Jim, thanks for taking us along. I really looked forward to your reports in 2012 and 2013 will be no different. Thanks and the best of luck to you

   

Outing #4

Thank you everyone for your encouragement and kind words.

we had a gusty wind out of the NE and the clouds were just breaking up as I got under way
 

this wind gives me lots of options. I wanted to hunt the clover field where Mr. X has been hanging out all summer but this wind is wrong for that spot. So I chose a stand that gave me the ability to see that field and watch with binos. I chose the ladder on the western edge of the newest food plot. It's called the wall of thorns. behind the stand is the nastiest bit of buck thorn on the entire farm. Here is the route up to it.

After some of my other TSI work was done I did start on removing BT from along the edge of this field. The woods here is a wonderful line of white, red and burr oaks. Removing the BT allows the deer to actually get to the fallen fruit.

here is the stand. A big old comfortable ladder it is

Being 17 feet up allows me a good view of the top of this bluff all the way to my southern fence line. Looking to the north is the new food plot  and last year's turnip plot. Which is new clover this year. I also planted an edging of a tall shield grass mix. You can only see a tiny portion of it in this photo as you are looking north and the majority of the field runs the other direction.

The clover is a long narrow strip about 250 yards long by 40 yards wide. . The grass strip is about 20 feet wide, just wide enough to create a visual barrier.

At 6 30 pm I saw three deer enter the clover field to my south. Its about 200 yards from this stand. With the binos I could ID two does and a single fawn. They never left this food plot and stayed in it till it was too dark to see them. Nothing visited the plot by me until it was time to go. I had hung up the bow and was preparing to descend the ladder when a doe with twins came into the new plot from the SW. They grabbed a few mouthfuls, then walked up to the clover, passed thru the tall grass and were headed over to the forage beans. As soon as they were blocked by the tall grass, I scooted down the ladder and headed home.

Here is me keeping a close vigil

Good stuff Jim!

This is so cool!!! I hope you get the buck of your dreams this year Jim! Such a blessing to see deer practically every single time you go out. I know you have worked hard to get your place holding deer like that. Congrats!

Good stuff!  I like the addition of the Google stand location map.  

Can't wait for the next installment!

Outing #5

Heading out the door of the yurt today it was my intention to go Joel's stand since I really did not hunt it yesterday . But when I passed the small reflector that tells you to turn left here, I headed up the steep bluff to the do over stand instead. We haven't had much good luck at this stand hence the name of " do over" as in let me do that shot over!


It's a short walk to this spot but very steep. When you are in the 15 foot ladder due to the steepness of the bluff , you are literally looking thru the tops of the trees below you. looking up the bluff isn't as bad but deer on the trails above you are at eye level or higher.  You follow an old logging road up thru the trees until it makes a 90% curve to the north. The stand sits on the curve, about 15 yards off the trail. This area can have deer coming in to bed from any direction. The fields on the very top are the neighbor's and he usually has corn or beans. The beans below are both his and mine and the hillside has plenty of oaks. There is also a large hay field to my south.

Today I saw no deer just lots and lots of squirrels. Here is a look at the stand from the logging road.
 
its in the tree that has the leaning cherrie behind it

Thanks for taking us that are suck behind our desk along with you.

Great pictures and story as always.
Keeps a person suspended

Awesome Jim, I love love love this thread...it keeps  the fire burning when Im not able to be out and about!

Jim,  I seem to remember that stand from Last year    

Looks like it was a gorgeous Day!

Squirrels eat well LBM.

Outing #6

They say a single picture is worth a 1000 words. This one is worth a million of them.
 

Very nice buck.

Beautiful deer, congrats!

Awesome buck!  

That's the wag to start your deer season! What a great buck, congrats!!!!!

we had a wind out of the SE all day. If the wind was more out of the south than out of the east , it would allow me to hunt the clover field where Mr. X has been hanging out. I dont really like this stand as the shot to the clover can be a bit far if the deer is on the uphill side of the field. But there is no other stand on this field so that is where I headed after a practice session with shots as far as 25 yards.