cwhite

If I don't get them right off the roost, I find have better luck from 9 - noon. Seems the hens are sitting and the Toms are moving. I walk and call and when they answer, they seem to come in quicker than in the early morning too. Good Luck. I finally get to go tomorrow morning...

For whatever reason, I thought there was some sort of law used to protect water supply saying that you can't just bury a dead animal anywhere. I know several farmers who have "grave yards" set up in specific area's and usually only cover their dead animals with hay or sawdust. They never actually bury them.

If you don't want to go through the hassle of getting atrazine you could try tilling and disking the ground. Don't plant your corn and let the weeds come in and when they are a few inches high spray them with round-up. Give it a few days and then plant your corn. It won't make your field weed free but it will give the corn a good head start on the weeds that do come back. I know of a few fields that have been done this way and they turn out looking good. Spraying with atrizine is best though.

Planting dates depend on the gestation period for the corn you choose. If you're not selling the sweet corn I wouldn't plant it until later in May. You want to make sure that the hard frosts and heavy spring rains are done. If your corn starts to grow and gets hit with a frost you will likely have to plant your field again. If you put your seeds in the ground too early and we have another wet May then you run the risk of your seeds rotting in the ground. (although most seeds nowadays are pretty tolerant of a good soaking) Most sweet corn is anywhere from a 60-90 day gestation period. If you plant the last 10 days of May you should have corn ready to eat in late July to early August and the kernels will be dented, hard and ready for deer by mid to the end of September.

I bet it didn't snap his neck. It looks to me like it landed on him and pinched him between the ground and the tree trunk, kind of like a stanchion, while the the other limb pinned his shoulders down. I have a feeling that this deer died a horrible agonizing death. There are millions of deer in the world. Odds are that a deer, at one time or another is going to slip up and get himself killed Darwin style. I've watched a large tree limb fall into a field no more than 15 yard away from an old nosy doe and she didn' t flinch. Soon as I tried to itch my nose.....

It's a double edged sword. A benefit to an easy winter is it allows winter yard and feed area's to regenerate. A problem is the deer that shouldn't have made the winter this year will survive and be another mouth to feed next winter. This will likely put added stress on the yards next year, providing a normal winter, leading to a larger than normal winter kill.

Same here. Saw one last night carrying a 3 point side. Couldn't tell if the other side was shed or if it was broken off.

If someone from the EAB program arrowed the deer would that have been ok? Taking this buck is kind of like trying to bunt for a base hit in the 9th inning of a perfect game. Cheesy play but legal. If the hunter feels it is a trophy then so be it. May not be to most of us but this shouldn't be a debate any longer.

Like I said, I hear the same argument from each and every person I know who rely solely on a bait pile. "It's the same as a food plot." It isn't. Not even close. Ignorance is all that comes to mind. JMHO

You obviously sit a bait pile. You make the same argument that every single hunter that only sits a bait pile makes. There are several differences. A couple of them are the behavior conditioning that a bait pile does to a deer that a naturally growing food plot doesn't do. i.e. watch the hunting shows in TX and after the feeder spits the corn watch the deer come running. Food plots provide 24 hour a day, 7 day a week feed for the life of the plot. Bait piles are feed in a limited supply and once it is gone it only returns when the baiter shows back up with that 5 gallon bucket of apples, corn, and carrots. Other than the concept of providing feed to deer they aren't the same.

I've got 4 cameras out and will have until the end of January. After a snow fall I will go brush them off and I have to change out batteries much more frequently. Nice thing about winter pics is the trails are very defined when the snow is deeper. You don't have to guess where they are traveling and you will get a very accurate idea of what is left. If you are a shed hunter, it gives you an idea of when and where to start looking for shed antlers too. I don't run the camera's much from February through April because I don't own stock in battery companies and don't feel like buying 36 AA batteries each week. Besides, most of the antlers are dropped by then too. I start up around the last week of April to see where the Toms are strutting.

I prefer to take a doe that is either real old or real young. (1.5 or 6+) I like to keep the prime age does around as they seem to have the healthiest fawns. I've read research that shows that a doe fawn will hang with her mother for the first year and a half of life. Once bred, she will move her home range away from her mothers. That means she will likely be off my hunting property. Not sure if its the right way to do things, but that is how we've done it and its seemed to work well for us. A dry doe is fair game at any age.

Doc, after working with a dog for the past several yeard, I understand how scent works and travels. I know enough about scent to know that there are several myths and wives tales in the hunting world. I know what makes a dog work and I'm certain it is similar to a deer. I'm certain that a deer recognizes a difference between something that has been there vs. something that is there. My dog can. You put 10+ cars in a line. Lay in each trunk for a length of time and then hide in one. My dog will nail the one with you every time even though your scent is in all the other vehicles. Just curious, how many times have you been outside in your yard and seen deer while the wind blowing at them?

I agree with you on that Joe. An animal can distinguish the difference between residual odor vs. when there is a source of odor. Not to mention age of odor. I'm sure deer classify danger and how close it is. On several occasions I've seen coyotes on one end of a field and deer on the other. The deer keep a close eye on the coyotes and then once they are gone they go back to feeding. I'm guessing the only help the scent suits and sprays provide is, in theory, they can reduce odor to a point that deer think the human threat is further away than it actually is. Completely eliminating odor isn't possible.

I've handled a human detecting canine for several years and I can tell you one thing... The only way to beat his nose is to have the wind in your favor. A person can climb 50 feet in the air and that just means we will find the scent from further out. It will be harder to follow your scent to you, but the dog will definitely know of the human presence from much further out. Scent is heavier than air and drops. Wind speed will dictate how far out your scent will travel before it is at ground level. The faster the wind the further it will be before your scent drops. Makes me wonder how many times a person is winded before they see the deer because their scent is dropping off further than their view. At ground level with no wind your scent will not travel too far away from you before it stagnates and pools on the ground. Obviously the longer you are there the further it will travel. The only fool proof way to beat an animal who depends on its nose for survival is to be downwind. As far as the broken branch; it was full of your epithelial cells. That is what the deer smelled and caused them to spook.

I'm pretty certain this kid will be paying for some time. I'm guessing he will be indicted by a grand jury for felony theft charges. That is exactly what he is, a thief. Not a poacher or over zealous hunter. He broke into a business and stole merchandise. Restitution will most likely be a part of his plea agreement. I wouldn't be surprised to see him in jail where thieves belong.

Zeke, was the deer ok or not?

Yes, most likely that deer is fine even with the temperature ranging up to 57 degrees. Don't run it out to the coyotes without consulting a butcher first. But then again its hard to tell without looking at it in person. I can only assume that by posting the question online 'Zeke' didn't notice the smell of decay that would definitely indicate it was spoiled.

You are most likely fine. I like to hang a deer a minimum of 7 days. With ideal conditions, I will go 9-10 days. Obviously the warmer or colder it is outside the shorter time frame for the deer to hang. You don't want it warm enough for bacteria to start the decay process and you really shouldn't let it freeze solid as a brick either. Keep the deer in a garage out of the sun where conditions are somewhat regulated. Speak to any experienced butcher and you will find that aging is the key to good meat. http://www.fieldandstream.com/articles/other/recipes/2006/01/deer-hang-time

Just think.......a couple extra steaks and little more stew meat out of that 5 legged beauty.

Every buck is a trophy as long as it is 160". If you aren't killing 160" deer then you aren't killing a trophy. Don't fool yourself.

I've seen a couple smaller bucks chasing does. The ladies aren't too receptive just yet and watched one old girl rear up on her hind legs and slap the snot out of a small spike a couple nights ago. I haven't seen anything older than a 1.5 year old chasing. Seems like they're always the first to chase.

Now stop and think.... Of course we make plots for our hunting benefit. Use some common sense for Christ sake. How ridiculous would it be for a hunter who has a plot to say he/she didn't intend to use it to improve their odds of taking a deer, bear, turkey, etc....? The argument you are getting isn't that you are trying to ban a food plot, it is that you equate a food plot to a bait pile. They aren't the same. Not even close.

No BS here. I plant food plots to have a bigger and stronger herd to hunt. We have 6 of them. Some are for hunting and others are designed to give starving deer a break in the winter. One thing for sure is that there is a huge difference between food plots and food plops (bait piles). It is all about conditioned responses. Bait piles and automatic feeder’s condition deer to respond to a specific area. They are usually piles of "candy" with little nutrition. You determine how much feed is there, when it gets there, and how long you are going to keep feed in the spot. Basically you are rationing the deer. Ever watch a hunting show where corn is scattered around? Frequently you hear the hosts talking about the deer showing up 15 minutes later. Same thing happens with your bait pile. The deer behavior is conditioned much the same way Pavlov conditioned dogs. Even if the food plots seeds are found on Jupiter (exaggeration), once they are planted and established in an area they become as natural a food source as the overgrown apple orchard, the farmer’s alphalpha field or the planted stand of oaks. Other than the initial planting there is no human intrusion. The feed is there 24 hours a day 7 days a week for the life cycle of the plants. I can speak from experience. In the past 5 years I have seen an increase in body weights, antler size and fawn mortality. No one can make those claims from a lone bait pile. But, to be 100% honest, the food plots are there to aid in my success in the deer blind. If I didn’t hunt they wouldn’t be planted. (I would probably have a yacht with all the money I would save) One thing for sure, they are much better for all wildlife than a bait pile.

Dave, I was absolutely joking with the use of cull. Joe, if you are the deer expert you profess yourself to be you would agree. Are you one of those guys who will argue whether the sky is blue or not?