I've been busy starting to hang stands around my property, most of which are in new spots I haven't tried before. I'm on the fence right now as to where I should hang my next stand. There's a spot on our property that I've never really hunted, but it shows promise. My dad was in this spot when he took a nice 9 point in late muzzleloader season 10 yrs ago or so. Anyways, the area is extremely thick and overgrown with briars, autumn olive, and more importantly, a few apple trees. The trees run down through a small depression at the base of a steep ridge (where I believe they bed). There's also a small spring fed stream that runs through this depression as well (no extreme amount of flow, it's usally just a trickle). Anyways, the area was littered with deer tracks when I scouted it in the winter, and the apple trees are producting pretty well for being natural unpruned trees. My question to you is, should I be concentrating on these natural food sources (I know they love apples), or should I be focusing more on oak flats and corn fields? I'm just leary about this spot because I can't really seem to figure out where the deer are moving AFTER they hit these trees, and that could mean I might have the possibility of getting trapped in the tree. Thoughts?
1. When does your season start?
2. What can be expected to be on the trees (apples) at that time?
I wanna know what they'll be eating when I can kill them. Here.....we open in early September. There's still fruit on the trees, then. I know where all the persimmon trees are on the properties I hunt. They're good producers of fruit, too....and they draw 'em in like flies. I found the last one (persimmon tree) by accident, last opening day. Every deer I saw that morning (and on subsequent hunts, there)went by that tree to check for new fruit on the ground.
By October.....the tree is barren of fruit and they've moved onto other sources. That's when the mast crops get slammed. Luckily, for me, this place I'm speaking of has great mast producing trees, also. It's just a great spot, all around.
I agree. I would certainly consider taking advantage of those apple trees during the earlier part of the season, while the fruit is still available. The farm I hunt has an apple tree and a pear tree but they are both not 25 yards behind the farm house that my relatives live in. I used to scare deer out of the orchard some days when I parked in the driveway and walked by the orchard to get to the back end of the farm to hunt. Also set a camera up there one year and caught all sorts of pictures, many with deer with apples in their mouths. Kind of funny looking!!
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"Treat others like it's your last day on earth!!"
That spot your talking about sounds great. See if you can set up on a travel route far enough away that you can see the trees (if possible) but still get down without affecting any deer right under them, at first anyway (if your worried about it).
Another thing is I have great luck at isolated fruit tree type places in the mornings by sitting up right on top of it. My theory is the deer may hit these places in the early EVENINGS, eat all the apples they can find, move away,and thencome back early in the morning to check for more on their way to bed down.
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Looney tunes deductive reasoning:
--Me smell Mohican burning
--Me last Mohican
--Must be me!!!
--EEEOOOWWW!!!!!
Good point, Jeff. Season starts in PA Oct.4 this year. I suppose the added water source makes this spot somewhat ideal as well, but I'm not sure. I know of one very strong oak grove that I would like to try, but I don't have a good exit route out of the stand. I'm really paying attention to best possible ways in and out of my stand locations this year.
Preference on apples?
