Do you think the deer are thinking about me, too? I thought it was out of my system for a little while after putting in all those miles shed hunting, and big bucks haven’t even been on the brain. Until...I was checking some elms the other day to see if there were any mushrooms left over, and bam, a small 8pt shed. Before my fire was relit, I’d been half heartedly working on my food plot putting lime down. Well, I got my ass in gear, got the lime down, and then sprayed the whole 1/2 acre plot with gly in a 2 gallon sprayer. Definitely upgrading to a small pull behind sprayer next year. I cannot wait until the end of August comes and I check the cameras for the first time and see what this year will bring. I know I’ll only get more impatient when the deer contest sign up thread pops up. Tick tock
I try to get as much done as much as I can in the spring. Being a roofing salesman and a wheat farmer if I don't have it done before mid-May it's not getting done. I only go out to my hunting grounds once a month through the summer to fill protein feeders unless I am getting hogs on cameras and at that point I bait the traps and pay a hand to go check them or get the occasional night hunt depending on business. My wheat froze out after it jointed this year so it's already bailed and awaiting approval for an industrial hemp pilot program or it millet time..
I scout non stop up until about turkey season and thats when I get distracted for a week or two. But once I get my turkeys I go right back to deer. I am usually satisfied with scouting the main areas that I hunt by the time May comes around. The rest of the summer is devoted to mineral sites and scouting other pieces of public that I could add to the list. I always like to have so many places to hunt that I would never be able to hunt them all in one season. Like you said tick tock I'm just counting down now.
I went and looked at a few pieces of public land during shed season. I can pick good topography out on maps, but when I get in there, it’s all selective cut, big, open timber. I, too, like a few places to hunt. That way, when it’s slow or too hot, I can still go set in the woods and not burn my good stands out.
Well my leasing farmer worked a 1.75 acre for me and I'm crazy excited. I have about a month to get my soybeans in there. I also got round up on a .25 acre kill plot on the edge of a pond where I always get my best pics. Turning that into AlphaRack+ . I have made my priority list and have already began working towards my annual goal of out of the woods by Aug 15 to let them rest 45 days
I’m waiting on the gly to kill the weeds in my half acre plot so I can mow it off, drag it, and plant. Been trying to do some fishing to keep my mind off of hunting and staying out of the 40 acres I hunt lol
Fix, I like that idea of letting them rest for 45 days. I think I will try that this year. Do you check cameras during that period of rest or just stop "work"?
I check cams, but I try to do it while its raining and midday. Around my area what they are doing in August and Oct are completely different so I don't worry about patterns. I've been on the same ground a while so cams are for my own satisfaction as opposed to intell. Good luck and I hope it works for you.
I have this big grand plan of putting new batteries in my cams late June and checking them at the once at the beginning of August, once in September, and then not again until I go in to hunt. One camera is about 150 yards from the back porch and I always find some way of talking myself into checking it lol but....THIS YEAR IM STAYING OUT
