5 pines farm 2012 semi live

[BoonRoto]

I have enjoyed reading this from the start through the course of theseason, thanks for taking the time and i hope you get your doe, you have more than earned it!

[LITTLEBIGMAN]

We are down to the wire well almost.  The deer were on the feet all day today. At noon I was watching 6 does and a 10 point in the turnips. When my wife drove down the driveway returning from town they scattered every which way back into the bluffs. So deciding where to go is a real head game. Then once you decide getting to the spot with out alerting them all is a huge challenge.

I decided to try and sneak into the stand in lower apple alley since I had been watching deer in the food plot in that direction all day. I decided the direct approach was best . I walked along the left side of the turnips. Realizing everything on the right side bluffs would most likely see me and hopefully nothing on the left. As I rounded the edge of the field I could see one doe on the far end feeding, ( its 1 30 pm). She saw me and ran exactly where I didn't want her to go.  I decided to stick to the plan and made it the res of the way to the tree with out bumping any more deer. It was a long and eventually cold afternoon. About an hour before sun down 4 does came off the bluff to my left and headed on down to feed. They went by me at about 80 yards. By the time it was dark I could count over a dozen deer down in the field but not a single deer passed through apple alley.

Its going to be quite cold in the am but we are planning another push. Hopefully if a deer goes by my fingers will be warm enough to shoot.

[tracker1]

I hope you get a shot tomorrow Jim,  Good luck.

[guzzi2000]

Hello Jim hope you had a nice Christmas. It's 4am here in Wi and I couldn't sleep. This is Barry's friend Steve and I recognized the pic of the yurt and realized who was posting. You sure have a nice spot. Good luck with the hunt and maybe I'll catch you at Sparta in the Spring.

[LITTLEBIGMAN]

I knew it had to be cold out today when I had to feed the wood stove in the yurt last night about every 2 hours ! I purposely slept there because i knew if I was in the house I would look at the temp outside  and baby out.

So I left the yurt with a very bright moon setting behind the bluff on the 23. The ice crystals on the tree branches were like a zillion diamonds glittering just for me. The snow where stepped on before was very squeaky so as I made my way up the bluff I did my best not to step where I stepped before.

I got to the email stand at 7:10 only slightly sweaty and quickly put on the additional 2 layers of wool in my pack. I climbed up and settled in for a long cold morning.

when 9 am arrived and i had yet to see a deer I sent Jayne a text asking if she had seen anything on the push. She answered that she had over slept and didn't go. I asked her to make a shorter version of the normal push and to go now if possible.

At 9 30 I began to see deer running through the woods below my spot on the bluff face. Shoot  normally they will come up the bluff at a brisk walk rather than running. But this time a dozen or so deer went flying through the woods below as if a 20 man drive was in process. I guess Too much pressure is causing them to spook. I'll not push them again this year and will just sit the late afternoons near food and hope I get lucky.

when I got back to the house Jayne said that it was 1 above F at 8 am.

[Robhood23]

Way to keep at it! I sat in the cold this morning  and the deer were really moving! I decided to take one this morning in the cold and was rewarded with a nice little 8. Keep at it brother!

[LITTLEBIGMAN]

Plenty of deer sightings this afternoon . The closest was a spike buck at 15 yards. But all of the deer were on high alert. I was picked off visually 2 times and winded once. A total of 8 deer sighted. Long day, cold day!

[coaster500]

[Cookus]

     As my father has always told me, tomorrow's another day...  Go get 'em!   I predict back straps on the grill tomorrow evening   !

[LITTLEBIGMAN]

Let me apologize for the brevity of last nights post. I was cold, fatigued and frustrated! Squeaky stands, fickle winds and errant head movements kept scaring all the deer away.

I stayed in this am and caught up on work. We got about 3 inches of new snow today.

 

[LITTLEBIGMAN]

In the above photo that's the turnip field in middle bottom With Rattlesnake ridge on the left and Inspiration point on the right. In the saddle you can see my logging road going up from the food plot. To the left of the road is the dry creek and to the left of that a brushy funnel on the edge of the hidden valley I call Apple Alley.

looking back at the farm house and the bluff on the 23
 

[LITTLEBIGMAN]

I got into the Squirrel's Tail stand around 2 pm. The new snow made it a noiseless approach but when I got 20 yards shy of the ladder, A deer got up out of its bed about 60 yards up the ridge above me. I could see at once it was a good looking buck. Big body and a kingly crown on top. He stopped once or twice to look back at me but I could only see bits and pieces of his rack through the snow covered branches
 

[LITTLEBIGMAN]

The afternoon passed pleasantly. It was quite warm. around 22 F for a high. It snowed very lightly all afternoon.
 
at around 4 pm I started seeing deer filtering into the field from a spot about 200 yards to my right. There are two ravines there and the deer traffic is quite heavy. I counted a total of 10 deer. I have tried various trees in these two ravines but since the wind usually blows up the hill in this spot I have never been able to hunt there and not get winded.

Eventually I spotted one and then another deer coming my way from the bluff above me but their path was going to take them past me at a distance of about 45  yards. I think the first was a fawn and the second the doe. Neither deer was very large. I hoped they were just the first of more deer to come down my bluff but the day ended without any further deer coming my way. As I stood between some trees in the gathering dusk I counted 12 deer below me in the turnips. Tomorrow after the morning hunt I plan on taking down one stand over by the badger stand that we moved back in early December and trying once again to find a tree where I won't get winded near the ravines they all came out of this after noon. Perhaps I will see something not noticed before and the wind will work for me this time

[Whip]

As this winds down for you we are all still right here pulling for you Jim!  
Late season can be a blast.  I watched 8 deer pass a couple of my stands this morning.  But I was watching from the kitchen window.  :rolleyes:  
The local deer have a pass from me for the rest of this season, but I do still miss hunting them in the snow.
Sure would like to see you find last minute success!  

[Cyclic-Rivers]

 

Jim,  you have had a great season, good luck as it starts to wind down.

[ti-guy]

[LITTLEBIGMAN]

The full moon lighted the way this morning. No flashlight required! I decided to sit the north end of the farm just because I hadn't been there for a while and perhaps something would hit the clover field and then head up the bluff to bed. But the only deer sighted were two does on the other side of the valley working their way up that bluff to some hidden spot to bed.

At noon I took down the one stand over by the badger tree but as I surmised finding a tree suitable where all the deer were coming down the bluff wasn't happening. I almost decide to do a ground blind near a brush pile close to the deer trail but the reality of how the wind works here kicked in and common sense won out. no point constructing a blind and sitting it if the deer wind you 100 yards up the hill

So  at 2 pm up the hill I trudged to hunt the west side of the food plots , hoping a nice doe would come up the west bluff. The snow is now deep enough that several trails on the west side are starting to look like troughs . The one in the middle goes past my tree at 15 yards.

The sun was still above the horizon when I spotted the first deer. A doe was coming from the south and I noticed it has a severe limp. It was slowly working its way through the food plot headed my way. It could not put any weight on its left rear leg. I decided if it was on the very edge of the food plot I would risk a shot. Its between 25 and 30 yards which is long but not impossible. But as it approached the spot in the plot where it would be broadside to me it had angled more to the center of the plot making it more like 40 to 45 yards. I watched it until it got to the point where I knew it would wind me. While its back leg didn't work, its nose worked just fine and off she limped to the East.

The next deer came from the same way and was a 6 point buck. He got to the exact same spot in the field and trotted off tail high in the air.

Just at Dusk that big old doe with the triplets and last years doe fawn  also with a fawn came  browsing my way. All 6 noses shot up at the same time! I am starting to think that  big old doe will die of old age. I don't know how many times I had her at 40 yards or closer and I haven't even gotten close to killing her.

So not a single deer came up the bluff the way I had hoped for tonight. I'm down to the final last two days!

[Robhood23]

Jim have you ever tried nose jammer? I tried it this year and had great results!

[coaster500]

nose jammer??

Hang in there Jim....  


 

[LITTLEBIGMAN]

oh so very close tonight. It should a happened except my brilliant play worked against me.

It was zero degrees F this am and I shamefully stayed in bed.

Three nights ago in the Bwana stand i noticed a string of deer come up into the upper field and it looked like they came up right behind another stand I have at the East end of the field.