Prep work for 2016

Discuss the science of figuring out our prey through good detective work.
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DaveT1963
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Re: Prep work for 2016

Unread postby DaveT1963 » Wed Jun 29, 2016 10:52 pm

Nice job on the saddle

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thwack16
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Re: Prep work for 2016

Unread postby thwack16 » Thu Jun 30, 2016 12:31 am

Saddle looks great!
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IkemanTx
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Re: Prep work for 2016

Unread postby IkemanTx » Sat Jul 02, 2016 5:24 am

Got out and did some work this morning. Pulled a couple memory cards and set up 5 trees. 5 weeks over minerals and the browning showed only some resident does, so that will be moved this afternoon. The other one had a young little buck, some does, a mangy looking coyote, and LOTS of pigs!

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This guy was on there several times... I might need to take him out.

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IkemanTx
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Re: Prep work for 2016

Unread postby IkemanTx » Sat Jul 02, 2016 5:54 pm

Well, after a very successful morning,I went for an afternoon try at a remote piece of one of the properties I hunt. The area is 300 acres of 20+ year fallow field within about an800 acre chunk. Last fall, it was hard to get through... This year, with record rain, it is absolutely impossible. I spent 6 hours with a hatchet and saw "not" cutting the 10 foot high plum thickets, walls of honeysuckle, and chest high poison ivy. Literally 300 acres of impenetrable thicket, so thick I couldn't find any sign of deer, coyotes, fox, and barely any pigs in soft sandy loam. I tried to travel down an old fire break that showed open on the most recent sat photos (2.5 years). I cut over a mile back into the property to get into a funnel in the mature woods. I thought it would be a great rut funnel concentrating travel from the 500 or so acres of mature timber to several wooded creek beds leading to surrounding Ag... All that travel, concentrated on 3ish acres of funnel, I thought it would be gold. What i found instead was an impenetrable thicket in what I thought would be a travel corridor. To put things lightly, I bit off far more than I could chew. Throughout the day, I had almost 90oz of water, and it wasn't near enough. 97° Highs and high 80's for humidity met my high level of exertion head on and by the time I was able to fight my way back to the car, I was in full blown heat exhaustion. Fatigue, dizziness, nausea, confusion, cold chills, lack of sweating... I was a half hour from needing medical attention, which could have been only 50 or 60 yards of cutting in some of the thicker spots. I will no longer consider this area usable. I am used to some thick crap (sorry for the language), but this is beyond thick.

Here is a little example of the cutting I had to do on my way out... For a height reference, the average height on the honeysuckle/poison ivy mix is upper chest to my full height.

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I was trying to upload a video, but it doesn't want to cooperate.

EDIT: I finally got the video to post. I was wrong in the video though, that was not the end. I quickly found another hour and a half of cutting required to get out.

http://youtu.be/WXAECxzwxE8

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IkemanTx
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Re: Prep work for 2016

Unread postby IkemanTx » Sun Jul 03, 2016 5:34 am

Put together my DaveT1963 platform today, now all I need is a strap to attach to the platform itself so that it will cam over and lock tightly against the tree. It turned out pretty good.

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Re: Prep work for 2016

Unread postby IkemanTx » Mon Aug 01, 2016 10:24 am

Well, I am looking for a longer angle adjustment bolt for the platform. Since I used a thinner beam than lone wolf uses, the current bolt won't get the platform completely level. I haven't been able to find a grade 8 version that fits the bill. Would 18-8 stainless be strong enough?

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Re: Prep work for 2016

Unread postby IkemanTx » Sat Aug 27, 2016 10:31 am

I'm glad I got all my builds done before the summer ended, because the little Ford Focus I have been driving for the last year broke down. My wife and I aren't too pleased with the timing, but it could be worse. No more money left for hunting this year, except for gas to and from during season.
Picked up a 2017 4X4 Toyota Tacoma. I should be able to get into some of the areas I had written off for this year with this sucker. First completely new car for me, so it is really spoiling me.

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vermonthunter16
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Re: Prep work for 2016

Unread postby vermonthunter16 » Tue Aug 30, 2016 12:07 am

Good choice on the Taco! I had one for a couple years, had the offroad package on it, you can put it down four wheeler trails no problem. Enjoyable ride. That saddle looks cool too!
-Rick
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IkemanTx
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Re: Prep work for 2016

Unread postby IkemanTx » Wed Oct 05, 2016 3:21 pm

Opening weekend was a mixed bag for me. After a horrible showing on cams left on the main property I scouted during early season (and sign/talk of poaching in the immediate area), I decided to wing it in a completely new area. I borrowed a small bass boat from my dad and used that as access on a large reservoir with quite a bit of hunting ground.

A lot of this ground spent extended amounts of time underwater last year, and several times again this year as well. Sat photos showed what appeared to be fields in areas, which ended up being 6-10 feet high and exceptionally dense weeds. I'm not too sure exactly what it was, but I think it was ragweed on steroids. The weeds in the field were so thick that I opted to remove the leafy suit and walk (in shorts) through greenbrier, blackberry vines, and poison Ivy...... and it was actually easier. This video shows the weeds in a shadier area, so it is not nearly as dense as the "open" areas without trees. But, it gives you an idea.
[bbvideo=425,350]https://youtu.be/SbK0IAA7a2o[/bbvideo]

I got into position opening morning (thanks to the crazy vegetation) much later than I anticipated, but ended up with a group of does at my setup location while I was setting up. I couldn't believe that in all the greenbriar and nastiness that I was able to sneak to within 15 yards of a doe group. I had a staring contest (at about 25 yards) with an old nanny for 10-15 minutes and she finally gave up and went back to feeding. I was slowly shifting into position on another doe in the group when a wind shift betrayed me. I knew the moment i felt the wind on the back of my neck it was over, sure enough.... about 20 seconds later the nearest doe blew and bolted.
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The immediate area around my tree was ABSOLUTELY covered in droppings. I don't think I have ever seen such a concentration. I really hope to get enough time along with the right wind to try to sneak myself back in sometime later in the season. The sparsely wooded, greenbriar covered area is right at 200 contiguous acres of what the video shows below.
[bbvideo=425,350]https://youtu.be/2X-ny_z9Kto[/bbvideo]

I never made it to my intended evening sit, and ended up kind of setting up in a less than ideal situation. Still saw a doe, though out of range.

The next day was used to sit a creek crossing, which was pretty productive. I had a group of does cross the creek further downstream (60 yards from stand) than expected in the morning
and then had a different doe group come through as I was putting up my second stick on a different tree on the same crossing. (didn't expect them to be moving at 3:30pm) Unfortunately, they busted me since I was moving and not expecting them. Had I already been in the tree, I would have had them upwind of me at 12 yards. All in all, I feel like it was a good first Run-N-Gun on brand new ground.
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IkemanTx
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Re: Prep work for 2016

Unread postby IkemanTx » Sun Oct 30, 2016 4:05 am

So, I haven't been in the woods in over 3 weeks and I'm having withdrawals. I get back out there on the 1st, 2nd, 7th, and 8th. Those may end up the only days I get for the rest of the year due to work, holiday, and child care.

The 1st and 2nd look to line up with a 10-12 degree drop with stable winds out of the south-southeast which is about perfect for my plan. Half my sits will be land access, and the other half are boat access. Only one of the spots will be where I have sat before, the other are blind run-n-gun.
Both of the land access spots are on the same 100 acres. One is a wooded draw which connects a wildlife preserve to some wheat fields and the other is a thick spot in a thick, overgrown field about 1/4 mile away. The field spot will probably be pushing my abilities, because of the trails that show on google earth are going into bedding I will be setting up about 40-50 yards from it on the ground.

I am still determined to shoot the first legal deer that offers a good shot. My first outing had eyes on 9 deer in 5 blind sits, so I consider that a huge success. But, I I need the confidence of a deer on the ground after all the physical therapy and recovery from this spring's shoulder tear. If I come out empty handed on these sits, I still have a west Texas option in January with a special doe season on my dad's lease.

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