Five Seasons

Interesting because I too had bucks show up on 2 different properties, 3 different cams this morning. Some decent ones too. Still early before shooting light and only one tweener around 7:30. But after weeks of pretty quiet cams, it was a nice morning. Oddly had deer moving Friday night in the high 70's lol. Yearling bucks and does but still surprised me.

or you could be like me and shoot mechanicals not through shoulders? haha just busting balls. great job man!

Thanks all. spent the morning relaxing, the afternoon putting in a stand with the old man and the evening with the family out to dinner and games. Couldn't have had it any better.

i had an 8 point come up on in me in november dragging out a doe, talking with my dad without a care. Horny deer will do crazy shit. Heck sometimes all that racket will actually attract them. they're curious... until they've been shot at haha.

I agree, I've never used a dripper. The key is the licking branch and on or near a run. If you really want to go to the next level, you can create or use a sign posting route. Notice when you scout and find natural scrapes that if you keep walking the run or route you'll find another not that far down the road. I like to use scrapes to maybe attract that shooter buck to move to where I want him to for the shot I want, instead of veering off or heck, not stopping at all!

We find the same in the workplace. The most severe injuries are generally complacent workers and not the new hires who are trying to follow all the rules and processes.

raise your hand if you've ever moved a stand or sat a different one after being out of range only to be out of range again haha.

again, pee and orbital gland are not the same thing. Nobody needs smokey's to be successful, but it's out there for those who are interested. YRMV

So I think it's important to really put into context that "moving a stand" can mean vastly different things. For example, a stand i'm putting in tomorrow will be super simple. Maybe one branch trimmed with a pole saw, a few snips on the ground and i'm done. A stand I put in the spring included felling a tree with an 18" chainsaw and about 2 hours of lane clearing and trimming, plus the approach trail. I agree with both you and phade that we may overthink deer and that moving or putting up a stand if needed shouldn't be avoided, just that not all moves or installs are created equal.

yeah worth every penny for the lighter one. I used to hike a mile or more round trip through the national forest in mississippi. It may not seem like much until you've been hiking for a bit, even 20 will take its toll. (i know some military guys are probably laughing at that) haha.

well from your stories, i think you and i hunt different "types" of properties. And I never said one shouldn't and couldn't do mid-season work. Just that if it could be avoided, that would be ideal. i think we've both said our peace.

100% agree on comfort. Nothing beats my viper sd. Only time it was ever an issue was when I misjudged the tree width and had it at too great an angle or not far or close enough to the seat. I agree that I became a really good climber hunter, but it takes practice. I still used it last year and still use it bear hunting. I stand by my feelings of not carrying 20 pounds is better

I'm not sure we're talking about the same thing. I'm not the "just out of range" guy. My setups rarely have this happen. What I'm talking about is a previously unhuntable 20 acres now becoming huntable. As you know, it's important to leave some area alone too. While I don't have enough land to have a sanctuary, I do have enough to leave some bedding area that I don't hunt at all, or only hit once or twice under perfect conditions. Point is, for high pressure areas I can kill smaller deer and doe without much effort. But the mature bucks will go nocturnal quick. Hacking a trail through a bedding area in November isn't a great strategy and you can't convince me otherwise. Moving a stand 100' to the east is a different story. I'm also an obsessive planner and prepper, which is to say if timing was different I would have done all this hacking, slashing and trimming in the spring or early September. But that's not the cards I was dealt and I was just sort of talking out loud regarding how it wasn't ideal. that's all.

no, it comes with a dropper. I put 2 or 3 droppers onto the licking branch. yeah shit isn't cheap lol. Oribital gland is different than pee. But it doesn't expire and I have the same bottle still half full from last year. I refresh my mock scrapes until the deer start hitting them, when they start hitting them I leave them alone. So hopefully by mid October i'm done messing with them. It takes longer for "new mock scrapes". Some of the ones I have that have been in the same spot for years don't even need a refresh. Typically I'm refreshing on any visits pre-season and then the first few hunts or so... if that.

I hunted for 2 years out of a climber and I agree that I love their flexibility. They're also a little louder and sweatier, so they're not perfect. They also require a certain type of tree. I think when and where you use climbers is significantly impacted by where you hunt. When I used a climber it was a lot of open hardwoods. Where I hunt now is all heavy brush and thick. Sure I could shimmy up a tree, but I'd have no shot without clearing lanes. At the end of the day, I have 36 acres to hunt and right now there's a ground blind and 4 stands. I'm putting in 2 more this weekend and next year will probably add even more. There's also no reason to use a climber when you can install hang ons. Heck I even used a climber last year because it was my first year hunting the property and didn't want to put the effort installing stands when I wasn't sure where the best places would be. Now that I have a better feel, i can be more "permanent". There are no definitive rules. Do what works best for your situation.

So my situation is odd. I leased property a week before the season which game me access to some areas that i didn't have in the past. I guess I pride myself in getting the work done early and leaving the areas alone, that's the why. Of course to your point, like any "game" you need to adjust and to not adjust your stands based on cam data or sign is like continuing to run the ball when it's not working. Like I said, I'm doing it, but generally I like to be prepared and low impact. Putting up a stand or 2 can be low impact on a field edge, but could be a little messier if there is long approach trails or cutting. It'll be nice if it rains saturday night like they're saying.

smokey's is like crack. Highly recommend it. Here's a pic of a home made scrape. Basically what we do is find a natural licking branch. If one doesn't exists you can bend a sapling or branch to make one (needs to be alive) and zip tie it into position so the deer can reach it. If there's nothing else available you can tie a string and use a freshly snipped vine or even a rope and put some of the smokey's orbial on it. Let it drip into the scrape. Make the scrape with a hand rake or stick. Pee in it or use some scrape mate. Might take a few times to freshen it up.

I have back to back work trips this week and next. Might be the longest stretch I've ever gone with bow and not hunting, but the weather isn't playing along so I'm good with that. I might even put in a new stand this weekend which is something i've never done during the season.

I even have home made licking branches where I use a vine I can find and tie a rope across and hang it. Use some smokey's eye orbital and it works wonders.

honestly if we're going to get warm weather, this is the best week or 2 to get it. I was disappointed today to find that the browning cell cam I was having trouble with today that would just "die" on me and then restart with a battery tray eject will not power up at all and has been dead for 5 days. Currently on minute 20 of hold. Also pulled some reg trail cams to find 1 absolute giant and some shooters. Everything right now is 3-5am, which isn't surprising.

I’m not throwing in the towel, but it’s warmer, foggier, muggier and buggier than I’d have liked. With the canopy still so full and the ground so wet it’ll be a miracle if I’m prepared for a shot. Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk

So I think something else happened here. a mechanical opening mid-flight is unlikely to make that big a difference at that range. Longer? sure. I can't say i've practiced shooting open mechanicals though. Do you think maybe you hit something being on the ground that you didn't see? Possibly messed up the anchor points shooting from the ground? idk.

my tomatoes are still cranking and i've neglected them for weeks. Just picking but they've spread out to a jungle. Have a few butternut squash still growing and some eggplants. Peppers still cranking too.

I have a bin, yes a bin of the cams I've owned over the years. I don't know why I keep them other than I thought if I ever needed dummy cams. Anyhow I needed to make some room and found this beauty at the bottom of the pile. Oh man the good ole days haha.

of all the 3 or 4 makes and models of spy points I've owned, only 1 didn't give me troubles and the reviews of their cell cams didn't help, I stayed away. Their id software does sound like it's cool... if it works.