Combines & Other Farm Equipment
11-15-2002, 10:39 AM
#1
Thread Starter
Join Date: Feb 2003
Location: , IL USA
Posts: 277
Combines & Other Farm Equipment
How stressed out will the local deer be on a 180 or so acre parcel or corn that is being combined (yesterday & today)?
The farmer does not have the combine set so low as to only leave stubble, there are actually some stalks with corn left on, so there will still be food there.
Will the deer totally abandon the area only to reture in a few weeks, or do they just clear out until the farmer is done?
"It's not the kill, it's the adventure and challenge! <img src=icon_smile_big.gif border=0 align=middle>"
The farmer does not have the combine set so low as to only leave stubble, there are actually some stalks with corn left on, so there will still be food there.
Will the deer totally abandon the area only to reture in a few weeks, or do they just clear out until the farmer is done?
"It's not the kill, it's the adventure and challenge! <img src=icon_smile_big.gif border=0 align=middle>"
11-15-2002, 10:52 AM
#2
Join Date: Feb 2003
Location: Afton IA USA
Posts: 444
RE: Combines & Other Farm Equipment
Here in Iowa, they don't spook out of the area at all. Provided they have some timber to go to. They will retire to the closest bedding areas and just wait until the combine leaves. I have ground hunted fencerows of cornfields that were being combined. It actually worked well. The deer stayed down while the combine was working so I got set up without spooking them. Then I swear, 10 minutes after the farmer left, they came out and started feeding on the leftover corn. Around here fresh cut corn or soybean fields are considered "HOT" spots for deer.
11-15-2002, 11:08 AM
#3
Join Date: Feb 2003
Location: Jamestown SC USA
Posts: 760
RE: Combines & Other Farm Equipment
Farm equipment are deer magnets. Be in the field as soon as the combine shuts down. It not only won't spook them, but it will help draw them to the field.
Logging equipment is the same way. My dad worked for the Forestry Service and knew more than one logger who would sit right on the skidder with the rifle and often shoot deer after they shut down for the day or right after daylight the next morning.
Logging equipment is the same way. My dad worked for the Forestry Service and knew more than one logger who would sit right on the skidder with the rifle and often shoot deer after they shut down for the day or right after daylight the next morning.
11-15-2002, 12:19 PM
#4
Join Date: Feb 2003
Location:
Posts: 348
RE: Combines & Other Farm Equipment
Totally agree with Stickemup. Have similar experience on our farms. However, I don't sit on the back of the combine with a rifle at the end of the day. Doesn't sound like a bad idea though. <img src=icon_smile_tongue.gif border=0 align=middle>
-Mike
-Mike
11-15-2002, 06:29 PM
#8
Join Date: Feb 2003
Location: Hico, WV USA
Posts: 393
RE: Combines & Other Farm Equipment
Justin-
Where I hunt the fields are used only for hay, there are no agricultural crops in the vicinity. Last week the fella that cuts the hay ran his tractor across the field and I was on stand about 150 yards inside the field edge and could see him. The deer didn't mind him or the tractor at all, I had several does and a spike walk within site and did not seem spooked in the least.
I seem to recall from a previous post that you are in Illinois? There the crops are agricultural and the combines and such are in the fields for longer durations compared to the hay cutting which I encounter here in WV. So, my point is.....if the very seldom use of equipment here does not seem to bother them a bit, I would guess that you really have no worries.
Go get em' and post the pics when you get back! Good luck!
Pat in WV
Where I hunt the fields are used only for hay, there are no agricultural crops in the vicinity. Last week the fella that cuts the hay ran his tractor across the field and I was on stand about 150 yards inside the field edge and could see him. The deer didn't mind him or the tractor at all, I had several does and a spike walk within site and did not seem spooked in the least.
I seem to recall from a previous post that you are in Illinois? There the crops are agricultural and the combines and such are in the fields for longer durations compared to the hay cutting which I encounter here in WV. So, my point is.....if the very seldom use of equipment here does not seem to bother them a bit, I would guess that you really have no worries.
Go get em' and post the pics when you get back! Good luck!
Pat in WV
11-15-2002, 07:49 PM
#9
Giant Nontypical
Join Date: Feb 2003
Location: Jackson, Missouri
Posts: 7,051
RE: Combines & Other Farm Equipment
Justin,
Interesting you asked that question! For the past several days, the landowner who allows me to hunt (and who's becoming a friend) has been combining his corn, and I've been on stand most of the time. About 10:30 a.m. yesterday, I got bored and walked out to him and told him I'd take him to the nearest little restaurant if he'd let me ride with him for a few passes. I thought it would be a pretty neat learning experience, and one not everyone gets to do. Of course he said "sure," and I hopped up in the cab.
He had one edge of the field cut to within about forty yards of a fencerow, and as we kept narrowing it down, we jumped up three does which were bedded in the corn. We had to get nearly on top of them before they got up, and they ran around like rabbits dodging beagles before they finally left the corn. It was super cool to watch from that high perch!
That afternoon, I got back in my stand and saw five different deer.
Oh. Also, when we came back from lunch, I walked a fencerow back to my stand which divided two cornfields -- including the one he had been combining in. That fencrow has been torn up with scrapes for a couple weeks, but, of course, mostly from nighttime activity. Or so I thought. As I walked back to the timber, I could tell a buck had worked them while we were gone. Fresh, fresh upturned dirt which was just starting to get crusted over from the sun and wind drying it out. They were definitely not in that shape when we left.
So... hope all that helps. Do combines scare deer? Not a bit.
Discipline -- not desire -- determines destiny.
Interesting you asked that question! For the past several days, the landowner who allows me to hunt (and who's becoming a friend) has been combining his corn, and I've been on stand most of the time. About 10:30 a.m. yesterday, I got bored and walked out to him and told him I'd take him to the nearest little restaurant if he'd let me ride with him for a few passes. I thought it would be a pretty neat learning experience, and one not everyone gets to do. Of course he said "sure," and I hopped up in the cab.
He had one edge of the field cut to within about forty yards of a fencerow, and as we kept narrowing it down, we jumped up three does which were bedded in the corn. We had to get nearly on top of them before they got up, and they ran around like rabbits dodging beagles before they finally left the corn. It was super cool to watch from that high perch!
That afternoon, I got back in my stand and saw five different deer.
Oh. Also, when we came back from lunch, I walked a fencerow back to my stand which divided two cornfields -- including the one he had been combining in. That fencrow has been torn up with scrapes for a couple weeks, but, of course, mostly from nighttime activity. Or so I thought. As I walked back to the timber, I could tell a buck had worked them while we were gone. Fresh, fresh upturned dirt which was just starting to get crusted over from the sun and wind drying it out. They were definitely not in that shape when we left.
So... hope all that helps. Do combines scare deer? Not a bit.
Discipline -- not desire -- determines destiny.
11-16-2002, 06:12 PM
#10
Join Date: Feb 2003
Location: Knox County IL USA
Posts: 90
RE: Combines & Other Farm Equipment
Deer in farm country are use to the sound of farm equipment. If you can, be in your stand while the combine is in action. Deer will bed down in standing corn. If it's a decent sized field the combine will push them towards the side of the field that is still uncut. Once the rows are too few the deer will move into the timber. I've actually seen deer standing on the edge of the field watching the combine go.
As a few others have said also, deer seem to like the freshly picked rows. It doesn't matter how good the combine is there is always going to be some corn left in the field. I guess rummaging around on the ground for it is more natural than taking it off the stalk.
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Live: Oregon, IL
Hunt: Knox County, IL
As a few others have said also, deer seem to like the freshly picked rows. It doesn't matter how good the combine is there is always going to be some corn left in the field. I guess rummaging around on the ground for it is more natural than taking it off the stalk.
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Live: Oregon, IL
Hunt: Knox County, IL