Sighting

[zachc]

Congrats on the harvest Wolfe! Yeah kinda a bummer its a button buck but we've all shot them. And like you said he aint to waste...meat in the freezer!

[nomad_archer]

Wolfe by the way congrats on the deer. They all count and it wont go to waste.

[mrbb]

well congrats, and it can be very hard at times to see buttons on a small one, orjust very small buttons, been there done it, even though I looked really hard thru binocular's and based on size(bigger than other deer with it)
It happens, don't feel bad, and enjoy the hunt and the meat!

[zachc]

Just got back from the stand. I worked an early shift today (got off at 2), and my neighbor finally let me get back in the woods behind my house. So by the time I got home, ate real quick, shot my bow, changed and climbed into the tree it was close to 4. Well to start off the deer at the house have been stressing me out again the last couple of weeks with no trail cam pics of deer. I have been wondering if the big bucks that we've been watching all year were still alive. Well about 4:45 I heard something running through the woods out of the pine thicket into the hardwoods, look over and see a doe coming, stand up grab my bow, and now see 3 deer. And wouldn't you know it, ones the big 10 with the arrow sticking out of his back! Still running through the woods like nothing happened! Thank goodness! Something spooked them out of the pines and I could see they were gonna be about 50-60 yards in front of me. Came to full draw because I knew I wouldn't have much time to shoot, he hit an opening about 3 feet across and I stopped him. Put my 45 pin about the top of his back and let her fly...well with them being spooked already he jumped as soon as he heard the bow, and I watched my arrow fly right behind him as he jumped forwards. Clean miss but at least I didn't wound him. Pretty sure if they weren't spooked I would have drilled him. Anyways they trotted off into the next woods. Bad news I missed him, great news he's still out there! Try again hopefully in a couple days.

[Genesis 9:3]

Saturday night I was in the stand... around 5pm a little one bolted through the woods, turned around and bolted another direction and then turned around again and bolted back to where it came from... not sure what that was all about... bu then at 5:20 the whole herd walked out into the winter wheat field and set to grazing. Nothing but curiosity brought one closer as I was climbing down... just not close enough through the knuckle brush.

One young'n passed behind me, 10 ft past the property line, crying ever ten seconds for something... couldn't get a shot...

[zachc]

Well wouldn't you know it, I put out 2 food plots, dump corn regularly, everything I can to bring the deer onto my property this season with very little luck...in the daylight. So tonight a few minutes before dusk I look out the window back towards the food plots and I spot 3 does not 45-50 yards from my bedroom window, then out past them I spot another 8-9 deer. They were all grazing back towards the woods behind the house. We watched them until dark. So 1st I'm stoked that we got to see that many deer on our property at once, would have been nice to see them about 2 months ago, lol. But secondly, and please help if you can, I checked the camera cards Friday morning and while I was back there I checked for fresh tracks in the snow. So I could clearly see a couple sets of fresh tracks walking around and some through my turnip plot but NO signs of them digging up ANY turnips. Now with the frigid temps we had not to long ago and all the snow we've had, does anyone have any clue as to why they are not eating the turnips? I have slowed down on dumping corn but when I do they are in there eating it and I have some a pics of them just cruising through. But it just seems like they could care less about a 1/4 acre of nice fat turnips. Any thoughts.....

[nomad_archer]

How is you ground? If it is any thing like where I am it is frozen and there is snow on the ground. Deer are going to get the easiest food available especially in the winter when they need to conserve energy to stay alive. Right now deer are eating bark, twigs, pine needles, anything above the snow that they can get to with little effort. Deer are not going to dig for food in frozen ground unless it is a last option.

[mrbb]

food plots and corn help deer in winter time, BUT like having a 24/7 food bank, , deer will tend to eat when its safest for them, and don't care that you want them there in hunting hrs LOL
NOW as for the turnips, I have seen deer love them and some deer could care less about them, I planted them for many many yrs, and the type of turnips made a BIG difference too, some brands they liked better, but they always seemed to like the green stems best! and, come winter time, when the ground was frozen, they tended to stay out of the turnips, NOW if there was snow and the ground was still soft, they did dig some, but , prefered my other food plots better(corn/beans) they WOULD however, get the turnips come spring time and clean them up when they were rotton and smelly as crap!,
I have seen this many times in many areas too, when there frozen, I think they are too hard for deer to really eat and as such they don;t like them, guess the moisture in them also freezes and makes them rock hard!
NOW here in my area the local gun /hunt clubs feed deer piles of Flower bulbs, just like a turnip, they feed about a 100+ ton a winter behind my house, and there are deer 24/7 on these piles
but they eat the soft ones and leave the frozen one and are always digging to get lower in the pile to where they are soft, there will be holes about 3 ft deep in spots

as for getting deer into hunting lands in shooting light, thats tricky, on smaller plots, I would suggest you look into plot saver, and like systems to keep deer out till hunting dates you want to hunt, I would also suggest trying to make the plots more attractive to day time use, buy planting pine trees and such to surrouind it to make them feel safer in it in day light
same can be said with making bedding cover closer to it or at least making cover they can travel thru
deer just don't like being out in the open if they don't have to, and in summer, into harvest time, that is one BIG reason standing corn works so well, they can live in it 24/7 just need water and there good, and other foods they can hit at night!

but its hard to pull deer with small plots if BIG food /crops are near by, thats where saving a prime food till later on can be the killer set up


here's a few pictures of deer on a bulb pile, if you look in the last pic, a button buck is mounting a doe?? LOL
little eary for the rut this yr LOL


there are a bout a dozen piles like this behind my place, they pull deer from MILES in winters like this one, and its about all that is keeping them alive, as about 3 ft of snow has been on the groun d here for the past 2 months and temps below freezing since dec, without these bulbs there would be a ton of wionter kills here!, going to have a lot of winter kill in PA this yr!
see bad hunting in 2015 due to it too!

[zachc]

Sunday afternoon (2 pm) we had 4 deer out in the fall plot, due to the oldest one walking around the house with her new turkey call and the windows open they trotted off back into the woods and I picked them up a short time later heading into the pines. Later in the evening we saw 5 out in a cut bean field and not a couple miles down the road we had 4 cross the road and with them another 2 that thought it would be ok to stand in front of us in the road.