Stand placement begins!

This past weekend Sr, Mike and myself made a last minute decision to run up to the property and work on getting some stands in place for the upcoming bow opener.  Seeing that we have multiple weddings and all the functions that go with them upcoming, saying our weekends to work are limited is an understatement.

I have decided to place three stands this year.  The first is in my traditional spot off the corner of the food plot.  Last year produced my first ever deer when I shot my doe in the evening of opening day.  We are hoping that our continued work on the food plot will bring more deer to this area.

The second stand we were able to get up and ready for the season is in a new area that we have never hunted before. I have always wanted to get back in this area, as my grandpa's old deer stand used to overlook it and my took a very large, nice 8 pointer from that stand.  Due to age of the tree that stand is in it is no longer safe to hunt from.  We were able to find a nice tall pine tree that has some cover provided by other tree's around it.  There are quite a few trails that appear to be heavily used that all come together in an area right out in front of the tree.  One change we made when hanging this stand was we decided to go up about an extra 4 to 5 feet to hopefully keep me high enough and out of the deer's normal vision range.  I am always crazy about my scent control, but this stand will really put this to the test.

After getting these two stands done in the 90 plus degree heat and the massive swarms of mosquitos we decided to scout out the stand placement of my third stand but not actually hang the stand.  Once again I have decided to get myself into an area that we have not traditionally hunted.  It is on the backside of the ridge that Sr's double ladder stand is on, leading right out of the swamp and almost right behind the cabins.  My hope is that if the deer are continuing to travel in and out of the swamp but not crossing across in front of the double stand this stand will give us the opportunity we have been missing.  Over the past couple of years we have seen quite a few deer traveling this corridor so I am quite excited for this stand.

I am planning another trip around the 28th or so.  I plan on getting my last stand done as well as helping work on any of JR's stands that are not up yet. Hopefully the heat will tone down a little for the next trip, although I doubt it. 

E

12 Days Later

12 Days Later

Our work on the food plot was done and the waiting was killing me.  Crops do not grow over night.  That might be the only thing I know for certain about planting crops.  I have never had a garden of my own, my grass is probably average at best, and my food plots in the past have not done well.  These reasons are why the waiting was not going well for me.  

Day 5 seemed to come fairly quickly.  We had time to study our trail cam pics and discuss the upcoming success of our food plot growth.  The first week ended and Eric started calling me about going back up again to check on the growth.  We planned to go 12 days after we had first planted.  We had no idea what to expect 12 days later.  Would the field be flush and green with tiny clover and greens popping up all over?  We had plenty of rain, in fact maybe it was to much rain.  Can you get to much rain?  What if the field washed out and all we had was a huge mud puddle?  Do we need to fertilize?  So many questions and all hinged on what we saw 12 days later.  

Eric got to the property before I did and started cutting grass.  When I finally arrived we took the trusty Polaris out and made our trek to the field.  I can tell you I was apprehensive when we rounded the last corner to see what all of our work looked like:

Not exactly what we were hoping to see.  I wasn't entirely positive we were going to have lush green crops flowing forth from our field, but I was hoping to see something positive.  Now this may just be the growth cycle, I really have no idea.  The deer may have eaten all of our crops before they came up.  Hell it may be on the verge of exploding into a lush tropical jungle full of pizza trees and jelly bean bushes.  For this guy, 12 days was not the holiday I was hoping it would be.  

Stay tuned!

-Dennis  

Food Plotting

Food Plotting

Is that really what you call it?  I can't call it farming or even  planting because up to this point nothing has grown for us.  We have great intentions but limited results.  This year we went out of our comfort zone and found some help.  

Our help came in the form of a Fleet Farm ad for Antler King Mega Food Plot Starter Kit.  Senior found them on sale and bought a couple.  In the box there was an instant soil test kit, an array of seeds, dvd, some instructional stuff and assorted other information.  Past years of planting our own food plots have resulted in very little growth and a lot of work.  So following someone else's program couldnt hurt right?  The kits cost $15.99 so if it flops we arent out much.

This year we rented a disc from Hejny Rental to pull behind the good old trusty Polaris instead of hand tilling the ground or raking as we did in years past.  Cost a bit more money but saved us hours of time.  We gave the ground a good plow, put down some fertilizer and lime to raise the pH levels.  That sat for 9 days and we went back to plant.  

Before

I separated the area into thirds for planting.   In the middle third, I planted Honey Hole from Antler King Kit.  On the top third I spread a bit of Trophy Clover again from the kit, and the bottom third I tossed some Whitetail Institute Bow Stand blend.  The middle third took the tilling the best and yielded some of the best looking dirt.  Not that I know what good dirt really would look like, but the consensus was that it looked good.  

After

We will be looking for some good rain to come through and get our field going.  We will keep you updated!  

Round Two!

Last Sunday Jr, Sr and Mike and I took a couple hours in Sandstone to prepare our food plot for planting.  Jr will have some pictures and information up here shortly on the plot itself.  We also took the opportunity to once again pull pictures from our trails cameras.  All I can say is WOW. 

Girls Food Plot - 400 plus pictures
Main Food Plot - 300 plus pictures
Grandpa's stand camera - 50 pictures

This is a ton of pictures for a two week period and more then we have ever seen this early in the season.  Here is a recap of some of the results.

These first pictures all come from our main food plot area:

Three visitors

Sometimes you just need to relax

He is a big boy!

Ninja Death Kick bro!

Antlers!

These next ones are from the Girls Food Plot:

Look who came to visit

Gobble gobble

Antlers over here as well

This is what Matt's dreams are made of!

That is a big body deer in the back

 

The pictures from my grandpa's stand were a lot of passing does, which is normal for that area.  As the season progress's we normally start to see bucks traveling through that area and hope to see that again.  In the next couple of week we will be looking to get our stands up our areas cleared.  We are making some adjustments off of things we have found, seen and the experiences we had last year.  We will discuss some of those decisions and why we made them as we get the stands in the air.

 

Keep checking back for updates coming soon!

 

E

Trail Cam Season

TRAIL CAM SEASON

Part of the joy we get during spring and summer are the trail cameras we have been running.  Every couple of weeks we get to take stock of the deer on the property, and renew our excitement for the hunts to come. This May is no different.  

After turkey hunting, in which we had fun but did not shoot any turkeys, we put out the trail cams.  Four total put out with no bait in front of them to draw the deer in.  This first crop or pictures is just a plain inventory of the deer walking through on a regular day.  To say we are excited is an understatement. 

We pulled almost 200 pictures in two weeks.  That is a pretty good number for this property and no bait.  Even more importantly we had plenty of bucks mixed in with all the does.  Years past the bucks havent started really making an appearance until later in the year.  It will be interesting to see which ones stay around and how they grow.  We have seen some good 8 pointers on camera but never in person.  Maybe this will be the year the big ones walk by.  

-Dennis

Keeping Up

Apparently I cannot keep up very well.  I have every intention of updating this blog on a weekly basis, and then 6 months goes by and here we are.  Spring is finally here and the prep for deer hunting 2013 started last weekend.

Eric and I went up to Sandstone for the spring turkey hunt.  The weather was and we did some sitting a long with plenty of scouting.  Last year was a great year for us, and we hope to expand on that this year.  Some plans for the year include making our food plot even bigger and better.  Adjusting some stand locations and putting in some new ones.  Plus the great trail cam outings we love to take.

I will do my best to try and keep up on a more regular basis moving forward.

-Dennis

Things Dont Always go as Planned

As Dennis stated in the previous post I was fortunate enough to shoot a doe on opening weekend of the Minnesota Archery season.  As Dennis also alluded to, it didn't go exactly as planned. I personally think every hunt is only as good (and truthful) as the story that accompanies it.  Because of this, I am willing to put this out there for the enjoyment of all, at my expense.

The day had gone pretty well up to 6pm that Saturday in September.  We had seen some deer walking into our stands in the morning and after having lunch and getting back to our stands I had seen a couple more right away.  The deer seemed to be moving but staying just outside of our shooting range.

At exactly 6:09 pm I felt my cell phone buzz in the chest pocket of my GSX Sweet Spot jacket. Assuming it was Dennis with his normal update on random animals, facts or the fact that he is trying to solve all the worlds issues, I was surprised to see a text from Sr stating he had just shot a doe.  I was just as excited as he was the minute I read this. I quick sent him a text to stay in his stand and we would be over in a little while to get him.  Upon hitting send I closed my phone and looked up, and that's when the fun began!

Standing on the middle of the food plot that we had tilled and planted was a deer.  I hadn't seen nor heard her as she came in, she was a NINJA DEER!  I quickly stuck my phone back in my pocket and pulled out my Bushnell range finder.  This was the first time I realized I was shaking horribly.  I could barely get my hands to stay still long enough to get an accurate reading on the range finder.  She was at 37 yards.  A little longer then I would have liked for my first shot but I had practiced to 40.  Oh if I would have known what was about to begin...

Every time I tried to stand up she would turn and look in my direction.  I don't know if she could see me or if it was just my paranoia.  After 4 attempts to stand up I decided I was going to take the shot sitting down.  I had practiced this at the range, I could do this.  Slowly grabbing my bow I realized a second time that I was shaking uncontrollably with adrenaline.  I took one last look through the range finder, still 37 yards.  I hooked my release to my bow, took a deep breath and decided it was game time....sort of.....

Upon pulling my bow to draw I had trained myself to always start a bit above my target and drop my sight on to the spot I wanted to shot and then hit the trigger.  One issue, my hands were shaking so bad I hit my trigger prematurely!  To my complete surprise and utter horror, my arrow took off prior to me getting on target.  I completely cleared the deer by a good 6 feet, with my arrow landing on the ground behind her and skipping through the remaining portion of the food plot.  At this point the doe jumped and ran right at me.  She stopped behind a small pine tree about 15 yards in front of my stand, scanning the field for what caused the commotion.  I was able to get to my feet and adjust for what I hoped was going to be a better shot. 

I quickly got another arrow in the whisker biscuit and was clipped in and ready to go.  To my amazement the doe stepped out from behind the pine try for a perfect quartering away shot.  I took aim and let fly.  MISSED.  Or at least thought I did.  In the course of all the craziness and getting a second shot I didn't take into account my angle when taking a close shot of that nature. My arrow barely grazed her right under the front leg on the side of the belly and buried into the ground.  She jumped and ran into the field.  I thought for sure this time she would continue and be gone.  Or not.....

She stopped running and stood in the exact spot she was on my first shot.  I could not believe what I was seeing.  It is not supposed to happen this way.  I looked down and realized I had only one arrow left in my quiver.  I had to make this one count.  My adrenaline was starting to fade and holding for a steady shot was much easier.  I took a couple of deep breaths (Uncle Rich's school of breathing before shooting) and drew back.  Taking what seemed like an eternity I made sure that all aspects of my shot were completely correct.  Bow level, using the right pin, good broadside shot, all CHECK!  I let fly....

SMACK!  I nailed her right where I was aiming, right behind the front shoulder.  My Rage MeatSeeker broad head punch a huge entrance hole.  The doe took off across the field, leaving a nice trail of blood to the tree line.  I heard her enter the woods, crash, crash, crash, a very loud CRASH and then nothing.  She was down!

After meeting up with Dennis and getting SR we went and found his deer and then went to track mine.  After following the blood trail for about 50 yards we ran into an extremely thick area and though we had lost the trail and more importantly the deer.  Frustration setting in I shut off my flashlight to say some choice words to myself and that's when I saw it.  A glowing beacon of hope.  Somehow my arrow had not broken off but was sticking out of the side of the deer with the Luminok still shining, sticking straight up in the air.  At first I couldn't believe my eyes and had to ask Dennis if that was what I was seeing.  His response was "Gotta be a house light or something."

Normally I wouldn't have thought about it but i paused and said "we are like 60 plus acres from the nearest house" and started walking.  Sure enough there she lay. 

She wasn't the biggest doe we have ever seen or shot, but she was my first deer with my bow.  I would have loved for it to have gone perfect and for all purposes I could have kept the story to myself.  That's not me.  I don't care that the story is funny at my expense, I had a deer on the ground.  Needless to say the look on Dennis and SR's faces as I  told them the story was worth every second of my embarrassment.  We still joke that there was something mentally wrong with my deer to stick around while I flung arrows at it from everywhere.

Looking forward to this week we are heading up on Wednesday and will be in the tree Thursday through Sunday. We are hoping for some success on multiple days and hopefully something that we can seriously brag about.  Details to follow!!!

E