deer to burn less calories. Look for natural food sources, apples, acorns or planted like corn and soybeans. Except for rut deer revolve around there stomachs. Back to what I said about laziness, the thickest nastiest most hard to reach places where others won't go often hold good deer. Other times simple places right under your nose are honey holes. Keep boots on the ground eyes open and absorb as much information as possible. Get comfortable with a climber, be mobile, bounce around as you find new ground. " Be careful of whose advice you buy, but be patient with those who supply it". Good luck and most of all it's supposed to be fun. Most importantly, don't get hung up on big antler's, shoot what makes your heart skip a beat , at least until you get a few under your belt. Shoot me a message if you want a couple out of the way places in that area that you may want to try. 👍🏻👍🏻👍🏻👍🏻

[Rusty]

1 hour ago, ImNewToThis said:

Went in at 5:50am yesterday in Abram Hewitt. Did a lot of homework and planned to go in from the south side since wind was coming in from the northwest. Bushwhacked as quietly as I could while looking out for good pinch points and game trails. I'll say this, you all weren't kidding when you said it's rugged and thick! After seeing nothing but old deer scat and two squirrels for 4 hours, I decided to try to find my way back to the car. I pushed my way towards a trail that runs down the west side of the park. On my way I found someone's ladder stand that looks like it has been there for quite some time. Then followed the trail south back to the road. Today went for a hike with the wife in Norvin and saw two nice sized does right next to the trail. It's like they know it's Sunday and I don't have my bow with me! It was nice to be out in the woods but I hope others were more successful! 

Keep putting your time in.  You'll get the lay of the land and start to figure out how the deer are using it.  Right now they are on the white oaks.  Find a few that are dropping and have lots of fresh droppings and you should be good.  Best of luck.  

[Haskell]

I’ve hunted zone 3 my whole life mostly in lower norvin green , don’t let hikeing trails ,dirt bikes ,jeeps ,fourwheeler bother u they are there the whole year and the deer learn to live along with them , most of the state land in zone 3 holds some good bucks. And The deep woods theory isn’t always the best advice I’ve killed most of my bigger bucks listening to cars and leave blowers.

[Buck154]

Welcome to the site and hunting . I know nothing about zone 3. Good luck 

[Liv2huntnfish123]

Welcome to the site!! Good luck and happy Hunting!!