I'm stumped...?

[zachc]

Ok fellas, here's where I'm at: As a lot of you know all summer I had pics of big (and small) bucks cruising through my property. Come literally opening day they disappeared, but some slowly started showing up again. I talked to my neighbor who owns the woods behind me about getting permission to hunt even some of the woods, he told me it was cool with him but he has a friend that "hunts" it and he wanted to ask him, understandable. Then he says he lives in Indy and usually already has his stands set by this time, it was about the last week of Oct when I asked him. A week later he says his friend "plans" on hunting over here this year and already has 2 stands set, don't really believe him due to he goes from not having stands set to already having stands out in a week and we saw/heard no one back there at all. So that's out of the question, he said maybe next year so we'll hope for the best. Anyway I checked my cameras last week and then again today and what I'm getting is stumping me, I am getting pics (nothing really regular) of different bucks and does cruising through here. In the last week I had pics/videos of about 4-5 bucks by themselves. But a couple things, 90-95% of the pics are late night (midnight to 4 am), also we should be in or close to lockdown right? So how do I get these deer out in the daylight and also what's going on with this rut activity?! Once all the crops are out, which most are, and the rut is over I'm fairly confident my fall plot will bring some deer in but trying to get one before the orange army hits the woods the pushes deer everywhere. Any thoughts...

[Wolfe]

I have been feeling the same way this year. I had shooter 10, 9, and 8 ptrs all on camera from Aug - early Oct and now all I ever see is a young 6 ptr that has showed up or a small spike buck. Like you I am only seeing activity at my feeders around midnight if any. Very frustrating...... If we are in the lockdown phase then odds are you are only going to see a buck when he is finished with one doe and out in the daylight looking for the next one to be bedded down with. From research I have read they tend to only lock down with the same doe for 24-48hrs and then on to the next to lockdown.

Here is a great article I came across today on rut activity research.
http://www.outdoorlife.com/articles/hunting/2014/10/mind-rutting-buck

[mrbb]

well here is my take on things
as for your neighbor allowing a friend to hunt his land, its very reasonable for many land owners that give permission to NOT keep track of when folks come and go, so him NOT knowing there were stands up, is very easy for me to believe, sounds like this owner isn't into deer hunting and as such doesn't keep close track of what goes on with hunting hs lands, and the guy hunting it, might also not spend a lot fo time there or tell him when he is there?? it happens a lot more often
second, if your lands are near this opwners, and your waiting till Oct to ask about permission to hunt there, seems odd to me?? I would have asked a long time ago IMO? that's the normal way most guys get access, by asking in advance of hunting season , not during(not bashing just saying)

Next having a lot of deer sign and pic in summer, is very common, and so is them going MIA as soon or just before the season starts
many many things are changing, food sourses, amount of day light, hormones in there body's and so on
that happens all over, all the more so if the amount of land you own is smaller in acerage and or doesn't offer all the things a deer needs(food shelter safety cover etc>)
deer like to eat prime food as that food comes out, be it mast crops, planted crops, types of food plots, and or a guy putting out the best bait??
it alters there patterns, deer nromally return to theer home grounds, but thats after the better food leaves , then they tend to go back to grounds they know better to live out the yr.till food again chages?

then add in things like hunting pressure, the rut, crops being harvested and the disturbance that creates, and deer become nocturnal IMO< very easy, to prevent the hassle of of contact with humans
I personally feel over the past 10 yrs or so, deer have become a LOT more nocturnal than they were , I blame the above, and the fact of development, and loss of a LOT of habitat, in many places deer just learned to live at night in area's with a lot of humans or lack of cover>

How to bring deer back in??
that's the million dollar question
I feel the bst you can do is have enough land to keep them on, and that is beyond many guys budgets, as IMO that is in most places a goood 40+ acres of the right mix of cocver food water and left alone!
other wise, 200+acres is better and the mroe after that increase's your odds of keep deer on your land
next best thing is to try and creat reasons for deer to be on your lands
that could be keeping part of it as a safe place for deer to be in, or I say better, planting food, that is in prime fed to deer at the time of yr you want to hunt them, different crops are peak food for deer at different times, if you can plant it to work with when you hunt, that will up your odds, many times same can be said for planting something different if everyone in the area has same type of crops??

NOW getting them in plots/crops in shooting light is a again a million dollar question
I have known folks that put up fences to save crops till they hunt, and then open gates in the AM and close again in evenings prior to hunting, to get them into feeding in daylight
but that is not cheap or easy to do!, and might be questionable in morals too?? as its almost like hunting high fenced deer , well a little any ways!
other than this, I say hunting is hunting, the game is you need to be where deer wnat to be, and get there first and set up and wait??
hunting is really rather simple if you break it down
but getting it all right is the tricky part! LOL

[MICH]

that was my hunt nov7-13, big bucks on camera 715 pm thru 430 am.....doe's all day with no bucks on them.......ps, acorn were dropping when i was down there also, 2 oaks were raining down, doe's there no bucks

[00buck]

Last Sunday had a shooter locked down with a doe in corn field about 200 yards away


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[zachc]

Mrbb...a couple of things, mostly on the neighbor topic. We moved in this house around jan-feb this year, our property butts up against their woods, its about a 15-20 acre plot. Don't get me wrong we have talked to the woman and man and they seem like good people but...they have a cattle gate that the lock across the end of their drive. So unless you just happen to luck out and catch the gate open, no way to get ahold of them. So from the time we moved in until mid Oct we never even saw the folks, hence why I didn't ask until then. Wasn't a matter of just not asking but rather not having access to ask. Also the gate blocks his friend from being able to get into their drive and there's not any other access drives or pull offs or anything. So I think its just way of spinning me but maybe next year right. And next year I'll be able to ask earlier in the year cuz we have exchanged numbers, lol.

[zachc]

Wolfe, read the article. Good info to know! Very interesting.

[mrbb]

Mrbb...a couple of things, mostly on the neighbor topic. We moved in this house around jan-feb this year, our property butts up against their woods, its about a 15-20 acre plot. Don't get me wrong we have talked to the woman and man and they seem like good people but...they have a cattle gate that the lock across the end of their drive. So unless you just happen to luck out and catch the gate open, no way to get ahold of them. So from the time we moved in until mid Oct we never even saw the folks, hence why I didn't ask until then. Wasn't a matter of just not asking but rather not having access to ask. Also the gate blocks his friend from being able to get into their drive and there's not any other access drives or pull offs or anything. So I think its just way of spinning me but maybe next year right. And next year I'll be able to ask earlier in the year cuz we have exchanged numbers, lol.
well I hear you, BUT here is what I can suggest
try just leaving a note in there mail box, asking them to contact you, leave a phone number, and I would have said I am your new neighbors, would like to get to know you?
My biggest reason would have been, just to make sure IF I shot a deer on my side of the line abnd it happened to run onto there side, , would lo=ike to know ahead of time I can recover the deer?
I have done this on many out of state hunts as well, by doing property searches and finding out ownes names and contacts, then called months ahead of time to ask
old saying where there is a will there is a way, and as a property owner, and manager, it has always showed me that the person asking was trying to do it ther right way, by asking in advance, , won't say I granted permission all the time, or was granted, But I know from my point of view, I found it rather insulting to be asked during the season, when I knew the people were about long before the season,and they never made the effort!
I know many property owners that feel thsi way too
so that could be why the oput off on you??
again NOT bashing, just offering some info to think about!
property lines and recovering a deer can get tricky real fast, so again, its always better to find out sooner than later!
and its also never to late I think to build a better relationship with a neighbor! IMO , some are a LOT harder to work with than others, but again, where there is a will there is a way LOL

Good luck

[zachc]

Ok what has happened has happened, were getting off subject. Back to the topic at hand here, need the deer back through my property!

[mrbb]

well the way to get deer on a property is to make property more interesting to them, be it better food, better cover , safer, better water, less hunting pressure with these too!, and so on??
these things are hard to change this time of yr LOL
BUT if you have deer about your area, and you have basic needs of them, and they were theer all summer, there is a good chance they will come back to there homerange after the rut and or crops get cut about you
its why I am a big believer in food plots, and planting mast tree's, to try and keep the better food on my side during hunting seasosn, as well as the rest of the yr
as IMO thats the MOST any one can do to keep deer on there side
baiting can work, but in order IMO to do so enough to keep deer there 365, that's a LOT of coin to spend, and bait has the rep it has for many, and it has to be hunted in different ways(mostly away from it)as deer tend to hit bait on smaller property's at night!, and can just live off prperty and come at night, same with food plots, which is again why, a prime deer's home, has it all, cover, food, water and safety!
create them, and keep pressure low, and its as good as you can be!