Evening Stand

Went out after work tonight and sat on a coyote run where I have seen them cross in the evenings. There were fresh tracks since I was there on Saturday so that is good. I used a turkey call to make a high pitch squeal. I would do this for about 30-40 seconds and wait 5 minuets or so and repeat. The third time I called I had a bunch of coyotes start howling off in the distance. Dont know if it was from the call or from just them out and about. They were pretty close to the deer yard that I have been watching so perhaps I will try that area next time out.

Sitting in the snow

We went out Saturday morning to a spot where I have seen coyotes and deer cross in the evenings to see if we could call in a coyote. We sat for 20 minuets in the first spot and called one in to about 150 yards but with no shot.

We moved about a half mile away and tried a beaver dam. Lots of deer crossing but not many coyote tracks. We called and had a couple howl at us from about 300 yard away but they never came in.

I had not deer hunted the second spot in several years but it showed some good buck sign. There were some large rubs in the hemlocks from the previous year and there were several runs crossing the swamp. I may have to look at this some more during the summer.

Coyotes and Deer

I have been watching more than 30 deer for about 4 weeks now. A local farmer left some standing corn and they have been hammering it. Funny thing is I know of at least 3 other hunters who are watching them as well but tonight was the first time I had seen anyone else there. Makes me wonder how many places that people hunt and think they have the place to them self are actually sharing their "secrete spot"??

Just before sunset we heard a pack of Coyotes howling about 500 yards back in the woods. As I was leaving I decided to drive by the back side of the field towards where we heard them and sure enough there were running field edge. Tomorrow I am going to sit in there with my rifle and also Saturday morning and try and thin the coyotes out a bit.

Coyotes

Headed out Saturday morning with a friend to check on a deer yard behind his house and to try and scare up a few dogs. We hit stood three stands with his brand new FX3 caller with no luck. Did not even cut a track.

We did see a lot of deer sign in the hemlocks where they have been yarded up but no coyote sign or antlers. We found two good rub lines that were missed during in season scouting and will go back and look for some good stand sites.

Tonight my friend called me and said that his son saw a coyote following two does through his back yard. Looks like we have to head back out there.

Deep snow

Decided to take a walk yesterday and check a few apple trees that the deer were hitting before the last storm. NOTHING, not even a coyote track. The deer must be yarded up back in the hemlocks. I guess I will get the snow shows out and go and see. I may take the rifle with me and sit on them to see if the coyotes are bothering them. There are a lot of coyotes in this spot so I am sure that they are.

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Drive by

Went driving around this afternoon with no intention of getting out of the truck, that is until I saw an apple tree on the side of the road that was hammered with tracks. I parked the truck, bundled up and went for a walk. LOTS of deer tracks and a few coyote tracks. I followed a set that looked fresh but its hard to tell in this snow and ended up finding a swamp crossing that I never knew wast there.

I realize that their patters are different right now than early season but I think I may have found a place to hang a late season bow stand. Easy to get to, I can hide my truck when I park so people wont know I am there and its a short walk. Gotta love that!!

Tracks in the snow

Went and spent a couple hours in the woods this afternoon with my dog. We cut several fresh tracks and backed tracked them. Found where they bedded in the storm. They were headed to the farm to feed it looked like. I ended up pulling a stand I had not seen a deer from in two years. Lots of sign but never a deer. My dog went nutz when I climbed the tree.

It looked like a great spot on paper, just never panned out. That means its one less tree stand I will have to buy this year.

Stolen stand

Went out again today after work to pull a stand that I had set near one of my Brother in laws stands. Walking in I did not notice the stand and wondered if I took the right trial. I pulled mine and walked out by the glow tacks and sure enough, the tree that held his stand was now void of one stand and a set of climbing sticks. I also noticed a set of foot pints that were mostly covered in snow heading from his tree in the direction of my stand.

I followed them and they stopped about 25 yards from my stands and circled back around his. I followed them and you could see where someone had driven a snowmobile in behind his stand, walked to, my brother in laws, and after taking that tried to follow my glow tacks to my stand. Lucky that those tacks were from an old set and did not go all the way to my stand.

We have had a problem with one hunter in that area in the past and we will be on the look out for him. My brother in law has his stand marked up under the seat, a place where people dont typically look. We also have two friends who are cops that hunt this area and if the person is stupid enough to put it up in the fall they know where to look for the marks.

Only good thing is that the land owner (250 acres) said that he is going to look into posting the land to hunting to trespassing with out written permission. The land is in conservation easement so he is not sure if he can. At the very least anyone on his land this year will be vigorously interrogated by the land owner. He liked that stand as he shot a deer from it this past season.

Quick afternoon walk

Got done a little early today and took a walk to a stand that I wanted to pull. I ended up leaving it as there is a pretty good run going to a soy bean field and has a lot of fresh sign. It must have been late season as there was not activity on that side of the field early season. I am going to leave that stand in the woods but reposition it next chance I get.

I picked up some spray on bed liner on the way home tonight. I sprayed one of my Summit deer decks with it in hopes of quieting it down. I love the stand but it is very loud to set up and a loud if anything hits the stand, even a falling stick.

I will let you know how it works out.

Start of the 2009 Whitetail season

Well I have been out in the woods about a dozen times since the end of Deer season on 15 December. My goal this year is to be in the woods 250 days this year. Four days into 2009 and I have scouted 3 days, the first, the third and the today the fourth.

I plan on pulling most of my stands this year and doing some maintenance on them painting them. I plan on moving several stands if only 25 feet and there are some that I will just give up on and find a new spot for them.

New Year’s Day I scouted an area that I have one stand in. I hunted that stand 3 times in 2008 and never saw a deer. From the sign that I saw on New Year’s day I had my stand in the wrong place. I will move that stand to a better area when the snow is a little less on the ground.

Yesterday I scouted the farm that I shot a doe the last day of the NH season. It was the first year hunting this property and we took 2 doe off of it and saw several buck including 2 yesterday. We are going move a couple stands as we found a perfect staging area. We had heard deer in this thicket almost every time we hunted this stand but never investigated. From what we saw we missed the buck (pun intended!).

T0day I spent 4 hours scouting a pumpkin farm that I got permission to hunt in the last two weeks of the season. HUGE amounts of deer sign. There are two other guys who hunt it but only during muzzleloader season so it should not be bad. I found their stands and they are right on the field edge and I found several spots that are about 200 yards in that are ideal funnels.

I also pulled three stands today. Two I may move but one is going back. I have shot several deer out of it and have put people in it who have shot deer. The seat is squeaking so I pulled it and the others to work on it to stop the noise. I think I am going to spray RINO lining on some of my stands to quiet them down as well as giving them a camo paint job. Not so much for the deer but to make it harder for the hunters to see it.

Looks like I will get at least 2 days in the woods this week as it is going to storm and I can not work in the bad weather so I might as well put the time to good use!!