Deer Season Preparations

[7mmWSM unlogged]

A couple days ago I went to my hunting property to do a little work on one of my shooting shacks that I have set up by a clover/weed field. As I drove into the clearing I saw four or five deer feeding about 175 yards from my shack. As I pulled into the field they stopped feeding and stared at me as I backed my utility trailer up the the shack. For the next four hours, while I wacked away tall weeds and briars. hammered and sawed away repairing rotten wood and just general messing around, those deer continued feeding and milling around, sometimes as close as 75 yards! Amazing how tame their behavior was now compared to the way they will be in another month when archery season opens!

[Noah Cantell]

As long as you are out there now, take the time to see where they go when casually moving. Note it on a topo map and see if you can imagine where they are headed and why. When the season starts, you can bet safety is in that direction. Build another blind as close to what you think that safe harbor is.

[7mmWSM unlogged]

Well I mowed my clover/weed field a couple of days after my last post. I went out today and sat in one of my ground blinds for several hours to see if the turkey and deer were hitting that field. No turkeys but had thirteen does and fawns out there munching from 6:15PM until I eased out of there at 7:45. No bucks in the bunch. That really did not surprise me as I don't often see bucks on my property until the rut gets close. Just as an aside, be careful out there in the woods guys. I had a close call while putting up a ladder stand a couple weeks back. Long story but I did not have the brace secured properly and when I went up to the seat to clear some branches that were a problem for shooting, the brace slipped off the tree. It was not a problem when I was up top but when I started down the bottom ladder section bent and collapsed the ladder tight to the tree. I was not hurt, but a little shook-up and kicked myself in the butt for my foolish mistake. Don't be a fool like me. Make sure your equipment is used properly and get some help putting up your stands. Good Hunting guys.