dave6x6

So are you going to give your advice then ? Your correct, deer do walk up hills and down hills but are you saying that they don't prefer the path of least resistance.? Under normal circumstances deer choose specific paths to climb the hills and ussually it has something to ease of resistance or security cover in those areas. Also i should clarify my srategies are based on my hunting properties features which are basically easy rolling, agricultural land with creek bottom hardwoods and thickets. My ridges are not adk ridges. Not sure Elmo what terrain your thinking about when you asked the question because you'll probably get different opinions from big wood-big mountain guys then you will from guys in my area.

Scott hetchco, CBS 6:00 news? Gusts to 50 mph. Couldn't believe it when i heard it either.. Channel 8 in Roch

Winds are now up to 40-50 mph for Sat in Fingerlakes. Just Great !!

Joe, The most obvious flaw in your example is that you are not giving the Whitetail deer nearly enough credit. They are amazingly adaptive creatures. That is why you can find them in every state in the continental US and beyond. Deer are also biologically programmed to search out and feed on foods that their bodies need at different times of the year. You could plant 100 acres of clover but the deer are not going to eat it every day of the year because at some times they have other nutritional needs like Carbs in the winter. This diversity in their nutritional need is exactly why they can adapt to so many different environments. I do agree that your example could happen but it would never happen on any serious food plotters property with a plant, plant, attitude like Four Seasons. The reason being that serious property managers are closely tuned in on everything that goes on on their properties and ALWAYS have holding capacity # that they keep in check yearly. I will agree that some new plotters need to come up to speed very quickly when they start implimenting plots and it can get away from them very quickly if they don't know what they are doing but most are very informed and do their homework.

Steve, are you still over here in the Land Management, food plot, qdm section of this forum? Clearly you have no interest or expertise in this subject so Go find someone else to argue with. Maybe in he trapping section or something. It's too close to the season and your boring us.

Big fan of both but arrownocker made some great points. Particularly like ridges that run north and south because alot of the time the deer will follow the ridge instead of walking up and over it. With a predominantly w-sw winds in our area it keeps you from getting busteed most of the time. By the same token, when the chasing really kicks in, the bucks in my area tend to herd the hot does into the bowls and valley and these pockets can be extremely hot during all parts of the day. You are maybe going to get busted down there occationally so you have to time it perfect and tell yourself that if you blow it on this buck , then he probably was going to be miles away chasing does by sunrise anyway so sit tight and wait for the next one to make a mistake. Again this is only a strategy that applies when you know bucks from outside your area are wandering all over looking for does. I don't really advise banking on a valley set-up if you are after the known local buck in the area. The wind is too unpredictable for that.

My wife can't stand to ride with me any more. She claims i don't even watch the road , i just constantly keep scanning the fields and woodlots as were cruisin' down the highway. She's pretty much right but thats the way dad tought us to drive in the country, i tell her.

Canuck, you are a heartless some-bitchhh. He looks like a pretty big dog though don't he.

The other thing is it may not be lost yet. If you got a pass through and your pretty sure you hit him anywhere between the shoulder and the hips. then their is a pretty good chance that deer is dead. The question is did you or something push him into the nxt county before that happened? If he wasn't pushed then i'm not surprised he headed for the creek bottom and thats where i would concentrate my efforts tomarrow. He'll most likely stay near that water and he'll find something real thick to lay down in so check every briar patch and blow down. Also they sometimes will expire in the water itself so if it's clear enough to see, make sure you check. I think he's in there and you just have to find him..

Don't you dare be ashamed kid.. I feel pretty bad for you and i know you will think about this day for yrs to come. I know cuz i've been in your shoes myself. But you'll have other chances and you'll learn some things from this one , but to me you have presented yourself as being a pretty responsible hunter who did everything he could to recover this deer. Keep looking when you have the time and maybe you'll find him. If not , then get back up on that horse and keep ridin'..

Steven, You forced me to change my profile pics. Bad enough i get all these PM's from the lady hunters, now i got you lumpin' me in with the young ones..

Your really poopin' it out now Joe.. Only you and a handful of guys who are really into the deer biology could tell you what a deers yearly nutritional needs are. Most hunters could tell you what they like to eat but not what they need to eat or why they eat what they do at certain times of the yr. Well there is you and pretty much any serious food plotter. Thank you for bringing up another point that shows that some of us are knowledgeable even beyond our yrs.. Oh and i would hardly compare feeding deer 35% protein clover to feeding kids ice cream.. More like feeding them broccoli that tastes like chocolate puddin.

Thanks wny

Yea , totally locked in here every chance i get. Sorry for the long winded posts at times but my wife just won't participate in any of my hunting debates.. By the way, how do i get them to stop sending me an e-mail everytime someone responds to a post of mine?

Still can't believe you didn't skip school..

Bubba, i would agree with that. So latest forcast says not only rain but gusts to 30mph. Rain and calm, not so bad. Rain and 30mph, not so good.. Got Sat and Sun off so I'll be out there. Glad i got the ground blinds up..

Yea, thats not a delemna on our properties. Mercy kills are mandatory as long as the shot is safe and you can assure a final kill.

Stevie, My 26 yr old daughter thought your post was hillarious. Wish i knew how to put it on facebook.

njg, lol, you beat me to that one. I was thinking about posting that to lighten things up.. Good stuff culvercreek, Well put .

Deermanager, Don't leave us hangin out here. You've peaked my interest. Give us a brief rundown of the proceedure. Would love to try it ..

YEA i see it's going to be warmer then we all would like but do you think the rain is going to continue through the weekend as well? What are you hearing for the fingerlakes areas?

Welcome to the site Bud.. Good luck to you as well.

Pretty cool pics bud, I'll have to try to find the pic i got last yr. It shows a yote 30 ft away, sitting facing away. While up close is a rabbit looking straight in the camera. Pics like yours is why i'm addicted to the cams. You see the coolest things out there. Good luck on that 8. Is he on your hit list? Looks pretty good to me..

OOpps, Well in that case i'm with you too !! That guy can take his knitting comment and stick it !! Actually I didn't really know what he was talking about so i didn't respond.

419, Great pics, Good luck sealin' the deal on that nice buck.. 27, The owl in the tree is cool, at least i think it;s an owl?