5 Pines Farm Whitetails 2014

[steadman]

Looks great Jim  

[Cyclic-Rivers]

Hope you and your trad friend have a  great evening!

[LITTLEBIGMAN]

Outing #9
Jamie arrived early in the afternoon. We spent some time catching up and shot some arrows. He is shooting a Java Man longbow. I was impressed with how fast and quiet that bow is.
 

The wind was gusty out of the north but was forecast to lie down late in the afternoon.

Keeping rattle snake ridge between us, I sent Jamie to the upper apple alley ladder (5) and I went to the sure thing (28)
 

[Chuck Janssen]

Hey Jim, what a hard weekend to hunt. Wind, more wind, rain and heat. Saw some deer, but nothing close or big. But cam pictures say the big guys are still around.

[LITTLEBIGMAN]

I love this spot. We call it " sure thing" as this spot rarely disappoints.

At 5 pm I looked  behind me thru the Y in the old oak I am sitting in and could see 4 deer right in front of the hay bale grazing in the green field.
 
I watched them thru the binos and determined they were all does. I am  certain 2 were at least with in 15 yards of the blind! Damn!

Eventually they fed off into the corn field.

As the day wore on the wind decreased and by sun down there was no wind at all. I expected to see a deer coming down the ridge trail at any moment.
 .

As hard as I tried, I couldn't make a deer appear.

When I had all but given up hope for seeing deer close tonight, I spotted one below me in the apple trees. Then I spotted another and then a another. The closest was about 35 yards away and walking up the hill towards me. That's odd I thought, it is the reverse of what they normally do in the afternoon.

Suddenly it dawned on me that the doe was nosing the air. The sinking thermals had given her a molecule or two of me and she was trying to figure out where I was! She walked to within 15 yards and stood there looking up at the tree where I was perched. My left eye stared into her right. I tried not to blink. Not to move a muscle. This stand off went on for a few minutes. Then she got frustrated and started snorting. I was chuckling inside. She almost had me but not quite. She turned 180 degrees and snorted! Turned another 180 and snorted again! Then she walked   the stiff legged walk away. At about 40 yards she broke into a run downslope.

It was now past legal shooting time so I headed on back to the yurt to see how Jamie faired.

He only had one doe come into his food plot . She presented a 35 yard shot which he declined. Walking out he saw half a dozen white flags wave bye bye from the big food plot below.

Better luck next time

[pitbull]

You're getting closer Jim, its going to happen soon.    

[Robhood23]

It was great catching up buddy! We will have to get together again soon!

[LITTLEBIGMAN]

outing #10 The Andy ivy Stand.

Named for my Buddy Andy from SA/Australia who was the 1st to kill a deer here.

Andy we haven't seen you on these pages lately!?

This stand sits right off the logging trail that runs on the ridge's back of the N/S ridge.
   

It was 45 degrees and extremely foggy when I hit the trail at 5 30 am . By the time I had climbed about 300 feet in elevation the fog evaporated and I could see bright stars over head.

Normally if I don't scare them some how, deer (blue arrows)move uphill from the big food plot  (star) and then bed up high for the day. They will travel with the wind ( red arrow), well at least the Does do. That is what happened today.

[LITTLEBIGMAN]

I was standing at around 8 am when I saw several pairs of legs already at my level on the ridge but to my right about 40 yards. 5 deer, three adults and 2 yearlings crossed the logging road and were angling towards me but on the their way down the other side of the ridge to their preferred bedding areas. I knew it would be just seconds before the lead doe winded me.

They all locked up and looked my way. The largest doe instantly came directly at me and stood facing me about 20 yards away.

It took her about 25 seconds to locate the source of the smell and to sound the alarm. They flew down the backside of the ridge.

I heaved a sigh and then I noticed a 6th deer coming up the ridge on the very same trail the others had used. A straggler!

The straggler was feasting on some low bushes with bright green leaves. Totally oblivious that her companions had fled down the ridge.

Eventually she fed to about  18 yards and was standing behind the two skinny birches in the center of the following photo.

 

[LITTLEBIGMAN]

I needed / wanted her closer. Plus she was quartering to me. I was giving my self the old pep talk about picking a single hair to split , when her body language went from totally relaxed, to slightly alarmed to running away! Crud! I really thought it was going to happen.

here is a photo of the ladder from the main trail in front of it at around 20 yards.
 

photos from the walk home
 

 

[Gen273]

Once again, I love this thread! Thanks for taking the time to do it!

[Chuck Janssen]

Thank you Jim for the update

[ron w]

I love walking down a two track tractor path in the fall, bow in hand and the smells of the woods. That photo takes me there......cool!

[Cyclic-Rivers]

Good Stuff Jim. Keep it up and good luck!  

[LITTLEBIGMAN]

Thanks everyone! I appreciate your kind comments and all the encouragement!

ok

Outing #11  Squirrel's tail stand.

The wind was to stay consistent out of the West all day. Why not hope the deer travel in reverse tonight.?

This morning I sat in #15 and tonight I sat on the bottom of the ridge in #10 just above the old pasture.

Wind is red, normal deer travel is blue and the star is the food plot.
 
Before you say wait a minute the wind is wrong, let me explain.  After having the stand in at least 6 different spots in the vicinity, the ladder finally landed in another oak tree right where the degree of steepness changes dramatically. I mean its up hill all the way from the food plot. But right behind the tree, it gets steep. Like crawling on all fours steep. Above me is a goat prairie we are trying to restore by continual cutting and burning. The deer seem go around this and drop down thru two little chutes on each side. Picture a V in your mind with the open part of the V the goat prairie and the legs of the V the trails coming down the hill. I drew in the major three deer trials in red. This was one of the first spots that I did a lot of work in. I removed invasive species, cut down the weed trees and piled brush. But rather than burn the piles, I placed them in way to try and steer the deer thru the opening I had created. Since all the deer on the farm now are most likely less than 6 years old, none of them are suspicious of the piles and walk around or between them naturally. We  have killed several does here and the biggest buck ever  a 157 inch buck was killed here two Decembers ago by my nephew.

Sometimes during the rut the bucks will travel one of the trails that run the contours of the ridge and ends up behind the stand.  I have been busted twice in this fashion. But poop does happen!

Another cool thing about this spot is when a little more foliage is gone you can look up either of the those chutes and see the deer coming from 50 or 60 yards out.

But tonight I just got plane skunked. Skunked that is until I walked out to look at the food plot. I could make out half a dozen dark forms moving around in the green below.  I never saw any of them but they could have come any direction.

Sorry about not having pictures of the spot tonight,  but the battery of the Nikon was DOA at the stand.

I have to pass on the am hunt as I have an early meeting I have to prep for. But I'll be out in the afternoon.

[Cyclic-Rivers]

[LB243]

Great post thanks for sharing!!

[LITTLEBIGMAN]

outing #12 Justin's Stand

I just want to say that despite not getting a shot tonight, it's pretty hard to top tonight's sit.

Justin's stand sits on the opposite end of the weed field from the Bwana stand.
 
The wind was out of the SSW and very warm again this afternoon.

On my way up to the stand I stopped by the new pond. I had picked some wild flower seed in the prairie between the house and the yurt and I wanted to spread it on the spillway. I will try to do this every time I am near the pond until there is snow.  There were lots of deer tracks around the water but the trail camera had malfunctioned and there were no pictures on the card. Translation, I screwed up the settings some how. Hopefully they are set right now.

[LITTLEBIGMAN]

The forage beans are getting hammered . ( white area). They have been browsed now so hard that they are not going to put out a bean pod at all.
 .

The tree line is all big oak and hickories. Here is looking up the tree line towards Bwana's stand.
 .
the stand is a 20 foot ladder in another big Burr Oak
 

[LITTLEBIGMAN]

Behind the stand the bluff drops off fast down into that secure cover area I hunted last weekend.  ( again blue arrows is typical deer movement).

The deer will come into the field from any direction but any coming up from behind me are not going to wind me. So I am hoping some come that way.

Here is the view from my perch 20 feet up.

   

even 20 feet up isn't high enough to enable me to see what might be in the bean field except for maybe the closest edge.

The breeze was steady but not gusty like the last 2 nights. At about six pm I noticed several turkeys feeding my way thru the weed field. Five jakes and one long beard were walking as they are prone to do, like a line of men searching the ground. Just a few feet apart but moving in the same direction at a slow steady speed. I couldn't tell if they picking bugs or if there was something that I planted that they were eating. I enjoyed listening to their contented talk as they fed in front of me and below me. Suddenly there was a putt and they all hurried back the way they came towards Bwana.

One hour later back they came. Trailing them, were two of the spike bucks I saw up here last week. These two must be brothers. Identical twins for sure. One was teasing the birds. He would run up to them scattering them. Then let them regroup and do it again. I swear he had a smile on his face!

Now the oak I was in and the ones next to me were raining acorns all evening. The birds were still milling around, keeping an eye on the two little bucks. The bucks walked over to the oak next to me and started hoovering up all the acorns. Cracking them and chewing them 10 yards from me. Once one of them choked on the mast and gagged. I am not sure which one. Eventually as the day ended both boys fed back towards the bean field. AS I made my get away I saw there were three other deer down on the far end of the beans. I saw no head gear and assume that they were does.

What a great night tonight was. This never gets old for me! Oh and for those who are wondering, I don't have a fall turkey tag.