Since I still don't know any hunters I've been learning how the modern way, through YouTube videos. I've made several trips to the area to scout around, and saw deer sign where the Google Earth scouting told me I should. But then I hit a snag last week. Bow hunting season there started October 1, and on my final scouting trip damned if there wasn't some bow hunter's tree stand right at MY spot!

So back to the drawing board, with the understanding that all the easy to get to places have had bow hunters spooking the deer for over a month now. So now I found a great looking spot that is very hard to get to because of thick woods, a steep grade, and very deep ravines, but I found a path there that avoids the steep grades and deep ravines, The thick brush will make it difficult though but I'm confident I can manage the mile long trek with 35 lbs of gear (tree stand, shotgun, GPS, knife and bone saw for field dressing, and snack) on my back... but I had to win another lottery Saturday at a pre-season hunter meeting for the parking area necessary for that spot. I lucked out and was the 3rd name picked and got my preferred parking area.
And my concern that all the deer were either taken by bow hunters or spooked into becoming nocturnal were brushed aside when not 200 yards from the building the meeting was at I saw a gigantic, monster of a buck with a massive rack and massive body, had to be over 200 lbs. Holy fuck it was like a buck you see in hunting magazines! So now I'm just giddy with excitement, even dreaming about deer. But still I estimate my odds at 25% at best given my complete lack of experience and because there's going to be 50 hunters on just 1700 acres of hunting land.
So that's what I'll be doing in less than 2 weeks.