5 pines farm 2013

[LITTLEBIGMAN]

just got back from a little business away from home Hunters coming in later today. Got lots of things to get ready . Its cold 20 degrees this am!!! gonna burn some wood this week. Deer activity picking up.
unfortunately no trad hunters here till next week.  But I'll be on stand after guiding my buddies to their spots.

[ron w]

You have to convert these guys to Trad gear......how can you keep a blog going .....lol!!!! Best of luck this week!

[Huntrdfk]

So much work goes into sharing this, thanks Jim. This is a great thread, I look forward to your exploits every day.

Thanks for bringing us along,
David

[LITTLEBIGMAN]

thank much guys!!

outing #44  AA Aspen

After getting my guys into their spots I hustled up to apple alley. It was basically  a repeat performance of the last time I was there. The same buck fawn appeared in the lower right of the food plot. It fed below me for about 20 minutes. It left and then 30 minutes returned and walked right past me. The does never showed up and as darkness descended so did I.

The boys are getting frisky it wont be long till it busts loose all over.
 

And this old tank got his photo taken in the daylight!
 

[Whip]

It's hard to believe that you are still looking for a doe.  An absolute deer hunting utopia, and yet the girls are still playing hard to get!  Just goes to show what a worthy adversary a wise whitetail doe can be to a bowhunter!

[Cyclic-Rivers]

Good Luck Jim.  Thanks for not taking a doe so quick as to keep this thread alive  

[Chuck Janssen]

Thank you Jim for hanging in there, hope the ears are better. I totaly understand how you feel with the slaughter of the deer. By our farm, they can get 4 free tags a day. So brown is down. I will be heading there on Friday.
Good luck with yor hunt and with your guest. Been cold here also.

[Gen273]

Jim,

Thanks for this thread, I love it!

[LITTLEBIGMAN]

outing #45  inspiration point

Hey Joe you got it! the does are currently kicking my butt!

You are welcome Charlie ( I think ).

Spreading my hunters out. I sent Joel to the 23 to his stand. and dropped Kim off at the triple B. Then I made my way around and partially down the bluff to Inspiration point.

 

It was snowing lightly when we left the warmth of the yurt. We were all giddy with excitement. Three little boys aged 58,62, and 64!

But despite the excited anticipation  I saw no deer except for the doe I jumped walking back in to camp!  Still it was a great morning. Enough leaves have come down now that we have had two hard freezes that I can now see almost all the way down the bluff.  I have decided that this stand will move down the ridge about 50 yards. The steep angle of the shot to the trail has me concerned and I think lower would be better. I do not know if we get the stand moved this season but it will be relocated before the next.

update you more tonight.

[Hopewell Tom]

White ground, that's a magic time! And wouldn't you know it - nothing.
As a Leafs fan would say "maybe next time".

[LITTLEBIGMAN]

outing #46  Dallas' Stand

Spreading out the best we could and covering different food sources, Joel went to the apples in lower apple alley and sat in the lone wolf. Kim hunted over rape and forage beans in the Justin stand. I hunted over clover in the Dallas stand.
 

The wind was squirrelly tonight but was forecast to be out of the North. Cold too, it never got above 40 all day.

I have not sat in this stand yet this year. In fact the last time I climbed this ladder was the night I had to climb back down due to unfavorable wind. I killed my buck that night. This stand sits just below a clover field . There are some Aspens on each side of the trail into the stand set that act like goal posts. Both of them have fresh rubs! When you sit in the stand you can not see much of the field to your left due to a curve in the field . So you have to watch for body parts moving behind the foliage.
 

[LITTLEBIGMAN]

just  before last light I caught movement to my left. Two deer were running around in the clover. I think it was a small buck chasing a doe. Any way he ended up turning  her the exact wrong way and they disappeared again to my left. A few minutes later a deer snorted down below me to the south. The wind was back out of the north.

I pulled the chip out of the camera over the beans and rape field and found these two really cool photos.
 
 

[Cyclic-Rivers]

Cool Photos Jim!

[Robhood23]

What kind of birds are they? Can you Id them?

[Cyclic-Rivers]

Red  Wing Black Birds.

[LITTLEBIGMAN]

outing #47 ladder by clover.

I think some of those bird may also be Starlings?

Last night Jayne saw several deer on the field in front of the hay bale. So we decided to key in on that activity and hunt the bedding areas and trails near it this am.
 
I went to an old ladder north of the field that sits in an old large oak in a small ravine by the clover field.
 

[LITTLEBIGMAN]

I have never fallen in love with this stand but today decided I should hunt it more. While it is very close to my next door neighbor, the deer trails under and around it are heavy!
 

[Cyclic-Rivers]

[LITTLEBIGMAN]

The wind was mostly out of the North. But there was a slight westerly component to it. My hearing on my left side may not come back for 6 weeks per the doctor. So I was standing and watching the clover field to my left.
 
A small noise to my right caught my attention. I knew a deer had gotten in too close. I looked down and right and standing there 6 or 7 yards away was a spike buck. He stopped still and stood listening. Then he began to move forward. It looked like he was going to go under a large limb below on my right and then pop onto the trail beneath me. But he stopped and looked up hill. I was trying to get my camera off the hook to film him. I moved slightly and a doe I had not seen that was slightly up hill and watching me ran down past him taking him with ! That doe was going to walk down the trail that intersects the other! but I got caught looking the wrong way. About one hour later just as i decided I needed to get to work. a doe snorted from above me to my right. I looked up just in time to see her flag disappear back up hill.

[LITTLEBIGMAN]

outing #48  Bwana stand.

We are having November weather.
 

Company left and I had the evening to myself. With a north wind and fresh pictures of does in the food plot below this  stand in the daylight I headed up around 4 pm. Jumping a bedded 6 pointer and two does on the way up I had high hopes. Several new scrapes have also suddenly appeared on the road. I got into the stand with two layers of wool. I was dressed for the duration.

Just after sunset with little time to spare I heard footsteps coming up the hill behind me. It was moving so slow. I felt for certain it was a buck. Too dark to film , I kept my bow in hand in case it was without headgear. Waiting for the deer to appear, I looked out in the tall grass and spotted the white throat patch of a deer. It was standing like a statue looking over the food plot. As he turned his head I could see it was a buck I have a picture of in this field sparring with another buck two days ago. He has only 2 points on hi left side and 5 on his right. The deer behind me seemed to disappear and finally this new one started to move up hill. AS he crested the top with the orange band of the last light behind him, he slowly went over the crest of the hill and the day was over.