that time of year...

[mauser06]

well, i complained when it was 90 degrees and humid when i hung my 2 lock on stands and fussed with them...

time to do the same about taking them down!! lol.

man...these things are just an all around PIA! a pain to hang...a pain to remove(though easier than hanging them...) and a pain to hunt from! i used the screw in pegs...boy..they are enough to make me throw them out! lol. around here, treestand theft must be the "cool" thing to do because you cant leave them over night alot of times...i used a cable lock to secure them, and took out the bottom 5 steps...thats why they are a pain to hunt from...that, and climbing the stupid things...and the fact that its unfomfortable and doesnt feel as safe as my summit viper...

found something pretty new to me though when pulling my "orchard" stand. i just moved into a house 1 house away from the 30yd creek bottom/strip of woods..across the strip is the orchard. i knew i had a trail directly below my stand on that hillside..but didnt know how many trails ran between my neighbors house and the creek...probably mostly night time movement, and i cannot figure out WHY on earth they travel through there..theres only a TINY TINY patch of trees and i could never spot them laying in there when it snowed...its not thick..and its tiny...did spot 1 buck the day we moved in (peak rut) that moved through there...odd to say the least...

im done with the orchard stand...someone else moved into the orchard, though i never saw him hunt...and ive hunted mornings and evenings and only ever saw 2 scrub bucks..munched on apples and left..and, dad might start bowhunting again...so i'll leave the orchard and the woods behind the house to him..he will like walking out the back door and hunting..


got 1 more lock on i gotta go take down...its in my "honey hole"...going to pull it and do some scouting. i took my buddies daughter in there in rifle season and i took a stroll around in the snow to check on my lock on and to see where the deer were moving...found a whole piece of woods i had no idea exsisted...to one side of that stand 100yds is a bean field...100yds behind me i THOUGHT was all a nasty old brush field..but found out theres an awesome looking piece of woods i never knew was there..it juts out between the bean and brush field...probably going to be a good spot...going to scout that, pick a few trees, and trim shooting lanes for them, and do some trimming in the 2 trees i hunt from already in there...

kinda depressing time of year.....deer season been over for 2 months...im ready to be hunting! lol...

time to go find the pruners and saw i suppose....maybe i'll trip over a big ole shed someone said they saw like 12 deer in the field right below my stand a couple weeks ago...i saw 2 yearlings in there last night coon hunting...honestly dont know what i got left in there in terms of bucks...they put a hurtin on the area in rifle season, but they always do...i know of atleast 5 bucks without thinking hard that got taken in the immediate area..but its one of them spots that always seems to draw the bucks in..never see many does in there...

[buttonbuckmaster]

Should have just left them up.

[mauser06]

i would BBM...but i wont be hunting either tree again. the one in the honey hole is GOOD...but i can hunt with my viper 50yds away and be on the same trail...i'll take comfort any day! lol...i give up on the orchard. great area...holds deer and some dandy bucks...but being in a housing plan, and having a water treatment plant on that little creek, im sure 99% of the movement is at night. i had sole permission in there...wind was always great...i put in my time...thought it would be like stealing candy from a baby...what deer can resist fresh apples?? none that i know of...but i guess they know to eat there at night...

might put them back up in other trees if i need to...thats the only nice thing is i can hunt a pine tree or real branchy tree etc...definently worth owning a lock on or 2...but unless you own land and can leave up climbing sticks or something like that year round, they just seem to be a PIA...atleast its 40 degrees not 90!!!

[mauser06]

well, i went into the honey hole...

took about a half hour to make a 5 minute walk. i always meant to trim my path up into the area, just never did...over the past 2 years i snapped off alot of twigs on my way out, but not enough...so me and the pruners pruned out way up the hill...just big enough for me and my Viper on my back...not noticable by anyone passing by thats not looking..its an old growing up ATV trail from what i can tell..turned out real nice...i been in there 1000 times and know what hit me and the stand..shouldnt grow up over the summer much worse..

then spent about an hour and a half trimming in the honey hole i hunt from 2 trees in there about 15yds apart..depends on my mood, wind, when i hunted the last one etc...wind always swirls up there...highest point around..i call it windy ridge..only bad part about that spot..its unavoidable..so i usually just hope i got a steady enough wind from the right direction...which it usually is..just like those 2 trees..im actually hunting a small saddle..and the area is loaded with some of the only oak trees in the immediate area and they drop hard...they arent whites..i think they are chestnut oaks...deer supposedly like them better than whites even....

i tried remembering back to every deer i saw in there over the past 2 seasons and tried trimming for any situation from both trees...but tried not to go over board. a guy used to hunt there religiously till 2 years ago...opening morning we almost had a fight..i was there first..he came in late and threw me out...stupid me..i climbed down and left..i aint a fighter...but he wasnt back after that or this year...so i claim the spot lol. he knows what i drive and i make sure im there EARLY. well he used to trim the path and the area..he hunted the same exact area i do...he kept it nice...last year i didnt trim at all...i never though that was needed...but realized with a bow in your hand it sure is. didnt screw me last year, but this year it might have...so i spent my time trimming...piled the trimmings and a good bit of the dead branches in a small brush pile...ive found if deer are even semi alert, they dont like to step on branches, or branches make noise etc...figured it cant hurt to pick them up and pile them up...also noticed brush piles and downed trees etc seem to ease their nerves and give them a sense of comfort...who knows...maybe im weird...cleaned the area up and should give me GOOD shooting...tried not to go over board...left a decint bit of wild cherry and sassafrass saplings in spots i rather them grow than have 100000 growing wildly...aughta be real nice opening day...left enough so its not bare...i know deer love saplings...and cover as well...but noticed the deer avoided the area that was highly concentrated with saplings...

took down the lock on...and did scout the section i wanted to...both areas look good, but my honey hole looks the best...i think the new section i scouted is a bedding area...its screaming bedding area...behind an old barn and shades in the pines...and, all the trails coming from it and the old grown up field lead right to my saddle...i dont think i need to move from the saddle...quick, silent access...oaks...corn and alfalfa 50yds infront of me...beans 100yds to the left...

i never could spot bedding areas...seems to me that deer bed anywhere they feel safe really..


man...is it bow season yet?????? no sheds...spent enough time bent over trimming i figured i might trip on one...no luck...never did find a shed in my life....

oh...the honey hole was allllll scratched up from turkeys and while pulling the stand i could hear some hens talking their heads off....spring is righttttt around the corner!!

it'll be fall soon enough....