Worth hunting at?


HunterLuke

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I was doing some scouting today in an area that me and my brother used to hunt alot before some sorry SOB's came in and stole our 2 stands we had up at the edge of a field. After that we quit hunting back there for the rest of the season.

Now I don't know what this is but I'm guessing it's a "wet-weather spring" I'm fairly certain it's not a salt/mineral site, atleats not a man made one, any opinions? Whatever it is though the deer seem to like drinking from it rather than doing the 150 yard walk down a near vertical ridge side to get to a small stream. There are trails coming from everywhere to this thing and keep on going down another trail, the number of tracks and size of them are amazing around this thing. This to me seems like it would be a good set up but no trees are good enough for a climber and I defiantly aint taking chances with a hang on back here anymore since of theives so my only option would be a brush blind 20-30 yards away IF I hunt it with a bow and longer if with a rifle, OR would you believe I would have better success setting up on the main trails? Here's some pics to possibley help with descisions but any and all replies would be apprectaited.

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(one of the main trails leading to it)

deer_water_hole.jpg

(A topo map of the area, the red dot is that water thing and the blue lines are deer trails)

Thanks,

Luke

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well you have a good spot there but i would not leave any thing there i have a spot like that were they steal all of our ****

If I hunt here I'll prolly just make a few ground brush blinds, They can steal all the sticks and limbs they want, and they can even take my milk crate I sit on..haha :D

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I have two spots exactly like that. Both are completely mucked up with deer tracks so I know these things draw deer like a magnet. I believe that there are certain ground minerals that come out with the water and that is probably the attraction.

However, even with all the unbelievable deer sign at these spots, I have never seen a deer visit either one of them during daylight hours. And that takes in almost 40 years of hunting in this area. I'm not sure why these kinds of spots only draw nocturnal attention, but that seems to be the situation here. I hope yours turns out to be more productive. Of course there is only one way to find out.

Doc

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I have two spots exactly like that. Both are completely mucked up with deer tracks so I know these things draw deer like a magnet. I believe that there are certain ground minerals that come out with the water and that is probably the attraction.

However, even with all the unbelievable deer sign at these spots, I have never seen a deer visit either one of them during daylight hours. And that takes in almost 40 years of hunting in this area. I'm not sure why these kinds of spots only draw nocturnal attention, but that seems to be the situation here. I hope yours turns out to be more productive. Of course there is only one way to find out.

Doc

Thanks Doc for that info! Wish I had a trail cam I could find out pretty fast when the deer are visiting the place.

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Thanks Doc for that info! Wish I had a trail cam I could find out pretty fast when the deer are visiting the place.

That would be the perfect way to get the low-down on what is using this feature and when they are using it.......BUT...... Those same people that stole your stands would be real happy to relieve you of your trail cams too.

Doc

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Think the crud who stole your stuff may well have put minerals in that spot.

A couple other people mentioned that I'd bet he probally was. Here's how I think it happend...

He put the minerals in the place so he could hunt off of it for only himself and nobody else could benefit.

One day while visiting the site he noticed mine and my brothers stands and got P'd off.

He wanted all the deer to himself(If it's the guy I'm thinking of he gets jealouse easy if he doesn't get the big deer) So he took down his stand to make it look like his got stolen and then went and got ours to make it seem as if a theif had a good night.

I talked to this guy a couple months ago he won't tell me who he thinks stole it so I'm thinking it's him.

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That would be the perfect way to get the low-down on what is using this feature and when they are using it.......BUT...... Those same people that stole your stands would be real happy to relieve you of your trail cams too.

Doc

You are exactly right, I never thought of that. Thanks again!

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That would be the perfect way to get the low-down on what is using this feature and when they are using it.......BUT...... Those same people that stole your stands would be real happy to relieve you of your trail cams too.

Doc

If it was me... I would spray down real good and sneak in that place when no1 would know I went over there... take my cuddeback in there and set that dude up about 3 pm and come get that sucker about 10 the next morning...

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If it was me... I would spray down real good and sneak in that place when no1 would know I went over there... take my cuddeback in there and set that dude up about 3 pm and come get that sucker about 10 the next morning...

Or get a security box for the trail cam so it cant be stolen.;) I built one myself out of 1/8" plate. I chain it too the tree and put a big lock on it. You can buy one out of Cabela's for $50 but it aint as beefy as my home made version :cool:

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Think the crud who stole your stuff may well have put minerals in that spot.

It's possible that it is a man-made mineral-lick, but these things do also exist as a natural condition. The two that I am familiar with have been in the same spot for more than 45 years that I am aware of so I know that nobody has maintained an artificial lick for all those years.

Doc

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If it was me... I would spray down real good and sneak in that place when no1 would know I went over there... take my cuddeback in there and set that dude up about 3 pm and come get that sucker about 10 the next morning...

Or get a security box for the trail cam so it cant be stolen.;) I built one myself out of 1/8" plate. I chain it too the tree and put a big lock on it. You can buy one out of Cabela's for $50 but it aint as beefy as my home made version :cool:

If you are serious about putting a camera out, set the camera to take daylight only pics so it won't flash and make the thieves aware that it is there. Might also consider hanging the camera high in a tree out of plain sight looking down over the minerals, use a cable lock. Might be worth dragging in an extension ladder.

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