I had an experiance last year that changed the way I hunt my property. I park in a creek bottom and do most of my hunting on the higher ground on my farm. The hill up to the top is very steep, and over a 100 yard walk up. I used to take my 4 wheeler to the top and hunt 300-400 or more yards away. I saw something on a hunt last year that changed this. I was hunting over my food plots at the top of the hill. There had been kids riding 4 wheelers and motorcycles on the neighbors property all afternoon long. There were 4 does with a couple of fawns in my plots paying them no attention. A little while before dark the 4 wheeling stopped. Just before dark a 4 wheeler started up a couple hundred yards away and started iddeling down a ridge like a hunter leaving his stand. All of the deer in that field looked that direction, threw up their tails and left the area. Those deer knew the difference between kids hot rodding around and a hunter leaving his stand. Now I walk up the hill and stay in better shape because of that incident. And I guarantee I'll be spooking less deer this year. Lesson learned! I'll also have more area to hunt this season, because since I parked the 4 wheeler on the North end of the property I rarely hunted that end of it.
Great advice John. I made up my mind about a month ago that I am going to really try to limit my ATV dependence. It may mean leaving 30-45 minutes earlier, and walking over a mile to some spots, but I'm interested to see what the difference is. I've also always been concerned with the scent left on my clothes from the ATV.
I used to hunt a farm that was bordered on one side by interstate 90. The stretch between Chicago and Rockford. (really busy) When my ex and I first hunted out there, we took his Toyota minivan. The deer would come over the rise, see the van parked by the fence along the highway and stomp and snort at it. This surprised me. Later, I started taking my truck. Even more interestingly... they paid no attention to my truck parked in the same spot. So, they either realize a minivan has no place parked in a farm field... or they were staunchly 'buy American' types.
LMAO. John, say it ain't so, Rural deer smart? One wouldn't have thunk it with that other thread. huh, imagine. :p :D
