Recreating a Deer Woods

Happy B-Day. 70 years young, enjoy!

Thanks guys, I really appreciate it. I seldom thought much of birthdays past but the big 70 felt special right off from dawn all the way thru to midnight. Put out eight cameras yesterday and plan on putting out eight more today. It seems late in the year for setting up cameras but since yesterday's and today's' are being set up in the woods trails where rutting bucks are expected to travel one could say it is really a bit early.

Perimeter cameras targeting trespassers will be put out later this week as well as some food plot watchers.

I could have swore you were 60! LOL Congratulations. I am just getting some cameras out also. It just seems the season starts way too early so I purposely delay things to pass the time until I actually start hunting just after the 31st.

HAPPY belated BIRTHDAY! Here's wishing you many more with family, friends, and daylilies.

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Happy belated birthday Dave. Never would have guessed 70! Nothing like deer season to keep you young

Happy belated birthday.

Thank you so much guys for all the well wishes and nice compliments; it was much appreciated. Glad to hear the rye/wheat is growing well on your property Rusty. Dogghr, check out this stat;there are nearly 89,000 registered varieties of daylilies growing in the USA and many more thousands of varieties not registered growing in gardens like mine.

Six of us went out to dinner two nights ago; Cost me $3,482. My share of the dinner ticket was $32 and the rest was my wife's purchase. There was a 2002 lemon yellow Mustang convertible being auctioned off on line and wife Anne didn't want to go to dinner and miss the last bid time of the auction. We called the restaurant and yes they had WI-FI so there we sat staring at the computer like some kids do these days while eating. At the twenty seconds to the closing bid point she pushed the bid button and "she won"! I won the job of getting the trailer working and driving 3 hours each way to pick it up; Anne also helped of course and we lucked out. The car is just beautiful. Picture to come when I get pics working again.

Back to recreating a deer woods, the question of whether planting wheat as late as September 27 and oats as late as September 29 here would work at all has been answered. It has worked and maybe even better than ever. While nearby properties have acres and acres of standing corn our wheat fields were absolutely loaded with deer including two good bucks during early evening shooting hours (before sunset) yesterday. Both the wheat and oats are at about 3 to 4 inches tall and looking really great with good color and a great population. We lucked out on this deal for sure; the AG. fields again now double as beautiful plots and are drawing the deer towards the center of this property thanks to our farmer friend who did all of the planting.

The annual deer parade has begun! From our sun room this morning we watched as two different doe groups marched by us heading deeper into our property evidently feeling the pressure already on neighboring properties. It is kind of funny that they choose to travel across our open lawn to escape the danger they sense next door. We welcome all the neighborhood deer to join us for the next two months! It looks like a great season is before us. Hope everyone else is seeing good signs of a great season as well.

I think you kept all my deer this year. Despite a good amount of apples and plots that look like a Golden Coral salad bar, I have 3 does, 3 fawns, and one 2.5yo buck using the property. If you are marking winners for scions I have about 20 trees planted to graft. I am looking for late October/November drop times. Glad you had a good birthday and Anne got a new toy. I can’t wait to follow your season, sounds like you are going to have some great action.

Great to hear from you Chummer, and yes the season is one that could be great here and Anne is "working" on her new toy non-stop. Sorry to hear your deer numbers are down but with your incredible salad bar and low pressure you may draw in some unexpected deer numbers.

Had to shoot the muzzle loader tonight to clean it, had shot twice this morning. So the dilemma was where to shoot it to empty it. I chose a spot on the property where it would do the least damage; saw 13 different deer in the ten minutes it took to go empty the muzzle loader. The difference that a couple of years without a killing winter can make is just out of this world.

With being 70 years on this earth, you get a price break on the license. My license which includes bow, muzzle loader, rifle, turkey, bear and fishing was just twenty-five dollars versus over a hundred a year ago The bummer was with my birthday being Oct. 9, I missed the Oct. 1 signup date for doe tags; however due to DMAP I was still eligible for up to four DMAP tags for me and four for Anne as well. Add that to two bucks and a doe that our licenses allow and we can easily legally harvest enough deer to begin to bring the population inline to where the property can support them.

We have marked apple winners and are excited to participate in your grafting project. Our "camp" is filled (Filled equals two people other than us) until Nov.12. After that if you would like to hunt off the Hill for a couple of days there will be space here and you or you and your wife are very welcome to come join us. We have heard you are a great venison cook and great cooks are always good to have at camp. WE'D LOVE TO HAVE YOU HERE! I can't promise any 4 1/2 year old deer will be left but there will likely be possible action with a couple of 3 1/2 year olds and a doe or two left to chase and we can easily save a doe tag for you if we know you are coming.

That is a fantastic invite. I have been smoking backstraps wrapped in bacon. I can’t imagine it gets much better than that. Although that sandwich you made me was top notch. I tried to duplicate it but not as good as yours. I will take a turn in your kitchen. Let’s see how the season plays out, hopefully tag will be filled. Even with no tag I would love to see how things have progressed there. I am feeling a lot better this year so I am hoping to do some serious hunting after missing last year. I have a ravine a long back at the new property that I know is a deer highway and should see no human traffic. I will keep you posted.

Smoked backstraps wrapped in bacon sounds delicious. I've not tried smoking it but have cooked it several other ways but have had issues with getting the bacon cooked and not overcooking the venison. We tried precooking the bacon alone somewhat and it worked somewhat but only somewhat. I look forward to trying yours done with the smoker.

I'm glad you are feeling better and hope one or two of those old monster bucks from the Hill travels down your ravine. Stay in touch and we'll plan something for later during the season.

Chainsaw said:

Smoked backstraps wrapped in bacon sounds delicious. I've not tried smoking it but have cooked it several other ways but have had issues with getting the bacon cooked and not overcooking the venison. We tried precooking the bacon alone somewhat and it worked somewhat but only somewhat. I look forward to trying yours done with the smoker.

I'm glad you are feeling better and hope one or two of those old monster bucks from the Hill travels down your ravine. Stay in touch and we'll plan something for later during the season.

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I wrap in bacon and smoke at 225. I take the bacon off at 110-120 and pull meat at 140. Bacon makes a nice snack while you wait the last 30 minutes.

Chummer said:

I wrap in bacon and smoke at 225. I take the bacon off at 110-120 and pull meat at 140. Bacon makes a nice snack while you wait the last 30 minutes.

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Can you, for us newbies at smoking meat, clarify what you are saying.
I assume the 225 is the heat temp.

But what is the 110-120, is that minutes? and again the 140? Minutes again or is that the internal temp of the meat?

Thanks.

Deadeye said:

Can you, for us newbies at smoking meat, clarify what you are saying.
I assume the 225 is the heat temp.

But what is the 110-120, is that minutes? and again the 140? Minutes again or is that the internal temp of the meat?

Thanks.

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Deadeye, Chummer is not always quick to respond as he isn't on here all the time. I'm very sure he is talking temperature. I am surprised though that slow cooking in the smoker gets the bacon done before the venison as in other cooking the problem is the venison gets done way before the bacon. I can't wait to try his smoking method. I have attempted that dish many times and have just not got it that great as others do.

Dave, I wanted to share some pix of what's going on with the rye I got from your source.




I planted it very heavy. After tweaking the soil according to the test results, it's coming in like a lawn.



I don't see any evidence of use yet, but I expect it will be a great winter food source, and spring cover as well.



The poplar regrowth seems to be very attractive already.



Now if I can get the deer to eat the prickly ash.........

Good luck to all.




Rusty

Very nice food plots Rusty, thanks for sharing it with us. I'll be sure to show Dennis how the plot is coming out. The shape of your rye field makes for a very natural setting; looks like it has always been there-very nice. I did notice one square end on one rye leaf in your picture so the deer may have tried it already. As these freezes reduce their options the rye may get active quickly. And your poplar "food plot" looks super and it is great the deer are hitting it. It looks to be browsed nicely throughout. Our poplar plots are showing the same. The poplar plots are a real bonus if a property has healthy poplar stands.

My neighbor and friend who is on the same page as us came with me setting out cameras yesterday; I took him to one of the poplar re-growths and showed him the use it was getting. With apples getting almost gone already, there being very few hickory nuts and his property being over browsed it is a bit weak on food except for clover plots. He has poplar stands so a few small clear cuts in them would up his property's food and cover with minimal effort. I also showed him our Micanthus stand and we talked about how Miscanthus could be used to block views in from the road which virtually but effectively would increase the size of his property to deer at very minimum cost. He has at least a thousand feet of road frontage that people can see into. Of course it is just wasted space hunting wise and daytime deer activity-wise. So I ramble--just love the poplar and Miscanthus.

Hope you have a great season Rusty and give me a call if you have any exciting adventures out there. Here there is some activity but it is pretty tough to meet up with a big boy. Cameras are showing some great deer to be out there and many moving during the day but not enough to match my schedule with theirs yet. We'll keep tinkering with them mostly to keep the poachers out and soon the real hunting will begin.

Prickly ash is right up there with Multi-flora rose; I hate that stuff.

Deadeye said:

Can you, for us newbies at smoking meat, clarify what you are saying.
I assume the 225 is the heat temp.

But what is the 110-120, is that minutes? and again the 140? Minutes again or is that the internal temp of the meat?

Thanks.

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225 is temp of grill.
110-120 is internal meat temp
140 is where I like the final temp to be, adjust to your preference.
Dave, it will be floppy bacon but it is cooked to almost 225 being on the outside of the blackstrap.

Chummer said:

225 is temp of grill.
110-120 is internal meat temp
140 is where I like the final temp to be, adjust to your preference.
Dave, it will be floppy bacon but it is cooked to almost 225 being on the outside of the blackstrap.

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OK I get it now. Sounds great!

Dave, have you seen any signs of the rut yet? I am sneaking up in the morning and going to hunt till the rain starts. I am crazy busy with my daughters basketball but I have a window to hunt tomorrow morning. My last nice buck up there was on Oct 27th so I am hoping history repeats itself.

Chummer said:

Dave, have you seen any signs of the rut yet? I am sneaking up in the morning and going to hunt till the rain starts. I am crazy busy with my daughters basketball but I have a window to hunt tomorrow morning. My last nice buck up there was on Oct 27th so I am hoping history repeats itself.

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Signs of rut seen to date are; necks are fully swollen, normal rub areas have SOME trees absolutely shredded, there has been one round of heavy ground scrapes about 5 days ago and 12 different eights plus have shown up on cameras with twenty good working cameras out which is way more "shooter" deer than normal. Shooter buck pictures have moved from 10 pm or later down to 6 pm (3 out of 14 days on best sites) giving an evening sit 3 out of 14 chances of a shooter coming by if he doesn't sense any danger in the evening sit and only one out of 14 chances if sitting in the morning with movement up to 9:44 AM so far. This is of course only for this property and I came to this summary based on info from pics collected two days ago. With no pressure things over the last two days could only have gotten better. Cameras are telling me to stay out of the fields and concentrate on in the woods staging areas at night and to get in the woods extra early AM to catch them on their way back "home'.

edit; CAMERAS ARE ALSO TELLING ME THAT it may not be the best time yet here to be intruding in their world.

Good luck tomorrow morning, it could be the one! Let us know what kind of action you see.