after gun season inventory?

[onebuck]

Some of the public lands I hunt have quite a few younger and a few decent bucks now...but after gun season that may be a different story.

How do you take an inventory of who's left? I might throw a camera up in early December with (I hate to even suggest it) some corn under it, just to get and idea if who's left standing.

Any other ideas? Bear in mind I can't sit and glass fields, simply don't have the time and some of these deer don't feed in fields they feed on natural browse.

[Dewey]

Look for sheds in the off season. This will prove for sure what bucks made it through the season unless they die over winter.
The camera would work but eventually on public land somebody will follow the deer tracks in the snow right to your camera and I promise some thief will take it.

[Hodag Hunter]

I do the corn and camera thing. Some here don't approve but I really don't care and it is legal. Just do it smart and may give you a fighting chance guys won't find it.

Snowshoes are your friend. I have also gone in on cross country skis, but snowshoes are my 1st choice.

Some ideas.....Walking snowmobile trails and placing off the trails or actually using a snowmobile to access areas. Just be aware to place the corn far enough off the trail so the deer don't get hit by the sleds.

Park your truck in an area and walk in is just like leaving an invitation for someone to go in and look. They will just follow your boot tracks, even if their not a hunter..... just curosity I guess.

[huntinfool14]

i think going out and finding big tracks in the snow and find those sheds..nothing better than picking up a shed..great feeling!

[dan]

Spotlight (if legal) or look at the tracks in the snow... A couple nights with the spotlight and bino's can really tell you a lot.

[Hodag Hunter]

Spotlight (if legal) or look at the tracks in the snow... A couple nights with the spotlight and bino's can really tell you a lot.

I agree with with this if your deer feed in a field at night.....what are some of your tatics if no ag fields exist?

Clear cuts become overgrown by the second year to shine....strictly by tracks?

[dan]

Tracks, cameras, etc.. But with no agriculture areas a lot of the time deer vacate the area for the winter months meaning your better off waiting till summer to take inventory.

[cornfedkiller]

Tracks, cameras, etc.. But with no agriculture areas a lot of the time deer vacate the area for the winter months meaning your better off waiting till summer to take inventory.

This brings up a question I have been wondering for awhile now. I live in farm country, no real woods except for personal groves on a farmplace, and when there are no longer fields around in the late fall and winter, there are pretty much no deer. Granted I dont go wandering around in everyone's grove to see if there is anything in there, but there are no longer tracks on the roads or anything, and you never see a deer.

There is one large tract of trees and stuff near a gravel pit that holds literally hundreds of deer in the winter (I think the guy might feed them?), but my dad is convinced that the rest of them around head down to the river bottom during the winter...I have a friend that lives near the river and says once late season rolls around, all the deer move off the flat land and head down into the bottom where there is more food..NOW, that makes sense for the deer that are within a couple miles of the bottom, but the closest the river bottom gets to me as the crow flies is probably 25 miles.

Do you think the deer travel that far every year following food? Or are they just holed up in small groves and never come out?

Also, if you think they do travel that far, in the spring/summer when they return, do you think they return to the same places they were the previous fall? Reason I ask is because last season I saw 4 big shooters around there, and now this season I have only seen 1, so Im just curious if you think the others didnt return or if I am just missing something..

What do you guys think?

[dan]

I don't think they are going 25 miles... I think they are going to somewhere local that has good food and cover. I think most come back to the same areas the next year, and have seen that behavior several times.