wooly

Too far away..... try to sneak up behind him next time and tickle his tail. They like when you do that!

Glad you found it interesting enough to consider trying grampy. I know a lot of guys are hesitant to try new things especially when it comes to loud calling that WE perceive as threatening especially in the deer woods. I'm just the opposite and like to see how far I can push things before disaster strikes. These animals all live together every day and night and have learned how to be in the same space at the right time, and when to get out of each others way at the wrong times. I get a lot of crazy ideas from the bank load of pictures I've collected over the years. Whenever I add new ones, I compare them to the old ones to remind me of the encounters and possibly draw some parallels between them. Sometimes the meat of the patterns take time to sink in and recognize over a period of time.... sometimes years, which is why I like to have all my pics organized into chronological and species specific categories the way I do. It's really helped me to identify similarities in details that would have likely been forgotten over time. I've never been reliable enough to keep an updated and detailed journal of each hike or encounter in a printed format, but I can rely on my pictures to refresh my memory and show me things I may have missed or forgotten over time. Although I found your "woods sense" comment flattering, what it really boils down to for me is having the ability to go back in time to compare each individual encounter through my pics. I promise you.., some days I go out there and still make some of the biggest and dumbest mistakes known by the greenest of greenhorns... but I continue to learn from them all! I've tried both ATbuckeroo. I've never gone out to do it intentionally, but like I said, now I'm starting to see some patterns from past random experiences since I started paying attention to what brought the encounters on in the first place since they were all well documented. If I can ever get the hang of running and editing video with my camera(which I'm determined to), I would be thrilled to go out and bring back some actual target footage of what I'm talking about for you guys as soon as I could. I know I could make it happen again given enough time afield, but I need to learn how to cut and splice pieces of vids together so you're not watching an hour of empty footage before the action starts. If anyone knows a decent and relatively simple video editing program to get me started, that would be a great help in a step towards showing some of the behaviors and reactions that don't always show up in images. I still got some sweet footage from spring turkey that I still can't seem to figure out how to get it to run smoothly to post here. Every now and then I mess with it to the point of getting aggravated, before I hang it up again until next time I feel like getting aggravated,lol!

This may sound like a strange tale of coincidence to many of you, but the more I see it work..., the more I believe there may be something to it. By no means am I trying to invent a new "deer hunting tactic" or strategy, but when things get slow in the deer woods, this may come as a pleasant surprise, and I just love trying new things to exploit any deers weakness! I got two... maybe 3 short stories to add here to give this topic some credibility. Last season on November 5'th while tucked in a blind not seeing a damn thing all day, I got bored with the hunt and decided to change tactics and quarry just before sunset. Instead of breaking out my grunt tube, or rattlin' horns, or bleat can, for another set of "deer calls", I decided to switch things up a bit and try to coax a coyote or two to the set up. So, I got on my howler and let a series of yote calls rip. As you can imagine, my first thought when I broke the silence was that I was expecting to spook every deer in the vicinity of the area clear out of town as soon as they heard that hungry predator announcing his position. What happened next even came as a bit of a shock to me. I spotted a nervous deer emerging from the break where the goldenrod met the apple orchard. He was just a young yearling buck, but that was the most action I'd seen all day up until this point. I thought he was a doe until he got close enough for a better inspection. He made his way off towards the creek bottom never to be seen again until later in the season. Shot opportunity was well under 20 yards. Since I was already in "photo mode", I got on the howler again.... Once again, it only took a matter of minutes and another deer was making his way past me almost on the same trail but out around 35 yards. Some of you may remember the "fanged 6 pointer" with the canine teeth I found dead after season with the arrow sticking out of his guts. That was him, and that was when I got my only pics of him on the hoof. Same deal with him..... nervous and jerky, and constantly looking back over his shoulder until he finally disappeared out of site of the blind rather quickly into the creek bottom as well. Fast forward to last night July 28'th...I climb into the observation stand with camera (and 6pck) in hand and things are slow as can be. Not a deer in site and it's almost 8:30. I figured WTF- with light fading fast, I may as well try to call in a summer yote for a few last minute hail mary pics since I've been getting so many on the trail cam recently about this time of day. I pulled the e-caller (Flextone Torch) out of my pack and ran "cottontail distress" for a burst but got no response or action. Waited about 5 minutes and hit the "woodpecker distress" and still nuthin'... Five more minutes passed and I was about to call it a night.., but for chits and giggles I hit the howler button. Not ONE minute later, a bachelor group of 7 bucks (one out of frame) came barreling across the field towards me from over 300 hundred yards away. They eventually peeled off and cut over to a secluded field about 100 yards out before dropping out of sight. I never did see anything in pursuit of them out in the open, but I got a funny feeling I know what was going on there from one stand of timber to the next. Is it even remotely possible deer hunters could use a healthy yote population to their advantage when the going gets tough, and the deer just don't want to move on their own? I think it is! Deer don't just up and leave a property to a new unfamiliar area to encounter a new and unfamiliar pack of dogs, and they are certainly not in jeopardy of finding themselves on the endangered species list on these properties. Instead they use their keen escape and evasive (survival) maneuvers to keep them ahead of "the predators" as we've all come to know all too well! I truly believe all the deer mentioned above were forced into range by coyotes closing in on my calls. Don't believe me..... try it NOW from the edge of a property you CAN'T hunt if you know you have a good yote population in the area. You never know what will come running your way and what have you got to lose. Obviously like with any kind of calling, it's not gonna work EVERY time. But if it works that ONE time when nothing else is happening, well that's the only time that matters! I know it's now something I'll keep in my bag of tricks when things are slow. I think too many times we concentrate on vocalizations that draw deer into our set ups with mixed results, without thinking about what puts them there in the first place. One last quicky from last years successful January 9'th yote hunt. Once again, I climb in my stand and get on the howler. ..... and not 5 minutes later a doe a 2 fawns are standing broadside in front of me not 30 yds out checking out their back trail. They nervously make their way off, and within 10 minutes here comes Miss Yotie down the same trail they left on. There won't be any further stories with THAT bitch in it,lol Ahh hell...one more short coyote blurp as long as I'm on the topic from July 12'th of last summer.. I posted a series of pics from the observation stand last summer of a yote hunting fawns in the field when he jumped a buck by accident. That buck made his way right under my stand when the yote decided to call off a short chase. As luck would have it, that wasn't the last time I had an encounter with that exact same buck under one of my stands! I guess the point I'm trying to make with this post is that coyotes aren't ALWAYS bad to the deer hunter, and sometimes they can even be helpful if you can force yourself to think that way! If anyone else has some similar stories go ahead and post 'em up here. There's no better time like the off season to put all the pieces of the previous seasons puzzles together! ...and a few short months later that buck wasn't so lucky when he ran into the baddest azz predator to ever step foot on his turf.....ME,lol

I hung a new trail cam yesterday.

All natural casings on that venison sausage stuffer!

Cool shot! Definitely a coon. If you click on the pic it opens the image to full size..., and you can even click it again to zoom in for a closer look. Must be a new perk that came with the forum upgrade!

That's a helluva nice buck and a pretty sweet shot! Getting them in your view finder can be just as exciting/addicting as hunting them. He's just as impressive in a picture frame as he would be stuffed. Glad he took the first step to your wall!

That woodchuck is DY-NO-MITE! Love the idea of floating around with the camera to get close to the critters! Hate the thought of a camera like yours being admired by carp and catfish. Great set, but be careful out there.

Just noticed, no "preview post button" in the reply box. I used to use that a LOT when copying multiple image codes and smileys to make sure I had it all right before submitting.

What category are those posts coming from....general chat....deer hunting....guns and politics...etc...? You may NOT be subscribed to or following those particular threads, but you may be subscribed to that forum section. I didn't realize I was following the "Hunting related pictures" section of the site until new posts just started showing up in my email since the update. Click the number beside the "follow" box above the reply button at the top of the page to see if your listed. If you are, you can remove yourself to stop the email updates. Oh yeah, one more thing..... quit being such a meanie,lol

Hopefully we get the recent topics list back soon. Everything else seems ok on my end, but I'll need to start taking avatar pics through a spotting scope to fit the round crop format.

I was going to say nice pics but that's not gonna be a popular reply,lol I doubt you were expecting to see momma yote bringing back a mouth full of lettuce and carrots for the pups at the den now were you? JMO- but I get bored looking at trail cam pics of deer all the time. I think this set of shots is great!

One word......BUG-ZAPPER!

Man, what a bummer. Sure hope they're able to keep the doors open so his legacy can live on. Such a great place he made available to the public there.

You know, I thought that picture looked familiar but I couldn't remember from where. That's pretty sweet to have your fish showcased in the Sunday paper! Congrats again to you both!

Was a slow week for critters so I didn't venture off to far. Edited some old pics, took a few new ones around the yard, and practiced some different technique. First time I ever got a shot of one of these guys from 4'th of July weekend. Have seen my share of them, but they don't usually sit still long enough for a good photo opp. This one's just a re-edit from spring that I just got around to fixin' up. Got a nice hummer this morning to start my day off right,lol After I blew the roof off their cozy home under the eve. Predictable dragon fly kept landing on the gladiolas. Ferocious tiger lily. Layers of leaves shading my dried up waterfalls made for a good B+W. Messing around with some "zoom blurr" and ol' glory. Not as easy as I thought it was gonna be.

Not really sure anymore, but it's definitely a possibility. I'll be sure to check him once he's cut up into meal size portions! I really thought this one was gonna be a lot better than he is the first time I saw him so he kinda threw me off. I know of one better buck in the area so far, but have only seen him once earlier this summer. Clover recently got cut and they're not coming to it the way they used to so things have slowed down again for another week or two.

It''ll be easy to keep track of him this fall! Just follow the reports of guys falling out of their tree stands in the area! What a tank!

The fruit trees here are hit or miss again this year it seems. Some are loaded, and some are bare. I was at my buddies over the July 4'th weekend in South Dayton and EVERYTHING was producing massive loads! Berries, apples, pears, crabapples, rasberries, strawberries... One of his neighbors got into raising bees this year so that may have something to do with it. Unfortunately his dog likes to eat them off the lawn clover, and it's almost impossible to walk across the grass bare foot without getting nailed once or twice on the way to the pool, so the colony may be in jeopardy,lol

At least they're quiet, and not a bunch of party animals that keep me up all night! Used to be a family of frogs down there, but they croaked,lol

Just for te hell of it, here's a not so good side shot to confirm same buck. It was getting pretty dark and my camera was struggling.

Me and my beers all strapped in and waiting for deers tonight...

While I don't believe he'll explode into a slammer, he'll still make the shooter roll this fall! It's definitely the same buck due to the mark on his shoulder. If anyone demands proof..., I have that at my fingertips and willing to supply! So cool watching them progress. June 21'st... July 10'th...

If it's any consolation to you, I really like that pic! Cute shot of the little bandits out on a limb!

See Larry..., you screwed up when you upgraded her from the washboard and wringer to that fancy machine,lol