June gets to be the time now where deer are starting regain a little corner of my mind. I've been so busy with baseball and catching up around the house that I haven't done much to this point. On Friday, the 2 cams I set out will have finished a 2 week soak. I was going to wait until the 4th of July to check them, but will probably check them soon after seeing some antler development on a buck in my backyard. By this point, I can identify the one deer I'm after, so hopefully he'll still be around.
I have much different plans for this season than I have had in the past, not to mention a much different mindset about my hunting. Assuming I make time to do a few things, I won't have more than 3-4 permanent stands hung this year which is in stark contrast to the 10+ I usually have. There was one year I have 17. I've expanded the number of places I have to hunt in the past few years, yet rarely get to most of them. This year I plan to hunt a couple new properties. One is 40 acres (hoping to add the 21 next door) that is close to home and is about 4K feet as the crow flies where a confirmed B&C class deer was living as last as February. Its really thick and will be hard to hunt, but I have high expectations and this area is really only hunted in gun season, so bow pressure is almost nonexistent in a 1K acre area. The second is 72 acres surrounded by 1K acres of WNF. We are planning an early season hunt/scouting mission, followed by a 3-4 day spell during the rut. Its about an hour from the house, so we will set up camp and stay there. I'm really looking forward to getting back to my roots and hunting based on the most recent information.
My cameras are about to go down the road as well. Running 12 cams is foolish work for a man in my shoes. I'll be trimming back to 4 with 2 serving as inventory cams on our farm, one on the 40 acres, and one to move around. I may get a 5th and leave it my parents 11 acres as well since that place is my bread and butter.
This season is about the basics and just enjoying my time in the stand. I'll be purchasing my WV license this year so that I can waterfowl both seasons, so don't be surprised if I just say "fuck deer" this year and hunt waterfowl almost exclusively.
Deer are officially #2 now. Whew, never thought I'd say that! :smiley_bril:
I have much different plans for this season than I have had in the past, not to mention a much different mindset about my hunting. Assuming I make time to do a few things, I won't have more than 3-4 permanent stands hung this year which is in stark contrast to the 10+ I usually have. There was one year I have 17. I've expanded the number of places I have to hunt in the past few years, yet rarely get to most of them. This year I plan to hunt a couple new properties. One is 40 acres (hoping to add the 21 next door) that is close to home and is about 4K feet as the crow flies where a confirmed B&C class deer was living as last as February. Its really thick and will be hard to hunt, but I have high expectations and this area is really only hunted in gun season, so bow pressure is almost nonexistent in a 1K acre area. The second is 72 acres surrounded by 1K acres of WNF. We are planning an early season hunt/scouting mission, followed by a 3-4 day spell during the rut. Its about an hour from the house, so we will set up camp and stay there. I'm really looking forward to getting back to my roots and hunting based on the most recent information.
My cameras are about to go down the road as well. Running 12 cams is foolish work for a man in my shoes. I'll be trimming back to 4 with 2 serving as inventory cams on our farm, one on the 40 acres, and one to move around. I may get a 5th and leave it my parents 11 acres as well since that place is my bread and butter.
This season is about the basics and just enjoying my time in the stand. I'll be purchasing my WV license this year so that I can waterfowl both seasons, so don't be surprised if I just say "fuck deer" this year and hunt waterfowl almost exclusively.
Deer are officially #2 now. Whew, never thought I'd say that! :smiley_bril: