buckhunter10
Well-Known Member
great thread!!
My Little Slice of Paradise
- Thread starter Paradise725
- Start date
Native Hunter
Well-Known Member
LOL, we have our eye on him for sure. When I saw your narrow racked deer it made me think of old Abby Normal.
Paradise725
Well-Known Member
Well yesterday was my last work day prior to our archery opener next weekend. Unfortunately, the wheels fell off my opening weekend plans, literally.
I got up at 3am and started heading north to Ky with my buddy about 3:45am with a load of cereal grains in the bed of my truck.
I had 7 different plots to spray and sow yesterday, but I had to repair the oil cooler on my atv before I could get going. Luckily, the repair went fairly smoothly and I was ready to spray by 9:15am. Unfortunately, I had blown a fuse on my sprayer and didn't have a spare so I lost an hour driving to the closest auto parts store to pick up some fuses. I bought plenty of spares just in case!
Most of the plots looked great and the brassicas were really popping. Here are a couple of shots of the powerline plots:
I sprayed the plots and then came back later and sowed the cereal grains. My buddy that was helping me started suffering from heat exhaustion by noon and was really not himself the rest of the day so our progress was slow. With one plot left to sow, we rode the Ranger EV down the powerline to the south access trail to check a couple of cameras. I heard a pop when I rode over a bump and I could immediately tell something wasn't right... I got off and found a sheared bolt on the ground with a nut still attached. Any guesses as to what happened?
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I got up at 3am and started heading north to Ky with my buddy about 3:45am with a load of cereal grains in the bed of my truck.
I had 7 different plots to spray and sow yesterday, but I had to repair the oil cooler on my atv before I could get going. Luckily, the repair went fairly smoothly and I was ready to spray by 9:15am. Unfortunately, I had blown a fuse on my sprayer and didn't have a spare so I lost an hour driving to the closest auto parts store to pick up some fuses. I bought plenty of spares just in case!
Most of the plots looked great and the brassicas were really popping. Here are a couple of shots of the powerline plots:
I sprayed the plots and then came back later and sowed the cereal grains. My buddy that was helping me started suffering from heat exhaustion by noon and was really not himself the rest of the day so our progress was slow. With one plot left to sow, we rode the Ranger EV down the powerline to the south access trail to check a couple of cameras. I heard a pop when I rode over a bump and I could immediately tell something wasn't right... I got off and found a sheared bolt on the ground with a nut still attached. Any guesses as to what happened?
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Paradise725
Well-Known Member
It was a bolt used to attach the wheel to the wheel hub. In fact, two of the four bolts on the right rear wheel were gone and one of the bolts on the left rear wheel was gone. As I looked closer, I noticed they were not lug nuts holding the tire on, but conventional machine screw nuts with lock washers! The bolts used to attach the wheels were conventional machine screws! The shade tree dealer that I bought the used Ranger from had evidently replaced the wheels at some point and used cheap screws, nuts, and washers to attach the wheels instead of the factory bolts and lug nuts. I took a picture of the inside of the wheel hub where you can see where the bolt is missing at the bottom.
Here is the rear left wheel as seen from the outside:
Needless to say, I'm pissed. I had to walk out over a mile to get an atv to come back and get all of the seed and equipment I was hauling. I had to leave the ranger out there until I can go back with new lug nuts and wheel bolts, and a jack. But worst of all, I'm pissed to think about what could have happened if those bolts had sheared while I was navigating more difficult terrain. I could have been hurt or killed!
I am disappointed, but at the end of the day, plots were planted, cameras were checked, and I made it home safely. The lesson learned is that Craigslist used UTV dealers should not be trusted. Particularly one in Benton, IL...
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Here is the rear left wheel as seen from the outside:
Needless to say, I'm pissed. I had to walk out over a mile to get an atv to come back and get all of the seed and equipment I was hauling. I had to leave the ranger out there until I can go back with new lug nuts and wheel bolts, and a jack. But worst of all, I'm pissed to think about what could have happened if those bolts had sheared while I was navigating more difficult terrain. I could have been hurt or killed!
I am disappointed, but at the end of the day, plots were planted, cameras were checked, and I made it home safely. The lesson learned is that Craigslist used UTV dealers should not be trusted. Particularly one in Benton, IL...
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Paradise725
Well-Known Member
This is the sheared wheel stud with "lug nut." This is why standard nuts with lock washers are a poor substitute for true lug nuts
I ordered factory wheel studs and aftermarket lug nuts last night.
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I ordered factory wheel studs and aftermarket lug nuts last night.
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Paradise725
Well-Known Member
Thanks Dave. I shouldn't forget that in spite of my equipment woes, I'm blessed to be able to chase some great bucks this fall.
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Paradise725
Well-Known Member
The KY archery season opened last weekend... I was able to squeeze in a quick trip for some early season action. I took a long hike back to the powerline with hunting equipment, lug nuts, wheel studs, socket wrench, and 12v air compressor on Sunday afternoon with the intent of replacing the studs on the UTV before making my way to a tree stand for the afternoon hunt. The wheel stud and lug nut replacement proved to be quite a chore without a hydraulic jack handy to lift the wheels off the ground, but where there's a will there's a way!
I made it to a powerline food plot with about 2 hrs of shooting light left to spare. The brassica portion of the LC mix looked great!
The far side of the plot was planted in cereal grains on August 27, but unfortunately we haven't gotten any rain so we had no germination yet. Rain is in the forecast for next weekend, so whatever seed hasn't been eaten by birds should germinate after that.
I had 8 does visit the plot that evening but I gave them a pass per my property management plan. I won't be shooting any does off my food plots until the last week of gun season, so as to keep my does from getting skittish and wandering off the property with one of my mature bucks in tow during the rut.
I had a south wind yesterday morning so I opted to do a hang and hunt on the north perimeter of the property. I had two does come by mid-morning and I shot the one that paused in my shooting lane. She bolted and I thought I heard her go down just out of sight. Unfortunately, I hit further back than I intended.
It looked like solid liver blood on the arrow with a slight tinge of bile. I jumped her after about 75 yds of tracking and she ran further into the center of my property. After 3 hrs of hands and knees blood trailing and at least another hour of grid searching her last known heading, I was never able to recover her. Makes me sick. In hindsight, I should have waited longer before tracking but I was convinced I had heard her go down. The high was 92 on Monday and I didn't want to leave her out there any longer than necessary. Lesson learned. If I had waited another hour the meat would probably still have been fine and she might have been laying dead in the spot where I ended up jumping her.
I'm going to take a few weeks off from
hunting to spend more time with family. All this summer food plotting kept me away from the wife and baby longer than it should have. More updates to come...
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I made it to a powerline food plot with about 2 hrs of shooting light left to spare. The brassica portion of the LC mix looked great!
The far side of the plot was planted in cereal grains on August 27, but unfortunately we haven't gotten any rain so we had no germination yet. Rain is in the forecast for next weekend, so whatever seed hasn't been eaten by birds should germinate after that.
I had 8 does visit the plot that evening but I gave them a pass per my property management plan. I won't be shooting any does off my food plots until the last week of gun season, so as to keep my does from getting skittish and wandering off the property with one of my mature bucks in tow during the rut.
I had a south wind yesterday morning so I opted to do a hang and hunt on the north perimeter of the property. I had two does come by mid-morning and I shot the one that paused in my shooting lane. She bolted and I thought I heard her go down just out of sight. Unfortunately, I hit further back than I intended.
It looked like solid liver blood on the arrow with a slight tinge of bile. I jumped her after about 75 yds of tracking and she ran further into the center of my property. After 3 hrs of hands and knees blood trailing and at least another hour of grid searching her last known heading, I was never able to recover her. Makes me sick. In hindsight, I should have waited longer before tracking but I was convinced I had heard her go down. The high was 92 on Monday and I didn't want to leave her out there any longer than necessary. Lesson learned. If I had waited another hour the meat would probably still have been fine and she might have been laying dead in the spot where I ended up jumping her.
I'm going to take a few weeks off from
hunting to spend more time with family. All this summer food plotting kept me away from the wife and baby longer than it should have. More updates to come...
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Paradise725
Well-Known Member
Well, a couple of updates for you guys. The deer pictures below we called Loppy last year, but we changed his name to Lefty because it seemed to fit better this year.
He is 3.5 yrs old and was hanging in a bachelor group with another 3.5 yr old when the season opened. My buddy observed them from a distance in our bean field on opening weekend, and then again on the second weekend of the season, but none of our stands were in a location that offered a shot. On Sunday, 9/11, my buddy made an aggressive move and hung a stand on the edge of the field where he had seen the Bucks enter the field on two separate occasions. Sure enough, they entered the field in roughly the same spot and Lefty offered a 25yd shot. However, the story turns south from there and my buddy didn't make a very good shot. He thinks he must have hit the deer low and/or forward, but after letting him lay overnight and hours of tracking and even bringing in a blood trailing dog, the deer was never recovered. My only hope is that the deer will recover and show back up on camera before long. Definitely hasn't been the way we wanted to start our season with two poor shots right out of the gate!
We did have another shooter show up on camera. This is a 4.5 yr old we call the wide 8.
We had this deer on camera in several spots on the farm last year as a 3.5 yr old but never saw him in person. We also got pics of Crabby 8 after he shed his velvet. Boy does he have a lot of points on his bases!
I won't be hunting again until at least October 15th as we adjust to life with a 3 month old and full time jobs for both parents (momma goes back to work on the 10th). I'll be watching the weather in late October and hope to time my trips to coincide with a good cold front!
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We did have another shooter show up on camera. This is a 4.5 yr old we call the wide 8.
We had this deer on camera in several spots on the farm last year as a 3.5 yr old but never saw him in person. We also got pics of Crabby 8 after he shed his velvet. Boy does he have a lot of points on his bases!
I won't be hunting again until at least October 15th as we adjust to life with a 3 month old and full time jobs for both parents (momma goes back to work on the 10th). I'll be watching the weather in late October and hope to time my trips to coincide with a good cold front!
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Just catching up on your thread - I hate it when people "shadetree" stuff that can cause great harm to someone just to make a quick buck! Wheel studs and nuts are nothing to cobble together just because it will hold the wheels on
Sorry to hear you guys have had some tough luck hunting so far...maybe that buck will make it and you can capitalize on it like I did with the buck in my avatar. I made a poor bow shot on him on Veterans Day 2014 but he lived and I ended up actually getting him on Thanksgiving Day that same year
Sorry to hear you guys have had some tough luck hunting so far...maybe that buck will make it and you can capitalize on it like I did with the buck in my avatar. I made a poor bow shot on him on Veterans Day 2014 but he lived and I ended up actually getting him on Thanksgiving Day that same year
Paradise725
Well-Known Member
A few of my older deer have showed back up in October. This is Pitchfork II. I believe he is at least 6.5 this year.
This is Brutus. He is at least 6.5 this year
Those deer are at the top of my hit list this year. I've got a couple of 4.5 yr olds too but don't have their pictures handy. I've hunted 3 times this year but haven't seen any older bucks yet. Things should start getting good soon!
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This is Brutus. He is at least 6.5 this year
Those deer are at the top of my hit list this year. I've got a couple of 4.5 yr olds too but don't have their pictures handy. I've hunted 3 times this year but haven't seen any older bucks yet. Things should start getting good soon!
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Paradise725
Well-Known Member
Although I didn't kill anything in the logging yard last Friday, I must say that the view was worth the drive! This was the first hunt of the year where I really got to enjoy the fruits of my labors this past year. I entered the stand silently from my improved access and had turkeys in the plot before I even got settled into the stand. I observed multiple deer enter the plot from the path that I usually access it from, which tells me my new access route is working. The rut is really starting to heat up on my place, and I'm planning on taking advantage the first few weeks of November. The view from the log yard:
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Chainsaw
Well-Known Member
That is a beautiful thing for sure. Your picture is framed nicely. Will you be adding soft mast trees to it? Is that a cattail marsh/water hole on the 1/3 lower left? Are you planning on using a buck decoy for the rut? I bought one last year but didn't put it out. This year I'll give it a try.
Paradise725
Well-Known Member
I used the "panoramic" feature on my iphone... it's taken some cool pics for sure! Yes I will be adding apple or pear trees in the spring, per Steve's plan. That is a water hole in the plot, it is 30 yds to the near side of the water hole from my stand. I don't own a buck decoy but I have always wanted to try one. I have a couple of spots that setup perfectly for a decoy. Let me know how your experience with the decoy works out.. I might put it on my wish list for next year. I really want to kill a mature buck this year, after eating my tag last year. That might mean putting the bow down once rifle season opens, but I'm hoping I will have an opportunity with a bow prior to the rifle opener on November 12th.
Chainsaw
Well-Known Member
That sounds good Luke. I lucked out that in most cases the new food plots Steve had me put in were already laced with wild apple trees (likely he had taken that into consideration somewhat). The wild apple trees responded very quickly to having full sun in the new food plots. Being wild apples one doesn't know which ones are best but it doesn't take long to notice how much more the deer prefer one over all others while it is available. All others eventually have their day when the more preferred are gone.
Good luck on the bow season and I'll let you know how the buck decoy works out.
Good luck on the bow season and I'll let you know how the buck decoy works out.
Paradise725
Well-Known Member
Well, I got a bittersweet picture from a neighbor yesterday. The buck we call Lefty, which my buddy shot and couldn't recover back in September, was shot by a neighbor that morning.
I'm glad to see he made a full recovery and a great trophy for someone else. He was even bigger than we thought! I was hoping he would make it through this season so we could chase him again next year as a 4.5, but I'm genuinely happy to know what happened to him at least. The bucks are rutting hard at my place right now. More updates to come in the next week or two!
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I'm glad to see he made a full recovery and a great trophy for someone else. He was even bigger than we thought! I was hoping he would make it through this season so we could chase him again next year as a 4.5, but I'm genuinely happy to know what happened to him at least. The bucks are rutting hard at my place right now. More updates to come in the next week or two!
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