treeinwalker

we need more trail cam pics of this soone-to-be 140" deer.

no new pics?

Leaf River IR.

late aug. to early sept. around here. I have pics of some in velvet, some out of velvet completely by end of first week of sept. They mark territory with them when they start splitting up. Like a pack of dogs peeing on a car tire. They will all do it just to mark the territory of the one before them and claim, not to the extent of a scrape, but they smell the other deer on it and want to rub thier stink in it too, not always though. I've seen them into Jan.

carry in some corn and/or beans and a hoe. You'd be surprised what you can get to grow if you want to, but salt lick on that fenceline might do the trick as well. Dude, you got plenty of good hunting area. You're going to see some deer. Hunt near the rubs/scraps. I have a new hunting spot this year, but have been going in there after deer season for a couple of years to trap beaver for the owner. He finally gave me exclusive permission to it. There is a tree in there that has been used for a scrape all the way around the tree for the past 3 years. That's the first spot a stand is going.

Start loosing sleep over this deer now. He'll be a bruiser. Post a new pic next week.

First off, after looking at that pic again, I am certain this deer will grow a lot more this year. He's going to be wide. They way a deer grows antler is typically from the inside-out. Meaning that the inner tines usually reach full or near full length before the outer ones do. Kind of like a tree limb growing off-shooting branches. Those brow tines are long and pretty sharp, meaning they are approximately what they are going to be. The bulbous looking ends on the rest of the tines mena they are not nearly finished. The g2's will reach full length before the g3's and so-on. Of course, they will grow simultaneously, but basically, the antler that comes first finishes first. Why do you think they get shorter as the main beams get longer? The brows and beams shoot out first. Usually the brows are pretty much full length as the mains are budding the g2's. While the mains are growing out to where the g3's will bud, the g2's are growing and getting some length and so on. It's very fuild actually and very much like filling a mold with hot plastic. The areas it gets to first are the first to fill to an extent and will fill out a good and fair amount before the material moves on. Different dynamics at work here of course, but in action, looks very similar. Keep taking pictures of this deer. If you really want to see what I'm talkng about start taking pics of bucks in March or April of next year and look through them every week. You'll see it in motion. We need to see some updated pics of this deer. Then, you'll see what I'm talking about. Take my word for it. I'd be very excited to have this deer on my cam. I'm starting to take pics in my area next week. You can go ahead and start planning to hunt this deer-this year. I'd be shocked if this deer didn't wind-up 140.

that first one would do just fine....

Don't get me wrong, that's a nice deer, but he's about 130-ish. He's not really all that wide. I'd shoot him for sure, but even with all the tine length, he's going to be right around 130. He's only about 16-16.5" wide. His brow tines are respectable, but not super and he would score some minus' for assymetry. His left side is quite a bit higher, especially the main beam and there is a bit of difference in tine length. This will be easier to spot in a few more weeks after he looses the velvet. My advice, though: If you see this deer when the season starts, put him on the tailgate. I would.

What galls me is when they get out of the stand in a 500-acre stand of oaks and act like they have to trail the deer at all when you know that they could see him fall 400 yards away. Don't give me that fake blood-trailing crap just to add "drama" to the story. I'd like to see some of those guys blood trail a deer in my neck of the south, crawling across 40-acres of cut-over briar thicket and/or through 4' of muddy stagnant beaver swamp. Luckily, it happens only occaisionally, mostly I wind up doing it for my wife or my hunting partner (knock on wood). Give me a break! I know you can see him from the dang stand!

I'll second that. I usually see my morning deer coming back from other locations were they've been bunped out or know they're about to be bumped out, back to my honey hole (where it's safe-hehehehehe) between 8:00 & 10:00. Usually, all the guys who hunt around me are heading out for breakfast and don't even realize that they have bumped deer or patterned them to expect to get bumped. I sit 'til 11:30-12:00 unless I keep seeing deer, then I don't get up at all. However, I do go in before dark. I don't use the light if it's somewhere where I can see, but that's almost never the case as I try to stay in as much cover as possible even in the dark. I cup the light and keep it down at the ground. I don't use the hat-mounted light because it winds up pointed everywhere I'm looking and it's too easy to forget after you get into the stand. Hat lights are nice for keeping your hands free to climb up, but I'm usually using a portable, so I don't need a lot of light to get up the tree anyway. Use as little light as possible!

the piebald and the other buack are both going to be trophy class before it's all said and done. The piebald buck is esapecially rare. Who ever sees one that size? I like the other deer's rack better, but if I were you and I had both of those guys standing in front of me at 5:00 in the afternoon and I only had 1 shot, it would be for the piebald, unless he jsut wasn't presenting a shot and the other deer was. I DEMAND to see some color pics of one of these deer on the tailgate of your truck! Looks like you're going to have some fun this year!

I had a leaf river cam stolen by a guy who was competing for our hunting spot. The same landowner lets him hunt another farm a few miles away, but he wants all of them. The landowner's son tols me about a week after mine was stolen that he heard the guy tell his dad he had just "bought" a game camera. The idiot cut the corner flange of the hole the cable goes through becasue he coulf not cut the cable. Funny thing is, he left my cable lock on the tree and cut the strap off of it. I know I can't prove he's the one that did it, but there are some identifying marks on the camera that only I know about. The farmer's son and I went to the other farm to find my camera last year on a Sunday and the guy and 3 of his friends were in there checking the camera! We left and the next time we went back, the camera had already been moved. I've been trapping beavers in there this summer and have year-round written permission to keep the beavers out of there. I do this as a favor to the landowner. I'm going back in there this September for a "checkup" and when I find my camera, it's coming home with me. My wife bought me a new camera for my birthday last year after mine was stolen. Now, I'm more careful about where I put it, and I've designed a bear-box/anti-theft box for it. I'm getting it made up in a few weeks. I hope that guy is still using my camera this year. I would love to have it back jsut so he knows what it feels like.

Same here. In NC hunting with dogs in the eastern district is still legal. The only reason is because lots of legislators would loose their jobs if that were to change. In the old days, we were dirtroads and backwoods. All that has changed. Farmers figured out that they could sell-off road frontage in their bean fields for $20,000/acre and now there are trailerparks everywhere. Up until a few years ago, NC had the most miles of paved roads in the U.S. I was shocked by that statistic, and I don't know if it still stands, but now, I can believe it was once accurate. These dog hunters are also allowed to hunt with high-powered rifles. It's a sport whose time really has come and gone. Things change, but some of these guys just refuse to change with the times, mostly because it's easier to ride around in the truck than to walk 200 yards to a deer stand. They shoot everything they see. When a buck is running full-sprint across a bean field, they don't have much time to judge antlers before they have to pull the trigger or let him go. So, the deer doesn't have a chance. Once in a great while you'll see an articel in the paper where someone managed to kill a big one by chance running it with dogs, but it's always in a remote part of the state. I live in one of the mos sparsley populated counties and the dog hunters do o.k. from time to time, but you still have to hope you don't get between a deer hunter and a deer crossing the road. Last season, my family and I were coming home from town on a Saturday afternoon and caught a father with his 10-year-old son lying on the roof of a truck on the side of the road shooting at a deer in a cut-over. Just this weekend I was around a group of guys with whom I am aquainted that openly admitted, dog-hunting very seldomly produces a trophy-class buck. In fact, in all the years they've been doing it, they've never killed anyhthing over a very small 8. I harvested a nice 8 (19.5" wide) last year on a farm that we have been hunting moderately for 15 years. There were 5 bucks chasing 2 hot does. The next largest buck in the group was a perfectly symetrical 6 with 8" brow-tines and at least 18" spread. My wife saw the same deer 2 days later, but opted not to shoot as she was not comfortable with the distance. After the beans were picked, I moved a climber into the swamp. That creek is usually dog-hunted, but last year was only run twice. The last time I caught dog hunters on the road, I was coming out of the stand. I stayed in my truck in the driveway to the property to make sure if their dogs ran the deer out into the empty field that they did not get a shot. They came down to where I was and asked what I was doing. When I pointed to the posted signs and told them that the owner expressly forbids hunting by anyone but myself, my wife and my hunting partner on the property and that I was making sure if a deer ran out that they did not shoot it on that property, they quickly informed me that they were done for the day and that they were only looking for one more dog. They were pissed, and sped off, but mostly, they knew they did not have permission to take deer from the property and were very eager to leave and some what appologetic (to my face) before someone called the sherrif. These guys think that just because their dogs ran the deer out on a property that they have a legal right to harvest the deer whether they have permission to hunt the property or not. They already had a 4-point on the back of thier truck. Anyway, the following weekend, the deer came by my stand at 4:40 in the afternoon. I know he was not killed last year because there were only a couple of days left in season. Also, I know his tracks from those he left near my stand and can easily identify him. I had been seeing his tracks a week or 2 before the first time I saw him and confirmed that they were his after I saw him the last week of the season near my stand. I was in there about a month ago and saw his tracks again. I know he's sticking pretty close to that farm. I know he's going to be a real wall-hanger this year. I also know, if I don't get him during muzzelloading season or the first week of rifle, my chances will be pretty slim.

He'll wind up 145-155 buddy. Keep taking pics. You'll see. Plan on hunting this deer this fall.

me too. it's like a curiousity scent to them. I am certain, they don't pay it any mind. They smell other critters' urine all the time. It's not like it smells like your cigarette, or used engine oil from when you changed your oil in your hunting shirt, or gas from when you filled your car on the way to your hunting spot, or even your deodorant. It's a natural smell to them. I will say this however. If that deer that guy's brother missed smelled that pee right before he was shot at, it very well could have educated him. Next time he smells it, he might head for the hills, if he smelled it that morning.

Technique is probably where you're having trouble. I would definitely take these guys' advice and look at what you're doing. Jumping deer on the way in is the first problem you need to address. They might come back, but not give you a shot because the know your general locale. Things like timing and approach to the stand are often more important than the exact stand location. You could be off 50 yards and still get a deer that doesn't know you're there to come to you. A list of things you need to cover first follows: 1.) Scent control: Are you doing it? Do you smell like washing powder or Aquafresh toothpaste, coffee, or cigarettes? Did you pump gas on the way home last night while wearing your clothes, etc.? Here is my routine: a.) NEVER pump gas before a hunt. If I know I'm not hunting on Monday, I pump gas on Monday. I don't get near a gas pump or even visit friends who smoke in my hunting clothes. Some guys take this to the extreme by not even getting into them before they get to their spot or even their stands! This is a little crazy since the clothes they wear on the way in are probably contaminated. Keep your hunting clothes away from anything with a big odor. Put them on just before you leave, or right after you arrive at your spot. b.) Start early: I start washing ALL my clothes in SportWash in August before I start putting out cameras and baiting stands (in NC bating with corn through- out the year is legal). This gives any odors that may be in my vehicle from my clothing time to disippate before hunting season and anything I might wear to check cameras, etc. is scent- controlled. By the time hunting season starts, all the clothes in my closet are free of detergent scent and my truck is (for the most part) also. I also begin using Hunter's Specialties body wash, shampoo and deodorant by this time, so perfumes from soap don't get into my now otherwise "oderless" clean clothing. Wash your bedding with scent-killing odorless detergent also. c.) Don't use cologne: Lots of young guys like to spray thier girlfriend's favorite cologne in thier vehicles so it smells like them all the time and when the gilrfriend borrows their truck, she'll be thinking of them. DON'T even keep the bottle in the vehicle. GET IT OUT!! d.) Don't wash your truck: I give my truck a good thurel about 4 weeks before deer season because I know it will be trashed by the end of deer season. Don't use any Amorall or anything that has a strong odor to it. Keep it simple. If you get it muddy during the season and you got to clean it up for a hot date, wash it with plain water and vaccum it out. Don't use any industrial -type cleaners that leave odor residue that can get on your clothing. Wait until after deer season for Amoralling & all that other spiffy-making stuff. e.) Use boots with no or little leather: Leather is the first thing to start stink- ing. Finding boots these days is hard. You're limited to basically, leather boots or rubber boots, which also stink. Lots of folks think that wearing rubber boots means a deer can't smell you. This is balogne! Deer learn to react through association. If they get shot at or startled by the thwack of an arrow, or get spooked off the bed by a hunter wearing rubber boots, they can learn to associate the danger with the smell of rubber boot just as easily as they can learn to associate the smell of a stinky hunter to danger. If you have a good, comfortable boot, keep it sprayed down with scent killer and wash them about every 2-3 weeks depending on how much you hunt. I'd rather have a warm comfortable water-proof all cordura boot that I have scent-controlled than an ill-fitting, stinky rubber boot that I can still smell in the back of my truck 3 days after I have taken them out. Remember, the key is going as scent free as possible, not changing your smell from "stinky hunter" to "stinky rubber". f.) Spray down: Hang up your clothes the night before where nothing will attach to them. Make sure they are clean. I like to use the Fresh-Earth scented dryer sheets, but I also spray the scent- killer "Fresh-Earth" on the clothes and let it dry. Cover scents are not as important as scent-elimination because a deer's sense of smell is so accute that they can smell ALL the odors in the mix. If your clothes smell like your smoker- friend's house and you squirt doe urine on your boots, the deer are going to smell the urine AND the cigarettes. If they smelled cigarettes on the next farm over right before they got an arrow whizzed by thier head, they are going to know that they are in danger whether you're smoking one or not. Don't worry about covering scents, worry about ELIMINATING as much scent as possible and remember while eliminating it all is impossible, controll- ing it is easily acchievable. Deer will interperate the strength of a threaten- ing odor as the iminance of the threat. In other words, the stronger an odor is, the closer it usually is and the faster they need to react. The stronger the odor, the stronger the deer's evasive action to avoid it. Just because they smell you doesn't mean they'll avoid you, but if they smell enough of you and they have learned that your odor means danger, they will bug-out. Spraying down a gun or bow the night before a hunt is not a bad idea either. g.) Scent-free bag: Lots of trash bags now come infused with some type of perfume. How someone thought this would beat-out the odor of fried summer catfish is beyond me. There are expensive "scent-control" bags on the market, but you don't need those either. Get yourself a large lawn & garden trashbag. They are unscented and are big enough to hold all your hunting clothes. I keep my clothes in one in my truck unless they need washing. Don't bring them inside. Scent control seems like a lot of work. If you do it for a few weeks, you'll find that you are merely replacing all the perfume-loaded products you normally use with products that aren't, and that they don't cost any more. After you've done it for a few weeks, you'll find that it's really as easy as swapping the stinky stuff out for the odorless stuff. Also, you will realize just how much everything you were using really does smell too strong. You won't be able to get near a person wearing Right-Guard deodorant without puking from the overpowering smell. You'll begin to smell the faintest of odors you never could smell before because you no longer smell like them. After I started using scent-controlling products, I could walk 40 yards down-wind from my hunting partner and smell his deodorant. How far away do you think a deer who can smell 250X better than me could smell it? Deer live and die by thier noses. Scent control is the first place to start when going after deer-not so much for squirrel hunting, but you gotta understand the species you're going after and how they survive because that's what you have to beat to succeed. 2.) Approach: Wether or not your stand is in the right location, are you taking the right approach to your stand? Are you coming in under cover or down the edge of a big open field? If you gotta cross anything open, you'd better do it before there is ANY light out. Deer can see colors in the Ultraviolet end of the spectrum. Ultraviolet rays are the first ones to make it to through the atmosphere in the mornings and the last ones around in the evenings. Get there at least 30 min. before the sun comes up. Also, are you coming in up-wind form a bedding area? If so, you need a different approach or you need to relocate the stand so that it is adjacent to a beding area, but allows you to approach form the down-wind side. Are you being quiet or wlking too fast? If you have a long hike, you need to get there even earlier. Walking too fast makes waaaaay too much nose. If you walk 100 yards any faster than 5 minutes, you're walking too fast and making too much noise. If you have a stand that you have to approach through the woods, rake the last 50 yards of your route to the stand. Get rid of all the crunchy leaves and twigs that could snap under your boots in the dark. 3.) Are there other hunters in your area?: If you have a neighbor that has a huge corn pile, food plot or salt lick, it's going to be tough to get them to come to your neck of the woods. Usually, you have to find something that they need that he does't have: cover, water, terrain, or commonly used scrapes. The good thing about having a hunting neighbor is that not many of them are controlling scent as well as you now are. They spook 5X as many deer as they ever get to see, so the deer might hit his 1/2-acre corn pile at night and browse your 10-acre bean field or river edge for water during the morning. Find out what you have that the deer want and he doesn't have. Get near that spot. Make sure you can approach it undetected. 4.) What time are the deer showing up?: You might not be there when they are. A scouting camera might help nail down better times for you. Find the thickest part on the property and that's wher they'll bed if they're bedding on your property. Put up a camera. If they're coming in or heading out at certain times regularly, you need to be there before those times. 5.) How much sign do you find?: If you're not finding mcuh sign, maybe some preseason scouting trips are in order. This might give you a good idea as to just how many deer like your hunting spot and where they are coming from that might help you find a new stand location. Be careful: if you're doing preseason scouting, it's important not to spook them out before the season arrives. If you get pinned-down, wait until dark and/or the deer are gone to move and get out quietly. Make sure you're in full-scent control mode before doing this. Take your binos and try to scout from afar as much as possible. There are many other things that could improve your hunting. Stand location +/- a few yards won't make as much difference as all these other things and some I just don't have time to get into or want to bore everyone with. Form the pics, I'd say your hunting spot looks pretty darn good. It looks like it would be full of deer, but you need to find the thick cover, make sure you can approach it undetected and make sure all your other ducks are in a row before you start out towards the stand. Hope I've shed some light on a few things that will be helpful to you. -tw

dangit man, don't get me started...I'm adding stands, clearing a trail and putting up a cam this weekend, and that's after I get back from stand and muzzle-loader shopping. It's kind of like:laser: for me. Just gotta do it. There's only 2 seasons of the year...hunting season and getting ready for hunting season-season.

My guess was 139 before I even scrolled down at all. Looks like it's a consensus????

in agreement I'm in agreement with most of the replies that have been posted here. 1.) Scores are for ballgames-put him on the ground. *Dang right, he's a shooter now, especailly if you don't have anything like that on the wall at home and most folks don't. I do, but I would definitely not let that deer walk. There are plenty others that need growing. 2.) He's 140, at least. *That's accurate. This deer is over 18" wide and 10 points. It's hard to judge mass when their in velvet, but you can dang sure count points and judge inches. This is only July and this deer IS going to be a booner by deer season. I'm guessing he'll be well into the 150's to mid-160's. 3.) He's gonna get bigger. *You'd better believe it. He ain't done yet. 4.) Time of day. *This is kind of funny in that he's there well before legal shooting light. That will change in September when thier travel and eating habits change. When bucks go it alone, they tend to avoid other bucks-even if they are the dominant buck in the are. They just can't stand the presence of other bucks. If he keeps running into them , at say 3:30am at that camera sight, he may start coming in at 5:00, or some other time. I've had bucks on the camera at 1:00am in August and caught them at 1:00pm in Septemeber. Also, when the rut comes in in your area, and if he's still around, ALL BETS ARE OFF! Stay in your stand all day for this big boy. You can believe if you see any smaller bucks chasing does around your spot, he's going to be in on it. Pack your lunch and stay put! Also, an empty Mountain Dew bottle converted to a porta-poty could be your best friend.

I concur... I have to agree with this. This is a small area. If that field has anything planted in it that will draw-in the deer, that corner where the stand is currently located should allow him to cover the entire field, though, I would have put it in the right bottom corner near the river as there will be some deer that will travel the river corridor during the day, but will not come out until night, winding the filed and scenting for does. However, I think there may be somthing other than stand location that may be having an effect on his hunting, just as you have suggested, like wind, or some other factor. The first thing that comes to mind is the approach to your stand. Are you coming down that trail early in the morning and spooking deer? Are you riding an ATV into the stand or walking? Which way does the prevailing wind usually blow? I would try to get into this stand with as little intrusion as possible. If I could, I would approach the stand from the end of the property where it is located, keeping the wind in my face, if possible, or a crosswind-anything that keeps me from being upwind of where the deer are bedding. The advice about scouting and finding where they are coming into the property is good advice, as this will tell you the general direction of thier bedding areas. These are areas you want to avoid traveling through on your way to the stand. Generally, hunt either edge of a bedding area and approach your stand from that side. Most hunters don't like to do that if the wind is blowing them into the bedding area, but if you've done your scent control routine, most of the time you can pull it off. Don't travel through the bedding area. If you're hunting the mornings, get into that stand in the least intrusive manner possible. If you have identified a bedding are and have to go through it to get to the stand, then you need to choose a different approach, even if the wind is not favorable. I once had a stand between a bedding area and a creek. My only approach was through the thickest part of the property-the bedding area. On my way to the stand nearly every morning, I could not be quiet enough to keep from spooking deer. The only solution I had was to walk all the way to the end of the property (around the bedding area) and back to my stand. This solved the probelm of spooking deer out of the bed, which I feel may be more of a problem for you on this property than stand location alone. It's hard to give advice to people on stand location based soley on the layout of the land. Without getting some boots on the ground, it would be difficult to rule out other factors that may be playing greatly into the total equation. Things like traffic on that road, or a neigbors barking dog, etc. Could all be factors. Loud exhaust on your truck could help deer associate to danger. For instance, one or two mornings you spook deer out of the bedding area as you approach, then they learn to associate that with what happened right before that-your dual exhaust on your truck, the shutting of a truck door, etc. We once had a hunting spot where, in the morning the neighbor's dog would raise cain when we pulled up. After a few morning hunts, we realized this dog was serving as an alarm for the deer. We started hunting the spot in the evening when the dogs could see us and were less likely to start jabbering away. Also, we could get there earlier, giving the dogs time to calm down and forget about us before "primetime". This worked out better for us and we saw lots more deer this way. Again, there are many factors that could be coming into play here. I feel like, due to the size of the field, moving the stand would not have as great an impact on your success as identifying some other factor that must be coming into play, and the only way to identify that factor is to do some homework, be observant of your surroundings and try a few different things to see what results you get.

3-pronged attack In this area, I would find the spot that meets these 3 criteria, if there is a homogenous mix of any 2 of these everywehre else. 1.) Oak trees 2.) THICK cover 3.) Water If there is a small opening for both visibility and shot opportunity between any of the 2, all the better. The oak trees wil slow down for you later in the year. Focus on them when they start dropping acorns, but THICK cover will help you more when the acorns are gone. Stay on the creek. I had a simliar situation a few years back. Getting between the creek and the thick cover was the key for me as the oak trees were everywhere. If the creek is between the thick cover and the oaks or one of those fields (as long as it's planted with a feed crop) that would be the best spot.

This is a young deer (most likely 2.5yrs.). He will be a nice deer this year, but I would guess wind up scoring only 100-115 before he's done. Give this deer one more year almost for sure, but keep that camera in the woods. Antler growth can accellerate depending on the deer and the location. He might get to 130 and surprise you. Keep postin the pics. Afterall, he has 3-4 more weeks before he's done.

Mid July through early Aug. depending on the deer, nutrition and location are about the end of antler growth. If you took a pic of a buck on July 9 that was, let's just say...140, you can believe he'll hit 150 beofre he's done in late July, early August.

he would be on most folks'hit list. got any better pics?