Cabin Fever

I am always standing when I shoot. I pretty much only sit when I first get to the stand, to rest and cool off from the walk in. Then I'm on my feet when it is light enough to shoot. Or for an afternoon hunt, I sit for a bit when it's early and dead, then stand when I think it's getting "about that time".

Rage 2 blade for me also!!

That was sweet!! I usually grab my grunt call as soon as I can after the shot and grunt a couple of times. Sometimes they will stop and look around and either calmly walk away, reducing how far they will go, or drop on the spot.

I was taking a walk yesterday and noticed that the crabapple trees are loaded, BUT they are dropping already!! The ground was covered with apples!!

I LOVE those camo umbrellas that you tie to the tree above your stand! Those suckers work nice and keep you dry! I especially like it during gun season, so I can keep my gun out of the rain too.

I bought 3 of the two man ladder stands a few years ago, so I could take the kids with me. I've never been a fan of ladder stands, because I do feel like they stick out. Anyway, it does seem like the deer get use to them and it does help to camo them up a bit. Sometimes I walk into the woods and really have to look for the stand! They sure are nice and comfortable for those long sits though!! You can stretch out and with the rail around you, I feel safer too. That rail is a nice rest for gun hunting too! The one thing that bugs me about ladder stands though is that when I stand, I feel like I stick out from the tree because of the seat! I just bought a nice large ladderstand from Dicks that the seat folds up when you stand! I LOVE that feature! Then it gives you a huge platform to stand and move around in and you can lean back against the tree when you stand, so you blend in better.

I wonder if the DEC is planning on catching the critter to get it out of there? They didn't say anything in the video about any plans of capturing it.

Anyone interested?

GREAT slideshow!! That looks like a good way to thin the coyotes out! Do you do any calling also?

So I'm NOT the only one that does that??? ;D

Great pic! Very cute!!

Nice to see the hard work is paying off!

Has anyone seen any turkey poults yet this year? I haven't seen any or gotten pics of any on my trailcams either. I've gotten pics of 4 hens travelling together, but where the heck are the poults??

OUCH!!

Nice bucks! Those deer are lovin' the beans!

I think I would take a trip to the town clerks office to make them aware of the problem! If they forgot to add your tax ID#, she may be doing it to other people as well!

Trust me, it's very hard to plant anything that can compete with nearby apple orchards! My plots are back off the road in the center of my property, not bothered by anything. My hope is to plant something that will attract them in during daylight hours, maybe as they wait/kill time for darkness before heading to the orchards and picked cornfields or as a late morning snack on the way back to their beds. I've tried about everything. I'm going to see how the plots attract this season and if they are digging down through the snow to get to the plots in the winter, to see if I'll even bother with plots next year. It would save me a lot of money, time, and aggrevation if I didn't do it! I've been planting plots now for 3 years and the number of deer that I've actually seen feeding in the plots, I could count on ONE hand!

You're missing the best part! I get the best and most pics of bucks the first 2 weeks of November. Bucks that I haven't seen before all year, just seem to come out of the woodwork! I love having cams set up over active scrapes. I've had ~7 different bucks come through in a weeks time using a scrape. Unfortunately, 95% of the time it will be after dark! If it weren't for the cams, I'd never know, OR believe that there were so many different bucks in the area.

Great pics!! The bear and buck are very nice!! Those apple trees sure do attract around here too!

Have you been putting any scent in the scrape to get it started or have the deer taken care of that? I love putting the trailcams on scrapes in the fall and getting videos! Amazing to see how many different bucks are coming by using it.

I butcher my own also. We have no electricity at camp, so hanging time depends on the outside temp, but it's always less then 24hrs. I skin the deer, soon after it gets hung, as a warm deer skins so much easier. Then, if the temp is low enough, I will let it hang for up to 24hrs, cut how I want depending on what I'm going to do with the meat (steaks, canning, cubed for processing, sliced for jerky). If the temps are too high, I'll de-bone and loosely pack in coolers with ice or frozen 2 liter bottles of water. Or if I'm coming home that same day, I'll debone, loosely put pans (to allow air to circulate), and put in the refrig at home.

Hey, whatever it takes to get them out of the trees by bowseason is OK by me!!

Thinking back, not too long ago, about not having trail cams as scouting tools. Since I've been using trailcams, I've been absolutely amazed at the number of deer we get on game cams, that we otherwise never would have known existed! That's what helps keep me motivated, even though I may not be seeing much in the field. I KNOW there are deer around, and several bucks, even though I may not be seeing any while hunting. It only takes a hot doe, coyote, hunter, or a bucks hungry belly to get him up moving at the right time. Plus, it's a great off season hobby as well!

That'll help you get out of bed on those freezing cold mornings!

Great News!! Congrats!!