Off Season Chores

[Art 20]

This deer season being over here now it's time to think about preparing for next season. We have a few months now when the temperature is decent for working in the woods. By May it will be hot and the mosquitos will be out in full force. It will then stay hot right up until the beginning of bow season. I'm not a bow hunter but I have to do my work at the club before bow season to avoid knocking about the forest making noise once the bow hunter's season comes in mid October. I can do some work at my private land in October and early November but like to leave off by the first week of November as the gun season begins around the 21st and I like to let the woods settle down for 2 or 3 weeks before the season begins.

 

This past Saturday 2 of my sons and my brother and I cut a new trail to my shooting house. Each club member supplies at least one shooting house (or takes over a house from a past member to maintain) and each member is allowed to use all of the houses on a first come first served basis. One can opt not to build (or maintain) a shooting house but in that case that member may not use the others houses so everyone chooses to maintain at least one house. My house is on the edge of a small field in the middle of our 1000 acres. Until this weekend there were only 2 ways to reach my house. Since I don't own a quad one way was practically inaccessible to me and the other way meant having to walk right by another gents house and green field. This other gent is a good friend and never objected to my passing his spot on the way to mine but I always felt bad about going by that way while he was hunting. To avoid this we took my brother's gps to the spot where we'll leave the truck and marked that spot in the gps. Then we walked to my field and used the gps to navigate a line through the thick brush directly back to the truck. With a machete, 2 sets of loppers, and a hand saw it took us about 2-1/2 hours to make a good trail about 300 yds long that bypasses my friends house and field. I still have to pass within sight of his shooting house at the trail head but that is unavoidable since he placed his house so close to the parking area. I know his placement sounds like a safety hazard but isn't really because his house faces a wheat field that is in the opposite direction from where we park. He has his back toward the parking area and additionally there is thick wood between his house and the parking area.

 

In the next few months we also have plans to build some new shooting houses. The house on the field where my son and daughter both bagged deer last year is only 4 feet by 4 feet so it's rather uncomfortable for 2 of us to share this space for about 3 hours. I had to kind of scrunch up in the corner to give them room to handle the rifle. As soon as I save up a little money for lumber I intend to build a new house there that is at least 4 feet by 6 feet. Also, the old one sits right on the ground...more of a blind than a proper shooting house. The new one will be elevated with the floor being about 6 feet off the ground. We'll build steps to enter by as some of the older members have a rough time with ladders and I don't like ladders myself on icy mornings. The inside will be lined with carpet on the floor and walls to keep boots from making noise and to add a bit of insulation. The windows will either have wood or plexiglass sashes raised by a string or be hung over with strips of carpet that can be pulled up and tied off while hunting. The shooting rails at the bottom of the windows will also be carpeted to keep the gun from accidentally making any noise against the wood when preparing to shoot.

 

At our private land behind my office we have 1 shooting house now overlooking a small green field and farther off the rough grass of the surrounding farm land. About 1000 acres surrounding our land is owned by the town industrial development board and leased out to the farmers. The president of the industrial development board is a close friend and has granted permission for us to shoot that property as well so we plan to build another shooting house at the very back edge of our land looking onto more of the farm fields. From this back edge you can see 1000 yds in some directions and can always count on seeing deer there on cold mornings although often times they are well out of range.

 

We are also looking to plant more forage for the deer this spring. They'll have plenty of corn and soybeans around to munch on in the summer. We are cultivating some oaks to bring them in close for acorns in the fall and going to also add some chestnut trees this spring. We'll be thinning out the trees in the middle of our property to develop some thickets for bedding areas to give them another reason to stay in our area.

 

All this work isn't as much fun as hunting but it helps one to look forward to the fruits of your labor when the season comes back around and keeps up a sense of anticipation about next season. Pretty soon it will be too hot to enjoy the woods unless you've got your feet in a cool stream. Then it will be time for fishing, gold panning, and yard work.

[air gun ant 1,666]

you are gonna be a busy lad!!! im sure it will be worth it tho bud

atb ant

[sussex 5,777]

Hi Art ,how does the club work , how many people involved, what sort of acreage does the club control, what type of land, ie farmland,forrestry,what spieces of deer,what sort of numbers, ...........................etc etc etc ..............you can by all means answer all these questions over 2 or 3 different posts ....allways nice to see how other people do the job & enjoy thier sport ... thanks i enjoy your posts .

[Yokel Matt 918]

I feel a huge amount of sympathy for you yanks when it comes to deer seasons. All that land, all those deer and such a short season. No wonder most of the best gadgets come from America, you've got so much time to think about it. Time you spend well by the sound of things though, fair play.

Edited February 13, 2013 by Yokel Matt

[Art 20]

Our club is named Pine Flat Hunting Club. We lease 1000 acres. We have 21 members but one member doesn't hunt and 3 or 4 others hunt only very seldom. The club president is 87 years old and spends far more time at the club than anyone else. In spite of his age he also makes trips out of state each year to hunt turkey, mule deer, and elk in other parts of the country. He's a very lively and very friendly old gentleman who never meets a stranger. Ready to laugh and joke with everyone from the first hand shake. He's the one that taught me to make deer sausage in case you happen to have read my post in response to someone's request for recipes. He and another gent thats in his early seventies are my closest friends at the club. They always make a big fuss over my kids and make them feel very welcome.

 

Explaining how the club works in detail would involve including the entire set of rules here which I'll not do but I'll hit the major points. Each member is allowed to take 4 does and 3 bucks including deer taken by your guests/dependents. Bucks must have at least 6 points unless they are culls that need to be removed such as a 4 year old that has 3 points on one side and a cow horn on the other side. Each point must be at least 1 inch long to count as a point. I can't answer specifically as to the number of deer. There are plenty of deer but for those who like trophy hunting it's a challenge to find many big bucks. They are here but they are very smart and very wary until they get all worked up in the rut. The best chance for a big buck is the last 2 weeks of the season. The best buck taken at the club this year was an 8 point that field dressed 180 pounds. He had thick knobby main beams, tall tines, and good symmetry. A beautiful animal. He was killed by hunting a scrape line in thick cover using a climber with heavy scouting beforehand. The big bucks visit the open fields far less than the does and young bucks.

 

On week days there are typically only 3 or 4 people hunting. On Saturday afternoons there are sometimes as many as 10 people hunting at the same time. When you arrive at the club you must sign in at the clubhouse and mark where you'll be hunting on the map. It's strictly first come first served. If you arrive and someone else has already marked the spot you had in mind then you just have to choose another area. For safety reasons it's all still hunting from shooting houses, high seats, and climbers. No stalking allowed beyond the chance shot you might get going stealthily to the spot that you marked on the map or between 10am and 2pm when you can claim a larger area on the map for scouting and stalk as you scout.

 

If you bag one you are required to bring it back to the clubhouse for field dressing and weighing and record your kill in the log book. We have a good sized walk-in cooler which is really the back of an old refrigerated truck set on blocks. After field dressing you can put your deer in the cooler for up to 7 days for aging before processing. I never leave mine more than 2 days. After one or 2 days I de-bone mine and set the meat to soak in salt water for 24 hours before processing.

 

Much of the property is thick forests but we have some power lines running through the property and one very wide gas line. The power lines and gas lines offer some views in the 600 to 700 yds range. We have also cleared the forest in spots to make 8 or 10 small fields where we plant wheat each fall in addition to the small wheat fields planted here and there along the power lines and gas line. In our state it is not legal at the moment to hunt over bait such as a pile of corn but a wheat field is not considered bait as it is a standing crop so you can hunt the wheat fields.

 

As I mentioned I'm fortunate to have other areas to hunt besides the club but the club is an excellent place to take the kids and know they can hunt safely.

[sussex 5,777]

Thanks for that , dont know if it would work here,clearing woodland & planting crops i could see the odd problem ,thats if you could find a 1000 acre plot to start with ! Nice post thanks ....keep working .

[Art 20]

The old timers in the club are disgusted with having to make do with only 1000 acres. Years ago they had 4000 and they ran dogs on it. The land has slowly dwindled to 1000 due to land being sold and some being developed and running dogs has been outlawed in our spot but still legal a short way down the road beyond our club boundary.

[Art 20]

Regarding species of deer, we have only whitetails here. You have to travel quite a ways to find other species. In some places out west you can find whitetails, mule deer, prong horns (antelope), elk, and moose.

 

As to the numbers, on a bad day at the club you'll see none. On a good day you'll see 8 or 10 in a 1 or 2 hour hunt. If you go an hour south or southwest of us then on a good hunt you'll see more like 20.

 

The predators that affect deer population here are mainly coyotes and bobcats. Every once in a while you hear of a black bear or panther but I've yet to encounter either personally. (I have run into bears while hiking in Tennessee though and they scare me to death.) I have come across bear tracks in our area and there was a bear with 2 cubs in my parents back yard a year or so ago. Hunting bears is illegal here but of course you can shoot them in self-defense if necessary. The bear population here is reported to be growing so I'm expecting to run into one one of these days. The nice thing about panthers is their huge range. They will travel up to about 250 miles. When we get the odd report of one in the area we know it will most likely have moved on soon.

[sussex 5,777]

Art are the coyotes & bobcats on the menu ?if so do they have a season & bag limit ? Have you got the pigs (hogs) ,we get a couple of TV programs that seem to sugest there a real problem . It appears people trap them allive , wierd given the amount of hunters out there.

[Art 20]

In my area coyotes can be harvested year round and there is no bag limit. I just received a predator call for my birthday to try my luck on the coyotes as soon as I get a free morning.

 

I've misplaced my book right now and can't remember all the details on the bobcats but there is a season for bobcats here. With bobcats however you have to register each kill with the Fish & Wildlife department. Not so with the coyotes. Thats why I'm not interested in taking a cat.

 

Wild hogs are becoming increasingly common here. They were almost unheard of here a few years ago but now you see them dead on the side of the road almost as often as deer. Everyone I know that hunts them does so with dogs. One of my brothers has done a good deal of hog hunting with his dogs and he tells me I should try it but he never has time anymore since he got his captain's license and began running fishing charters in Florida on the weekends. I have seen videos of hog trapping and instructions online for building live hog traps. It is illegal however (in our area) to remove the hogs alive from the land they were trapped on so after you trap them you still have to shoot them. Usually trapping is used here when a farmer has a hog problem of significant proportion. The trap can be set and come back in a few days and sometimes find 6 or 8 hogs in it all at once saving the time of trying to hunt so many. In other words, its favored when you need to make a significant dent in the population in a hurry.

[sussex 5,777]

Hog hunting for me would be the 308 route, if i had to spend a lot of time at it to make a dent in the population so be it !!! bet there's a few old boys on here would gladly give up there free time to go hog shooting ...

[Art 20]

My brother said he saw a spot on the local news this past weekend that said the hog population is out of control in Lowndes County Alabama now and they were asking hunters to come after them. He said they even ran a special segment after the report on how to hunt hogs. Not sure I have time to be driving down there but it sure is tempting. I know a fella that works at the local hardware store here that hunts them just about every weekend. He says there are plenty closer by and I can go with him but he only hunts them with dogs. I would prefer to stalk or sit in a high seat.

[hutchey 147]

And semi old boys too! Lol