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I May Be A Crappy Hunter

AlexDad

AlexDad

Well-Known Member
TNDeer Supporter
Joined
Mar 26, 2007
Messages
942
Location
Lebanon, TN
I have a problem on my property and really don't know what to do. I don't know what the deal was with the hurricane but I went from 200 pics/day to 7-10 pics/week for a while there. My pics have started coming back but patterns have changed.

For example from the road access I own a driveway width sliver for about the first 100 yds and I park where it starts to widen. The way the boundaries are set up it is the only way I can get in. I have about 15-20 deer bedded at the gate. As soon as I pull up they obviously disperse like they owe me child support.

There is no way I can park and walk to where I want to hunt without hearing deer blow every 4-5 steps I take. Sunrise right now is about 6:40AM. I've tried getting there from 3:30 all the way to 6:00. Yesterday I parked at 5:58AM and there were no deer at the gate. I get to my tree and I have my headlamp on low and the setting angled down. It's pitch black and I looked up to hang stick#2 and as my head was going back down level I noticed in the light two green eyes on me.

Within seconds I hear blowing full circle around me. I know EXACTLY where deer are going to be in the morning. The evening is a bit of a guessing game at the moment - but - is my answer to stay out of the woods in the morning for a while and just hunt evenings and take my chances? Obviously morning isn't working.
 
AlexDad said:
I have a problem on my property and really don't know what to do. I don't know what the deal was with the hurricane but I went from 200 pics/day to 7-10 pics/week for a while there. My pics have started coming back but patterns have changed.

For example from the road access I own a driveway width sliver for about the first 100 yds and I park where it starts to widen. The way the boundaries are set up it is the only way I can get in. I have about 15-20 deer bedded at the gate. As soon as I pull up they obviously disperse like they owe me child support.

There is no way I can park and walk to where I want to hunt without hearing deer blow every 4-5 steps I take. Sunrise right now is about 6:40AM. I've tried getting there from 3:30 all the way to 6:00. Yesterday I parked at 5:58AM and there were no deer at the gate. I get to my tree and I have my headlamp on low and the setting angled down. It's pitch black and I looked up to hang stick#2 and as my head was going back down level I noticed in the light two green eyes on me.

Within seconds I hear blowing full circle around me. I know EXACTLY where deer are going to be in the morning. The evening is a bit of a guessing game at the moment - but - is my answer to stay out of the woods in the morning for a while and just hunt evenings and take my chances? Obviously morning isn't working.
Click to expand...
Similar thing on mine.
 
AlexDad said:
I have a problem on my property and really don't know what to do. I don't know what the deal was with the hurricane but I went from 200 pics/day to 7-10 pics/week for a while there. My pics have started coming back but patterns have changed.

For example from the road access I own a driveway width sliver for about the first 100 yds and I park where it starts to widen. The way the boundaries are set up it is the only way I can get in. I have about 15-20 deer bedded at the gate. As soon as I pull up they obviously disperse like they owe me child support.

There is no way I can park and walk to where I want to hunt without hearing deer blow every 4-5 steps I take. Sunrise right now is about 6:40AM. I've tried getting there from 3:30 all the way to 6:00. Yesterday I parked at 5:58AM and there were no deer at the gate. I get to my tree and I have my headlamp on low and the setting angled down. It's pitch black and I looked up to hang stick#2 and as my head was going back down level I noticed in the light two green eyes on me.

Within seconds I hear blowing full circle around me. I know EXACTLY where deer are going to be in the morning. The evening is a bit of a guessing game at the moment - but - is my answer to stay out of the woods in the morning for a while and just hunt evenings and take my chances? Obviously morning isn't working.
Click to expand...
What is there that attracts them? Food, cover? Whatever it is, recreate it where you want them. I have just over 7 acres that I hunt, they would stay very near the top where I park, and like you, they scattered when I got there. I put a salt lick down at the bottom and plant a small plot there too. Took a few seasons but they got the idea.
 
Omega said:
What is there that attracts them? Food, cover? Whatever it is, recreate it where you want them. I have just over 7 acres that I hunt, they would stay very near the top where I park, and like you, they scattered when I got there. I put a salt lick down at the bottom and plant a small plot there too. Took a few seasons but they got the idea.
Click to expand...
What attracts them to where I hunt is an overabundance of acorns. As far as why they're bedding 30' off the road I have no idea. It's not like it's a typical bedding area. It's the neighbors front lawn that stays mowed. So they bed at the gate, but on the other side of the fence on a neighbor's property and I can't do anything on their property.

As soon as they disperse they basically walk back side by side with me as I go up the driveway onto my property to their breakfast nook.

I've tried prehanging the stand and camping so I was already close and I could just wait on them. When I've tried that they just don't even show up.
 
AlexDad said:
What attracts them to where I hunt is an overabundance of acorns. As far as why they're bedding 30' off the road I have no idea. It's not like it's a typical bedding area. It's the neighbors front lawn that stays mowed. So they bed at the gate, but on the other side of the fence on a neighbor's property and I can't do anything on their property.

As soon as they disperse they basically walk back side by side with me as I go up the driveway onto my property to their breakfast nook.

I've tried prehanging the stand and camping so I was already close and I could just wait on them. When I've tried that they just don't even show up.
Click to expand...
The neighbor feeding them? I did the overnight thing too, I even bought campers to park there because the truck and me opening the gate is what spooked them. Now, I just come in early while it is still dark and try to be quiet as possible. I always get deer though, but when they spooked off early, I had to wait until they, or others, would return later in the day. I used to bushhog a bunch of the tall grasses, now I just I clear established trails and sometimes a small clearing in the middle of the tall grass to entice them to seek cover there, seems to work.
 
The couple guys I let hunt one came and hunted a couple weekends ago. He parks over by the house and sneaks in. He setup right by the gate and saw 14 deer that evening and they were in a 360 degree circle and there was no down wind "that's what I gathered from our text" so with a bow there was little chance. I woke up this morning and looked out the bathroom window and a big ol doe was just standing there eating acorns. I need some deer meat this year and I try to be a sportsman but they are going to bust me just walking out the back door. I'm tempted to just take the couple I need from the porch while in my garden plot that caused me not to have a good garden this year. I should have added while he hunted 4 or 5 does were around his truck.
 
AlexDad said:
I don't know what the deal was with the hurricane but I went from 200 pics/day to 7-10 pics/week for a while there. My pics have started coming back but patterns have changed.
Click to expand...

A deer survives primarily on woody browse. Acorns, fruits, etc. are all supplemental to woody browse. Think leaves and bud tips. Given that a deer can only reach around 5ft max, that puts most of that food source out of reach. That's one HUGE reason deer love thickets & clear cuts & stream bottoms & ditches. From a deer's perspective, the hurricane literally rained food down from heaven and left it laying everywhere. What went from them being on a pretty defined food to bed pattern suddenly went to no definition or confinement at all. That's why your cams went dead.

Then as those branches begin to die or their buds & leaves got consumed, acorns started to fall. Another food raining from heaven event. But unlike woody browse, acorns are full of tannic acid that if consumed without watering down & flushing through, will cause rumen acidosis in deer which upsets their stomach or in severe cases can kill. They love acorns but the more they eat the more water or lush greens they need with it. What you're seeing when you pull up to the gate is deer that have been gorging on acorns all night long and then finishing off with your neighbor's green fresh grass shoots, and laying down to chew their cud in the cool grass under cover of night before heading off to their daytime bedding area. That's what you're interrupting as you pull in before daylight.

My suggestion would be hunt evenings and if you do hunt mornings then go in after sunup. Once season ends go in and really scout your property hard with focus on understanding how the deer use it, why, and when. If possible and applicable perhaps do some creative chainsaw work over winter to manipulate the property to be more hunt friendly next season.
 

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