Dan O.

vt; if it starts snowing the deer will be in full movement to the yards in earl December for the black powder season. The archery season opens back up after that.

Two years ago I had a monster buck (or one with very big hooves) marking the property. I assume he was taken because he never made it back last year. While we' d be slopping in the swamp water the deer have no problems finding sanctuary in the 6' cattails. I ' ve got over a mile of swamp edge the way the property is formed so the deer don' t have to move far to get into it.

My property is the 100 acres directly south of the property marked in yellow at the following attachment. The light green is wetlands. The road going on a diagonal is actually an old highway that I own.

http://www.wilfridlaurier.ca/~sdoher...x_web/gis.html



The view in the other direction is the outdoor education center. The area on the attached map in green is all no hunting. I' m the white farm with the river going through it. The farm (white) next to me is all open with cattle.

http://members.rogers.com/archaeolog...on/history.htm

Dan O.

vtbuckrulrss

damn, wv, sounds like the pop. has exploded down there, might have to call on some old buddies for a hunt down there, lol. i remembered the bonus tags after you mentioned it. while i don' t like qdm if the purpose is just to produce bucks with larger racks, in your case, it sure sounds like you need to trim more than a few does in the area. dan you must have grown gills and webbed feet to live there, lol.i mean, i guess i know why they call canadians " frogs" ( ok, bad joke, i admit it, sorry for that one) the duck hunting must be pretty good for you, though. but really, you have a tough deal there, is it possible to drai some of the swamps at all, not all, just to get you more dry land closer to your land? with all that water, you would think it would make it easier to pinpoint the deer, like maybe n. by ne of the quarry looks like a good spot to go. can you put on drives in ontario? is there any way to get the gov. to push the seasons forward, i thought ours were late here, but you are even farther north, most of your deer have got to be yarded up, which would explain why you see fewer deer than you would like to see, and if they were, make them easier to get at for poachers and real hunters. what are your dates, anyhow? are they so long that they deer become almost strictly nocturnal?

Dan O.

vt; our season opens for bow Oct 1, rifle is the first week of Nov. and black powder the first week of Dec. It' s a 3 month season with 1 tag. The deer start yarding in November.

I' m next door to a Provincial Wildlife Management area. We breed the ducks/geese that you get to shoot so I don' t think Ducks Unlimited or the government would be too thrilled with draining it. As a result I can get full bag limits for geese/ducks anytime the season is open.

I' ve still got over 50 high and dry acres out of my 100. The deer and bear use the wet areas as if it was dry land. The proposed quarry owner owns the 400 acres to the north (the highlighted quarry area is only 100 acres with the actual quarry 25) and it' s definitely no hunting. My 35 high and dry acres at the back has a 15 acre refuge of cedars and Spruce, about 10 acres of wild apples/forbs, and 10 acres open pasture (now with planted trees). The front 15 acres is alfalfa/clover and my new apple orchard as well as 2,000 new tree seedlings to provide more security for wildlife.

The toughest part to deal with when deer hunting the property is that the deer do become nocurnal very easily. They just bed all day in the swamp (with hundreds of small islands) and walk less than a 100 yards at night to their food source.

I can drive hunt but not with dogs. You only get one drive before the deer change their habits so it' s a last resort thing during rifle hunting week.

Dan O.

vtbuckrulrss

got a couple of dumb questions about your swamp. can you see across it? or are there just enough trees to block your view? is tree stand hunting allowed? i am sure you already do these things, but does the swamp have a main trail or two going into it? i would forget the dry ground, find a good island in your swamp, if possible, put up a tall permanent stand in the swamp, preferably with heat, maybe a bed to allow me to stay overnight and catch the early morning movement without having to worry about stepping into a deep hole by light of a flashlight. i would want the stand where i can see as much as possible, both the high ground and the swamp, so it might have to be fairly high in the air 30 feet, maybe more depending upon your situation. i will bet that you see more deer this way, not necessarily more bucks, but it' s a start.

Dan O.

vt; picture 6' + cattails and bullrushes growing densely, put clumps of 15-20' maples exery 10' and you can picture what you' re trying to see through. You' re lucky if you can see 50' .

I think I' ll be trying some corn as a draw. Something to get the deer out from their sanctuary.

Dan O.