5 pines farm 2013

[LITTLEBIGMAN]

the stand is a two man ladder in a giant of a tree. An 8 foot ratchet strap barely made it around the trunk!

   

after climbing in I let a few milk weed fibers float on the breeze and everything seemed perfect. It was cold and quiet. There was a lot of squirrel movement but not much else! Greys, Blacks and Foxtails! I heard one distant deer snort very far away. After 3 hours my feet were cold . So I pulled the camera chip and headed in. Looking thru the photos I didn't miss anything today. Not a deer has been in the plot since yesterday AM. But here is a great photo of a family group from last Thursday.
   

[pitbull]

You are a lucky man Jim, enjoy all your hard work and thanks for the effort to share it.    

[LITTLEBIGMAN]

outing #28. Haybale ( AKA how to screw it up without really trying)

ok so I have been striking out lately on my stand selections. Last night while I was up top Jayne from the house watched half a dozen deer in the beans by the bale. So I headed down there early this afternoon. Since it was over cast I thought the deer might move early. AS I approached the blind I decided to get rid of that last cup of coffee before stepping into the blind. Rather than dig out my plastic bottle I decided just to pee in the edge of the field. I was about 15 yards from the blind.

Around 5 pm I heard a deer run into the field from my left. I set my book down and picked up the longbow. A 2nd deer was just at the edge of field in the tall grass and entered as well. They were at the opposite side of the field from the bale. After about 10 minutes one was directly across from me and it thru up its head.  Gave a snort and up the hill it ran followed by the 2nd and a 3rd deer as well that I hadn't seen.


What the heck?

One hour later two yearling bucks came trotting down the hill and into the field. Again they are on the opposite side of the field. There is no detectable wind. Up go their noses and up the hill they go. They stop about 40 yards up and stand there staring down into the field. They stood motionless for 20 minutes before trotting off. Ok now. I am wearing dark clothes. My face is both painted and partially covered. I have on a black hat and black gloves. I was not moving . I had even covered the end window with a new bit of burlap to darken the blind!  I am starting to think its the pee!

Then 30 minutes later the big doe with twin fawns I almost shot 6 nights ago here enters the field. She is coming my way and is at about 20 yards and angling towards me. She is slightly quartering too when suddenly she goes all stiff!! she foot stomps , snorts! and she is staring directly not at me but to the right of the blind exactly where I had peed 2 and one half hours earlier! She whirls , crosses the field and runs 20 yards up the other side and stands there staring back at the field!

Now it is clear to me she could not identify the smell as that of urine from a predator or a man. But clearly she knew it was not from another deer. It was just enough to set off her alarms and kept me from getting a shot. I  wasn't thinking and it cost me.

[Cookus]

Thanks for taking us along Jim!   I look forward to your commentary each day.

[Hopewell Tom]

I don't carry a bottle with me, but may from now on. I also try to relieve myself a ways off from my immediate hunt area, but who's to say that's good enough? Good lesson here perhaps.

[coaster500]

That must have been frustrating especially with that much deer movement!!!

[Chuck Janssen]

Lesson learned Jim. Must have been something in the coffee? Saw some doe fawns, But the cool part of the day was seeing a red tail hawk take down a gos hawk and the fight on the ground. The red tail eventualy won and flew away with it's breakfast.
Good Luck!!

[LITTLEBIGMAN]

outing #29  Sure thing.

I was unable to get out this am due to early morning commitments. We had one of those special fall days. With early morning cool temps followed by bright blue skies and a light breeze out of the NW. All though I had sat this stand two times this season I had not sat in it for an evening hunt. You need a NW wind to do that and I got just what the doctor ordered today.

In the stand by 4:15 and enjoying the nice weather it wasn't long and i looked down towards the hay bale and saw two fawns and their mom down in the beans. The fawns were racing around having a grand old time. At 6:05 just after checking my watch I looked across the valley just in time to see a big buck come out of the 23. It has to be every bit of 400 yards across and when I can head bones with the naked eye at that distance, its a good buck! Too bad I had neglected to bring the binos with!

He stood on the mowed fire break for a long time looking things over . Then once he was sure the coast was clear he trotted right down the mowed trail. I lost sight of him as he hit the road but it wasn't a minute later and he appeared in the beans. He immediately went over to check out the doe and she took off like a bullet. He wandered around the field for a bit then I lost sight of him as he rounded the corner . His travel path is the red line in picture below.
   
I left the hay bale marker on so you can see where he was in relation to the bale. I wish I had been in the bale tonight to see how good of a buck he is.

As the evening slowly faded I saw three more deer in the prairie grass across the valley.  Then One appeared on the road and finally another one in the apple trees about 30 yards below my spot. But it drifted off and the day ended with nothing too close.

[steadman]

Very cool buddy!!

[Lefty]

Just caught up this year. Love the story and congrats on the early success of a great buck!

[LITTLEBIGMAN]

outing #30 Aspen over clover.

I have been battling an incredibly painful ear infection and was not able to hunt yesterday. But today I headed down the gravel road to the clover field on the north end of the farm A south wind would put the wind right in my face. I hoped the deer were still coming to the apples on the north side of the plot.

the stars were wonderful and I was treated to a lovely sunrise.

 

[LITTLEBIGMAN]

I was having a hell of a time hearing properly. Its rather tough with your ears stuffed full of meds and cotton to boot.

I  looked down and there she was.
 
I had decided not to kill today and to just watch instead. That decision wouldn't make much difference because as she walked into the shooting lane, the thermals loaded with my scent sent her down field. The south wind had not come up enough yet to blow my scent up hill.

Here she is as she stops 100 yards distant.
 

About 30 minutes later the neighbor was doing some
dog training down along the county road . He has a new lab he is trying to train for bird hunting. Anyway I decided to go and catch up.  I hit the ground, shouldered my pack and stepped out from under the Aspen. A deer I hadn't seen under the apple tree snorted and ran off.  I hope my hearing starts to improve soon!!

[coaster500]

Looks like some beautiful weather...

Hope your ears clear up Jim...  that kind of stuff can mess with your equilibrium, not good in a treestand!!

[Cyclic-Rivers]

 

JIm, I hope your ears get better.

[Chuck Janssen]

Hey there Jim, having all our senses becomes even more noticeable when one is not 100%. I hope your ear gets better soon. Eye is slowly getting better. But the shooting eye is still good. Hope to be out Saturday!!
Good luck.

[Owlmagnet]

Jim, I hope your infection heals quickly. Just wanted to take a moment to say that I am but one more of the legion of archers that have been both entertained and informed by your outstanding documentation of a wonderful project.  Thank you, thank you!  I wish you all possible success with it.

[LITTLEBIGMAN]

outing #31  Sure thing.

I finally felt well enough to go out and hunt despite poor hearing on the right side and no hearing at all on the left.

I have guests here this weekend and after leading them to their respective entry points this am, I headed to the sure thing because, it was close, the wind was good for it and I had not been there  since October 2nd.

This am's view
 

I had not been in perch very long and I could hear a deer walking on my right side about 20 yards up the ridge from me. It was too dark to make it out.  It passed me by unaware of my presence.

Then about one hour after sunrise I looked down through the oaks branches to my left and there was a fawn standing 7 yards away!! This no hearing thing is horrible. I grabbed ( got a new one BTW)my camera . I wanted to try out the video function. But the little one must have caught a whiff of me. She hesitated coming in to the clearing and eventually turned and walked back down the hill. It was just then I heard leaves rustle over my right shoulder. I turned too quickly and a small 8 point spun and ran away. The next hour passed without further deer coming my way and I headed in to my desk.

I am loving this spot.
 
The forecast is calling for very windy conditions this afternoon. It's going to be a challenge to put my buds in front of deer.

[Burnsie]

Hope your ears getting better soon,  sounds like it was one heck of an ear infection.

[LITTLEBIGMAN]

outing #32 CRP ladder

The forecast was spot on! hot 75 degrees, Wind gusting 25 to 35 out of the SW. Tough  to find not one but three places where a guy might shoot a deer!

I got my buddies off to their destinations and headed up to a ladder stand i had not yet hunted this year

 


This stand was moved into the tree its currently in because the old tree died and I no longer felt safe attached to it. We relocated it last July and at that time I felt this new spot would work just fine. There is a heavy deer trail just inside the edge of the woods that runs all along the bottom of the ridge. But after sitting there tonight it is  very obvious we didn't think it thru and I'll need to find another tree to put the stand in. Sometimes you just have to waste an evening to figure things out.

 
This photo was taken a 4 pm.  At 6 pm the stand isn't quite so obvious but its just too close to the trail , even for me! I saw no deer tonight. The wind and warm temps kept them in their beds.

[Hopewell Tom]

The sits not wasted if you learn something, Jim.

At least your presence wasn't given away. I find the picking of the tree to often be the hardest part of the "hide" placement. Lots to consider and July looks a lot different than October.
Windy and warm is tough.