Post by hatracked on Dec 27, 2005 3:27:54 GMT -5
At 230 yesterday I was at the cabin on White Oak the new river tract we just got ahold of. The property has been hunted all season by a single rifle hunter with a high budget for corn. Some of his cornpiles are 2500 lbs old in bare cobs.Figuring the usual afyter dark arrival times SCtrkyhntr and myself set up three new stand locations in the riverbottom, hoping we could get some deer around us before darkthirty.
At three pm I was settled in a large yellow pine with my back to a deep water oxbow that comes off the main river channel. Four days ago we dumped 200 lbs of corn out on a small "light sand " opening upwind of the tree. Soon as I got in the tree I knew I was in for some deer activity, the corn was gone, only a dozen or so cobs were left.
I sat through mos of the hunt with little action other than woodies swimming by me regular in the oxbow. Kinda made a guy wish he had a shotgun! At one point 17 drakes swam by single file. Safe to say theres a good duck hunt in my future.
At dark which is really about 30 minutes after sunset I had zeroed in on a few deer that I could hear approaching on the other side of the slough. I also felt pretty sure there was one or two coming directly at me but in that thick until they hit an opening theres no seeing them.In that light even when they hit an opening it doesnt take much to look right past them.
About the time I figured out I was basically pinned down and was going to be in the stand well after dark waiting for the deer to clear three came easing into the opening. They proceeded to munch away . At this point its so dark that all I can make out is two deer standing stright towards me at 15 yards and another poking its head out grabbing a corn cob.
Bout that time I hear two of the deer on the opposite side of the slough take to the water they swim across and climb th bank right under my tree. They were in my no shot area ..too much brush to even think about slipping an arrow through there in the daylight let alone dark.I eased my eyes back towards the opening hoping to silohette one of the new arrivals and be able to take a clean well placed shot.
I eased my eyes up and noticed two things first a set of large white ears and second two white lines above them. Large body , got to be a buck. With the solid wall of smal pines behind him I just couldnt make out his body lines for a shot.I drew and dropped a half dozen timesthinking this was it hes turning and the fuzzy lines are about to turn into solid shape. Just wouldnt happen that deer was safe in the shadows.
Meanwhile three or four more deer start working in from my left. To my left I had a little more light and a surefire opening so I focussed there for a minute or two hoping to catch a silohette. No one moved.
So here I am on a typical SC deer hunt. Stuck way on down in the swamp where no one with any sense goes,hunting deer that even this deep into the cover wont move until dark thirty. And then she starts to blow. Wait a minute I know my wind is good the slough bank affords me 15 foot and I am 25 feet above that . I have a forty foot wind advantage over the downwind riverbottom and anyhow shes 75 yards further up into a quartering wind from me. Theres no chance she can smell me.
A couple more joined in and deer started disapearing crashing off through the woods like theres no tomorrow.Then I see truck lights way up on the woodline and I hear the truck start up. What the ??Seems SCDave with 300 + acres to hunt on that weve never hunted found it nessecarry to hunt 150 yards from me upwind of better than half the approachways of the area I was in. Real numbnut set up, quartered upwind of my location with his back to the deer. I dont know what he was thinking about other than ruining my hunt and a new stand location. Not only was he never going to see a deer but he had his back set up in the middle of the downwind side of a food plot.It was dead bust even if you were 20 foot up in a tree let alone sitting on the ground. I still cant figure that one??Has Dave lost all his deer sense?
See this is what i know about SC deer and how warry they are around here. I had no less than 11 deer come within 50 yards of that tree.Several of them were bucks by the way they approached and I dont expect i will ever see them there again. In fact even if I were to add another two hundred pounds of corn , no deer will set foot in that opening again before 700 pm. Thats all it takes to totally change an entire deer herd movement patterns here.
Fortunately, Dusty and I had the foresight to set up three spots for three totaly different groups of deer.Im going to be in that tree at 6 am waiting for enough light to allow that 50 mm scope on the 270 to show me a buck.No doubt I would have shot one with the rifle had I toted it last evening.Now that Dave so graciously blew in my set up he can hunt there after this morning!I figure I have one chance this morning to catch any deer that may use this as their return route in the mornings. Slight chance that some of the deer werent around for mamma does blowing party.
Deer Hunting 101
lesson 1
deer typically travel into the wind or crosswind to detect hidden predators upwind of their location.
lesson 2
deer typically enter food sources from the downwind side
lesson 3
your buddy will enjoy hunting with you much more if you dont encroach on the area you already know he is hunting and ruin his hunt.
lesson 4
three hunters on 300 acres should never know the other was there!
I spent the majority of my deer season in the office waiting for this Christnmas break to roll around for a week vacation and a last minute rally to fill some tags and try and salvage a nice late season buck. I have little doubt that the wet deer standing under my tree was a nice buck as well as the one standing at the back of the opening. Here in SC it takes quite a good bit of luck, and that all important cornpile to get a look at deer like I had yesterday.
While I am certainly not pleased that my bumbling buddy
set up upwind of what was a prime bowhunting spot, I am glad to know that when the chips are down and its time to get bowclose to these night moving deer around here I can still do it pretty regular.
Off to the next set up. Dave the sandridge is yours!
At three pm I was settled in a large yellow pine with my back to a deep water oxbow that comes off the main river channel. Four days ago we dumped 200 lbs of corn out on a small "light sand " opening upwind of the tree. Soon as I got in the tree I knew I was in for some deer activity, the corn was gone, only a dozen or so cobs were left.
I sat through mos of the hunt with little action other than woodies swimming by me regular in the oxbow. Kinda made a guy wish he had a shotgun! At one point 17 drakes swam by single file. Safe to say theres a good duck hunt in my future.
At dark which is really about 30 minutes after sunset I had zeroed in on a few deer that I could hear approaching on the other side of the slough. I also felt pretty sure there was one or two coming directly at me but in that thick until they hit an opening theres no seeing them.In that light even when they hit an opening it doesnt take much to look right past them.
About the time I figured out I was basically pinned down and was going to be in the stand well after dark waiting for the deer to clear three came easing into the opening. They proceeded to munch away . At this point its so dark that all I can make out is two deer standing stright towards me at 15 yards and another poking its head out grabbing a corn cob.
Bout that time I hear two of the deer on the opposite side of the slough take to the water they swim across and climb th bank right under my tree. They were in my no shot area ..too much brush to even think about slipping an arrow through there in the daylight let alone dark.I eased my eyes back towards the opening hoping to silohette one of the new arrivals and be able to take a clean well placed shot.
I eased my eyes up and noticed two things first a set of large white ears and second two white lines above them. Large body , got to be a buck. With the solid wall of smal pines behind him I just couldnt make out his body lines for a shot.I drew and dropped a half dozen timesthinking this was it hes turning and the fuzzy lines are about to turn into solid shape. Just wouldnt happen that deer was safe in the shadows.
Meanwhile three or four more deer start working in from my left. To my left I had a little more light and a surefire opening so I focussed there for a minute or two hoping to catch a silohette. No one moved.
So here I am on a typical SC deer hunt. Stuck way on down in the swamp where no one with any sense goes,hunting deer that even this deep into the cover wont move until dark thirty. And then she starts to blow. Wait a minute I know my wind is good the slough bank affords me 15 foot and I am 25 feet above that . I have a forty foot wind advantage over the downwind riverbottom and anyhow shes 75 yards further up into a quartering wind from me. Theres no chance she can smell me.
A couple more joined in and deer started disapearing crashing off through the woods like theres no tomorrow.Then I see truck lights way up on the woodline and I hear the truck start up. What the ??Seems SCDave with 300 + acres to hunt on that weve never hunted found it nessecarry to hunt 150 yards from me upwind of better than half the approachways of the area I was in. Real numbnut set up, quartered upwind of my location with his back to the deer. I dont know what he was thinking about other than ruining my hunt and a new stand location. Not only was he never going to see a deer but he had his back set up in the middle of the downwind side of a food plot.It was dead bust even if you were 20 foot up in a tree let alone sitting on the ground. I still cant figure that one??Has Dave lost all his deer sense?
See this is what i know about SC deer and how warry they are around here. I had no less than 11 deer come within 50 yards of that tree.Several of them were bucks by the way they approached and I dont expect i will ever see them there again. In fact even if I were to add another two hundred pounds of corn , no deer will set foot in that opening again before 700 pm. Thats all it takes to totally change an entire deer herd movement patterns here.
Fortunately, Dusty and I had the foresight to set up three spots for three totaly different groups of deer.Im going to be in that tree at 6 am waiting for enough light to allow that 50 mm scope on the 270 to show me a buck.No doubt I would have shot one with the rifle had I toted it last evening.Now that Dave so graciously blew in my set up he can hunt there after this morning!I figure I have one chance this morning to catch any deer that may use this as their return route in the mornings. Slight chance that some of the deer werent around for mamma does blowing party.
Deer Hunting 101
lesson 1
deer typically travel into the wind or crosswind to detect hidden predators upwind of their location.
lesson 2
deer typically enter food sources from the downwind side
lesson 3
your buddy will enjoy hunting with you much more if you dont encroach on the area you already know he is hunting and ruin his hunt.
lesson 4
three hunters on 300 acres should never know the other was there!
I spent the majority of my deer season in the office waiting for this Christnmas break to roll around for a week vacation and a last minute rally to fill some tags and try and salvage a nice late season buck. I have little doubt that the wet deer standing under my tree was a nice buck as well as the one standing at the back of the opening. Here in SC it takes quite a good bit of luck, and that all important cornpile to get a look at deer like I had yesterday.
While I am certainly not pleased that my bumbling buddy
set up upwind of what was a prime bowhunting spot, I am glad to know that when the chips are down and its time to get bowclose to these night moving deer around here I can still do it pretty regular.Off to the next set up. Dave the sandridge is yours!
