Consistent Pressure

[Haus86]

A little while back, Mark Kenyon interviewed Lee Lakosky on his podcast. During the interview Lee talked about consistent pressure and how they use it to their advantage. If you haven't listened to it yet, I would definitely check it out. YES, this is private land...I get it, so don't throw a fit.

I have permission on a farm here in Iowa that gets a lot of pressure. The landowners ride their ATVs through the timber regularly, horseback ride, cut wood, etc. Lately, I have been helping fill the wood shed for the landowner. We go at his pace, so this means, many, many trips back and forth through out the property for months on end. Even with all of the pressure last Fall, I still saw a lot of deer, and I even killed a 4 year old. Lately, I have been getting a little stressed about all of the ruckus, but some recent trail camera pictures calmed my nerves.

Earlier this week I hauled some wood up to the house before work. Just off the two track there is a tree that typically gets a lot of scraping activity. I grabbed a stick, with my stinky hands, opened up the scrapes, and hung a trail camera to see if I could get an idea of how the pressure has been affecting the deer. This is what I found...










What do you think? Is there something to be said for consistent pressure?

[Haus86]

Here's the link to the podcast http://wiredtohunt.com/2014/05/08/the-w ... e-tiffany/

[Bucky]

I know it works....

For me it is more checking cams on ag fields and food plots... almost weekly from July-Sept

[ Post made via Android ]

[Haus86]

Just a few more pictures from the camera I put out to see how the consistent pressure on this farm affects deer movement. I would imagine ATVs, horses, and woodcutting has been going on regularly for the past couple of decades, usually a few time per week. I don't think I'll need to worry about the pressure anymore.

I was planning on sitting over the scrape this morning, and I slept in instead. I was a little bummed to see what walked by at 7:30 a.m. this morning when I should have been in the tree. Check out the last picture

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[Beartown18]

interesting

[BassBoysLLP]

I'm confident it works. I've seen it first hand running cameras on food plots and ag fields; however, all bets are off once you enter the woods. If your entry/exit is clean, you can get by with multiple food source hunts, but maybe only one woods hunt.

Lee has a unique situation in that he treats his entire woods as a sanctuary. I wish I had enough acreage to do the same.

Interesting to see your success in the woods! Thanks for sharing!

[cbay]

all bets are off once you enter the woods.

Agree. We limit activity at our property to midday and none the last couple hours of daylight. It works well and they have adapted, but once we break that consistency and hunt the evenings it goes downhill very quick.

[Haus86]

This is in the heart of the woods. There are areas of the farm that get little to no activity.

[Stanley]

I think we sometimes forget you can only do what you can do to control a situation. If the situation is out of our control then it becomes moot. There are different types of pressure people putsing the property on wheelers is way different than hunters blaming away at every deer that moves. There is a huge difference between activity and hunting pressure. I think what you are describing is activity (like cars on the road, or farm machinery) not real pressure. Ask the Michigan guys about hunting pressure.

[Haus86]

I think we sometimes forget you can only do what you can do to control a situation. If the situation is out of our control then it becomes moot. There are different types of pressure people putsing the property on wheelers is way different than hunters blaming away at every deer that moves. There is a huge difference between activity and hunting pressure. I think what you are describing is activity (like cars on the road, or farm machinery) not real pressure. Ask the Michigan guys about hunting pressure.

I agree definitely a difference between hunting pressure and activity, but I would still have normally assumed bucks would avoid the area. I didn't mention there was a garden 100 yards away also. Based on what we always talk about I would think this would be kind of taboo. At least I know it's not a big deal anymore on this farm.

Do you think they would be more comfortable with human scent than the average deer?

[briar]

A couple years ago I used to hunt a propery that bordered a big park with a drive through display of christmas lights. This propery got pounded with bikers, hikers, dog walkers ect and it was the best hunting I ever had in my life. You could bet your socks when you heard the christmas music start and saw the lights turn on the deer wouldn't be far behind. Nothing ever big, but I have never seen anything big anyway so it was normal to me....was a fun time while it lasted!

[Florida]

I think we sometimes forget you can only do what you can do to control a situation. If the situation is out of our control then it becomes moot. There are different types of pressure people putsing the property on wheelers is way different than hunters blaming away at every deer that moves. There is a huge difference between activity and hunting pressure. I think what you are describing is activity (like cars on the road, or farm machinery) not real pressure. Ask the Michigan guys about hunting pressure.

I agree definitely a difference between hunting pressure and activity, but I would still have normally assumed bucks would avoid the area. I didn't mention there was a garden 100 yards away also. Based on what we always talk about I would think this would be kind of taboo. At least I know it's not a big deal anymore on this farm.

Do you think they would be more comfortable with human scent than the average deer?

I think they would be comfortable with it in the right places. I guarantee he wouldn't be comfortable with it in his bedroom. There are lots of ways to kill a mature deer. You just have to figure out the one that works best for you and your particular deer. For me, I think the strategies discussed on this site give me the best shot on pressured public land. I have yet to prove that though.

[briar]

Do you think they would be more comfortable with human scent than the average deer?

I can see where this is a way of thinking, but in a way I think it is different. I spend all day around people at my job, gym, home, ect..but i still get an uneasy feeling if I sense a person in a place I don't expect them to be acting like I don't expect them to act. I don't know if deer have a similar sense, but I bet they do.

[Haus86]

I think the increased activity attracts bucks with more killable personalities. I know a lot of bucks won't put up with all of the activity, but some will.

I remember on another similar farm there was a buck bedding right along an atv trail that was regularly used by the farmer, atvs, and hunters. Lynchpin was walking out one morning and bumped a big buck from his bed. Prior to that there was a squirrel hunter who mentioned bumping a big buck from that same location. My dad and I later went in and killed him on Oct. 18th as he was coming back to bed.

[Trailcamaddict]

My grandparents own a 70ac. property which they allow all the neighbors to walk dogs, bike, hike, etc. There are people doing something almost everyday. Even with all of this activity there are still plenty of deer there. Not a lot of good bucks (except once in a while during the rut). The deer we see are all used to the activity and will watch people go right by. However, they totally freak out when someone is not on a tractor trail i.e. me in a stand!