Getting creative in ND Final update 12-12 20

[beemann]

I live in the prairie pothole region of North Dakota.  Its tough country to be a traditional bowhunter.  I have all the Wensel's books and all of Roger Rothhaar's stuff as well.  I dream of hunting the type of country they write about.  But where I live is different.  Its home and I make due and we have whitetails...  I have an 80 acre crop field that gets rented out.  It has a couple of potholes that have water in the spring and one of them has a rough hill that they cant farm.  All together its about a twenty acre patch of cover.  I have hung a camera there since buying it and I get some random pics but nothing consistent.  I have racked my brain for years trying to figure out how I can draw deer in more consistently.    I live on an old railroad system that has old telegraph poles that the deer have rubbed for years.  Some look like the classic hour glass after years of rubbing.  This spring my neighbor cut down the remaining poles so his spray boom  would clear.  Something clicked in my head and I decided I would transplant one to my 80 acres.  Did I mention there isn't a tree within  2 miles....  So this April I sank a pole in front of my camera and felt kind silly doing it. The first time I pulled the card I was pleasantly surprised.  Every deer that came by checked out the post. 

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[beemann]

[beemann]

[beemann]

So as summer goes on it just keeps getting better and better.  I should also mention the field was to wet to plant so it has a heavy cover of weeds. So one day Im going in to pull the card and a buck gets up that makes me swallow my tongue.  I could tell he was good and I prayed I had pics of him.  Couldn't get home fast enough.  Yup he was on camera.

[arrow30]

shoulda put a longer one in,  you could have hung a stand on it.

 really good thinking! 

[beemann]

Yeah never thought of that.   So now I have a buck I know i want to hunt  Next step is to get a blind in there.  Ive taken a few deer outa the bale blind so thats the way we are going.  I also decided that I would hang a licking branch on the post for a little added pizazzzzz.

[beemann]

Little smokeys deer lure and bingo  bucks started hitting it immediately.  The only thing that bothers me is that I was getting daylight pics and now he has gone nocturnal.  Ive never set up back there so nothing was ready till I went in in mid august.  Wish I would  have had everything ready in may.  My hope is that he will relax and start showing up again in daylight.  Our season opened  on the fourth and I sat it one night.  I had a chance at the 4x4 but couldn't do it thinking the big guy was going to show.  Ill keep hitting it when the wind is right,  who knows its hunting no guarantees.  Im just happy it worked better than I ever imagined.  Did I mention Im a whitetail nut???  Good luck to everyone this fall. 

[beemann]

Its crazy how many different bucks are hitting it.... 

[Crittergetter]

Now that’s thinking outside the box! That’s usually what it takes to get it done !
Good luck !!!!!

[kennym]

Great idea!  He will be back out in daylight as the rut gets closer.  Does check the licking branches too so there will be deer there!!

[Roy from Pa]

Awesome idea, best of luck this season.

[dnovo]

If it’s any consolation I’ve noticed that at the end of August maybe the first week of September the bucks I’ve been getting on camera just disappear. I may not get another picture of them til November. That’s been consistent for several years.

[kennym]

Daniel , I’ve seen same. A buddy with a plane watched two great bucks all summer. They moved 2 miles when the velvet came off. He flew til he found them , not to hunt them but to see how far they went...

[BAK]

Very sharp idea.   

[MnFn]

I thought about building a big round  bale /blind. But never got around to it. Good luck, Bryan.  I haven’t been out yet.

[ron w]

Great idea, best of luck....!!!

[Bow Bender]

 I have seen power poles with the same hour glass look in areas where there are plenty of suitable live trees to rub on.  Maybe the creosote smell has something to do with it.
 When I lived in North Dakota I was told that the state bird was the mosquito and the state tree was the telephone pole. Maybe there's something to that. 

[beemann]

Here is a pic of the original pole behind my house.  I had a camera on this for 15 years got some neat pics.  It got so worn down that It was going to break.  I pulled it out of the ground with intentions of using it on a pedestal mount some day.  Sank another treated fence post in the same spot and they won't touch it. 

[elkken]

very creative, good luck 

[TxSportsman]

This is awesome. Good luck and keep us updated.