Ricers 2013-2014 Hunting Haps and Mishaps
- Thread starter Ricer2231
- Start date
I dont think i told yall but anyway. Got exclusive rights to hunt another piece of property! Woohoo! 20 acres of hardwoods and 1 acre of apple trees. I'm heading out there tomorrow after work to walk it with the new landowner and see wassupp. Maybe try to get a camera out there this weekend and see what's sneaking around. There have been some big deer killed in that neck of the woods (130-170") over the years and my buddy just bought the property 3 weeks ago.
That's great news Don! Losing that piece earlier this year may have been a blessing in disguise!
Big_Holla
Senior Member
That's just what I was thinking Flutie. Maybe that was what I needed to get outta there. I think I had almost got to the point of "settling" for that piece of property and kinda using that for my excuse of kinda getting almost lazy to an extent. I haven't been this optimistic in a while and I'm getting stoked.
Thanks CC.
Outstanding news! Happy to hear it. One acre of apple trees in the early season sounds heavenly.
Well I finally got a minute to set down and relax today. I hauled a load of wood, carried it up behind the house, and got it stacked. Cut a piece of plywood to make a replacement seat for one of my older tree stands and cut and glued a piece of foam to the wood and letting it dry so I can cover it tomorrow. But anyway the reason for the writing today is to let ya know what I found out yesterday when I walked the new piece of property, I got permission to hunt, with the landowner.
I will admit right off the bat, I am more than a little stumped as to how to hunt this piece of property. I have always hunted land in the past that has kinda pointed me in a direction or two. Such as a water supply like a creek or pond where I could hunt on a creek crossing or set up where deer have been coming to and leaving the pond for water. But no water on this property at all. I have hunted property in the past that had a food source such as acorns, corn, beans or the such. There are virtually no oaks, no corn within a mile or so and no beans at all. There are quite a few buckeye trees but do deer even eat buckeyes?There are five huge apple trees though and they are loaded. The ground under every tree was clean as a whistle, not even an old rotten apple.
One of he paths leading to one of the trees
Under the one tree.
The draw back to hunting the apple tree is there are no trees near big enough to put a stand in and the weeds are 3' high all the way around the tree, complicating using a ground blind. I think I am going to weed eat a swath from the nearest tree to the apple tree to be able to hang a camera and try to get some pics.
There is a a field on the back of the property but it is completely grown up. It would be a great place for a food plot though, maybe in the future.
The one place I did see some serious traffic was along the bottom edge of a 20-25' rock wall/cliff. The deer have definitely been using the bench below the cliff. I will definitely be looking more at this area.
I do know from the years past and the chat at the local diner that there are big deer in this area and a 160" deer was missed in the neighboring property just last year. I have also seen shed that have come from the neighboring and next to neighboring properties and to say the least there are some impressive sheds. I will hang a stand on this property, or ground blind and do my best to dirt nap a booner. I would just like to get y'all's opinions and thoughts from what little bit I have told you. I ill be walking the property again and putting out a TC Saturday with my bestest bud and see what he thinks. Please do chime in and let me know what ya think.
I did make the wife happy by finding her a truck load of bittersweet to do her fall decorating with
I will admit right off the bat, I am more than a little stumped as to how to hunt this piece of property. I have always hunted land in the past that has kinda pointed me in a direction or two. Such as a water supply like a creek or pond where I could hunt on a creek crossing or set up where deer have been coming to and leaving the pond for water. But no water on this property at all. I have hunted property in the past that had a food source such as acorns, corn, beans or the such. There are virtually no oaks, no corn within a mile or so and no beans at all. There are quite a few buckeye trees but do deer even eat buckeyes?There are five huge apple trees though and they are loaded. The ground under every tree was clean as a whistle, not even an old rotten apple.
One of he paths leading to one of the trees
Under the one tree.
The draw back to hunting the apple tree is there are no trees near big enough to put a stand in and the weeds are 3' high all the way around the tree, complicating using a ground blind. I think I am going to weed eat a swath from the nearest tree to the apple tree to be able to hang a camera and try to get some pics.
There is a a field on the back of the property but it is completely grown up. It would be a great place for a food plot though, maybe in the future.
The one place I did see some serious traffic was along the bottom edge of a 20-25' rock wall/cliff. The deer have definitely been using the bench below the cliff. I will definitely be looking more at this area.
I do know from the years past and the chat at the local diner that there are big deer in this area and a 160" deer was missed in the neighboring property just last year. I have also seen shed that have come from the neighboring and next to neighboring properties and to say the least there are some impressive sheds. I will hang a stand on this property, or ground blind and do my best to dirt nap a booner. I would just like to get y'all's opinions and thoughts from what little bit I have told you. I ill be walking the property again and putting out a TC Saturday with my bestest bud and see what he thinks. Please do chime in and let me know what ya think.
I did make the wife happy by finding her a truck load of bittersweet to do her fall decorating with
Get on the topographical maps. See if there are any terrain features you may have missed when walking it. Just an initial thought.
Next thought is GoogleEarth. Get on there and see what the neighboring properties look like. I mean, the deer have to be eating more than apples. Or. . . maybe they just use this property as a food source seasonally? Maybe it is something else in there which has caused the cow paths you pictured. Prime bedding maybe?
I don't know. Just throwing out the first couple thoughts which popped in my head. I am sure you probably already have done this though.
Next thought is GoogleEarth. Get on there and see what the neighboring properties look like. I mean, the deer have to be eating more than apples. Or. . . maybe they just use this property as a food source seasonally? Maybe it is something else in there which has caused the cow paths you pictured. Prime bedding maybe?
I don't know. Just throwing out the first couple thoughts which popped in my head. I am sure you probably already have done this though.
I would just hunt as close to those apple trees Don. If you have to set up a blind if no trees big enough to hang a TS in are close by. That would be a great place to hunt early IMO.
Early, I agree with Ric. Hunt them apples. I would try and strategically bush hog the area around the trees and put a blind in. Apples are crack to deer. I think they prefer them to acorns. Short season for them also.
After the apples are done I don't have much advice with out a topo map and a Google Earth photo.
After the apples are done I don't have much advice with out a topo map and a Google Earth photo.
The apples are a gold mine, so figuring out how to kill to an fro will be very effective. Deer will not eat buckeyes as they are full tannic acid, making the mildly poisonous. Do you see the trees or just the nuts? I would assume you know the difference, but chestnuts look a lot like buckeyes and deer will tear chestnuts up. I'm sure they were buckeyes, but just food for thought.
The overgrown field, what is growing in it? I love hunting overgrown fields full of goldenrod and sumac. Neither provide a food source, but where I find them growing in an old field, I find deer. My best stand sits on an overgrown field, so I'd spend some more time scouting that area out. It is supposed to rain like hell tomorrow, so get back out there and beat some brush in that area.
Any trail on a bench or at the base of a high wall is worth hunting IMO. I don't spend much time on benches because I hate being limited to essentially one shot. However they are very effective ambush locations. Like others mentioned, look at the topos and aerials to see how this piece of ground fits in to the bigger puzzle. That can give you an idea of how deer will use the bench, apples, and overgrown field.
The overgrown field, what is growing in it? I love hunting overgrown fields full of goldenrod and sumac. Neither provide a food source, but where I find them growing in an old field, I find deer. My best stand sits on an overgrown field, so I'd spend some more time scouting that area out. It is supposed to rain like hell tomorrow, so get back out there and beat some brush in that area.
Any trail on a bench or at the base of a high wall is worth hunting IMO. I don't spend much time on benches because I hate being limited to essentially one shot. However they are very effective ambush locations. Like others mentioned, look at the topos and aerials to see how this piece of ground fits in to the bigger puzzle. That can give you an idea of how deer will use the bench, apples, and overgrown field.
Good for you Don, looking good ! I do wanna say deer do eat buckeyes since I remember seeing one laying in the middle of a field where a deer had died & decomposed. Those apples will be the cats meow.
I have a similar spot that has an abundance of apples and the only way to hunt it is with a ground blind. I plan on taking my boys there in the early season. Those high weeds suck and I feel your pain. If you march through them in the rain you might actually make paths those deer will follow and bring them right past your blind. Just a thought.
I'm setting at walmart right now getting my oil changed and chomping at the bit to get outta here. I gotta pull a cam and get some mire apples out.
I got the rest of my clothes washed in Dead Down Wind last night and ready for the smoker.
I'm heading back out to the new property today and doing a little weed eating around the apple trees and try to get a camera set up. I am anxious to see if the apples I shook down Wednesday night are all cleaned up. I will keep ya updated.
I got the rest of my clothes washed in Dead Down Wind last night and ready for the smoker.
I'm heading back out to the new property today and doing a little weed eating around the apple trees and try to get a camera set up. I am anxious to see if the apples I shook down Wednesday night are all cleaned up. I will keep ya updated.
I got back out to the new property today and gave it another good walk over. We found some really well established trails and a couple old rub lines. I got a camera put out and I think its in a really good place with a couple great trails coming together. I didn't set up on the apple trees because of the fact that they are really close to the property line, as best we can tell, and I don't wanna get it swiped. Besides after walking it for the second time there are plenty of good spots for a photo session. I put the camera on a trail intersection within 150 yards of a bedding area and their route to the nearest water. I dropped 50# of apples and plan to let it brew for a week then pull the card and see what's lurking. It was a great day to scout and hang cameras and just like on cue, as soon as we set down in the truck to leave the rain stopped.
I did find out that 2 years ago a 12 point scoring between 145"-150" was shot on the neighboring farm and get this, the deer was 2 1/2 years old! Verified by the ODNR.
I did find out that 2 years ago a 12 point scoring between 145"-150" was shot on the neighboring farm and get this, the deer was 2 1/2 years old! Verified by the ODNR.
2 1/2 yr old 140+? Dang. Good genes in that area. Glad to hear you are getting a feel for the land. Time for a nap yet? One more week Don!
Oh yeah! I'm loving that. It's nice to have friends that give their opinions and expertise. It's almost nap time buddy.
I got back out to the new property today to pull my card, put out more apples, and hang a stand. Of which I actually got all three done and them some. I am really stoked about the spot I found for my stand. It is about 100 yards off an overgrown field and at the base of a 50' high bank that is just dang near straight up.. There are three major trails there and I am within 33 yards of the farthest one. Here's a pic of my stand from half way up the " rock face" behind me.
I also found a rub line about 40 yards below my stand setup.
I pulled my card and was happy, happy, happy with 456 pictures but wasn't real happy with the pictures of all slick heads and fawns. I did get a couple pics of a coyote that will be getting the shaft if he wanders by. The camera is within 150-200 yards of my stand.
I did put out 50# of apples,50# of deer corn(shelled corn with molasses and apple flavor), and a gallon of chestnuts.
While scouting around we did come across this tree that was funny as all get out. The first thing that came to mind was "Is that a limb or are ya just happy to see me?" Haha
The landowner has two little girls and I found these for them. One little girl is 8 and the other is 3. They were tickled to death when I gave them to them.
All in all a great day in the outdoors. I forgot, i also picked a bag of apples for mom, that will get me a pie, and picked up a 50# bag of walnuts for dad. He likes to crack them in the wintertime while he's watching tv. Those will get me a banana nut bread. Haha
I also found a rub line about 40 yards below my stand setup.
I pulled my card and was happy, happy, happy with 456 pictures but wasn't real happy with the pictures of all slick heads and fawns. I did get a couple pics of a coyote that will be getting the shaft if he wanders by. The camera is within 150-200 yards of my stand.
I did put out 50# of apples,50# of deer corn(shelled corn with molasses and apple flavor), and a gallon of chestnuts.
While scouting around we did come across this tree that was funny as all get out. The first thing that came to mind was "Is that a limb or are ya just happy to see me?" Haha
The landowner has two little girls and I found these for them. One little girl is 8 and the other is 3. They were tickled to death when I gave them to them.
All in all a great day in the outdoors. I forgot, i also picked a bag of apples for mom, that will get me a pie, and picked up a 50# bag of walnuts for dad. He likes to crack them in the wintertime while he's watching tv. Those will get me a banana nut bread. Haha
Last edited:
dante322
*Supporting Member*
that yote needs to die! I wouldnt be upset to see does and fawns. I wish we had more of them around here.