Backyard hunt

[Soonerlongbow]

Well, I guess it’s closer to being my side yard, but just got done adding a feeder and stand to it for the kids and me to use. I’ve got some camo netting that will be added to it as well. And knowing my cat, he’ll probably come over and hunt with us as he has in the past.

Anybody else got a stand in the backyard?

[hessian]

Started brushing in my blind today. You can see my house to the left of the blind.

[SlowBowKing]

No setups that would qualify as in the yard, but several are within sight of the house once leaves fall, and I can hear my wife and son talking lots of times when they’re walking the dog in the driveway. Does that count? 

[Eric Krewson]

This is the view of my little food plot as seen from my deck, I have a ladder stand about 25 yards to the right of the plot and plan to put a lock-on on the left for a different wind direction.

I never hunted the plot through the years, just watched deer on it but last year with my old body ailing I hunted it but let everything go until late in the season.

I twisted my ankle really badly last Nov and couldn't walk in the woods, it took 10 months to heal somewhat. In late season I needed a deer so I popped a doe on the plot from my deck with a modern rifle. I could drive my tractor right up to it to load it.

With my hunting opportunities dwindling away from home I plan to hunt the plot and the rest of my 4 acres this year.

Here is the plot from my deck and from my ladder stand, the other picture is of my ladder stand, it was chore to get that ladder stand up by myself;

[Soonerlongbow]

No setups that would qualify as in the yard, but several are within sight of the house once leaves fall, and I can hear my wife and son talking lots of times when they’re walking the dog in the driveway. Does that count? 

Counts to me! Like I said my cat hops my fence any time I have tried to hunt over there. Even had him in my lap with my kids on either side of me when a big bobcat came out almost exactly where that feeder is sitting in the picture above. Our 4 acres is separated into 3 plots in a T shape, two single acres on either side, with 2 under a single fence and the WMA is the back fence.

[Huntschool]

Back yard hunt you say.....  Yea, I can do that.....

[Soonerlongbow]

Been hunting near of over bait for over 12yrs out of 29yrs hunting. Number of deer: 1. Not stick bow, not wheel bow, bang sticks, etc...
One all together, and that one was with my PSE Nova. People say the same about using minnows, live bait guys say the same about plug fisherman. I suck at fly fishing but love it, don’t get me started on what diehard fly fisherman think of “the other guys”. The list goes on and on. As the saying goes, opinions are like (fill in the blank), and they all stink.

[Huntschool]

Sounds like deer shooting boys. There’s nothing bout hunting over bait. If it’s legal and you’re so inclined God bless ya. Just call it what it is.
Imagine our heroes, did they throw out bait?? If they did would their accomplishments impress us? What if a guy was baiting ducks, turkey? Years ago deer baiting was frowned on the same way. The manufacturers got non archery equipment into archery season and bait just to sell their garbage.
This isn’t to personally go after anyone btw but we can’t make excuses for unsporting behavior even if legal.

When you are fortunate enough to live in a very rural area pics like mine are something you see normally.  The box the deer has his nose in, in the one pic I posted, is actually a bunch of suit and bird seed for the birds just to be clear.  Deer seem to like the seed.

Having grown up on 120+ acres in very NE Bergen County (NJ) in the 50's through the mid to late 60's we had deer in our yard and on the property close to the house all the time.  Back yard is not baiting....

I posted my pics as a joke to the OP...  Nothing more.

[Terry Green]

We don't allow bashing of people for doing something legal. C'mon guys, y'all no better than that. 

[Terry Green]

Bowguy, please don't try to justify, it is what it is.

I hope you understand and continue to enjoy the sight. 

[reddogge]

When I had my 6 acres among lots of acres surrounding me I had a ladder stand and ground blind for years and also had another stand on my neighbor's property next to me. One thing I did was to talk to all of the surrounding neighbors about recovering wounded deer and none objected. They all don't die on your property.

I moved three years ago but still hunt my old property and neighbor's property.

[Sam McMichael]

I never have hunted the back yard since I live in town, even though I have seen some nice deer. But when you can shoot an arrow and nearly hit the county court house, it is not a good idea to hunt there. Now that I have land of my own, several stands are in view of my son's house when the leaves are gone. I have taken one deer from one of these stands and hope to take more. I used to have a clover plot that literally came up tp the side of my son's house.  That was abandoned, because the deer were also eating his wife's flowers. I never hunted over it, though.

[Yellah nocks]

Given the state of things, this year I placed a natural blind setup behind my house. If things go "fffft!" I can very quietly harvest what I need to feed my family. 15 yard shot to where the apples land. And its a major travel corridor for seasonal deer movement. The other portion of my land becomes a deer yard in deep winter. It would take true hunger to take one at that time, but at least I have that possibility offered to me.

[Jerry Gille]

We built a house on 40 acres we bought in the middle of the woods 10 years ago.  I used to think it would be neat to hunt near the house. I have 4 stands within 100 yards of my yard on 3 sides in fact right now. The problem is that live with these animals and see them everyday now. 1 doe and 2 fawns, 1 doe and 1 fawn, 1 lone doe, 2 nice bucks, and 1 spike have been in the yard alot - the does and fawns are daily visitors. We watch them throughout the year as things change. I can't hunt them - period. They are worth more to me out my kitchen window than hanging in my shed. I have since come to learn that it is not the experience I am looking for so hunt elsewhere when I want to kill.  I wake up every morning and look out my bedroom window for them. You guys shoot away.  For me, yard hunting isn't the rodeo I am looking for.

[Eric Krewson]

I have a few deer that hang out around the house that I name, I don't bother them. My place is a travel corridor, plenty of anonymous deer passing through and it gets real crazy during the rut, bucks show up chasing that I have never seen before.

[Red Beastmaster]

My ladder stand is two good flight shots from my backyard. It's in the woodlot across the neighbors field. I can see the house when the leaves are down.

The mountain I see out the front window was my stomping grounds all my life. Now, it's mostly all posted. And what isn't posted is over hunted. I see way more deer near the house than up in the big woods.

My local deer are far from tame and are perhaps more alert than usual. I've killed a grand total of two deer in the woodlot in 30 years of trying.

[Eric Krewson]

I know there are areas where the deer act like park deer, you could probably hand feed them with a little effort. Not so here, my neighbor has about 30 acres of hay fields, it is not unusual for me to see 15 or 20 deer in his fields when I go over for a visit, as soon as they see me walking down his driveway, even if they are 300 yards, away they skedaddle as fast as they can. These are highly wired deer, this morning when I got up there were 3 does in my back yard, when I turned on the kitchen light they saw me through the window, they stared for a minute or so and left in a hurry. I hear a lot of gunfire around during deer season, these deer are conditioned to not like people one bit.

These deer do a good bit of damage to everyone's flower beds and gardens, the only people who feed them are people who will be shooting them out the back door once they get under the feeder.

[degabe]

My cousin has120 acres of woods with his house built about 150 yards from the road. The front forty is a sanctuary where nobody hunts and the deer know it. Every year his wife tells him and his son and grandson about the bucks that were hanging out in the front yard while they sat in their blinds.