5 Pines Farm Whitetails 2014

[Cyclic-Rivers]

Its amazing how different things look with a little white on the ground.

Great Outing Jim. Good luck with the decoy.

[Chuck Janssen]

Wow Jim I am suprised also with action when the guns are going off. Maybe tomorrow will be your day, clear and cold. Just home from the taxidermist and had 4 doe in the bird feeder. They did not leave either for awhile with me sitting in the truck at 10 yards.

[LITTLEBIGMAN]

outing #68 Bwana stand.

1st here are a few great pond photos. Man they like hanging out at the ol waterin hole.
Sure glad we built it!

[LITTLEBIGMAN]

ok so once again this am I wimped out and regretted it. Got down to the kitchen and the out side temp was a balmy 23! Darn. 4 deer in the back beet field all does.

So at 11 am I went down to the yurt and started a fire to warm up my gear. While shooting a few practice arrows one of the plastic antlers fell off the decoy that Jay so graciously donated to the camp last week.

I had an idea. The antlers on the decoy up top wont stay on. The tab on the bottom of these target antlers was much larger. I wonder hmmmmmm.

ol one horn is now named Goliath!


when fishin for muskies use a big hook ! So I am trolling for a big one up top.

it snowed all afternoon and it was everything I had in me to stay on point till dark.

At 4 pm I noticed a buck approaching from the south on the mowed trail. It turned out to be the very same 4 point I decoyed in after the brief encounter with the giant 8 point last week. His submissive posturing was very interesting to watch. Sorry about not having photos of this but I decided to keep the camera in the pack so as to not have any distractions.  The little guy eventually fled when the big bucks head swerved from a wind gust.

Other than a few gun shots right at dark, nothing else was heard or seen. Contemplating hunting in the am. But the temp is to be 15 and the wind chill 6 !

[mangonboat]

Here's hoping an anxious gun hunter doesn't blast your muskie lure ! Stay warm .

[LITTLEBIGMAN]

outing #69. Back up to Bwana

With almost identical weather conditions as yesterday I decided to give Goliath one more try.

I jumped a bedded buck and doe on the logging road just above the yurt. Arriving at the stand at 2 pm there was already a doe in front of the stand and 2 more down field in the last clover plot to the south.

At 4 pm a deer snorts and I see two does running down hill. Got winded I guess.

The day ended with no bucks in sight. Oh well. Tomorrows another day.

[Cyclic-Rivers]

Keep at it Jim. Tomorrow morning is supposed to be Chilly. OK down right cold.  Stay warm.

[buckster]

Jim,
Thanks for taking time to chronicle your hunts.  I just spent an great hour and a half reading and learning from them.  I am a new 5 Pines convert for sure.

[LITTLEBIGMAN]

outing #70 logging road ladder

Buckster you must not have anything else to do today LOL.!

Well I actually braved the 9 degree temp this am! Every step I took to the stand this am sounded like an elephant walking on cornflakes!
 
red is logging road, orange deer trails. stars deer.

So after rattling for the first time, I was utterly floored when suddenly a buck was on top of me before I heard him. A little forky came in to the sound of the horns and was on the trail right behind ME! Good thing he wasn't Mr. Big!

The next deer I saw coming. I was trying to catch any bucks following does up and out of the beet field below. This young guy followed the script perfectly. I saw him coming up the CRP field. He entered the wood line below the log road, crossed it and got right on the trail below me. He went by me and then for some reason he turned around and went by me again!

It looks like I have a good spot here but I need to be lower and slightly further from the trail.
 The shot is very steep. After he left I shot a practice arrow at one of the spots where the buck had stopped and stood. It was really difficult to come to full draw. It felt like I was going to fall forward out of the tree!  There is another Oak five or so yards uphill from the tree I am in. I think the thing to do ( next year) is have a 10  foot ladder in that tree. That would decrease the angle of the shot and put me at a little greater distance so that movement and noise of drawing the bow isn't an issue.

lots of shot guns going off this am. It's the last weekend of the 1st nine day season.  Only 21 more days to get through!  It gets really tuff to kill a good one after all that!

[steadman]

Keep at it Jim! Good luck buddy!

[LITTLEBIGMAN]

outing #71 Yurt H/O

The temps moderated a bit today and we had light flurries all afternoon. At noon while making lunch I looked out the window and saw a 2.5 year old 8 point taking a stroll across the hill side just above the beet field. Then a few minutes later a doe followed along. These were not spooked deer, but just deer being deer. I was pumped to get on stand.

This stand is the on the same trail I sat this am. it is just a few hundred yards south and around the slight bend in the ridge.

I was even more encouraged when I got to the stand as both deer trails appeared to have had lots of deer pass by on them.

At 3 pm I gave the horns a rattle and then stood waiting for the deer to appear. After about 20 minutes I decided to sit for a bit.

Just around 4 pm I decided to stand and rattle again. I looked left and right to be sure no deer were approaching. The horns were hanging on a branch to my left. So when I stood , I also had to turn to the left. That's when I saw him see me. He was above me coming down the ridge. He wasn't on any trail what so ever. He would have been on top of me in a second, had I not stood up. CRAP!  why does that happen so often?. He spun on his heels so fast its hard to say how good a buck  he was. But he was a lot better than what I had seen this morning!

After he disappeared up hill, I gave the horns a half hearted rattle or two and waited for darkness to fall. At last light a single doe moved thru on the lower trail on her way to the beet field.

That's all I saw. My nephew was sitting in the squirrels tail on the same trail but way around the bend in the other direction. He had a keeper buck trailing a doe go by that he rattled back to 30 yards. but had no shot. He also saw two other bucks chasing does down in the beet field.

Sometimes it truly is location, location, location!

[LITTLEBIGMAN]

outing #72 The Jim Stand .... The Ivy stand and Roundabout.

I started the day at My stand.(11).
 

We got 2 to 3 inches of new snow over night. It seemed like it took me forever to get to the tree. Cursing myself for not leaving early enough I was putting on my last layer at the base of the tree in full light when I spotted a deer approaching on the trail that goes directly by the tree stand. I quickly donned my white hat and picked up the bow and nocked an arrow. A 4 point buck approached stopping to stare at me every few yards. Not moving a muscle he never made me out and walked by me at 10 yards max!

As soon as he was a good 75 yards away I ascended the climbing stick and strapped in. Over the course of the next 3 hours two more small bucks walked on by.
 
it's amazing but we are having late December weather!

[LITTLEBIGMAN]

At 10 am my feet were screaming to get some blood to them but I wasn't ready to head in just yet.

I snuck back down the logging  road to the Andy Ivy stand (15). Dressed like a winter ice fisherman.
 
The short walk was enough to warm me up and up in the ladder I went.

I wasn't there 10 minutes when a super 2.5 year old 10 point came busting out of the thick stuff in front me. I grabbed the bow and stood with out him catching me. But he crossed on to the trail five yards to the left of anywhere near a possible shot
and quickly went down the other side of the ridge.

It is probably a good thing a shot wasn't presented. I know if I had killed that buck I would regret it. He is the kind of deer that has tremendous potential. He will be a real slammer some day!

He was right behind the red cedar on the left and stood briefly for a second. I've been thinking about removing that cedar anyway so the little oaks there can get some more sun. Next time up there it's gonna go!
 

Here is the right side of the stand. I guess being a lefty I unconsciously always clear to the right and seem to neglect the left!.
 
Five minutes after the buck left a doe appeared. Followed by a six point 20 minutes later, an 8 point 40 minutes later and finally at noon a spike! Four bucks went by between 10 and noon!

At 1 pm I headed down got a bite and went right back out to the Roundabout. But the wind had really come up bad and the deer were not moving in afternoon like they had in the morning.

I did manage to rattle in a small 6 point. He came in from behind me on one of the higher contours trails, but he winded me and was gone.

Here is some interesting news. Last night while stepping out of the yurt for a bit , there was an animal in the creek bottom making a noise I could not identify. I was thinking maybe a bobcat?

So tonight I find out that yesterday my neighbor who lives just over the ridge and immediately below the homestead stand had a mountain lion cross the road right in front of his car about a 1/4 of a mile south of his drive way.

The day before that  I am told that a local sheriff's deputy who hunts a farm a mile East of me was tracking a deer he'd shot earlier in the am. When he found the deer it had a lion on top of it!

I'll be watching my back trail from now on. Gulp.

[Chuck Janssen]

well stay warm Jim, you are seeing deer. Just hope the cat is passing through.

[Whip]

I don't know about you, but catching sight of a mountain lion would make my season!   Hope he doesn't kill your deer, but I'd sure like to hear you tell the story of seeing him sneak by your stand!

[Horne Shooter]

Keep a sharp eye for that lion.  We would hate to have our favorite story teller eaten!

[ron w]

That cat could put some unneeded pressure on the deer.......hope it's just passing thru.......

[LITTLEBIGMAN]

no hunting for me yesterday , had to make a one day trip up the twin cities. Cold this am and had catch up work to do. ( good excuse ey?)

But the sun is shining and the 12 above temp is feeling not to bad .

I'll be out some where today , not sure yet.

My eyes will be peeled for lion tracks in the snow.......I don't want to get eaten either!

[tracker1]

Good luck Jim be safe

[buckster]

Go get em Jim!