5 Pines Farm Whitetails 2014

[chinook907]

Thanks for sharing all of this with us,

[LITTLEBIGMAN]

outing #38 Rattlesnake ridge.

This morning with a WNW wind forecast at 8 mph ,I headed out of the yurt one hour before day light in my long underwear with all my clothes packed on my back. I also packed Slim the 2d deercoy.

By 6 15 I was climbing up the pole to the stand with Slim in place 15 yards in front of me.

 

 

and like most things in life this deek has its pros and cons.

Portability is the pro and main reason I use a 2d in spots like this.  But today the cons did me in.

I had done several light rattling sessions and at one point I did spot a flash of antlers about 50 yards up the ridge to the north. But apparently that buck couldn't see the decoy.

30 minutes later I spotted two deer coming from the north in my direction. The first deer is clearly a yearling and it had spotted Slim. It approached him and then bedded down 15 yards from him. But his momma wasn't so sure.

She began to circle to the right and downwind from Slim. It looked like this was going to work perfectly. She was just one step from becoming 5 Pines Doe #6 for 2014 when she turned herself inside out. She spun so hard when she spooked that she actually lost her footing and landed on her side before flying down the ridge with fawn in tow.

I have had the exact same thing happen before with a 2d deek. From the side these things look amazingly real. But like all bits of stretched fabric , when the wind blows they flap!

 Also as the 2nd picture shows, when viewed from the front it seems to disappear. Just as the doe was rounding the front of Slim, the wind blew . Slim flapped and combined with loosing the deercoy in her line of sight , the doe's  fear/flight mechanism kicked in.

She had been in the lower right of the 1st photo just under the yellow leaves when she spun. I had just started to focus on her side and was putting tension on the string at that moment. It was such a fun few moments!! I love decoying so much!

Next time I sit here I will point the head of Slim to 7 o'clock. That way if a deer comes from the right, which they should ,it will have to get past me before the visual issue is encountered.

Not much one can do about the flap.

[Chuck Janssen]

Thanks for the laugh Jim. I bet it was a sight seeing the doe get up and be gone.

[steadman]

Very cool Jim. The farms colors are awesome!

[Biggamefish]

I have the same decoys and I always wonder about them.  It is good to hear real stories about the decoy.  All things to consider when using it.

[LITTLEBIGMAN]

outing #39 Upper Apple alley

I was unable to hunt this am and yesterday pm. So with todays light SE wind, I headed in to Apple Alley early and was on stand by 3 pm.

A SE wind is not perfect here and some deer could wind me up above and behind me but I felt it worth the risk. Typically the deer will come down off the high ridges and feed here early before dropping down to the bigger food plot below.

 

I must say that the food plot looks as good now as it did in August.

 

[LITTLEBIGMAN]

There is no way to really decoy out of this stand. So starting about 4 pm I would just do some light rattling and grunting about every 30 minutes.

 

Enough foliage has dropped that visibility up the ridges is now quite good. Of course the down side to that is any deer bedded on those hill sides can watch you walk in and get in your stand.

But nothing was heard or seen when I came in to the spot. Unfortunately nothing was seen or heard the rest of the day either!.  I am really wondering about the lack of buck sign this year. I have seen a few scrapes and some smallish tree rubs are starting to pop up.  But nothing that would indicate a big boy is on the farm. Its been 10 days since I filmed those little guys pushing each other around and I thought I would have seen more rut sign by now.

But with a view like the one I had today, it's hard to go home and not feel good about how I spent the afternoon.

Anubis will just have to be patient a little longer.
 

[Cyclic-Rivers]

Beautiful Spot you have there Jim.  Is that the sun poking through the clouds?

[Hopewell Tom]

Good comment on feeling good about how you spent your afternoon, Jim.
ANTICIPATION is a great feeling and you spent it in a great spot.

[Jayrod]

Absolutely beautiful Jim...loving it!

[LITTLEBIGMAN]

outing #40. up and over and down to the "hole" stand.

Very cold again this am.  29  degrees F!

I gave myself an hour to get up the ridge and down the other side so as to not over heat. Had to stop and remove a shirt , hat and gloves 1/2 way up. I was in the stand by 6:30 giving me only 15 minutes or so before it was light enough to see well.

I got double skunked today! Not a  deer hair was seen!! By 9 :30 I was ready for coffee and a Stretch. Anubis is still waiting........

it's a coin toss now where to go until we start to see some rutting activity. Heads or tails?

[elkken]

Hunting bucks go heads, hunting does go tails    

[steadman]

Good call Ken  

[LITTLEBIGMAN]

Outing #41 Possum stand

The coin toss came up tails!

My Friend Jamie was in the area and so he stopped by with his Java Man longbow. Boy that bow is quiet. I am really impressed with that bows design.

We had a wind mostly out of the East. So I dropped Jamie at Lefty (23) to hunt over the turnip patch. I continued on down to the Possum stand #22.

 

I set Slim up as if he was coming out from under one of the apple trees. I hoped any deer traveling the inside of the fence line would then loop down wind of him and end up in front of me.
 

 
there is a 2nd trail that passes right in front of me as well so I angled Slim so the deer would have to get by me before the frontal visual issue could occur.

The deer moved late. Sunset was to occur at 6:18. At 6:05 I spotted a pair of legs thru the trees on the fire break in the field adjacent to where I was sitting. Then I spotted the body parts of 2 more deer. Both turned out to be does. Small ones since their heads were barely taller than the chest high weeds. They were heading NE to the clover field across from me. at 6 :20 two more does appeared just at the opening where I walk into the staging area that holds the tree stand. I had set my pack down out there on the mowed fire break and they were nosing the area where I had gotten dressed for the stand. Eventually the adult doe decided she had enough and headed back south along the outside of the fence. As she was leaving she spotted Slim and stopped. She then stepped in under the next apple tree and stood looking at the decoy from about 20 yards away from it and 40 yards from me.  But the wind was still gusty and the decoy's head flopped and off she went.

Jamie got skunked in the Lefty stand. So we are still scratching our heads about deer movement.

Caught another small buck at the pond.
 

[Hopewell Tom]

Won't be much consolation for you, but movement is mystifying here as well. The "October Lull" or something. Hopefully the Lull before the "Storm" (of the rut). Big rain coming here, so probably first of the week until things resume for us.

[Horne Shooter]

Jim,
Just as before, you are "outdoing" yourself.  As you might remember, I have almost the same sized place as you (here in Texas) and you prove to me every year how much more I could do here to improve my ranch.  Your blog is great and I can't wait to hear how the rest of the season goes for you.  It's really hot here (and dry) but I have quite a bit of game- so all is not lost.  Thanks again for all you do to entertain everyone here...
Paul

[coaster500]

[DanielB89]

Originally posted by LITTLEBIGMAN:
outing #40. up and over and down to the "hole" stand.

Very cold again this am.  29  degrees F!

I gave myself an hour to get up the ridge and down the other side so as to not over heat. Had to stop and remove a shirt , hat and gloves 1/2 way up. I was in the stand by 6:30 giving me only 15 minutes or so before it was light enough to see well.

I got double skunked today! Not a  deer hair was seen!! By 9 :30 I was ready for coffee and a Stretch. Anubis is still waiting........

it's a coin toss now where to go until we start to see some rutting activity. Heads or tails?

Can i ask of which "breed" is Anibus?

[LITTLEBIGMAN]

Outing #42 The Roundabout stand.

No hunt this am due to rain. I got to sleep in till 6 am!

Rain quit around 11 am and then the fog hung round the rest of the day. Hardly any air movement what so ever.  It was a great day to take some pictures on the way to the stand.

Walking past my wife's grotto
 
There is a nice spring that runs 365 days a year just below her. The deer come there often to drink.

Walking along the turnip field up to the stand.
red arrow marks the stand's location.
 

10,000 beets await some hungry deer bellies
 

checking my back trail
 

As usual I set the decoy (3d) up facing me in front of the brush pile. There was just enough wind current making me  (being uphill ) still down wind of it. It was so very quiet. Everything seemed to have soft edges to it.

I went really easy on the rattling and my grunts were very soft. About 1/2 hour before quitting time I thought things were coming together. To my right a deer coughed, to my left a doe bleated. I stood stock still with Anubis in my hands for what seemed like forever and I never saw either deer! With everything being so wet, they must have just walked off some where and I couldn't hear them leave.

Walking back in the dark, I saw 3 white flags bounce out of the far end of the field as I approached the end of my walk.

Better luck in the am.

[Chuck Janssen]

Glad you had a chance to get out Jim.You truley have a peice of Heaven there.Your hard work shows.