Cabin Fever

Just toss it over the edge. It won't spook deer. I whiz in my mock scrapes every year!

Bobcat?

Oh that brings back some memories....!

The best thing I have used on a ground nest is to dump some Sevin over the hole. The bee's get it on themselves when they crawl in and out of the hole and carry it down into the nest. EVERY bee using that nest will be dead in 24-48hrs!

I like having several stand locations. Every year, I have 10-12 stands up and ready to hunt any time the mood strikes. My feeling has always been, I don't want to over-hunt a particular stand, so I like having several stands to choose from. I feel that these stands are in promising spots and if I spend enough time in these stands, I should be successful. I commonly keep trailcams set up near stands in the fall, so I can see what is going on when I am not hunting there. Every year, I get pics of deer active around stands while I'm in another stand, classic "cat and mouse". Every time I hunt, I struggle and wonder if I'm choosing the best option, as I have so many to choose from. When I don't see anything, I think, "I should have been in that other stand". Every year, I question if I have too many stand options and I'm not devoting "enough time" to each stand? I don't have the deer population that many of you do, so it's a crap shoot whether I'll see anything, no matter which stand I choose. If I spent more time in each stand, I may increase my odds... Ever run into this dilemma?

I moved a cam to a trail intersection last week and noticed that there was a scrape there. There wasn't a leaf in the scrape and it had several hoof drag marks and tracks. Since it appeared active, I didn't do anything to it. This is a common place for a scrape each fall, but I've never seen one there this time of year before. This is the nicest of the 3 bucks that visited the scrape.

September is notorious for me for getting stung by ground nesting yellow jackets, while giving the plots their last mowing. Actually, last Sept, I got stung 30+ times as I disturbed 3 different nests! That sucked!! I'm skipping mowing this Sept, as I started having flashbacks of last Sept, and don't think the plots looks "that bad".... Don't recall ever being bitten by a spider. Hope the bite has eased up for you!

Pulled into camp yesterday and saw my "poultless" hens again pecking around in the yard, 10 yards from the cabin! Now, there's 5 adult hens running together and not even one poult with them!! WTH??

Cool rack!!

Hunter Attention Deficit Disorder (HADD)!! I can't stop thinking about my to-do list, where to move cams to next, scheduling vacation, and the upcoming season in 3 weeks! These cool temps and changing/falling leaves aren't helping my condition at all either! I have my to do list on my desk and keep looking at my aerial photo's to see if there's any stand opportunities that I'm missing. The last thing I can focus on is work!

Is dumb-ass an option?

One thing that I think even scent conscious hunters neglect to consider, is their breath! Especially, coffee and cigarettes, but also garlic and onion breath! I don't notice coffee breath much (as I drink it), but to my wife, who doesn't drink coffee, she can smell coffee and coffee breath a mile away! I can smell a pot of coffee brewing half way across the building at work. Another benefit of playing the wind, I guess! If anyone wants to volunteer to test out fox urine mouthwash, let me know!

WOW!! I sure as hell wouldn't want to be the person at the "bad end" of that thing!!

I haven't fur trapped for many years, after the fur prices went into the toilet! (Well, between that and it interferred with my bowhunting too much!) A neighbor use to trap my property, so I never had to worry about trapping to thin out the predators. He hasn't been around trapping for years now and the raccoons are raising hell on my property, as they have gone unmanaged ever since. I plan on trapping raccoons this fall, I'll just need to find a tactful way of doing it, as to not disrupt the deer movement/activity. A guy just started buying furs right on my to my property, so it'll be convenient to drop the critters off to him on my way home each night. Even if the furs aren't bringing much, it'll pay for my gas at least, and I really need to thin the raccoons out anyway! Never got into fox or coyote trapping. Sure would like to learn how to trap coyotes though!! Someday.... This site is a good resource for trapping in NYS http://nytrappers.proboards.com/index.cgi . Trapperman is another good site/forum that I sometimes go to. http://www.trapperman.com/ I'm sure Youtube has lots of videos also that will show you how to make various trapping sets. Enjoy!!

Don't think I would want to sit in that blind with my camo on! Even if the deer got accustomed to that smell in that spot, your camo would reek of moth balls when you hunted another area! Plus, this smell would be foreign to roaming bucks that are moving through the blind area during the rut! Screw that! I'll take mice anyday over stinking up my blind or hunting area!

Looks like a big dog.

I just try to keep my clothes and boots as scent free as possible and play the wind. I wash my clothes in the scent killer unscented laundry detergent, hang outside for a few days to dry and air out, then store in garbage bags. My boots have been hanging outside now for 2 weeks to get any odor off of them. Right before season, I'll store them in a garbage bag to keep them as scent free as possible. I put them on right before walking into the woods to hunt, then immediately take them off as soon as I get back to camp and put them right back into the garbage bag. I'll spray scent killer on them and if walking past a swampy/muddy area on my way to the stand, I'll walk through it and drag my boots through the mud. If hunting some stands that I have near crabapple trees, I'll stomp on an apple and grind the bottoms of my boot on it.

You got it!! Gotta print that up and put it on my desk!

Phades story goes along with my point/fear. Taking momma makes the inexperienced fawns way more susceptible to hunters, as they just don't know any better. Can they "survive"? Sure, if they are allowed to. Will they "thrive" and be as wary of a creature as they should be? No. They haven't had a sufficient amount of time with momma to be taught about survival. If I see a deer during late gun or muzzleloader season, 90% of the time it'll be a fawn(s) by itself/themselves. Momma has already been taken and they just don't know any better to lay low and to move after dark, like the adult deer or fawns that still have momma. Again, taking momma away makes the fawns more susceptible to hunters later. I've found many times that the fawns will stick around in a close proximity to where momma was taken. If you wanted meat bad enough, you have a pretty good idea where you could go to and at least shoot a fawn. These little guys have ended up in my freezer many times in years when I haven't had much success. This post wasn't intended to be turned into whether its OK to shoot fawns. I just feel that taking the doe away from her fawns too early is a kiss of death, in one form or another, for many fawns.

That is a neat rack!

That's also not a little spotted fawn either... Momma could have been off just getting some lovin too.

As I was reviewing some trailcam pics from last year, I came across one that was taken on Sept. 17th. Man, that fawn sure was little! Got me thinking that there will surely be some spotted fawns around in early October, as I usually see some faint spots still visible in mid-October. I know they are weaned by Oct. 1st, but I also know they still have a lot of survival skills (hunting season, first winter, predators, changing food sources, etc...) to learn from momma yet. It's only 2 weeks earlier than the typical opener, so it shouldn't make any difference, but they're just so dependent on momma right now. I'm not 100% sure if my conscience will allow me, regardless of my desire for venison in the freezer? I hate to think that me being selfish, may be the kiss of death for these inexperienced fawns. I suppose I could be more selective with my does during the early season and target the yearling does from last year that I have around that don't have any fawns. I have a few of those around... This pic was from Sept. 17th 2011, only 2 weeks earlier than season opens this year...

Damn, you got a good crop of nice bucks this year!!

Where in the world did you hear that?

I have 2 single serving sized packages of tenderloin left and 7 pints of canned venison. I've been rationing my canned venison to make it last all year! I like to have some to have on hand to have during hunting season, as it makes such a quick, easy, and delicious meal after a long day of hunting!