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Jesse's 2014-2015 Deer Season

bowhunter1023

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Appalachia
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:
 

bowhunter1023

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^^^ Cpt. Jack?


Good luck Jesse!

Yep. This would by my 5th year of experience with him. He's become an old friend and is an adversary worthy of hunters far better at this game than I. I've wanted nothing more than to kill a deer that I had that kind of history with, but I honestly believe this deer is wrapped in a bubble that lets him survive despite what is thrown at him. Never hunted a deer that was more visible, but seemingly impossible to kill. The bummer of that is he keeps all the other bucks off the farm. His core area has dwindled down to no more than 100 acres from what I can tell. Since he became the dominate buck (2012) we haven't seen shit for big bucks. He's breeding does with his shit genetics. If there was ever a true cull deer on our farm, he is it.
 

at1010

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always excited to follow your threads. You say you might say fuck deer, pshh shoot I bet you end up killing a stud again! haha
 

Huckleberry Finn

Senior Member
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My early guess is that you shoot Jack in a plain fashion. Just sit, see him, smoke him at about 18 yards, hump him a few times, and call it a season.
 

TripleA88

*Supporting Member*
Stick with it. Took me 7 seasons to finally shoot a deer with history. I got my ass kicked all those years but it made it bittersweet when it came together. It was worth the stress, head games, anger and above all else the wait.
 

bowhunter1023

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I put my first camera in the woods almost a decade ago. On October 28, 2004, I got a picture of a stud buck that I could only dream of shooting. On December 1, I killed that very same buck 300 yards from where that picture was taken. That started an unhealthy obsession and here I am 10 years later trying to repeat that same feat, but on a much deeper level. The list of bucks and the thousands upon thousands of pictures, just make for bad dreams at this point! I knew it would be hard, I just never expected it to be such a long, tortuous journey!
 

Joel

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Centerburg, Ohio
You'll feel a lot better about it when you shoot him, I'm rooting for you. This will be my second year- and hopefully last year of chasing that 8 point I was after last season. I'll be putting out a camera soon.
 

brock ratcliff

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Good plan Jesse. I think you'll find it a lot more enjoyable once you've taken the pressure off. I found one of my trailcams while looking for a tool the other day. That's as far as I've gotten, and farther than I planned to be. :)

Deer are fun October through January. There are a lot of other things that are fun the rest of the year, kids, turkey and fish being high on that list. I've found life a lot more enjoyable since I quit wasting my time waiting to deer hunt. Hope you'll feel the same.
 

bowhunter1023

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Spot on Brock. I'm loving life more now than ever and I don't miss the old days when it comes to my deer hunting. Its something I'll always do, but it doesn't define me any more. I'd rather stay home and be dad!
 
I'm exactly the opposite of Jesse. I was obsessed with ducks and geese for years, until one day I stuck a broadhead in a six point whitetail and seven yards. The ducks and geese were fun, but for me the whitetail reigns supreme, especially the wily monsters.

I totally understand the "being dad". My kids are all over 35 now so being dad is kinda done. Trail cameras are my summertime fix, when I can't be sitting in the deer stand.

Funny how we all are from the same mold, so to speak, but think differently.

Good luck with CJ Jesse, this may be the year.
 

bowhunter1023

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Thanks Dick. I could see me coming back to deer one of these days, but the ducks stole my heart for the time being! Two mallards flew over our post game huddle the other night and I could hear the drake making noises and wings whistling before I saw them. My heart literally jumped in my throat like it does when I hear a deep grunt. I hear more wings whistle than I do deep grunts, and that is what keeps me coming back! The worst day of waterfowling beats 99% of my deer hunts.
 

bowhunter1023

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Disappointing camera check on Friday. That'll teach me to use cheap ass Family Dollar batteries. I was also dealt a little bit of a blow when I learned they would be conducting seismic tests in the area and based on the flags they had hung, have been all over the farm and will be there all summer. Not real happy about that, but we are 80 acres of the 50K they are surveying, so it is something all the local deer will have to deal with.

On a positive note, it appears I may get my first ever annual food plot planted in the next couple of weeks. Assuming I hear back from Merit on whether I can plant now or not, and if I can get dad out there to do the work, I will be planting the Platinum Ultra Blend from Merit Seed.

Platinum Ultra Wildlife Blend - Perennial

Platinum Ultra is an excellent blend of white clover, wetland and multi leaf all soil grazing alfalfa supplemented with Durana Clover and drought resistant forage chicory. It is a premium blend containing beneficial mineral contents, has very good digestibility making it an excellent source of soluble high protein. Platinum Ultra has a fast regrowth and withstands heavy late season grazing. A blend with good cold and drought tolerance that adapts very well to shale or reclaimed soil.


Formulation: Merit Platinum Ladino Clover, Durana White Clover, Wetland Alfalfa, 5225 All Soils Alfalfa, Oasis Chicory
Merit Seeds in Berlin, Ohio has Seed Mixes Platinum Ultra 5 Wildlife Blends
Characteristics: Ideal for frost seeding, High protein forage, Great for reclaimed land, Fast regrowth. Premium for high grazing, Fast regrowth growth.

Soil Types: Well-drained loam firm seed bed with pH of 6 or higher.
Maintenance: Low maintenance
Seeding Rate: 18 - 20 lbs per acre
Frost Seeding: 9-10 lbs per acre
Planting Date: Spring, Fall, Frost Seed
Planting Depth: 1/4 to 1/2 inch

This will be planted in the plot I call the "Corner Pocket" and will be right next to 4 acres of beans. I'm really looking forward to seeing this develop!

 
Sounds like things are coming along for you this year Jesse. I remember the first few years after having our first child how hard it was to make the right decisions and put some parts of hunting on the back burner for a while. As time goes on it will get easier to manage and hopefully you will see your children (LOL) start taking part in what you love to do as well. I duck hunted some in years past but never got hooked on it. It's something I would like to give a shot at again one day but whitetails will always be my passion no matter how frustrated they can make me. On the note of disappointing trail cam checks we had a few problems with cameras this year, the last being they were not writing to the SD cards for some reason. Was very frustrating to find that out after a month long soak between trips down. Solved it by restoring everything to factory settings and re-formatting the cards. Also as we were checking we found we had a trespasser during turkey season. Problem is, my uncle gave him permission to be on a small part of what he still owns and the feller found himself on our part wandering around before daylight to hunt there. Guess he was 'confused' on how the land had been divided. Oh well, just another thing to add to our frustrations. Hopefully that's it and it's nothing but velvet antlers and getting projects done. Good luck to you on getting everything accomplished you hope to this year!
 

bowhunter1023

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Appalachia
Stopped by the farm to pull a couple cams the other night and had a few decent pics. Got a couple bucks that would be shooters next year if they can make it. One of the does has twins that look healthy and that big bastard turkey is still out there! Not going to fool with during July. The beans in our back field look great and should provide me some top notch pictures come late August if all goes well. We will be doing some brush hogging in the next couple weekends to prep for food plots, but it doesn't look like I'll get an perennial seed in the ground this year. Just didn't have the time.

I'm looking forward to this fall. Getting back to basics. Virtually no pre-hung sets and no cameras. Hunt smart, hard, and efficiently. Hoping that will be the change of luck I need!