Got busted this morning.

[sticknstringarchery]

I have reason to believe that a certain teenager in my family is up to no good again as in has stolen an expensive cell phone from our single wide we are in the process of moving out of and into our house we are currently renovating. Had to be living in our houe to get the loan to finish the remainder of the renovations. He has a history of doing vendictive things after doing something such as steeling from others in the family an dthem suspecting him of doing it. He has been in trouble and was cleaning up his act until he started hanging around this new kid. Since he has started doing things that point to how he was acting before. I decided to go buy stand locks for all my stands and put them on this morning to make it a little harder if nothing else for him to mess with anything if he tried. He knows where one of my stannds are but, not sure about the rest of them.

I normally wouldn't be in the woods as early as I was this morning due to possibly bumping deer before season. I just wanted to get the stand locks on as soon as possible.

I was at what I believe will be one of my most productive doe stands and potentially a decent buck stand around 8:15am. I was putting on my harness to go up the tree to my hang on and put the lock on ut. As I fastened the last buckle on the harness I heard one blow and looked to the south east and there was one of the biggest does I have seen on the property to date. She watched for a second as I stood as still as I could then turned and headed back the other way.

Our opening date is September 10th. I am pretty sure I have a great chance at arrowing my first deer opening day given the wind play in my favor from this stand. I plan on staying away from the stand and my mineral station from now till opening day. I even removed my trail camera from the mineral station while I was out there this morning just so I am not temped to go snag the card. Oh and the activity has increased ten fold in the mineral station over the past week. I think this is due to the soy beans in the field right next to it are at about 8" high now. We had rain all day today so I am hoping it washed any of my scent out. Do any of you think this will hurt my chances come opening day?

[dan]

Do any of you think this will hurt my chances come opening day?

My personal opinion is that there is no way of knowing what will happen opening day, but every time you enter your hunting area your chances for success go down... For this reason I pick and choose my trips to my hunting areas wisely and only go to the areas with a good reason and/or at the right time. This includes both hunting and scouting. The more you are there, the worse it gets hunting wise.

[BassBoysLLP]

Do any of you think this will hurt my chances come opening day?

My personal opinion is that there is no way of knowing what will happen opening day, but every time you enter your hunting area your chances for success go down... For this reason I pick and choose my trips to my hunting areas wisely and only go to the areas with a good reason and/or at the right time. This includes both hunting and scouting. The more you are there, the worse it gets hunting wise.

Gotta agree with Dan on this one. Although (after day 1) I generally start the season in areas I know are going to get screwed up soon by others (or myself) and slowly "shut the lights out" deeper in the woods as bedding areas change following leaf drop.

I hope the best for you.

[WEEGEE]

i'm new here but i'll throw in my 2 cents.
i read in a mag. this month, what i've been doing for yrs.
every time i have to go in the hunting area v,except for hunting(stands/feed)
i pull up in my truck ,leave the radio on and stand there at the truck for a few minutes.
if you have someone with you it helps . start talking loud and go SLOW.
step on limbs etc. and keep talking loud as you slowly head to stands.

deer know you better than you think!
he won't run from a tractor/combine/drilling rig, or any human thing that presents a "no danger mode"

but peak your head around a tree ,sneaking through his living room ,he's gone.

but while he is hiding there ,he knows your not in a "predator mode".
more than likely he will just watch you ,unless you walk directly at him.

keep talking loudly as you work and while you leave ..and go slow.

i can't tell you how many times we have used this procedure and then sneak back in stealth mode ,just to see one get up within 100yrds. or less sometimes and come straight to the area we were in.

i hung a stand one day with a buddy .we worked about 1/2 hr and started to leave ,when i forgot the trimming saw . we had walked about 50yrds or so from the stand ,when i noticed i left the saw . as i walked back i took a short cut ,less than 20 yrds. three does jumped out of a tree top laying 20 yrds. from the stand......using this procedure,will help you in the woods ,not to spook them into the next co.

[Zap]

I jumped a buck out of his bed in late afternoon, marshy area.

His bed was on a dirt mound 15 yards inside one end of a 50 yard wide 500 yard long strip of flooded small 25' high trees.

There is a strip of flooded corn on one side, then flooded cut beans.
Two duck hunters were in there blasting away and retrieving downed birds.
within a few hundred yards of him.

I had seen this buck entering that spot a few times from my stand.

Last day of my hunt so when the duck hunters started packin up I got down and headed over. I had brought waders. Passed them going out a little ways from the bed area.

I had to cross a deer water ditch, maybe waist high.
When I came out I was less than 20 yards from the bed.
I circled around and worked my way in, he busted out.
The water was clear enough that I was able to follow the disturbed dirt in the water back to his bed.

When I realized how close I had been I was suprised.
Great spot for that buck. Thick small trees in knee high water, deep water ditches on two sides and a good view of the leeve/path that comes form the parking lot.
I wondered how many hunters he has watched walk past less tha fifty yards away?

I agree with Weegee, I do not sneak around in the woods unless I am hunting. Any other time I let the deer know that I am there.

Obviously it is better to stay out but that is not always possible.