--2011 Official Deer Thread--

[DarkRose]

Good call, like to see people following the rules.

May have been the right call, but man it was a tough call...

Also, I'd left my jacket on the ground, and if I'd known how cold I was going to get, it would have been an even tougher call... Lol.

 

[ViperJock]

Well, I finally saw another deer. Unfortunately, the two bucks and a doe I saw were walking next to the freeway along a treeline in Pennsylvania yesterday.

At least I know they are out there...

 

[HICKMAN]

I've had this ongoing battle with our family farm, eating tag after tag, year after year.

Looks like I eat other this firearms season, didn't see a single buck over the whole season. Had my bonus alterless in case I saw a doe, but only saw two during legal shooting light and they were probably 100 yards away in some thick stuff.

Got out yesterday and walked the whole farm from 3pm until dark. Learned they are hopping the fence at the bottom of our woods to bed in the fields at the neighboring farm.

Explains why we are seeing them so randomly... and I need to talk to our neighbor

 

[coltaceguy]

Was out yesterday all afternoon, heard many running up on the hill and behind me, but none came near me, oh well

 

[clfergus]

I've had this ongoing battle with our family farm, eating tag after tag, year after year.

Looks like I eat other this firearms season, didn't see a single buck over the whole season. Had my bonus alterless in case I saw a doe, but only saw two during legal shooting light and they were probably 100 yards away in some thick stuff.

Got out yesterday and walked the whole farm from 3pm until dark. Learned they are hopping the fence at the bottom of our woods to bed in the fields at the neighboring farm.

Explains why we are seeing them so randomly... and I need to talk to our neighbor

Hickman, have you ever explored a 1-2 acre food plot on your farm?

I know I have the same sporadic travel on the land I hunt which isnt ours. I know if I could put in a 2 acre food plot I would have a better shot at pulling them in more regular. I can't since its not my land but was wondering if you had that flexibility.

 

[HICKMAN]

Hickman, have you ever explored a 1-2 acre food plot on your farm?

I know I have the same sporadic travel on the land I hunt which isnt ours. I know if I could put in a 2 acre food plot I would have a better shot at pulling them in more regular. I can't since its not my land but was wondering if you had that flexibility.

that is actually a plan for next season. I've learned that the guy who owns property next to us has a big food plot in the bottom below us and I get the feeling I know where the deer have gone after the beans came out.

The farmer we lease to rotates between corn and beans each year, but I plan on having a late season plot of Frigid Forage in a couple of place next year to keep them closer.

 

[HICKMAN]

I am lucky to work at Crane, so I'll be bow hunting on base all of the late archery season and still have two military refuge gun hunts left.

Me hunting on our family farm is a personal thing, I've never killed a deer there and still hear my grandfather's voice joking with me every time I came home with nothin "here comes the might hunter". Makes me smile every time I think of it... but I'm gonna kill a damn deer there one of these days

 

[spainy79]

Had my closest encounter so far yesterday when a doe came through but she was looking straight at me. I waited for her to turn and when she did her vitals were behind a tree. Couldn't take a head shot either cause of some brush. She knew something wasn't right and busted out of there. That makes 3 deer I've seen while out in the field this year. Shortly after 5pm I started feeling ill and decided to head home and figured I'd better stay in today as well. There goes my gun tag. Looks like late archery is officially a go. Thinking about buying a new stand as well to set up along the edge of one of the fields to increase my chances. I had planned on swapping the cards in my trail cam today too but that will have to wait until next weekend.

 

[selinoid44]

I was telling Hickman that I have small food plots. Like 75' long X 10 yds wide. I put out the sweet clover mix with chickory and the deer love it. I keep the weeds mowed off the top of it. I raise the mower deck above the clover so I dont cut the clover. By making the plots small I can bring the deer where I want them. If you make your plots big they may stay out of range so you cant get to them. This spring I will be adding a couple of small plots with clover, this will inhance my property and make it better next year. I did a strip this year with sorgham, it is 400 yds long and 10 yds wide. It has not really benefitted me so far but the corn is still standing in my field. I think once the corn is gone they will come and feed on the tops of it.

 

[kwatters]

Good day in Brown County last week

Last Wednesday the 23rd was the second time I was able to get out this year.
The wind took me to a different part of the woods than I ever hunted. About 9:30 in the morning about 15 does came by at 75 yards with a buck in pursuit. The buck didn't like something and turned around before he cleared the brush in front of me, the does started to turn and follow so I picked one and shot. As soon as I could load another round in the H&R, 5 of the does decided to run over the ridge to my left putting them about 50 yards out. They paused at the top and a second shot found its mark. The next 3 hours were spent dragging deer out of a ravine. Both field dressed at 110, I rarely see them much bigger in Brown County where I hunt so I was very happy and the freezer will be pretty full.

 

[selinoid44]

It's sometimes wierd how things work out. My last doe went 20' down into a ravine that ended her in the middle of a creek that was thigh deep in water. Thank the good Lord for quads and winches, even then it was a lot of work! Good job and congrats.

 

[HICKMAN]

so, now we're in our 5 day break from deer hunting.

What would you all recommend for the late season hunter?

I'm down to the final bow season and two military refuge hunts in December with no meat in the freezer so far.

I'll be scouting some this week on base and hunting hard in December.

Still confident, but also seeking advice.

 

[sbcman]

so, now we're in our 5 day break from deer hunting.

What would you all recommend for the late season hunter?

I'm down to the final bow season and two military refuge hunts in December with no meat in the freezer so far.

I'll be scouting some this week on base and hunting hard in December.

Still confident, but also seeking advice.

No muzzleloader?

I don't know your landscape, but December hunting seems to work best for me in the evenings near a corn or beanfield, especially fields that have clover in them. I will usually set up near a tree line on the field or on a heavily worked trail in open woods near the field. The only thing I have to keep an eye on is making sure I'm not too far in their travels and run out of daylight. Sometimes I've got to go a little closer in.

Also, I don't know if its wrong or right, but when there's frost on the ground I go in the woods in the middle of the morning instead of early. Never found much movement until the frost clears off.

 

[JDubb]

All I can say from here on out hickman is they need FOOD!!!!!!!!! You know what that is right..........................???.............LOL

Keep an eye out in corners of fields by woods edge this week from a distance and make a plan from there!

More than welcome to use my smokepole if willing to make a cruise up this way!!!!

 

[HICKMAN]

I can use my cousins Encore if need be. Just planned more on hunting on base as there are a million deer there. The farm just gets a little too much pressure.

 

[w_ADAM_d88]

VA Hunting Trip

Well I just got back from my hunting trip in VA on our family farm out there. Had a pretty successful trip and got to spend some quality time with my Pops. We hunted a total of 4 days and in 4 days we bagged 3 deer. Two large mature does and a small button buck (my dad thought it was a doe). Now before anyone starts ragging on us we hunt to fill the freezer first before we start hunting the throphy bucks. The county that our farm is in has an over abundance of deer does in particular, therefore you can shoot does all season long. On the first morning I shot my doe and my dad shot that button buck, and then on the second to last day my dad bagged a big doe. The doe I shot dressed out at about 120 lbs and my Dads doe dressed out at closer to 150lbs. The button buck he shot only dressed out around 100 lbs. First 2 pics are the doe I shot, and then Dad's deer.

In the trail cam photo (photo taken earlier in the fall) you can see the tree stand (Top/Right center of photo) that I hunted out of for 2 out of the 4 days. This was the stand that I shot my doe out of. The stand that I was hunting was on top of a hill looking down into a bottom that had a small creek/wet branch that ran threw it. Behind the stand was a loggin path with a slightly grown cut over on the other side of the logging path. Now that first morning I got in to my stand about 6:15, now the temps were probably in the low to mid 50's and there was a slight breeze blowing in over my left shoulder. On my way into the stand I scented up the trail that I walked in on using Tink's #69 gel, and then once I got to my stand I used Tink's Doe Pee on my home made scent bombs and placed them around my stand. Around 6:40 I heard a slow walk / crunching of leaves over my left should, so I spun around to take a gander. Out of the corner of my eye I caught this nice size doe walking in on the same trail that I walked in on. Since it was so early though I had decided to let her walk and hope that a buck was following her. When she got directly behind the tree I was sitting in I stood up and spun around so that I could have a better view of her, and see if anything was following her. Once she got behind me she crossed out onto the logging path and continued to walk right on down the path. At one point I raised my shot gun just to check out my sight picture but never fired upon her. I watched her walk on down the path and out of sight. About 35 mins after she disappeard I then heard that same slow walk / crunching of leaves coming from the opposite direction. This time the sound was down in the bottom at about my 3 o'clock. I finally caught glimpse of the deer which I assumed was the same doe that ccrossed behind he earlier. She was now walking along the wet branch that ran threw the bottom; and I knew eventually she would cross right in front of me. At this point I had made up my mind that she had made a mistake and obviously had a death wish since she showed her face twice. She continued her trail along the wet branch and when she got to about my 2 o'clock she stopped and her nose when straight into the air and stomped her foot, but didn't run off. She stomped again and continued to sniff the air and then started waving her tail, but never ran off. She's take a couple steps then look around real sharply, then she started itching with her back leg, and shaking off like a wet dog would. Then she continued walking along the creek and crossed into my 1 o'clock and at this point was probably about 35-40 yards away and I let the lead fly. I was using my Remmy 870 with 3" 00' Buck Shot. Hit her right behind the shoulder and when I did she went to run and jump the creek but her front legs didn't work and she landed right in the creek. Later when we were getting her cleaned up, we noticed one of the pellets hit her high and broke her spine which would be why her legs didn't work.

 

[sbcman]

Well I just got back from my hunting trip in VA on our family farm out there. Had a pretty successful trip and got to spend some quality time with my Pops. We hunted a total of 4 days and in 4 days we bagged 3 deer. Two large mature does and a small button buck (my dad thought it was a doe). Now before anyone starts ragging on us we hunt to fill the freezer first before we start hunting the throphy bucks. The county that our farm is in has an over abundance of deer does in particular, therefore you can shoot does all year long. On the first morning I shot my doe and my dad shot that button buck, and then on the second to last day my dad bagged a big doe. The doe I shot dressed out at about 120 lbs and my Dads doe dressed out at closer to 150lbs. The button buck he shot only dressed out around 100 lbs. First 2 pics are the doe I shot, and then Dad's deer.

In the trail cam photo (photo taken earlier in the fall) you can see the tree stand (Top/Right center of photo) that I hunted out of for 2 out of the 4 days. This was the stand that I shot my doe out of. The stand that I was hunting was on top of a hill looking down into a bottom that had a small creek/wet branch that ran threw it. Behind the stand was a loggin path with a slightly grown cut over on the other side of the logging path. Now that first morning I got in to my stand about 6:15, now the temps were probably in the low to mid 50's and there was a slight breeze blowing in over my left shoulder. On my way into the stand I scented up the trail that I walked in on using Tink's #69 gel, and then once I got to my stand I used Tink's Doe Pee on my home made scent bombs and placed them around my stand. Around 6:40 I heard a slow walk / crunching of leaves over my left should, so I spun around to take a gander. Out of the corner of my eye I caught this nice size doe walking in on the same trail that I walked in on. Since it was so early though I had decided to let her walk and hope that a buck was following her. When she got directly behind the tree I was sitting in I stood up and spun around so that I could have a better view of her, and see if anything was following her. Once she got behind me she crossed out onto the logging path and continued to walk right on down the path. At one point I raised my shot gun just to check out my sight picture but never fired upon her. I watched her walk on down the path and out of sight. About 35 mins after she disappeard I then heard that same slow walk / crunching of leaves coming from the opposite direction. This time the sound was down in the bottom at about my 3 o'clock. I finally caught glimpse of the deer which I assumed was the same doe that ccrossed behind he earlier. She was now walking along the wet branch that ran threw the bottom; and I knew eventually she would cross right in front of me. At this point I had made up my mind that she had made a mistake and obviously had a death wish since she showed her face twice. She continued her trail along the wet branch and when she got to about my 2 o'clock she stopped and her nose when straight into the air and stomped her foot, but didn't run off. She stomped again and continued to sniff the air and then started waving her tail, but never ran off. She's take a couple steps then look around real sharply, then she started itching with her back leg, and shaking off like a wet dog would. Then she continued walking along the creek and crossed into my 1 o'clock and at this point was probably about 35-40 yards away and I let the lead fly. I was using my Remmy 870 with 3" 00' Buck Shot. Hit her right behind the shoulder and when I did she went to run and jump the creek but her front legs didn't work and she landed right in the creek. Later when we were getting her cleaned up, we noticed one of the pellets hit her high and broke her spine which would be why her legs didn't work.

Nice! It would be great to be able to harvest does year round. Good job!

 

[teddy12b]

Nice! It would be great to be able to harvest does year round. Good job!

That's exactly what I was thinking! I didn't know any state had a year round open deer season does. It might be kind of nice to try hunting when it's actually nice and warm out instead of freezing rain and snow.

Could you go into a little more of the details of the year round season for does?

 

[w_ADAM_d88]

That's exactly what I was thinking! I didn't know any state had a year round open deer season does. It might be kind of nice to try hunting when it's actually nice and warm out instead of freezing rain and snow.

Could you go into a little more of the details of the year round season for does?

Woops...Sorry guys, that should read all season long, meaning during deer season. Which in VA our gun season is from Nov. 19 - Jan. 7 this year.

 

[teddy12b]

**FLUSH**

So many hopeful dreams get went away.