I know that didn't make sense but hopefully this will. I went scouting today, saw a very nice buck and some does several times last year on the edge of a long bean field so went in to look around. The field runs north/south and is long and narrow. Coming from the west, there is water, swamp, hard woods, then field. Distance from the water to the field is about 150 yards. The field ends on the north in hardwoods. The inside corner is where I saw them. I started in the woods on the south end and went all the way up. No definitive trails or anything remarkable, but on the north end, still in the woods I crossed a good trail. It led south right to the corner. Went on and found another one that ran into the first one. Am above the field now in the north part and crossed another one but it came to the field about 50 yards from the other ones.

I can climb or use a ground blind, can hunt the open field from the southern side, hunt the field from the north side, but think I'd do better into the woods on the trails leading to the field. Now back to the question - how far back from the field to hunt? Will be using a cross bow and am fine up to 50 yards.

thanks

I'd hunt where I could see/shoot both trails. Only when the wind is right, of course.

Where the first two trails intersect would be my starting point.

don't ever try to figure out what a deer will do, you will always be wrong.

Good point - that's why I'm asking y'all. If I hunt too close to the field they might hold back in the woods. If I'm too far back in the woods they can pass me and get to the field. And just cause there's a good trail doesn't mean they use it all the time.

Mature deer need a wind that they are comfortable with before they will access a feeding area they like. In the early season, they tend to bed very close to their preferred food source. For that reason I would be very careful about entering the woodline and potentially changing their habits.

If it were me, I would spend a couple of afternoons glassing that field during various wind directions and try to establish which direction they enter the field from. If you can determine where they bed and how they use the wind to access, you can set up a stand to hunt them once they enter the food source. You'll have more opportunities to hunt the woods once the beans are picked and the leaves are off the trees.

Just be sure that your scent never blows into their bedding area, and have a plan for exiting the field if the deer enter it and are out of your range.

Good info - thank you. I can come in from the west with a boat. That would put me about 150 yards west of the field. I can come in from the south through the woods but that takes about 40 minutes walking. No motorized transport allowed. I can get in from the north by either of the other two ways but will have to go a few hundred yards further and then turn either east or west then back to the south. As stated, wind will determine all.

This^^^^. Very good assessment here..and completely accurate.....

Might want to throw you out a couple of cameras and see what happens. That would definitely let you know something.

I find that deer like to hang and travel 20-50 yards inside the woods along the edge of a field. with thicker woods they will hang closer. with a crossbow I try to get about 20 yards in the woods. at the beginning of bow season though I would hunt a low corner of the field instead, early season might be your only chance to catch a monster buck feeding in a field corner.
hunt the woods in the morning and field corner in evening.

You will also have to figure into the equation the nuts that will be dropping. Also how late the deer are coming to the field. Are they hitting it right before dark if they are then you will have to go deep into the woods to catch them at good light. If they are hitting it 30 before dark than you have a couple of options which is good for playing different winds on a field.

If your in the woods and they come from the north you can only hunt on a east or west wind. North wind will spook deer that are in the field or ones that you passed up.

If on the field you could hunt a north, east, or west wind depending on the shape of the field of course.

Best thing is to glass. But that will only go so far. As crops might be cut or nuts might start falling and they decide to hit those first.

I have a very similar situation. I have 2 shooters coming to a clover field every morning at some point between 4:30 and 6:30. I put a lock on about 100 yds from the field that is ideal "if" they are in the field when I get in my stand and "if" they come past my stand to bed. They "should" but deer are unpredictable as the weather. This past weekend I decided to put up a lock-on on a tree line on the edge of the field. It's covered with privet and I think with any wind of out of the south I could get in the stand without spooking the deer. It's a gamble but would be a home run if I didn't make any noise. It's hard to know what to do this time of year but I love it b/c it's the only time of the year that I can predict mature buck movement. But it only lasts a few weeks, max.

Roadkill, I think I know where you're talking about and in my opinion you'd be better off finding the hot acorn trees and forget about the field. By the time bow season starts they're going to be on the acorns, the beans are going to be too dry.

Good point - thanks