I've officially given up on deer

[knight0334]

I went out today... ..and I'm officially throwing in the towel on deer hunting...


I'm a stalker hunter for the reasons that I get cold extremely fast, and because it just doesn't sit right with me to ambush from a stand/sitting point. However this year I was in put in the position of having to sit for something to come by because one of our neighboring farms broke the 51 year gentlemans agreement/pact between the families to share hunting rights. They posted their lands and denied any verbal requests for permission from anyone. Then the landowner that inherited the land last year who lives in Erie brought down a crap load of friends and walked the property line along our shared borders, then pushed everything inward on their lands.

Since I couldn't risk crossing into their land, I had to sit in a makeshift stand made from a stripped out Scoty camper, freezing my toes off to see nothing other than 2 formations of geese fly over.

Now I could have gone to our border with the Clear Creek State Forest, or the border with the neighboring PAGC WCO that still honors the agreement made with the landowner 35+ years before him - but other kinfolk, friends, neighbors, etc, have "claims" to spots that I will not infringe upon.


....so screw it. I'll stick to birds, rabbits and rodentia critters when its warm. I can raise a frigging cow for the cost of a hunting license + doe tag, then shoot it at free will, having 3-5 times more meat.

[Glanceblamm]

Gotta flex them toes...flex your fingers also or better yet, ball your fingers up in the palm of the glove and even the cheap gloves work well.

Nothing against stand hunting here. I do like the still -hunting and have used it sucessfully on the last day of the last season in the past. I figure that a step every 1-1/2min is about right.

Raising that cow will be no fun at all. You know that you like the rush when you see the deer coming, even if you let it go by.

[STUMPJMPR]

Hunt the fence and shoot anything that moves!!!!

[silver surfer]

Wait till the winds of change favor your perspective and torch 51 years of undergrowth!

[Cottonwood]

For that camper made into a stand, get a portable heater that runs off propane and for you hands get the handwarmers.  I love stand hunting and hate the walking around the woods making noise and running off the deer.  You will get more deer if you take a stand on a nice path that the deer are using.

[redboot612]

Knight, I know your feeling.  I've had the same thing happen to me, and quit deer hunting for 20 years.  Just recently started back when my daughter and son in law started inviting me to hunt on their property.  Its a 2 hour drive so I go over and spend the weekend and we hunt over the weekend.  I really enjoy it. 

Hang in there and things will come around for you.

Red

[Squib]

I know most guys probably just wear cover-alls but I like to wear three layers upper and lower, even my head.  underwear and socks, underarmor or long-johns, sweatpants and t-shirt, then military fatigues or equivalent plus orange vest (not for color only, an actual warm vest).  I wear two balaclavas and an orange stalking cap and I have to take stuff off for an hour after walking to my stand... I can adjust as needed once I'm cooled off.... padded up and in the right "zone" temperature-wise.  I also have a roll-up microfiber blanket to throw on if I'm in a really windy stand/super-cold/storming.

another thing to remember is that if you layer up the socks then your feet will be wet when they cool off, that will screw you up even if everything else is good.  don't keep your mouth covered because your mask will end up wet and cold too.  with three layers on your head and a blanket you can probably be naked and non-hypothermal if you don't fall asleep with your blanket open.... the rest is comfort

[cwlongshot]

Like other mentioned if you have a camper to sit in you have lots of options. WAY more then the poor bugger sitting up in a tree stand!!  Buy yourself a dark colored sleeping bag!! Then toss a couple chem hand heaters in the bottom, remove your boots and zip yourself in!!! YOU WILL STAY WARM!!

Good luck,
 CW

[lonewolf5348]

I run into the same problem at 63 the body is not what it used to be .I stay away from tree stands I like ground blinds they do break the wind and I always keep a hand warmer with me in my belt bag.
I also watch the weather extreme cold days I stay in I can remember sitting back at -47 degrees for 2 hour post years years back but them days are over.
I had 2 disc removed 2 years ago so walking still effect my spine and the new Quads is the way of the future for us old timers but still hunt and hope to see many more days in the woods

[jeepmann1948]

Out Here in Texas we have the stand hunting down to a science! eight-sided
blinds with dual swiveling, rotating seats, heated and air conditioned,lights,gun racks, cup holders, coolers,power sliding windows,some are even equipped with a fold down cot for the afternoon nap!
 My personal favorite is my old Ford pickup. Park it beside a wheat field or fence line and hunt with Merle Haggard , Johnny Rodriguez, Randy Travis, George Strait etc. The deer here are used to seeing a pickup and hearing the noise.Just remember to roll the window down before shooting!

[Jimbo47]

Yeah I was just going to recomend coming down to Texas to hunt deer.

You can walk hunt all you want if you can get through all the thorns and rattlesnakes, and watch out for those wild hogs because they like to run on a path of least resistence when you get them cornered in the brush, and you are usually it.

Then there are those travelers from the south that you may just happen to bump into.

Of course you'll more than likely come to a high deer proof fence eventually if you survive the walk, and have plenty of water.

Nothing like Texas deer hunting, and it does get cold down here.   Shoot, it's a might chilly right now this morning at 49 degrees.

[yukondog]

Plant food plots on your land and make it more apealing than his, than when you have the deer established on your place run a 6' fence down the line between yours and his.

[Glanceblamm]

Hunt the fence and shoot anything that moves!!!!

This was my first thought but was geared for using those guys on the other side. They are going to drive some deer for sure but the older, wiser ones are going to circle and come back to you undetected by the crap load of friends.

It gets a little tougher for you at this point as I figure that the "jumped" deer is going to make it's return on a path that is 45degrees downwind and a full 200yds away from the point where it was originally disturbed.


Which side you ask?...That deer is going to keep it's nose in the wind before circling and a lot of times, the wind can be quartering in from an angle. With your body squared up to the woods lenght, you can detect this as the wind will either be favoring your right or left cheek and that is the direction that you want to move.

The only thing good that you have going for you at this time is that you know the topography of the land on the other side of the fence and the area's where the deer are likely to be. Your move is going to be more cross-wind than downwind with the focal point being all the other hunters which you can think of as a very large snow plow. You are probably also familure with the escape routes, common trails, or edges that the deer are going to use to get back to your side.

Some of the hunters get the cream of the crop (trophy wise) in pristine, undisturbed, acreage while the larger percentage have to scour the cracks. Seems like you have to make your luck for sure and if you can't, you just don't last too long as a deer hunter. In the end, having to work at it is worth every penny and greatly adds to the experience as it is great to be out there.

[Dixie Dude]

Food plots and feeding them in the off season will bring them to your side.  Set up and elevated stand, line it with roofing paper which traps your sent.  Use a small propane heater like someone said.  Get there at least an hour before daylight and stay until dark.  Bring some food and hot coffee in a thermos.  I even bring something to read, and look out every few minutes.  Urinate in an empty bottle during the day.  Put the food plots between 50-100 yards from your stand.

[mannyrock]

      I had a 45 acre place, and found that small food plots were the answer.  I also found that the easiest, and cheapest, and most effetive food plot, was to just "round-up" a rectangle of land (about an eighth of an acre) during the first two weeks in September, then wait two weeks for the round-up to work, then just till the whole thing under (with a 4 foot tiller on a tractor), and spread rye grass seed by hand..

      By early November, that rye grass is about 6 inches high, very green and very tender.  The deer would flock to it.  It grew back as quickly as they could graze it down, and it grew all winter!   Add a salt block or deer cocaine  hole to it, about 20 yards away, and the deer will come in every day!

     Mannyrock

 

[mannyrock]

Hey Yukon,

   A six foot fence won't do it.  A four month old whitetail fawn can spring over a six foot fence, from a standing start.  We see it all of the time down here. :-)

Mannyrock

[petemi]

He's right, an eight foot will hardly do it.  A neightbor of mine raised deer and fenced with 12 foot wire.  Go down to Michigan Region Hunting, and read about "blowing up the bridge"  It's the same problem all over.

Pete

[Lon371]

  Don't give up the Deer adiction. It is to enjoyable from all aspects. Set your old camper with heat!

  I get cold easy myself. I have been fighting it for a few years now. I do stand hunt, and I do not mind abushing the buggers Check into polypropylene long johns(warmst ever) cheapo gloves with handwarmers. Thin socks under thicker socks, in good boots. Boots I wear now cost $89. at dicks, Field andStream brand. They are so warm on a 50 degree day I can not wear them.

 Deer hunting is just to enjoyable, don't give it up.

Lonny

[blind ear]

If you have cover and food just sit tight. They will pressure the deer of of thier place if they have mature open woods especially. Cut down any non beneficial trees you can sacrafice to give small bedding areas and regrowth weeds. Hunt the wind and don't disturb yours any more than absolutely necessary and you will hold what they drive off. I have seen this work before. good luck. eddiegjr

[The Hermit]

Now, I know this old hunter who is 74. He easiliy gets cold, tired, miserable etc., sometimes he gets some meat earlier in the year when there isn't any hunters around and the weather is better.   


   The Hermit

[blind ear]

Also: If you can raise a few rabbits and Quail, you can protect a few deer. Stacks of three logs 10 ft or so long that coyotes can't move or 4 inch pvc partially covered to keep stable and warmer, for coyote and hawk protection.

If in low country place a majority on spots that don't flood. Place 2 hides within 10 to 20 yards of each other so c-dogs can't hem up/cut off when driving rabbits. Place some in low places occaasionly if no other dive holes or briars are available. Also in edge of briars.

 In the 1994 ice storm in the MS Delta I placed 10 or so hides (broken pines from the storm) like such in a 120 acre CRP field and we killed close to 300 rabits the next three years. Plenty of heavy cover just no absolute safe zones. Fire cleared the hides and the rabbits didn't recover the next few years. No one else replaced the hides and we later sold the field. It was a good deer holding area without the logs. eddiegjr

[LouisianaMan]

Give up on that lousy (new) neighbor, not on deer hunting!!

If you want to give the deer "a chance," then sit at the base of a tree & give them the chance to spot you as you try to position your rifle for a shot. If you can see them, they can see you. (Luckily only our side has rifles. . .)

Too cold? Set up in your camper, or heck--build a fire, put your rifle on your lap, and watch nature & wildlife & have a good ol' time. I shot three deer last season--and you just can't beat that arenaline rush when you see one moving in--but about the best time I had was when two pileated woodpeckers flew in & one landed on a tree about 12 feet from my head. I watched him hammer, peck & root around for about 5 full minutes, and greatly enjoyed the beauty of that bird. . .enough to forget a crummy neighbor if I had one.

[Sourdough]

Last week we were out on a Moose hunt, camping in the snow.  My back was hurting the first day, so when it got bed time I put one of those Thermo-care heat wraps on and crawled into my sleeping bag.  Even thou the temp was -20 I slept well all night.  Something to keep the kidney and core area warm and you are warm. 

[Mike in Virginia]

I keep warm with a snowsuit, one of those nylon shell things you can get for about $40.  The nylon breaks the wind and the insulation holds the heat in. Snowsuits are noisy and the nylon tears easily, so I just slip on fleece camo pants and shirt for the outer layer.

[catman50plus]

Knight, I know how you feel, and had about the same thing to happen years back. I did like you are talking about doing, then it came to me, to keep the deer to myself, and those other people would leave. Food plots helped a lot, and the extra people ran the deer off their property pretty fast, but the time we spent ferterlizing the honeysuckle really paid off big time. The deer stayed on our side of the fence, and it was cheap and easy. Good luck.

[skb2706]

I went out today... ..and I'm officially throwing in the towel on deer hunting...


I'm a stalker hunter for the reasons that I get cold extremely fast, and because it just doesn't sit right with me to ambush from a stand/sitting point. However this year I was in put in the position of having to sit for something to come by because one of our neighboring farms broke the 51 year gentlemans agreement/pact between the families to share hunting rights. They posted their lands and denied any verbal requests for permission from anyone. Then the landowner that inherited the land last year who lives in Erie brought down a crap load of friends and walked the property line along our shared borders, then pushed everything inward on their lands.

Since I couldn't risk crossing into their land, I had to sit in a makeshift stand made from a stripped out Scoty camper, freezing my toes off to see nothing other than 2 formations of geese fly over.

Now I could have gone to our border with the Clear Creek State Forest, or the border with the neighboring PAGC WCO that still honors the agreement made with the landowner 35+ years before him - but other kinfolk, friends, neighbors, etc, have "claims" to spots that I will not infringe upon.


....so screw it. I'll stick to birds, rabbits and rodentia critters when its warm. I can raise a frigging cow for the cost of a hunting license + doe tag, then shoot it at free will, having 3-5 times more meat.

Lets see "it doesn't sit well with you to ambush a deer" but you're ok with raising a cow and "shooting it at will". How  you plan on killing the cow....chase it around for a while ?

[jacksrbtr46]

We hunt out of box stand, tents, tripods, loc on's and climbers.  Loc ons and climbers we use on nice dry days we use them when it's cold but not raining.  The box stand, an tent when it's miserable/raining.  Invest in a Coleman portable heater that uses the small canisters for the nasty days and the hand warmers inside a muff for the nasty days.  Expensive but very warm is, Under Armour underwear ( buy the at least 2 sizes to big unless you like tight fitting items on your body)  dress in layers, wear your jacket around your waist when walking in/climbing to avoid overheating/sweating. Dress in layers so you can remove it if you get too warm add it back as you cool down from sitting.  Be very strick on your scent control and the wind direction. I also have the Under Armour Cold Gear bibs and Jacket, light and very warm and water proof.  Silk sock liners and a good pair of boots like Muck boots, aand keep your head covered.  You can't concentrate if your miserable.  If you have too, get down and walk some to get your self warm.  In my opinion it's no different than walking in for an afternoon/evening hunt just don't do it during the prime time of early and late.

Jack

[Blue Duck]

You have been lucky for 35 years being able to hunt from home.  Most of us have to jump in the pickup and drive a ways.   The world she is a changin...

[mrbigtexan]

our neighbor has always done the same in the past and i now beleive it works to my advantage. only he is using a 4 wheeler.