Primitive Archer
Main Discussion Area => Around the Campfire => Topic started by: hedgeapple on August 21, 2013, 03:09:21 am
-
I hung my first ladder stand today. Man was it a pain wrestling it up the tree and around branches by myself. It's about 30 yards from a natural funnel between 2 field and about 40 yards from a millet, sorghum and soy bean food plot. On the other side of the food plot is my orchard. It's the first year the apples have produced. I dug a hole and buried some rock salt. I dumped a pile of apples out. I might hang a homemade gravity feeder there also. I cleared a path through the brushy drain area from the other field so I can get into the stand without being in the field I'm hunting, except to climb the ladder. By the end of next week there will be a 1 1/2 acre of winter wheat planted on top of a hill about 200 yards away. From the wheat there are 3 natural paths a deer will follow. One is in front of this stand.
I checked my hanging stand sight. Last year I busted up a mineral block in front of it. There was a 12+ inch hole pawed in the ground with some recent tracks. This stand is over a steep hill, drainage area in a cedar thicket. Deer love to hang out there when a cold west wind is blowing. On top of the hill about 80 yards way is 1 1/2 acres of soy beans which have already had deer in them. By the end of next week winter wheat will be planted at the ends of the soy bean patch. The lower patch of winter wheat will be about 40 yards from this stand.
Before you condemn me too much for baiting deer, let me tell you my situation. Our 50 acre farm was a pasture when we bought it 14 years ago. The front 25 acres is still hay fields. I've let the back half grow up. The only mast trees on the place are the one I planted 13 years ago. It will still be 10 or 15 years before they drop the first acorn. If I don't plant food plots, there are practically no deer on my farm. I might see 1 deer in 20 hunts. I'm just doing what I have to do to have deer on my farm.
-
No bashing here Dave. That orchard and the other side of the pond looked like some nice thick cover if you can get set up right. Ladder stands are definitely a two person job :P. Hope all that hard work pays off in venison.
Tracy
-
Bait em,,whats wrong with it,,we use lures and worms,bait em,,bait em hard
-
Hey Dave whatever it takes to put food on the table brother >:D
-
If it is legal to bait in your area, I say go for it. I never liked hunting over bait(shelled corn in SC) because the does that came in to the corn were always skiddish at best and the bucks only came in at night.
I don't consider food plots as baiting. Many states allow food plots and consider them normal agricultural practices. We would plant soy beans o iron clay peas 2 weeks before the opening day. That way the seeds have just germinated by opening morning and the deer eat the tops as they sprout. Unnatural salt and mineral licke are usually considered baiting.
-
Pat, bait is legal here, except for like Feb to late May I believe. Basically, it's to keep folks from putting out corn for turkeys. I've never really had any luck hunting over corn feeders. I know a lot of folks have. I would much rather hunt of food plots. That why I planted over an acre of soy beans by hand. It's a lot of work, but I enjoy working the land and the results.
-
I bait mostly to get good pictures of what's in the area. I've killed a few big bucks over the years...but none directly on a bait pile. They're great for shooting does, but not as easy to kill a mature buck over as some people think. Kentucky ain't Texas :laugh:
-
Im in the same boat as you Dave. I wont bait though, not against it or anything, I just don't do it. I sit and sit and sit and sit until something other than a fawn walks by within 12 yards, then I shoot.......at it. I love every minute in the woods, deer are last on my list anymore. Ive whacked more than my share and enjoy the prep and quiet time mostly. Last year I seen one deer on a 40 acre farm after 10-12 hunts. I ate him!
-
We are not allowed to bait in Indiana. Most of the time I hunt around field edges and near a small pond in the woods. Its the nearest water source for a good ways. I put out some corn in the edge of the back yard if its a rough winter. It gives them a snack and I enjoy watching them.
Good luck Dave. I hope you get that buck that left his sheds on your place.
-
Thank Clint. Wouldn't that be something? ;D Good luck with the buck on your trail camera.
-
We plant food plots, but seldom hunt them. No baiting in Alabama. I doubt I would, even if it was legal. My deer season is split in two parts - I hunt for a hot white oak tree that is dropping acorns. That's the food of choice around here early in the season. Later, it's all scrapes and rubs. I am so anxious, I am practically foaming at the mouth. It's bad. It really is.
-
Breath Howard, breath.
-
I found it's best to have more than one stand so you don't over occupy a certain area.Putting up more than one stand can help with wind direction also which to me is one of the biggest factors to getin close to these whitetails.Ambush tree stands.Pit ground blinds,and ground blinds are used by me here too.Sound like you've got plenty food for em to occupy your area.I know it takes a lot of work but it's worth it.Good luck hedge.