90 Acres Northern New York

[rusty1034]

Howdy all,

This is the beginning of a thread about 90 acres in WMU 6a in New York.

I bought the property about 5 years ago. It’s rather long and narrow being about 366 yards X 3,666 yards.

The property is conveniently broken into about 7 distinct habitat sections including a 1)fallow hay field, 2)cow pasture, 3) 3 acre cultivated food plot, 4) swampy maple/ ash stand, 5) thick white cedars 6) 2 acre cultivated food plot 7) mature open hard woods.

The neighbor to the west hunts quite a bit, and doesn’t really concern himself with QDM, or bag limits.

The properties (400 acres) to my east are owned or leased by a family member who generally takes one 2 1/2 yr old buck annually.

The habitat changes I have made since purchasing the property include :
1) Having a dozer clear a 2 acre overgrown pasture that is surrounded by cedar. That spot now hasWinter Rye and clover in it.

2) A one acre heavy cut in the Maple swamp. Logs are used for firewood, and the regrowth has been nothing less than phenomenal. Stump sprouts everywhere, and some hinge cutting that is holding deer, as well as turning into jungle clusters.

3) This year I converted a cow pasture into a 3 acre cultivated food plot. I purchased a 2 row John Deere corn planter. It came with bean cups. I planted this plot in about 30% corn, and 70% soy beans. Both crops did very well. At this point I can’t tell if the deer are using this plot, but suspect it will certainly get used during the long cold winter.

For the first time since running cameras in this area, I have some good pix/vids of what I believe to be a 3 yr old. I didn’t have any vids of him on last weeks card pull, but suspect he may have switched into search mode.

Please enjoy this vid of him.

Rusty


Rusty

 

[Chainsaw]

Glad to see you starting up this property tour Rusty. The neighbor to the west could eventually turn into one of us, as one or two of us were maybe or could have been like him at one time. Even so you are in for a GRAND RIDE. Looking forward to following the progress.

 

[rusty1034]

Thanks Dave. I’ll be there for four days next week. I scouted a couple of good looking spots for ground hunts in the cedars. Ground hunts can be very exciting, as the action tends to be “in your face”.


Rusty

 

[Jon]

Love New York threads!!!!!! Keep it coming. Good luck hunting this season.


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[Mennoniteman]

Looking forward to reading your property thread. The buck could be 2 or 3. If you have any standing corn and beans at this time of the fall you hold all of the best cards in the game. Hunt the edges of those fields if possible. If the corn and beans isn't being used you don't have any deer.

 

[rusty1034]

Thanks Mennoniteman. If he’s a two, then he’s much better than the others in the area. It would be nice to have some of that caliber though.

This year I tilled and planted a 2.5-3 acre pasture and row planted corn and soybeans. They both did well, minus the raccoon damage to the corn. The beans made lots of pods and have dried down nicely. I have cameras on two trails coming from a maple swamp into the corn/bean plot. I have numerous pictures of does and fawns on the trails, but no bucks.

With your advice in mind, I think I’ll sit in a virgin ladder stand in the swamp that over looks a pretty good trail leading to the bean/corn plot. If the does are in there this time of year, you know what else will be following !


Rusty

 

[Chainsaw]

Looking forward to reading your property thread. The buck could be 2 or 3. If you have any standing corn and beans at this time of the fall you hold all of the best cards in the game. Hunt the edges of those fields if possible. If the corn and beans isn't being used you don't have any deer.

Remember Mennoniteman, The size of the bodies of some of these deer here make the antlers look small; not that we judge age by antler size but it does sway us some. The average ear size here is 7 to 8 inches. If the pictured deer is average and you add in the the space between antler bases plus the ear widths we are looking at a very large inside measurement for here. That alone here makes a likely mature deer. Further if you look at just the body frame of the deer in the pic you are looking at an old guy. Deer age is hard to apply just from a pic but to me the deer in the pic has reached a maturity uncommon in this area. And maybe it is unique to this area but although we seldom kill a deer without corn in its stomach we also seldom see a buck of any size during shootable daylight in a cornfield.

 

[Jon]

Funny you said that because I was going to weigh in and say I think that deer is 3.5+ based on the area he is in. The slope neck that is almost camel like, tends to be a dead giveaway that he’s older than 3.5. It’s just a different world in some parts of the country... but a nice deer nonetheless whatever the age.


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[Elkaddict]

Rusty, thanks for starting the tread. I can’t wait to follow your progress. If predominant winds permit, a stand in the swamp is where I think you’ll see the action. I agree with the 3.5 assessment. In addition to Chainsaw’s observation, that buck looks long. Some deer do grow longer through the body while others build the more classic pot belly and it really messes with aging if there’s nothing in the picture to compare it to.

 

[Mennoniteman]

Remember Mennoniteman, The size of the bodies of some of these deer here make the antlers look small; not that we judge age by antler size but it does sway us some. The average ear size here is 7 to 8 inches. If the pictured deer is average and you add in the the space between antler bases plus the ear widths we are looking at a very large inside measurement for here. That alone here makes a likely mature deer. Further if you look at just the body frame of the deer in the pic you are looking at an old guy. Deer age is hard to apply just from a pic but to me the deer in the pic has reached a maturity uncommon in this area. And maybe it is unique to this area but although we seldom kill a deer without corn in its stomach we also seldom see a buck of any size during shootable daylight in a cornfield.

Good points on the deers age. In my experience the difference between seeing mature bucks in fields in daylight during the fall hunting season vs. no mature bucks in fields is all about pressure. A field needs to be surrounded by woods, ie. no roads or houses, and there can't be even one time when the big buck was spooked out of the field by a human other than a person on a tractor. I have fields that I try to keep in this condition and it works. Otherwise, big bucks have to be hunted in big woods or closer to thick bedding areas.

 

[farmhunter]

Hes 3.5 or 4.5 for me. Especially if 6A. Ive learned there are always exceptions to age too - cannot take anything for granted.

 

[rusty1034]

The first food plot I created is rather small and irregularly shaped. It was an old pasture that had been overtaken by thorn apple and prickly ash. I simply dozed them out of the way with the John Deere and its fel. There are two productive apple trees on the edge of the plot, one on each end. There is usually a scrape under each. The plot is surrounded by thick cedar. There’s no suitable location for a tree stand, so when I hunt this spot, it’s from a ground blind on the north end.








Last year I took a 2 yr old 8 point from this plot.



You can’t tell from these pix, but the soil is very rocky. Most of the rocks are softball size and up.
When I do till the soul, I use an old spring tooth harrow to simply scratch the surface. If things work out, I’d like to get my hands on a York rake to get rid of the rocks on the surface.

I’ve had good luck growing buckwheat and brassicas here. This year it’s a brassica mix with a very small section of WGF millet.

It’s been getting some use, but no pix of big boys from this spot. There were 275 pix oh yesterday’s two week old card pull. Only two buck picks, a spike and a 4 point.



I see snow in the forecast for Wednesday. I’m looking forward to that. It can make spotting deer a little easier than trying to see them in an all grown woods.






Rusty

 

[rusty1034]

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[rusty1034]

An aerial pix of the food plot.



Kind of reminds me of an extreme dog leg fairway on a par 3 course.


Rusty

 

[farmhunter]

I know that soil up there!

That apple tree holds em late - got to like that!!

 

[rusty1034]

It sure does hold them late. Sometimes they rot in the tree. I try to shake it occasionally so that they’ll get eaten.

I had some movement today. Saw two or three fawns wandering solo. Saw a four point and spike chasing, and heard a third. Also saw a small 8 that was poking past watch with his nose to the ground. Fun day


Rusty

 

[rusty1034]

Got another video of Corkscrew from November 1st. Glad to see he made it through the first couple weeks of rifle season. I also got a quick glimpse of him about 3:30 yesterday about 100 yards from the tree I was sitting in. I think I’m gonna try and creep in closer and set up on the ground when the wind gets right.

Rusty

 

[farmhunter]

Nice verification video! he looks healthy and on the feed - not locked down or chasing that night.

 

[rusty1034]

I was out recently moving a ladder stand. I do that quite a bit because I suffer from the “grass is always greener” syndrome. Anyway, while I was installing the stand, I heard a rooster pheasant cackle several times.

His call caused me to smile because I was happy thinking that some of the habitat changes I had made to help deer had also helped other critters, like the beautiful pheasant.



This picture was taken about 30 minutes prior to, and 50 yards from where I was installing the tree stand. Truth be told, I’m sure he’s part of a stocking by a local sportsman’s club about a half a mile a way. Never the less, it was nice to hear his call, and just as cool to get a partial picture of the pretty creature.

Other birds that enjoy the food plots include turkey( of course), mourning dove, and the ever vocal and beautiful blue jay. I’m guessing there are more, but there a little too small for me to recognize.




Rusty

 

[rusty1034]

I’ve been narrowing down the locations that I spend time in looking for deer as the season progresses.

Friday afternoon I did a ground sit in a small hemlock grove that had lots of sign last weekend. Sat from 1:00pm till the end of legal shooting light. Turkeys and squirrels were all I saw.

Saturday morning I headed back to a tree stand that is surrounded by trails.

About 7:45, a small 6 pt walked through. About a half hour later a doe and fawn, pushed by a tiny spike horn crossed slowly in front of me.

After watching them for about ten minutes, hoping they wouldn’t walk into my scent, I noticed a big bodied deer moving through the timber about 80 yards away. I lost sight of the deer several times because as soon as it stopped, it blended into the forest, and became virtually invisible.

Eventually I was able to determine it was a buck was slowly following a doe.

After he stopped a few times behind trees, I was able to find a tunnel through the hardwoods, and put a 165 grain Hornady .308 into him. He dropped in his tracks.

I am very happy, and somewhat relieved, because I was running out of time for the woods.



He weighed 160. I don’t know about his age, I’m guessing 2 or 3. I’m planning on having a tooth tested.

I got a line on a fella in the area that is doing Euro mounts using beetles. I’m excited about that because sometimes the Euro mounts that are boiled get pretty brittle.

Now back to food plot work, then logging once the ground freezes enough to get the John Deere in the swamp.

Good luck all !