Dakota Posted August 9, 2020 Report Share Posted August 9, 2020 Been working hard these past few weeks putting up stands, cameras and getting mock scrapes ready. I've been really disappointed in the lack of deer on camera, but it makes sense since they're all likely in the corn right now. But I got a little surprise when I went to check cameras this afternoon... Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
wtnhunt Posted August 10, 2020 Report Share Posted August 10, 2020 That is a real nice buck Dakota. Good luck. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Dakota Posted August 10, 2020 Author Report Share Posted August 10, 2020 27 minutes ago, wtnhunt said: That is a real nice buck Dakota. Good luck. You can see the treestand ladder over his back. He came by at 5 this morning less than 10 yards from the stand. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Ravin R10 man Posted August 10, 2020 Report Share Posted August 10, 2020 Good Luck hope he sticks around after he sheds velvet 1 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Dakota Posted August 10, 2020 Author Report Share Posted August 10, 2020 4 hours ago, Mathews XT Man said: Good Luck hope he sticks around after he sheds velvet Right? I have to think there's more than just him around. Plus the deer are going to be running the riverbottom like crazy during the rut. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Ravin R10 man Posted August 10, 2020 Report Share Posted August 10, 2020 Rut does throw a whole new angle at seeing "other" nice bucks. I dont get too set on a specific buck before velvet comes off. I've done that, only to have the bachelor group split up after shedding velvet, and "POOF" He's gone! Only to hear later he got shot several miles away. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
wtnhunt Posted August 10, 2020 Report Share Posted August 10, 2020 Dunno, we seem to have some regulars here some years that we get hundreds of pics from May/June into the season and even post season. Then other years we may go a full season with never getting a single pic of a decent buck. Then like last year the buck Allison killed got his pic made several times and we saw him the day before she shot him. The buck that Catrina killed, I had seen the deer the week before but we had no pics of him. And the buck I killed, which was in December, the only sighting or pics were the morning I shot him. Guess in my long winded ramblings what I am getting at is that every buck is different. Maybe he will stick around long enough for you Dakota.... Or you get another "surprise" show up. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Rhino Posted August 12, 2020 Report Share Posted August 12, 2020 Looking good there Dakota. I bet you'll discover more good ones too. I was up in Missouri for about a week the beginning of this month to prep most of our stands and set out our 10 trail cams for the 1st run. Those trail cams are all set on mineral licks right now. That's typically what we do with our cams in MO until bucks start scraping. Then we move to fall deer sign...mostly scrapes. Don't know if your state allows the use of mineral licks or not but from my experience, that's the most effective way to catch bucks on cams during the heat of the summer. Often bucks will stick around at the mineral lick long enough to give you multiple angle pics to better size up their growth growth. The only negative part of that is the number of pics on each cam gets pretty high. A group of does and fawns can run up several hundred pics sometimes when they hang around. However, we typically can catch between 8 and 15 mature bucks during the 1st month or so of running the cams on mineral licks in MO. Our Reconyx Hyperfire cams using 8 GB cards can hold ~24,000 pics. Some cam cards will be full by the time we return to MO the end of this month. Fingers crossed this year after the EHD die off we had last summer. BTW...I saw a nice wide rack buck in a small crop damaged area on a corn field during that trip. He was in a hurry to hit the tall corn so I couldn't count points but he was wide and tall. Also while climbing up the stick ladder to check/prep one of my hang-on stands a 10 point buck took off that was bedded ~20 yards from my tree. He was mature and looked to be in the 16" to 17" spread range. He hung tight until I was more than half way up my stick ladder. 1 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Dakota Posted August 13, 2020 Author Report Share Posted August 13, 2020 On 8/12/2020 at 11:59 AM, Rhino said: Looking good there Dakota. I bet you'll discover more good ones too. I was up in Missouri for about a week the beginning of this month to prep most of our stands and set out our 10 trail cams for the 1st run. Those trail cams are all set on mineral licks right now. That's typically what we do with our cams in MO until bucks start scraping. Then we move to fall deer sign...mostly scrapes. Don't know if your state allows the use of mineral licks or not but from my experience, that's the most effective way to catch bucks on cams during the heat of the summer. Often bucks will stick around at the mineral lick long enough to give you multiple angle pics to better size up their growth growth. The only negative part of that is the number of pics on each cam gets pretty high. A group of does and fawns can run up several hundred pics sometimes when they hang around. However, we typically can catch between 8 and 15 mature bucks during the 1st month or so of running the cams on mineral licks in MO. Our Reconyx Hyperfire cams using 8 GB cards can hold ~24,000 pics. Some cam cards will be full by the time we return to MO the end of this month. Fingers crossed this year after the EHD die off we had last summer. BTW...I saw a nice wide rack buck in a small crop damaged area on a corn field during that trip. He was in a hurry to hit the tall corn so I couldn't count points but he was wide and tall. Also while climbing up the stick ladder to check/prep one of my hang-on stands a 10 point buck took off that was bedded ~20 yards from my tree. He was mature and looked to be in the 16" to 17" spread range. He hung tight until I was more than half way up my stick ladder. I've actually been using Acorn Rage. Put a few bags out and topped it off with the liquid stuff. Tomorrow is the last day you can put stuff out before the season (September 1st), so I've got another bag of Acorn Rage, a bag of Vanish and another gallon of liquid AR to put out. Hoping I can get the deer to start coming in more regularly. That particular stand (in the background behind the buck) has a max shooting range of 20 yards, with a four-way cross at about 15 yards. I've got mock scrapes ready to go running the ridge east-west and on the trail going from the road 100 yards away down into the river-bottom north-south where I have another stand. The buck is actually standing between two of the scrapes. Between seven scrapes I've emptied two Code Blue buck urine bottles and will start using a doe urine drag come September. I've got a specific scent strategy I'm employing this year between Tinks Scrape Starter and specific Code Blue (buck urine, doe urine, doe in estrous, screaming estrous, tarsal gland and licking branch gel) and Code Red scents (buck urine, doe urine, doe in estrous). If I get the timing down properly, the bucks should be going nuts. This river-bottom is just right across the Sioux River from Iowa, and there are big deer that travel up and down the river corridor during the rut. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Ravin R10 man Posted August 13, 2020 Report Share Posted August 13, 2020 Hope the plan works for you...man, those bucks ought to be fired up with all the active scraps you got layed down! Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Dakota Posted August 13, 2020 Author Report Share Posted August 13, 2020 (edited) 44 minutes ago, Mathews XT Man said: Hope the plan works for you...man, those bucks ought to be fired up with all the active scraps you got layed down! Yeah, I'll gradually work the scents in, going full force starting in late October for sure. It's all about the timing. A doe urine drag and buck urine in the scrapes til then. Then I'll hit 'em hard with the estrous, tarsal gland and the concentrated scents, making it look like more bucks are starting to cruise through as the does come in heat. Checked cameras today. Absolutely nothing in the bottom, but had a doe and fawn and a family of turkeys come through by the ridge stand. Did a little investigating on the east-west trail along the ridge and there's a definite bedding area about 150 yards down the trail where the ridge starts to saddle. Spooked at least one deer, maybe two, so I'm staying away from that bedding area the rest of the year. I think I'm in a real good spot. But the doe clearly eyeing my stand has me a bit worried. Edited August 13, 2020 by Dakota Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
wtnhunt Posted August 14, 2020 Report Share Posted August 14, 2020 Good luck with your plan Dakota. Don't usually get mock scrapes going here until mid to late October, ahead of our juvenile hunt. We see bucks start really using territorial scrapes late October. I have had pretty good luck with using drippers and active scrape. I do usually open a few with my own urine that get took over as well. Licking branch is key. I tie drippers above a licking branch so that it will drip on that branch before hitting the ground. Scent precautions are obviously important there, rubber boots and vinyl or some type of scent free gloves are also important. My youngest daughter got a real show last year with the buck she ended up killing. The day before she shot him, we watched him stand on his back legs working over a licking branch under an oak tree, out in the middle of our field. Pretty cool. Minerals here are legal year round with the exception of cwd zones. We are in "high risk", but have had no actual cases in our county, so no longer legal here to use minerals. Agree with Al on minerals being a great place to catch an idea of what bucks are around. Baiting also became illegal year round, but I am certain there are plenty of people in this zone using "deer corn". With 2 months of running cams this season I have yet to get better than a one and a half year old buck, no decent bucks. Anyway, hope we see a picture with you behind that nice buck or another nice one this season Dakota. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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