Cabin Fever

You're gonna LOVE it!! ;D I just put up a tower stand a couple years ago, for when the kids go with me and as a place to go when the weather is nasty. I almost feel guilty! It'll be snowing, raining, blowing, and freezing, but I'll be inside with my Buddy heater all toasty, warming up soup and coffee! NICE!!

My concern is visibility beyond a hunters intended target. It's hard to pick out a hunter up close in good camo (have you seen some of those camo commercials?), let alone be responsible to do that at 100-200 yards away through thick woods. If someone is shooting at a deer, it's a whole lot easier to see a hunter in orange that may be out there 100-200 yards beyond that deer in the potential line of fire. When you see the orange, you don't shoot, and wait for the deer to get out of the way. If that distant hunter is in camo, then you won't see him. That slug or bullet could miss or go through that animal and hit the other hunter. Screw that! My life is WAY more important to me and my family, than that animal is that I'm hunting.

That plot sure is getting some use!

Bushnell Trophy Cam

This buck came out of no where, never saw him before!

Yes, that's from my Bushnell Trophy Cam. I got a lot of scrape videos from last fall!!

Came across some scrape videos from last fall and thought I'd share. Haven't tried doing a video yet on this site, so this could be just a "test"....

I was trying to find a Hunters Safety Course for my daughter. Came across a listing on the DEC website and thought I'd pass along incase anyone else might be interested. http://www.dec.ny.gov/outdoor/9191.html

Yeah, just an extension ladder. I'm not handy enough to build stairs, but I'm going to find someone that is! I would LOVE to have some stairs for that!

I certainly put in my time! I just checked my journals since 2001 and I've been going on 40-65 hunts (130-170 hrs stand time), between bow, shotgun, and muzzleloader season. The majority of my time is spent on stand. When my son is with me during gun season, we might put on a couple small drives to eachother. I typically hunt mornings, but also some mid-day, and afternoons.

I found a couple pics of the tower stand with the blind up. I have since bought a bigger blind.

I just went out this afternoon. I want to hang 3 more stands before season. Just trying to pick out the exact trees now. Plenty of time yet!

I guess that depends on your deer density and other available food (near ag fields?). I planted 1/2 acre 2 years ago. I was told that the deer would wipe it out and there would be nothing left for hunting season. It grew ~waist high and I had to look hard to find any evidence of browse! They did hammer it in the winter though and dug down through 2+ feet of snow to get to the bean pods. It probably helped that there was a 10 acre ag field of soybeans ~200 yards away, but they seemed to leave mine alone until the ag field was cleaned up. I've heard nothing negative about the Eagle brand soybeans and hope to try some next year.

That pretty much sums it up for me too! Plus how empty my freezer is!

The tower stand overlooks some foodplots and crossings between 2 thick, jungle-like, bedding areas on each side of the stand. Here are some pics of the view from the stand.

Here's a tower stand that I made 3 years ago using the Elevator brackets. It's 16' tall to the platform and the platform is 6'x8'. I put up a pop up blind on top that fills the platform and is 90" tall. I secure it to the stand before hunting season and take it down after. Everything blends in so well, that it's hardly noticible with the blind up either. I thought about enclosing it, but being where it's located, I'm a little concerned about it being so big and top heavy, fearing it might blow over sometime. I keep a Buddy propane heater inside and also have a propane burner. Sure is nice on the nasty weather days to be able to stay warm and dry! It's great for when the kids go with me too, so they can stretch out and nap, eat, move around, talk, stand to stretch, read, play Gameboys, etc... Helps keep them occupied on those slow days. Since the blind is 90" tall, its nice for me to be able to stand straight up to stretch and move around also.

WOW! The #'s sure do vary! I guess I'm not the only one that doesn't see much then! I don't understand why though. My property is situated right between 2 thick, jungle-like, undisturbed bedding areas. I'm surrounded by ag fields and apple orchards, plus I plant 2 acres of food plots that are way back off the road undisturbed. And I also have little to no hunting pressure on the surrounding properties, where I also have permission to hunt. I dunno...

They are both awesome bucks! Knowing they are out there will help you get out of bed on those cold mornings when you feel like sleeping in!

Have you planted turnips before? I have in the past, but the deer never touched them.

Very cool! That bear has a big 'ole head on it!

Those are some great looking bucks!! Those pics sure are nice and crisp too! What kind of cam are you using?

Funny you should ask! In the past 2 winters of doing this, I haven't gotten ANY (ZERO!) pics of crows!! I was thinking about how odd that was that I haven't gotten any crow pics at all. I don't know why. I put the carcass and scraps under a pine tree, just to keep some snow off of it. Don't know if maybe they can't see it from above or what? I'm NOT complaining though! I have gotten a few redtail hawk pics though, but they can make some cool pics themselves! I agree that that big boy sure looks a lot like a wolf!

Holy CRAP!! That's about what I see in an entire bow AND gun season combined!! And I spend a LOT of time hunting!!

I've been keeping a hunting journal now for the past 9 years. During bow season, I 'average' seeing 1 deer every 3hrs of stand time. During gun season, I 'average' seeing 1 deer every 9hrs of stand time. This might not sound too bad to some, but these are averages over the season. If you think about a doe a two fawns strolling by one morning, that's 3 deer, so I might not see anything for the next 2-3 outings! OUCH! It kills me to watch shows on the Outdoor Network and have guys saying they saw 100-200 deer that hunt, or were covered up with deer all day, or there was a constant parade of deer coming by all day, etc... I wonder if they know or appreciate how good they have it? What do you typically see on your hunts??

I've tried just about everything now, but I haven't been impressed with the little attention my plots have gotten over the past couple of years. Seems I'm competing with the surrounding apple orchards and ag fields, so my little 2 acre (total) plots just don't seem to have the drawing power that I'd like. Those sweet rotting apples are like candy to deer and everyone knows how they love corn and soybeans in the fall and winter also! This years fall plots include: 1 acre of Winter Rye/Austrian Winter Peas/Oats 1/2 acre of Dwarf Essex Rape/Groundhog Radishes 1/2 acre of Clover/Chicory What have you found to be the most attractive fall plot?