5 pines farm 2012 semi live

[LITTLEBIGMAN]

the fog would roll in and out and sometimes it was hard to see the food plot. After about an hour I looked over my right shoulder up in the food plot and could make out shapes, lots of them approaching.  The turkeys were back. 21 hens walked past in the food plot. Feeding and making soft content sounding noises.

The fog got much worse as the afternoon progressed. Finally with about 20 minutes left I started to make out the backs and legs of deer in the food slowly feeding in my direction. One of those big does was in the lead and following her were three smaller ones which I took to be her fawns. Several other deer were further back , one a small buck. The doe started to walk out of the food plot in the direction of the mowed trail . But she was all ready well past me .Something caught her attention and she stood erect with her ears focused to the north. Suddenly she turned and was walking back towards me. She was halfway between me and the food plot coming from my left going to right and i thought a shot was going to present itself, finally! But as she moved in my direction she picked up speed and when joined by her babies she went into a trot and she was just moving too darned fast. I never got the bow back to even attempt a shot. She disappeared into the fog, leaving the small buck and two other does in the food plot feeding. They stayed there till it was too dark to see them any more and I heard them take off when I began my decent down the tree.

[coaster500]

It's great to see all the successful game shots but more often than not this thread is hunting.....  Ever learning and paying your dues so that those successes mean something. This thread really strikes a cord for me. This is Traditional......  

Thanks for spending the time Jim


   

[LITTLEBIGMAN]

thanks Kip and its been my pleasure!

Rain rain and rain bah humbug!! The snow is all gone. Unable hunt today because of the rain this am and family holiday stuff this afternoon. But I hope to be in a stand tomorrow afternoon.

I am down to the final 2 weeks of the season. Good shots have been hard to come by that's for sure.

[Macca]

Jim i have sometimes taken good game in the final days of a hunt . You have portrayed the whole experience not just the highlights and to me that's what bowhunting is all about.

 I hope I get a chance to hunt that kind of country one day that you hunt every day .Thanks Jim for sharing your moments .

Cheers Macca

[shadman]

Jim, this has been a great thread. Thank's for taking us along. Still plenty of snow up here north of you, course with the rain the last day or so it's now crusted over. It kills me sitting here with a messed up ankle but that's what stupidity will do for you. As my dad used to tell me " If your going to be stupid, you better be tough". Evidently even at my age that still applies. Good luck these last two weeks.

[Hopewell Tom]

The thing I like about this thread is how much I'm learning from your efforts. You bump deer, they wind, hear or see you, but it's still business as usual the next time out. You keep hunting on your land. I used to worry that the deer were patterning me and my movements.
But I just want to hunt on our land, no driving, just out the back door. Like you do. I can see now that it's about having prepared a lot of places over the property to go to. Making more options for myself.
Thanks for taking the time to share, you've changed things for me and next season. Maybe next year it'll be my turn to share!

[LITTLEBIGMAN]

hey Tom! sometimes deciding where to go when you have a lot of stands set can be a problem. But I always try to hunt opposite sides of the farm  on alternate sits so as to not wear out a spot or over educate the deer as to the spots I sit. Sometimes the older ones figure me out but it is so much fun to keep trying!

[Cyclic-Rivers]

Jim,  I am hoping you have more action, snow is in the forecast, good luck!

[LITTLEBIGMAN]

I decided to hunt up top one more time before giving those deer a break and chose to sit in the Possum stand tonight. The first deer I saw I actually bumped out of the food plot as I was walking up. I was just cresting the top and saw three heads over the other side. I dropped to my knees and knocked and arrow. Two were busy feeding a short 25 yards away , the 3rd a fawn had caught me dropping and was walking slowly towards me to check me out. It didn't take long before the other two were concerned with the lump in the field that wasn't there a minute ago and off they ran.

I got about 60 yards from the stand and got the rest of my clothes on and then slowly crept in to the cedar and up I went.

It was very still and grey and smelled like it could snow. Just at dark I could make out shapes moving through the rocky weed field that I mow just once a season. They were 40 yards or so East of me slipping by heading to the food plots. Damn! Once again they come out not on a trail and in a spot where there is zero chance of a shot.

So I waited until I thought they were far enough out in the field before I moved as I knew I would be bumping them on my way out and wanted them as far from the stand as possible . I bumped several in the last light as I made my way home.

Since the snow is gone and I can move quietly again I will be giving it a try somewhere in the am

[Burnsie]

I am so PO'd that I didn't start following this thread from the beginning. For some reason when I saw the title back when the thread first started it just never clicked with me and I never clicked on it.  I did today, and now have spent several hours going through all 49 pages to get caught up.
Jim, what a beautiful, wonderful property you have, a little slice of heaven.  Thanks for all the time you have put into sharing with everyone. It has been fun following your adventures as well as inspiring to see your obvious passion for hunting and your love of the land.

[LITTLEBIGMAN]

well what can I say other than you are very welcome

With the snow gone I thought I'd try to sneak to a stand up top this am. But with the freeze and thaw seesaw we have had the top inch of soil is so crunchy its like walking on peanut shells the whole way. While it was nice to be out in the am again, I saw zero deer this am . So I am hoping for some snow again soon!!

going to try my luck up in apple alley this afternoon. Hopefully something will be moving before dark

[LITTLEBIGMAN]

Welcome to tonight's episode of dumbest moments in bowhunting!

It started snowing today about 10 am. Not hard but enough to give us about an inch by the time it was right head to out.

Jayne had counted 6 deer in the turnips behind the farm yesterday when i was hunting the food plots up top. So with new snow and a wind out of the north, it was perfect to sneak into the stand in the lower part of Apple Alley above that food plot. Before leaving the yurt I grabbed a light colored coat from the cedar chest. This distracted me somewhat and I neglected to grab some important articles of clothing off of the drying rack next to the wood stove.

I ever so cautiously made my way to the tree stand and set my pack down. I had most of my gear on except the final layer. Upon opening the pack I discovered my neck gator, face mask , heavy stocking hat and out balaclava were MIA. S$$T.  too far and too late to turn around and go get them.

up the tree I went. Now this tree is not the most quiet stand to get into. Its rather high as it sits in a hole and I have to be 20 feet up to be 15 feet above the deer's heads.

Any way after getting up there and hauling up my bow, screwing in the bow hanger ,Scraping off the icy crust on the seat of stand I sat my self down. I was trying to think about what to do on the missing clothes. See my head gets cold really fast and 90 minutes with just a light stocking hat was going to be a problem.

[LITTLEBIGMAN]

I was wearing one of Terri Asbell's hooded wollins. The hoods are really generous with the material . I had just sat down, heck I had just climbed up so I pull the extra fabric of the hood down over my face and shut my eyes.

After just a couple of minutes at the most I thought "this is really stupid". I pulled the hood off my face and below me was a doe, followed by her big buck fawn, followed by a huge doe followed the her three fawns! They were ten yards away! S$$T!!!!

The only one that caught the movement was doe #1. She stopped looked up and we locked eyes. Her fawn bumped into her rear , who was bumped by the big doe and so on and so forth! The other 5 deer deer still didnt know what was going on but the first deer started to turn away. Then the really big doe got nervous , turned tail and trotted up the side hill to the timber. They milled around waiting for the big doe to lead the way and finally she picked a trail that went up and over the bluff.

The really crazy thing is besides never hearing a sound , those deer walked into the stand the very same way I did minutes before. I can't figure out where they were when I was on the ground and why they didn't see me.

Those 6 deer were the only deer I saw too!

[Cyclic-Rivers]

   

[coaster500]

Arrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrgggg!!!!


   

[Margly]

This is a great thread!

[LITTLEBIGMAN]

Business and a blizzard not only kept me out of the woods this week it actually kept me from getting home!

I finally got back a 4 pm yesterday just in time to watch these deer in the turnips behind the house.

 

I was watching from inside the house which is on the far end of the field and to the right behind that little rise

[LITTLEBIGMAN]

So early this afternoon I climbed in to the stand where early in week i had 6 deer under me when my face was um sort of covered up!

Early on 2 bucks came trotting down the bluff to my left and headed on down to the field. About one hour later 7 or 8 does came off the steep bluff to my right and headed on down too. Eventually there were 13 deer in total down there and not a single deer within 50 yards of me and I was allegedly in the funnel!

here is my view looking down towards the food plot.
 

tomorrow am i will loop around top and try to get above them in the hopes that there is some early day time movement

[Kingsnake]

AWESOME!  You are livin' The Dream, My Man!      

Kingsnake

[LITTLEBIGMAN]

It was just another great day to be in the woods!