mt624

We had a 7 year old carry one side through late April last year, I found his shed on April 30th within a couple days of him dropping it. I'm still getting plenty of pics with headgear.

I don't post on here often but want to say I enjoyed reading through the comments and advice on this post, some good stuff. Phade, Moog5050, nfa-adk, gjs4 and Buckmaster7600 comments are great (not that others aren't). If you listen to what these guys are saying buckman4c, there's some great advice. My advice: If your goal is to bag a mature buck believe in yourself every time you enter the woods and hunt like it's going to happen. Every minute in the woods is one minute closer but as you know it may take years. Too many guys take short cuts or lower the standards because they don't really believe they're going to shoot a mature deer. Find a mature buck and hunt his turf, try to get close be aggressive and flexible. You will learn a lot and eventually it will happen but you won't learn how to do it by studying topos or watching from a distance. Those are tools you can use but just find the animal and go for it and you'll learn how to close the deal. Good luck! And I want to give Phade a shout out - He helped me a lot over the past couple of years with trail cam advice and last season I got a nice buck the first time I hunted him. I had plenty of trail cam pics over two seasons but no one in our hunting party had seen him in person including me before that. I had always used trail cams for taking inventory and what not but never hunted based on their info. Phade was a huge help in fine tuning my setup which helped me zero in on this buck, and when the conditions were right I went in and got him. It's great that guys like the ones in this post are willing to offer their advice and time. Thank you!

Legally you only need to post the property once a year. Take a few pictures or invite the authorities out once posted to show them the effort you went through. You can also send certified mail to particular people which is essentially the same as legal posting it to them. Look up the particulars. Then don't mess around, if you catch someone press charges. Simple as that unless you like wasting time. It sounds to me like you're waging war with the shooting ranges, etc. unless you were planning to do that anyways. If you want it to stop press charges otherwise they know you're not serious and will keep going in. Good luck.

Thanks The_Real_TCIII, I'll give them a try. I have my top and bottom tethered together, but it would still be pretty awkward to have the bottom platform come loose when I pick up me feet to move them. I generally set my seat platform high, so even when I'm sitting I'm at a partial standing position. Generally the bottom is planted but if there's any upward pressure it wouldn't take much to release it on some trees. Also, related to the topic, as others have mentioned most of the instructions mention not to "hop" to set the platform into the bark like others are recommending. Reading the Summit instructions when I got my first one, I found that filing the powder coating off the teeth and making sure the edges are very squared like they recommend really helps and I freshen mine up every season. I've seen some people actually sharpen the teeth to a point and some stand manufacturers make teeth that are sharp. I think that makes it more difficult to remove the platform on the climb. I've tried with and without the teeth edges filed square and it was a big difference. The squared edges grab a lot better but they pull out of the bark a lot easier. Can't beat the climbers for comfort either!

I've always been curious about these, they seem to work from the weight of you standing on the platform, no? So if you lift your feet off the platform when sitting, is there potential for them to lift the foot platform up and release it from the tree? I can see them being great otherwise... Thanks!

It may only take "X" lbs of kinetic energy to kill a deer and you may nail 50 yard shots all day long at the range. Then there's real world hunting situations where you need to allow for some margin of error and non-range conditions if you respect the animal at all. This is where it can get a bit tricky and you're best to do some research to determine your own setup. A gut shot kills a deer every time but can make recovery a real bitch and the animal suffers. So when determining your setup, you should make your goal more than just what it takes to kill a deer... As many have said a field point will kill a deer, but we don't hunt with them. Research it a bit by reading articles about speed, kinetic energy, effective ranges and you will learn a lot.

Nice, good luck!

Yes, I was talking about how the movement fluctuates and it is much easier (for me at least) to pick up on that with the cell cams vs. Comparing card pulls and looking back on weather history.

Camera is working great, here's a better picture of the buck I posted earlier I got off the card before I moved the camera. It was cool getting a sense of movement the past few days with weather as conditions changed - One of the things I like most about the cell cams. Having a couple of them now, it's interesting how they both send more pictures and drop off in sync with the weather. Hard to feel confident that's the cause with just one cam, unless you were to go back through and compare to a non cellular history which I don't really want to take the time to do. Getting it almost real time to the phone is great, and a heck of a lot easier and less intrusive than going and pulling cards every few weeks.

No, it can text to any cell phone carrier. But you have to get the prepaid sim card for the camera from AT&T.

Right now I have it setup to get a limit of 200 texts per month for $5. You can renew as many months as you want. There is a 1000 text per month package for $10. These are the prepaid AT&T plans and are subject to change I guess, but have been around for a while. Then some batteries. So basically for $60 plus batteries you can run it the entire year if you want.

Very pleased with mine so far, thanks for the hook up Phade! It's been on the apple tree in the back yard the past few days getting good pics and is going out to the hunting grounds today. I'm really impressed so far!

I don't have any text pics and the same pic from the sd card that I can post to compare right now but will try to get one when I pull cards next. The text pictures are lower resolution but good enough to show some detail. The higher res version is saved on an SD card so you can pull that sooner than later if there's something you want to take a better look at. I set mine up to take a couple picture burst and it sends the first picture only. The pictures it sends via text or email are decent though.

I'd let that one go another year Larry!

There are non cellular cams that are more expensive, and other cellular cams that are more money so what it's worth to you is different than what it's worth to me or to someone else. I'm very happy with it. I get pictures to my phone and don't have to go to the camera. Batteries lasted about 6 months on the previous camera, so I can put it out and leave it. Also works great for security. When it costs $100 to fill my gas tank, I can justify $400 for the camera. There is an instructional card sent with the 2015 cameras, see attached. It is basically a prepaid data plan now that AT&T offers for tablets and what not. The camera comes with the sim card so no need to go to the AT&T store anymore and risk getting the wrong type of card. They've made it pretty straight forward.

I should add, I did register the original camera when I bought it by following their warranty registration instructions. I don't know if that makes any difference, but they did ask when I originally contacted them with the issue.

I contacted Covert a couple weeks back because AT&T was no longer allowing me to renew my prepaid plan. Covert issued me a return authorization and offered to replace the camera with a new 2015 model for $25. I sent the camera back with a check and in less than a week of them receiving it I got the replacement. It was easy to set up with the included sim card and worked immediately at home once I bought a plan from AT&T. It seems they have worked out a lot of the little bugs with the 2014 model. I was very impressed with the solution they offered and the fast turn around time. I will be buying another Covert after this experience, I had just purchased 3 new non-Covert and non-cellular cams prior to this and wish I would have found out a little sooner. AT&T had been renewing my plan every month but it had gotten to be a struggle, and they gave me no indication they would stop renewing the prepaid plan until I tried to renew it and they would not do it. For the past 3-4 months I had to call customer service to renew the package... But the new plan goes through a different website and seems much more legitimate. Plus it's got a 3 month activation option for less than what 3 months of the old plan totalled. If anyone is having issues with their 2014 model I would recommend they contact Covert. I got the impression they are short staffed or very busy this time of year but like I said the turnaround time and overall deal was great.

There's no such thing as a "warning shot." You pull the trigger you better be ready to own the consequences. If that truly was his intention, he could have shot into the ground. But he still could get an unlawful discharge depending on where he lives had he done that. There are laws governing when people can and can't shoot. Learn them. I don't blame the Safe Act or PETA for him losing his guns. As far as the other incidents, not enough detail. I'm not directing this post at any single person on here. But there are laws and if you break them you pay the consequences. Maybe you don't lose your car if you run over a dog but there are different laws pertaining to that, and it is harder to prove intent in that type of case. But if someone is running over your pet with their car intentionally, is that a person you want to have guns or cars? It's very difficult to shoot at something and then claim you didn't mean to hit it. I understand it was a dog and losing his guns may be a severe price to pay but he knew it was someone's pet and other details posted make him sound pretty irresponsible. I don't feel sorry for him and his actions give responsible gun owners a bad image. Had the dog been "charging" him or some other circumstance like others mentioned, I may feel different. But for pooping in his yard which was the reason posted, his response was extremely inappropriate and irresponsible. I've been charged by dogs, one incident that comes to mind was two large german shepards. I was willing to get bit before risking harm to someone's pets. I stood my ground and held out a hand and they ducked under my hand and let me pet them. The way they approached running and barking at me, in "their" field several hundred yards from "their" house I was fully expecting to be bit/attacked, but willing to make sure before hurting or killing a couple pets. This guy just sounds dumb and it is a bad situation for all involved now.

Except the deer don't stay on my property exclusively to eat, and I don't tell the neighbors what to plant in their plots... Again, just hoping to maximize my time/effort/money but tons of variables. If you're the only plotter on the block, then agreed it's a non issue.

Phade, you said you may work this plot later in the season but don't know what you plan to plant there, if at all right? I sort of agree with Pav2704. Why not put in a good seed and if you get a good stand, run with it for a season or two, even if only in strips or portions of what you frost seed? I get saving a few dollars but to me the effort vs seed cost makes the higher seed well worth it. And I've done test plots side by side Whitetail Institute compared to other clovers and literally had 9 out of 10 deer in the WI clover and usually the 10th was grazing through the other to get to the Whitetail clover. If you're not totally turning the soil over and will be planting an annual that needs N, the WI clover is really hardy and there's a good chance you could spray to kill the grasses, do a light discing and plant an annual with the clover and have both. Or does your attachment drill the annual? Even better if it's a no till. The Whitetail clover may surprise you if you haven't tried it and it is hardy. Not trying to twist your arm, just want to see you get the most out of your efforts and I was shocked by how much better luck I've had with the Whitetail Institute products. I have about 15 acres in their clover now and deer are still hitting it hard. Some sections are going strong after 7 years with only mowing for maintenance. Either way good luck!

This is hilarious! Hunter math! I'm guessing the deer wasn't EXACTLY 60 yards either... But now we're really splitting hairs, huh?

Gino I'm pretty tied up with work for the next week or two but I'm happy to get with you some time after that and try to answer any questions to help you make your decision. Lots of different ways to go about it. I also rented a tiller before buying one so I could see how it worked on my ground. Good luck!

Yes, all that along with size and shape of the plot, rocks, moisture, etc. Tiller is nice when the soil is right but it's slow going, so if the plot is large it may not be practical. Usually a case by case basis, at JFB's we used both. Started the big plot with the tiller but it was so rocky we switched to the disc. Sometimes plowing just brings up old weed seed or rocks and isn't always necessary. The time you can let the ground sit after it's first worked plays into it too. Turning it over and letting the weed seeds germinate then working it again kills off a lot more and lets you use less chemicals... Lots of things to consider but not always a right or wrong answer either. When I started doing my own plots I didnt have most of the equipment and did clover with an old spring tooth harrow and metal grating for a drag. Wasn't the smoothest ground afterwards but the deer and clover didn't know the difference!

Gino, just depends on the individual job we can do either. Hunterman, glad you're happy with the results!