Old is a state of mind my friend.
Having said that, my young state of mind makes my body do stuff it shouldn't do anymore, thus making it feel old!
Kind of a chicken or the egg thing!
Who Loves Winter Scouting?
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Old is a state of mind my friend.
Having said that, my young state of mind makes my body do stuff it shouldn't do anymore, thus making it feel old!
Kind of a chicken or the egg thing!
I am taking a youngster (56 yrs old) on a snowshoe scout in the Adirondacks tomorrow. See if he can keep up with his elder (70). My happy place is being a few miles in on snowshoes, flintlock on my shoulder, day pack on my back, and cold air in my face.
ADK Bigfoot
ADK Bigfoot
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Daryl Crawford
50 Cal.
I've been learning a lot more about community scrapes vs rutting buck scrapes. A rut line and I'm grunting or light rattling a little in mid-October, a community scrap it's fawn beats at that time.
That's scary!Around here you just have to make sure that what you're tracking isn't already tracking you.
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In winter I like to scout also. I look thru the neck of my beer bottle and if I can see the bottom it's time to get another.
If not hunting, carry a sturdy beam of wood with you. Taylor it to your capabilities and swing it about against some trees. You will develop strength and be immune to the shock after awhile when deploying such. A simple isometric tool.
Jerry Petersen (founder of Woods Wise Game Calls), through his videos and talking to him once at a show, was who I learned the most from about the language of deer and when to use certain calls. I use doe talk more than anything, but during chase phase and rut may combine that up with some buck grunting. Jerry's teaching revolved around calls that would match what is happening...ie: pre-rut, chase phase, actual breeding, post rut...vs where in the woods a person is.
I think buck-to-doe ratio also could play a role. If lots of does and few bucks, loud aggressive antler rattling will probably scare more away than call them in. If it's 2-1 bucks to does and competition is high, then aggressive calling/rattling might work better. No matter what, Bucks are looking for does in rut and subtle contact calls or doe in heat bleats have always produced the best results for me personally.
There's a LOT going on in those rocks! Never saw anything like those. Some parts look like tree parts petrified in, some like volcanic material, and other things like gems, etc. Would love to hear what a geologist would have to say about them. Pretty cool!
Yesterday while I was up in the woods I found something very interesting. It wasn’t a scrape but it resembled one. There were about 4” of fresh snow. This spot on the ground was not just all the way down to the dirt, but actually dug down several inches. It was most likely a bed due to its shape, but I’ve never seen one dug down so far in the dirt. Of course there were fresh deer tracks in it. There were also what looked to be 2-4 older beds near by.Scrapes are where a buck will use his front feet to clear out leaves, grass, or other debris down to bare dirt. Some scrapes are made and abandoned with virtually no use. Around my area those are usually along field edges well before the rut. Sometimes, however, those are kept open throughout the rut and for years and can grow to enormous size. Other scrapes appear along trails, and the ones I really like are in thickets and can get exceptionally large being 6 to 10 feet across.
Most scrapes have an overhanging branch(es) that the deer lick, chew, rub the scent glands on their foreheads on, or interlock in antlers twisting and breaking the branch, etc. I have personally witnessed this many times. Deer virtually "make love" to that overhanging branch. They roll their eyes, rubbing, licking, etc for long periods sometimes, as if in a trance. They also urinate in it. Bucks will squat and urinate down their hind legs over their tarsal glands.
While many will say that dominant bucks are the scrape makers and users and no other buck will dare to use it, my time on an 1100 acre lease with many cameras sitting over scrapes taught me that virtually every deer in the area...bucks of all sizes, mature does, and even fawns will work the licking branch, paw the scrape, and urinate in it.
My opinion is that these large perennial scrapes are simply "meeting places" for deer...kinda like a bar or other human social gathering place. By visiting, they know who is around (by scent) and can even track them, if desired. Our trail cams would sometimes capture many deer (upwards of 10) all gathered together at scrapes. Of course, this is usually in the middle of the night.
The circled scrape looks like an ordinary trail scrape...certainly not one of the giant ones, but still around 3 feet in diameter. It's not being used right now as there was no fresh sign in it, but when you have a string of many of these on a trail, it might be a good place to spend some time next year Oct/Nov.
Probably way more than anyone wanted to know!
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Yeah, me too. It’s on what looks to be the bottoms of 3 large limestone boulders that have rolled down the steep slope at some point. Someone pointed out in another thread (Longcruise I believe it was) that it appears water had seaped under those boulders and made those impressions years ago before the boulders rolled down the steep slope.
I wonder if you sent those pics to the Geology Dept at a University if they could give more definitive info just from pictures?
Interesting. Only time I've ever seen deer dig into the ground, to any great degree, is if there's minerals or salts there they want to lick.
When I was on the lease, we had a number of mineral licks established. Would start one by digging a small hole, pouring in 10 or 15 pounds of salt/minerals, then cover it up. Within the first year it would be dug out several feet wide and about a foot deep. We'd add a bag of minerals each spring. We had licks 6 to 8 feet in diameter and two to 3 feet deep. Nose impressions were evident. And they weren't just digging out dirt...they were eating it.
The last couple years I was at the lease, new CWD regulations banned creating licks, but because of the previous concentration of minerals already in the soil, those licks continued to be heavily used.
Below is an example of one. Took the pic last February while on a squirrel hunt there. Larry Smith of Larry Smith Outdoors owns the property now, but is generous enough that he gives me permission to go over once or twice a year in Jan/Feb for small game. That whole area, from the very bottom of the pic to the rifle and side to side, was level across ground when the lick was started in 2012. You can see that as rain washed minerals downhill and down into the soil, how the deer dug there as well.
The rifle is a 1933 Wards Western Field Rifle Mod 356 .22 single shot my Dad bought when he was 10 years old! I put it there to scale the picture. When he passed, my brothers couldn't believe that rifle was my first pick out of Dad's gun collection! It was the rifle we all learned on and I didn't care it was low monetary value. Dad wouldn't let us move on to a pump, lever, or auto until we mastered killing with the first shot. Could be that helped spawn my interest in bowhunting, and later, muzzleloaders...same concept.
Just got back from out jaunt. He did well. Lots of deer and snowshoe hare tracks, one deceased Ruffed Grouse (raptor kill) and lots of dog tracks. Gentle snow and no wind at 25 degrees. Two miles in, absolutely lovely. Moved two stands based on the new information. Great day.
ADK Bigfoot
ADK Bigfoot
Coyotes. Everywhere we find deer tracks, we see coyote tracks.
Last fall on this lease I had a huge coyote stop 40 yards from me.. I cocked the rifle silently. When I set the trigger, he disappeared like smoke.
ADK Bigfoot
Last fall on this lease I had a huge coyote stop 40 yards from me.. I cocked the rifle silently. When I set the trigger, he disappeared like smoke.
ADK Bigfoot
One of my favorite winter and early spring (before green up) activities is scouting for last fall's deer sign. I don't know about your area, but usually scrapes, rubs, bedding areas, trails, feedings areas, etc. used by deer remain fairly constant unless there is a major change or disruption. Even though many of the deer that made that sign are now dead and in someone's freezer, the next generation of deer seem to pick up where the last one left off.
This year, in SE MN, we had almost zero snow...bare ground mostly. Scouting has been great! Last fall's scrapes and trails stick out like a sore thumb. No bugs, skeeters, or ticks. I grab my longbow & some stump arrows or my .36 flinter squirrel rifle and hit new areas to explore.
How about you?
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Think they are crossing this river here?
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Scrapes have been abundant. This trail paralleling the river had a lot of them.
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Never saw field corn in Coyote droppings before!Not sure if he ate a gut pile or actually ate some field corn, but clearly it wasn't digestable!
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And sometimes you find last season's "unclaimed" warriors that you wish had made it another ye aww ar.Wish these two had made it!
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Well if i seen that track ughhh. Think maybe i would tip toe back to the truck. Thats a big trackAround here you just have to make sure that what you're tracking isn't already tracking you.
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Dang must have hit wrong button. So here goes.A few years back i was out walking in the woods after deer season was over. I was walking real slow and stopping.Something caught my eye.A big blob in a tree about 12 feet off the ground.Well me being the way i am. I announced myself. Told him i was coming that way lol.There was a young guy up in a climbing stand.He was cussing at me lol.Said i was scaring all the deer away.I said brother you are in the wrong place at the wrong time. Lol. I explained to him that deer season was over he said im going tell my daddy!!!! Im like it dont matter you still cant hunt out of season. I didnt see daddy sittin about 20 yards away lol. So here he comes. We talked a little it got heated. But finally they left. I was glad.lol. i was only carrying a pcp air rifle but i think they thought it was a rifle. Lol. Honestly i was worried about it. The place where we were at ouldnt be hunted with a firearm because it had housing developmets around it.
Very well said. Im the same way. Just hope i dont suffer out there
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