First hunting weekend on our new land!

[Someday isle]

We had our first two sits on "our" land. Saturday afternoon Big Aus and I had our first opportunity to get out in the stand. We hung two stands two weeks ago and then let things rest for a couple weeks. It's Austin's second year as a hunter. Last year he hunted from a blind and only was able to get out a couple times. Since all of my hunting has been on public land or the occasional friends property I've pretty much hunted from climbers. My old loggy bayou gave way to a summit years ago and this year I graduated to a ladder stand. At 55 and with a bad wheel I just felt better about the ladder - but my climber will still get used sometimes. Our place is 36 acres more or less as its described. We've done a lot of work opening up old logging roads and planting some food plot trails in a rye, oats, radish clover mix. The rye and oats look great and there's lots of tiny clover for next year. The radishes are spotty and not too big. I'm sure that's both a light and soil issue. In a couple years we hope to improve on both of those things.

 

[Someday isle]

The top photo is the view from Big Aus's stand. The second photo is the view from my stand

 

[Someday isle]

The woods were pretty calm and still on Saturday. While always hopeful we also had low expectations for this year. It's new land, we haven't come close to getting to know it yet and we've stirred things up quite a bit all summer working out there. We've got a couple cameras out but have only gotten three does and a couple fawns on camera all summer and fall. Neighbor claims to have a couple bucks on camera but who knows for sure.

 

[Someday isle]

Saturday was pretty uneventful as far as deer hunting goes but Austin saw a few turkeys and I heard them fly up to roost just behind where my stand is. We took a quick peek at a couple trails and only saw a handful of deer tracks and couldn't see any sign of deer browsing on our food plot trails yet. The exclusion cages don't look any different than anything else. I explained to Austin that being new, and acorns and natural browse available that it's likely the neighborhood deer haven't found or don't really need our food yet. I expect it to be the only green in the area soon though.

As an aside, Austin saw one of the dogs we keep getting on camera running around. One of them looks like a Weimaraner and the other one looks the same but is a darker grey. They don't have collars and seem to run the area frequently. Neighbor says he sees them all the time too.

 

[Someday isle]

Sunday I was on my own. Austin had tests to study for. He has mid terms this week and is in his senior year of an accounting major. Priorities. My priority this weekend was a little tree time. I took his stand on Sunday and again had an uneventful hunt until about sunset. A small buck stepped out into the food plot trail about fifty yards away and slowly nibbled his way along towards me. I'm not sure if I was more excited that he was coming towards me or that he was actually eating our rye and oats. By the time he was 30 yards away I was at full draw hoping to get both a better look and a potential shot opportunity. I'm not a headgear hunter but also don't really want to shoot a smaller buck. After about 30 seconds he looked behind him and turned back the other way. He never offered me a better look or a decision to be made...and then here come those same dogs. I don't know if he heard them coming and just moved on on his own, or if it's unrelated. I wasn't happy to see them either way. I'm not sure what to do about them but they're starting to annoy me.

 

[Someday isle]

My main reason for hunting Austin's stand was to pull the camera on the way out. It's in the best looking area on our property at this point and where we've gotten what few pictures we have. I haven't put up a mineral sight or done any kind of camera survey because we're in a chronic wasting test area this year and mineral sites and bait are illegal (Crawford county, MO). There were only two pictures on that camera but it was these two guys. The dates and time are accurate.

 

[Someday isle]

Needless to say we're encouraged. I still feel like we'll have more activity after firearms season when we have the only food around. We need more stand options. We need to open our trails up. I have another area that I'm going to work on clearing this winter. There are two wet weather creeks but I'd like to add a water hole. Parts of the property were selectively harvested 4 years ago so there are some thick areas but I need to try my hand at some hinge cutting. I really want to take the hunting season and the winter to get to know "our land" a little better before making too many drastic changes. We don't have enough experience up here to have any kind of an idea of what patterns of both wildlife and human behavior exist in the area. Fortunately my immediate neighbors to the north, east and north east are all seemingly great guys (who actually hunt very little). My south and west neighbors I'm not sure yet. Access to their property is from the other side of town and I haven't seen a sole out there yet.

 

[Someday isle]

Other than the yellow jacket incident I described in another post (I got stung over twenty times after dragging some tree limbs into the woods - it made me a little sick and miserable for a day or two) the only negative we've experienced since buying the property in June is the obnoxious two dogs. I don't think they're wild dogs. They're just too nice looking and appear to be well fed, and kind of fancy dogs on top of that. I'm am surprised they're not collared though. If they are owned by someone I think it's irresponsible dog ownership at the very least.

Hopefully Austin gets a crack at a deer with his bow or he and TJ get an opportunity for their first deer during the firearms season. I'm suddenly happy just knowing they're there and that my kids have a place to hunt that is all our own.

Anyway - it sure was a fun and rewarding weekend.

 

[Someday isle]

I was also going to post about our ladder stands. I bought two of those new Rivers Edge SYCT stands. I bought the wide version. I'm 6'4" and 200 lbs. Big Aus is the same height and weighs about 170. He's got more real muscle than table muscle but he also has a 6'7" wing span. The wide ladders work great for us and they are really stable both putting them up and when in use. They're advertised as 17 feet to the shooting rail but I'd estimate the seat at 15 feet. They're really comfortable too. In my climber I usually stand the whole time - I pretty much sat all weekend and felt like I had plenty of room to both shoot and move. With our long legs the foot rest and the ability to stretch out seems to be a huge bonus. At some point I'll make a post on how well they hold up.

 

[Bill]

Glad you two are getting to enjoy your own land...

Good luck.

 

[willy]

Congrats on your own place. It is truly a wonderful experience and you will enjoy it the rest of your life.

 

[H20fwler]

That is awesome!

Nothing like hunting on your own ground that you own hell deep and heaven high...and being able to work on projects and hunt with your kids!

 

[Satchmo]

Sounds like things are settling in nicely at your new digs. With the exception of those dogs. If it were me, I would make every attempt to find the owners and have a stern talking to them. If the problem continued, the problem would be eliminated.......Period!

 

[Someday isle]

In Missouri it is legal to carry a concealed firearm during archery season so long as you have a valid CCW permit. I'm considering taking a .357 with me next time and putting a scare into the dogs if I see them. I'm not one to eliminate a dog but if it continues we'll need to figure out how to change things. My neighbor that's down there every weekend says he sees them all the time but doesn't know where they come from. Sounds like we need to do a little detective work.

 

[H20fwler]

Tell your neighbor your going to coyote trap hard and use snares, should help him keep his free ranging dogs at home.

 

[Someday isle]

They don't belong to any of the three immediate neighbors we know. No one lives on the property immediately to my South. The only boundary neighbor that leaves is to my West and I haven't met them yet. I'll just need to maybe take an afternoon and drive around and investigate. In the mean time we'll just try to scare them off. We haven't worked very hard at it yet. But it's getting to be time for that. They're reaching nuisance status.

 

[bwoods11]

Good luck to you, property looks nice!

 

[j-bird]

They don't belong to any of the three immediate neighbors we know. No one lives on the property immediately to my South. The only boundary neighbor that leaves is to my West and I haven't met them yet. I'll just need to maybe take an afternoon and drive around and investigate. In the mean time we'll just try to scare them off. We haven't worked very hard at it yet. But it's getting to be time for that. They're reaching nuisance status.

My experience is of one where they won't scare easily or for very long. Especially if they travel together. As much as I hate to say it - your going to have to consider something more drastic if you want them gone.

As far as your place goes - looks nice. it's great to have a place of your own.....especially if you have good neighbors. Hopefully you and you crew get a crack at a few deer.

 

[Mike]

Funny you mention how when your sitting on stand you think of all kinds of projects for next summer on your place. I do the same thing and it will never end, there is always room for improvement.

 

[ghilliehunter]

We had our first two sits on "our" land. Saturday afternoon Big Aus and I had our first opportunity to get out in the stand. We hung two stands two weeks ago and then let things rest for a couple weeks. It's Austin's second year as a hunter. Last year he hunted from a blind and only was able to get out a couple times. Since all of my hunting has been on public land or the occasional friends property I've pretty much hunted from climbers. My old loggy bayou gave way to a summit years ago and this year I graduated to a ladder stand. At 55 and with a bad wheel I just felt better about the ladder - but my climber will still get used sometimes. Our place is 36 acres more or less as its described. We've done a lot of work opening up old logging roads and planting some food plot trails in a rye, oats, radish clover mix. The rye and oats look great and there's lots of tiny clover for next year. The radishes are spotty and not too big. I'm sure that's both a light and soil issue. In a couple years we hope to improve on both of those things.

Congrats on the property! We just Got our own place and it's the greatest feeling in the world to folks like us.

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