5 pines farm 2013

[LITTLEBIGMAN]

outing #38 Bwana


Between the Ear and the rains its been impossible to hunt, but I finally got back out tonight.

We had a bit of rain last night. Nothing measurable but just enough so that you could move thru the woods silently.

As I ascended the bluff via the logging road behind the yurt, I jumped a spike buck from his bed. Due to the slope of the hill and the way the road is cut into it, he was a mere 5 yards from me when he jumped up. My head was at about his foot level and like all juveniles he stopped when he should have been running. I grinned as he looked thru the foliage and when we finally made eye contact , off he went up the hill.  Better stay on my land little guy as the youth gun season opens in the am.

I made it to the stand early enough to pull out the chip on the camera watching over this field. Not one picture in 5 days! Over the course of my last few hunts I am beginning to think that I have been over estimating the number of deer I thought were in the valley.

I crawled up into the big oak and began to wait.  The sky was heavy with threatening looking clouds all day today. Low hanging just barely over the bluff tops. My kind of day! The NW wind was slight and would work well if the deer just did their part and showed up.

As the afternoon wore on and no deer came into the field, I thought I could hear something walking below me. But it never materialized and I may have been imagining it.  I got out just early enough to sneak peeks at the other plots up here on top  and not one of them had a deer in it.

On the way home as I cleared the treeline above the crp field, I could make a dark shape 100 yards below me in the crp hillside and several more out in the picked beans.

I'll need to have some orange on me in the am. As in addition to the youth firearm season the DNR in all their wisdom is allowing an intensive doe harvest in my valley and the next one over. They are giving out 5 doe tags to anyone who wants to buy them and they are only good for the next 4 days! What this really boils down to is few local farmers who's wallets are not fat enough convinced the DNR to allow this wholesale slaughter . It's insane that if I wanted to have 5 guys over we could kill 30 deer legally! There is no way the existing deer population needs that measure of control.

[John146]

Sounds pretty ridiculous to me too. Wishing you good luck on your next hunts and really enjoy you taking us along.

Do you ever ground hunt besides the hay bale blind? I look at some of your pictures and see what would look like great places to tuck in and hide.

[DEATHMASTER]

Hope for miserable weather for the next four days to keep the slauter partys out.
Great blog keep it going.

[goldflinger]

Nice Video and pictures Jim! That new camera does a fine job. I have always really wondered what the deer density's are in the areas's I hunt. I am sure they are high, like I suspect you did too, and it is amazing how they can just disappear at times. I suspect they are still around, probably as many as your earlier had estimated.

[LITTLEBIGMAN]

outing #39  I over slept!   Joel's stand.

My hearing is so bad I slept right through the rooster alarm on my phone, And believe me its obnoxious!!

With little time to spare,I hustled out of the yurt and down the gravel road to the closest stand that would work with today's light wind.  There was a cold frosty fog hanging below the bluffs. My breath was suspended along with moisture drops in the beam of my headlamp.

Arriving at the stand just as the Eastern horizon was brightening I pulled up the bow and put on an extra layer. It was only a few minutes when I heard foot steps up behind me. In the gloom I could just make out the legs of the deer as it moved along a trail behind and slightly above me. Twenty minutes later I heard a snort above me and the sound of a deer moving off. By the time I needed to get home to work several gunshots had sounded off. I hate that. While running an errand to town I noticed orange jackets in two of my neighbors woods. sigh............

[lt-m-grow]

Hey Jim,  Love the blog as much as last year.  Thanks for the enjoyment and hope you feel better soon.

Weeks ago, you wondered about topo maps that can be copied etc.  

Here is an interesting site that should do the trick.  

 http://caltopo.com/map.html#ll=43.68564,-91.49647&z=11&b=t

I took a little time and began to zoom into SE Minn. for you.

It is fairly sophisticated and allows import/export of GPS coors. and integrates ok with Google Earth.

To modern medicine and hunt success!

[Hopewell Tom]

I agree on the dislike of the gunshots. Sure shatters things.
The orange does its' job, but is hard to take.

Keep your head up, soon it'll be snowing!

[Cyclic-Rivers]

Good Luck Jim  

[LITTLEBIGMAN]

outing #40   the double cedar

I elected to stay out of the woods last night, get some chores done and let my 295 acres act as a refuge for deer. This am I woke on time but to very gusty NW winds. So I chose a lower spot than that I had originally planned on and hiked up to it early.
 

I had only sat this spot once this season. Last night a group of deer were in the picked bean field right below it. I was able to get to the stand with out a head lamp  and don't believe I bumped any deer on the way up to it.

The deer traffic has definitely been going by this spot.
 

Several large prints were on the trail right below and I found my first scrape under an apple tree not far from the stand when we picking apples Weds for the cider squeeze party tomorrow.

[LITTLEBIGMAN]

my view of below.
 

About an hour after sun up it began to rain and I headed in rather than risk laying down a trail that could get washed away.

They are actually predicting a possible snow tonight! heading back out in a bit.

[LITTLEBIGMAN]

outing #41   AA lone wolf

 

With a NW wind and gun hunters hanging on the fences I needed to stay low and to the center of the farm. I have hunted this stand only once all season, back on 9/21. I very slowly and quietly crept in to the stand around 3 30 pm.  A NW wind was perfect. There are still quite a few apples on the trees in front of the lone wolf.  It was a beautiful evening.
 
 

[LITTLEBIGMAN]

I was enjoying the colors and small birds that were flying in and out of the apples trees to my left. The opposite bluff was just gorgeous.
 
Just before the witching hour, I spotted two deer on the opposite hill side. First a doe and then a small buck appeared. They were moving along a trail on the edge of the woods heading down into the apples . This spot  is high enough on my hill to allow me to see over the trees between us and the setting sun made them really stand out. I stood as I thought that if they are coming off of that bluff, they should be doming down this one any minute. A shot gun suddenly roared! I bet I jumped a foot off the stand platform!. A hunter was sitting the fence line and blasted one as it was coming down hill. After that I did not see or hear another thing and headed in for dinner.

[LITTLEBIGMAN]

outing #42 triple B
 

My actual plan for this am was to hunt the Ivy stand. The wind was forecast to be South Westerly this am perfect for this spot. This stand is also rather centrally located on the farm . After bumping two different deer in the moonlight I finally stood on the logging road next to the stand. But there was virtually no wind and my frozen breath seemed to be drifting right in the direction the deer would be coming from. I had plenty of time to change plans. The triple B would work if the wind came up and the change in the direction of the bluff over there should help with the thermals. I made it there without bumping any more deer.
 

[steadman]

Glad to see you're feeling a bit better.  I had the shotgun thing happen to me in KS. I almost had to change, Tracy just laughed at me  

[LITTLEBIGMAN]

This stand is a 17 foot tall ladder. I am standing on the main deer trail when I took the photo and the stand is downhill from where I standing. This is also the stand where I took the video of the doe about a week ago.


As the dawn arrived a few gun shots rang in the distance but nothing close by until 7:45. I had just spotted a deer's legs up in the food plot 80 yards up hill. It appeared to be a doe.  She lifted her head at the sound of the gun fire and then started in my direction. I was standing with the long  bow in hand. I had created an entry trail for me to this stand  so I wouldn't be tempted to just walk in on the main deer trail. It looked like she was walking on it! As she came down the hill I prepared for the shot that I was sure was about to happen. At 20 yards I determined that the deer was a spork. ( one spike+one fork=spork).
Shoot. It was now too close now for me to switch the bow for the camera. The deer had quite a fat torso and a fairly large head to be carrying such little antlers. As luck would have it, he walked right up to the foot of my ladder and sniffed the fallen leaves!! Standing 16 feet below me and not having a clue I was there, it grabbed a few green leaves and headed towards the bedding cover to my right.I wish I'd been able to video him. He made my morning!! No other deer were seen and after 4 hours on stand, I headed in for coffee and a bowl of venison chili.

[Hopewell Tom]

A good outing, then.
And a new name - a spork. Good one.

[LITTLEBIGMAN]

outing #43   Squirrel's tail

I actually started out on the Tarzan stand. But after getting soaked in a 5 minute downpour and sitting for a bit I change my mind and headed over to the Squirrel's tail. I do believe the Tarzan stand needs to be rethought.

So I dropped down to just below the timber and slowly walked through the old pasture's hillside. Halfway there I jumped a small buck and a doe bedded among the apples. It was cool but not cold. I had the wind in my face and the sun came back out. The moisture on the leaves and limbs above me just sparkled. The day ended with out any deer sightings  while on stand. As I walked back to the farm house I noticed three dark shapes making their way down the mowed CRP hillside behind the house. When I got to our red shed next to the picked bean field I looked and counted seven deer feeding with in 100 yards of the shed! Smart Alecks !

[Cyclic-Rivers]

Jim, Glad you are feeling Better!  Love the name spork. I have been seeing one on my trail cam!

[DEATHMASTER]

looks like they found a safe place.

[coaster500]