G-Man

be interesting to see if the fawns white wears off.... or stays..

Definatly call the dec and get ot removed, I have a 10 in long purple scar from the sap which is photosensitive, it has to stay covered or it burns everytime its exposed to sunlight, its the result of accidentally grabbing a unflowered plant while climbing a creek bank.

A lot depends on the camera, a fast shutter is good for trail set ups, slower is better for a feed area,scrape, overhead licking branch., where the game is more likely to stay for a period of time. Inside corners of fields,a corner where cover changes(pine to hardwoods, swamp to woods. if your setting on trail do not set at a 90 to the trail, i dont care how fast the shutter is you will miss game. a 45degree or less is better. I do not like to set up near my stand locations, as you can never eliminate all scent. dont face into rising or setting sun direction. as it will cause poor pictures. clear the area in front of the camera of objects that may move in a windstorm and set it off. grasses/goldenrod/branches for example. I like to set my camera lower than most as i like to see the smallgame as well as deer.As for hight 2 ft or less for me is not uncommon. 30-36 in is about right for just deer.,

the rut, you can throw the wind right out...i hate..yes hate hunting the rut. Deer are much more patterenable before and after, and i can set stands according to predominant wind direction. everyone loves calm wind days for hunting but there are thermals and constant wind shift that are very suttle. A good 5-10 mph predominat wind takes care of a lot of that. and my biggest deer are shot with high winds 15-20 or more. The reason everone says to stay in your stands all day in the rut is because deer are totaly unpredictable at that time. ...with the exception if you have a hot doe in the area you will see bucks.... Hope fully those that put time in can get a jump on them bachlor groups this oct 1 if they get the season open then!

i'd chain the stand in an upright position ( unusable) and remove bottom steps or section. the bugger will steal your steps if you leave them....

wwont happenthis year or any time too soon in my area, nys still needs a plan and they are slow only took 20 years to try to start to extend 219 ans thats stopped as well now...

i've seen them lose horns like that and have seen them keep em. guess it depends how well its still atatched...

what are you looking to plant would be my next question, some seeds require a lot of prep work, others do not, not to mention are you hunting over the plot or planting it for cover/ nesting habitat. soil test is a good idea, but you can also get pretty close by learning what kind of plants are growing there, yes those pesky "weeds" have soil preferences as well. A good field guide is a valuable tool. not only to help you identify wht you have growing already but what is taking over your plot after its planted!

#3 Acessability!!!! stand is no good if you spook every deer iin the woods/field to get to it ! it must have a good entrance / exits so you remain unnoticed. #2 funnel / pinchpoint if there is sign on the property and game is there they will go through this area! 1# Cam photos/ physical sign/ reliable source, the game you want has to be there in order to get it!

the problem with plots are besides wanting an equasion to give you a starting point, you need to ask yourself are you just trying to attract deer to shoot (baiting leagally arrording to some people) or trying to increase nutrition in the herd? they are done completly different, regardless of deer population... Most people plant small plots as attactants, A few delve into true herd management which is focuses more on nutrition

I believe some will permanantly relocate is there is room avaible in the habitat for them, but i agree that bringing lots of deer together in one area is a bad thing... like wintering yards in the far north,habitat destruction will occur.

Dec info is a good starting point for deer per acre but that is generalised, i can take 15 + deer off my property every year usually 10 doe the rest buck. but the buck take per square mile(640 acres) is 3.6 in my town there have been years where almost 20% of the entire town dec reported deer take is taken off my place...crazy but it happens . Every property is different and friends up the road a mile or so are lucky to see 5 deer all season. If you have cameras use them, identify as many different deer by your pics as you can. qdma has a section on doing a camera survey as well. My suggestion is still start small 2-5 acres and if need be expand to maybe 10. There are always more deer than you see. My experiance is in non-ag areas you will pull deer a long way. a buck i got 2 years ago that i had 12 pictures of was photo graphed all summer 3 miles away, but chose my property as his area for breeding season as the does are here for food. I doesnt take deep pockets to get planting,ag seed oats,and other grains are not that expensive,clover mixes are the most costly but can last for years and anything you do will be better than nothing!

nice!

Doc, a 24 acre field into a farm crop is a lot of work, i'd start smaller i would not recommend anything less than an acre for corn, soybeans or sunflower, or any other grain. I know winter wheat/rye can be used as an attractant but a little plot will be wiped out by just 1 or two deer. I have a high population where i am (despite my best efforts to curtail it) I planted an acre of sunflowers one year and only had 3 plants make it to flower. the deer ate the rest before they could get to that stage. . I would take the field and do 2- 5 acre plots making maybe 10 acres at most into food source, corners, and irregular strips would be the areas and shapes.A "over winter" crop of corn, brassica, winter wheat and at least one of clover, alfalfa,birdsfoot, or other perennial. do not just mow down the rest of the field as it is prolly golden rod/brush and will provide security as well as bedding/nesting for turkey and deer. . the field is 24 acres but the total property acrage is important. 24 acre in food out of 1000 is nothing. 24 out of 30? well now you have food but not much cover. I am close to your same situation, no farms left close by, had it great for quite a few years by having the only "crops" available. Had deer coming 3 miles in winter to feed on corn. Now a lot of hobby farms and food plotters have joind my ranks locally (heck i usually do the plowing for them). spreads the deer out a little more and reduces the size of feed field i have to plant to get carry over till spring.

Just another plug for the 45-70... there is a reason state troopers went back to 45 cal. from 9mm in their handguns.... PURE STOPPING POWER!! The 45- 70 at honest hunting ranges is a deer killer like no other. Should a deer run off due to a marganal hit the 45 cal diameter hole is a lot better than a 30 cal for leaving a bloodtrail. Plus you using the same gun that knocked down american bision at the end of the 1800's.. they are a lot bigger than a deer!!

too large has more to do with shape than size, a large square shaped 10 acre field will see less deer at its center than an long skinny 10 acres field. Probably has to do with escape cover being close by especially for daylight use. It has more to do with deer population, i have trouble keeping corn so there is enough to make it to spring green up. I have deer coming from up to 3 miles to get to the standing corn as there is no other food available in a normal winter. The benifit of this is in an early low food fall due to mast crops the deer come early to a place where they know has food. I perfer to have corn left in spring! i chop the field and the turkeys find it and the geese, ducks hit it hard on their flight north. The biggest thing is realize if you are planting for nutrition or as a kill plot to hunt over. There are a lot more kill plotters than nutrition plotters for sure,

yes 45-70 does drop quick but a good handload or lever evolution bullets will give you 200 yards. and honestly i feel safer knowing my bullet is in the ground at 250 yards rather than hitting a school bus , house, person . really how many honestly shoot over 150 yards on a consistant basis, or even have acess to a range that lets you shoot over 200 yards. i have my long range guns for my western outtings. but this is nys and at least in the areas i hunt in 150 yards is a long way to poke through woods/ brush. and the 45-70 doesnt deflect as bad as most high velocity rounds should a twig be hit..

browing blr in a large caliber 308,35 or 45 - 70 would be my choices, be realistic if your hunting woods with a chance at an open field from time to time, most lever (calibers) will be your ticket, giving you good accuracy out to 200 - 250 yards wiith 75- 150 prolly being your max range in a woods anyway. i love seeing guys sight in for 200 yards and miss deer they would hit with a slug gun with punkinballs at 50...lol

no by then they have deveolped their own skills and will either stay with it when they can (usually to busy with school, girls/boys , sports. college). if you establish good roots and then cut down the tree it will sprout again and grow, might take a few years for them to want to or find someone to hunt with but a good foundation will have been established

Well i alway thought we had democratic ideals in this country , latley i have been proven sorely mistaken time and time again. when 1 man makes a decision and allows no others opinions and sugesstions i wonder how our childern will survive in modern society.

As for taking a kid with you to hunt during the regular season im all for it ... unfortunatly there are many single parents out there who do not hunt, or have access to take their child hunting as they have to work,or the fact that the camp they belong to just doesnt have room to accomadate the youth and parents during the reg season as all the places are filled by adults. . the younger age this targets is a big step in getting kids involved before technology takes over their lives. a special weekend where only kids are in the field with parent/ mentor is in my opion a good attempt at trying to get them involved in the outdoors. As for what nyb has done im all for it but i still dissagree with their treatment of the crossbow. As you said there are other organization working toward this crossbow result and as a sportmans group i would think nyb should welcome them into the fold and not taunt/ bullie / slander their efforts. if they worked with them maybe we would have a seperate crossbow season instead of bickering over the bow season we have.

have a lot of black cherry that got bent from last snowstorm, support them if you can, mine are to big (tall) and look like they will be cut for firewood.

I would pot the little guys till 18in-2 ft tall. then welded wire fencing, not chicken wire (deer can push that in ad get to the buds). Small 1/4 in x 1/4 for a foot high inside a 2' 4x6 welded cage has always worked for me.

Looks good!

yep, i think the biggest "pressure" comes from seasonal , atv scouting trips, and all the wood smoke in the air 3-4 weeks before season. they get use to it if you live there but not when it pops up over night... seems everyone else is the pressure problem, it about high time we take alook at ourselves and out scouting/preperation rutuals... I say let the kids have a great hunt and maybe they wont get hooked on video games and such and learn to enjoy the ooutdoors a little..