Today was a fun day. I ran into the man I hunted with last year and he put more 4 wheel drive to the test..I was on the edge of my seat as soom of those back roads were about 24 inches deep in water..
We scouted by truck meeaning we kept a note book where deer were moving..We saw a total of..
24 deer
20 turkeys
8 hogs
1 rabbit
2 quail
6 dove
I loved Prairie Unit..my first time there..lots of low lying live oaks..everywhere. I kept notes on all where all the deer were. If it wasn't for Chuck I'd only seen 8 deer.He's got an awesome eye..He was showing me many deer that I flat out didn't see.
A real good day.
Can everyone drive a truck in there or doe he have a handy cap tag? Thats alot of deer. How many were bucks? I had a decent day scouting green swamp today , had a few deer on my camera. I seen 2 deer and a turkey while scouting.
I don't have a handicapped tag..you can drive through Three Lakes all year ..During hunting season camping is free for anyone..no permit needed..BIg negative..it's 100 miles from Lakeland..The deer don't have horns now so they all looked like does..some were good sized 'Does ' though .[ -;
If one has a management permit ,driving though is free..if not..cost 6.00 bucks for the automobile and 3.00 a person.It's part of the Florida Birding Trail.
I am surprised three lakes is not over crowded during hunting season if it's that easy to scout. I know some of the deer in Florida have antlers already. I got pics of 2 bucks with antlers on my camera . Hopefully they still have a lot of growing to do. Hunting season needs to hurry up and get here .
Three Lakes is very crowded in some areas. Other areas are much harder to access due to the water level so it thins out some of the orange clad crowd. Also remember that the deer might not necessarily be in the same place as they are now come hunting season.
Three Lakes only had 45 bucks killed last year..It's about the same size as Green Swamp..little bigger..By the way..that's not my prefered way of scouting. I simply take a huge bay head and scout it real good...Chuck C..would rather look for movement by vehicle..He says the deer should still be following that movement during archery..He did bag 3 deer last year..a doe during archery and 2 bucks , 2 turkeys and 3 hogs..I figure he must know a little about deer hunting. He also lost an 8 point during archery as well as a big hog during archery...both cases a gamewarden tried to help him follow the trail but lost it.
I only hunted it twice last year...both times were much less pressured than the Green Swamp...ACguy..the hunting is different..there are more open shots.thus the reason I bought a 270.
Here's the story behind this 4 point..I met Chuck at the Green Swamp..He said he had been hunting Green Swamp and Three Lakes for 45 years and that Three Lakes was better...so we planned a trip fot the next day..he doesn't use trail tacks ] -; so he pointed me in a direction in which of course I missed..it was very dark. We had walkie talkies..He says,"you should hve seen deer by now." I said maybe I'm at the wrong place...."Hold on!" POW ..... .....Was that you Chuck? yes sir..I done shot us a deer..get over here and help me find it." He reminded me when 2 hunters hunt..all game is split down the middle ..that was nice..especially when he shot 2 hogs the next day.[ -;
Chuck was a sniper in VIetnam ..attached to the 82 nd Airborne...this buck was a long shot about 150 yds...with 270 magnum
THE NEXT DAY
His son and he were going to drive the game out of a small bay head..for me..but instead they both walked up on hogs and downed 2..Again, I got 50% of the meat.. Summary..if your after meat..don't hunt alone.I found this is pretty much a cardinal rule with most of FL hunters..{ -;
Results from Three Lakes and Prairie Units..
. Hopefully they still have a lot of growing to do. Hunting season needs to hurry up and get here .
...."Hold on!" POW .....
