Recreating a Deer Woods

[Chainsaw]

normally your 1 1/2 year old bucks are your largest group. If a co-op can successfully pass on those in my opinion your way ahead , and the age brackets should take care of themselves. So if mistakes or intentional mistakes are made, and they will. It will have little effect. Of course your deer eat hickory nuts so......... Lol. There will be lots of people watching how this works out over time. I can’t imagine our area ever getting to a point of 4 year olds.

It is good to hear from you Buckly. It is surprising the deer in your part of NY haven't discovered the advantages of eating hickory nuts. With that aside until four years ago I could not imagine our area ever getting to the point of 4 year olds either. And even today with the many pictures of left after the season ended 2 1/2 and 3 1/2 year olds on this property, I can't imagine the whole area ever getting to the point of four year olds. It is very conceivable though that pockets of contiguous landowners working together can get there. The key word is of course is WORKING and as you have experienced so have I that most people will not put the effort in.

I think it is a matter of instilling the belief of what great hunting can be achieved by co-operating neighbors to the general neighborhood. Many years ago a distant neighbor and I attended a talk given by the late Charles Alsheimer. Backed up by spectacular pictures of giant deer and surreal landscape shots Charles explained how the hunting in his New York farm area was improved from shooting spikes and fork horns to what many of us are striving for today. I saw it as all pie in the sky stuff until he held up the antlers from a young fork horn and a five year old NY bruiser buck. Charles so simply and eloquently made his point; would you rather hunt this as he held up the delicate fork horn antlers or this as he picked up the massive antlers of a five year old bruiser New York buck. If each of us can sell that concept to just a few fellow landowners to motivate them to put in the effort and let a few bucks walk we maybe can see our neighborhoods reach the high levels of growing great deer success just as Charles Alsheimer did in his New York neighborhood TWENTY-odd years ago.

There is no question that "everyone is lazy and won't do the work and sacrifices to make it work" and will always blame us for the reason they have no deer as the deer are "always" on our land. I could be way off on this as I have been wrong on many things but I sincerely and completely believe that some of those "lazy" people can turn into deer habitat gurus with a little nudge and direction. Well okay--with a lot of nudge and a lot of direction! And a little luck to have just a couple of great neighbors helps also.

 

[Chainsaw]

There has not been a lot happening on the property, ton's of rain make our road system unusable and work at the cottages has been demanding due to record Lake Ontario water levels. So far we have managed to stay ahead of the flooding and keep the land dry and the docks functioning for our spring fisherman. Spring time on the pond side is pike and walleye. Browns are on the lake side.
This is one of our successful pike fishing guests. Joy and Mike know how to catch them and Joy happened to get the largest pike so far this year.


Apple blossoms did not appear as per their usual schedule and we feared a no apple year but a few days ago the blooms made their appearance. Of course it has rained every day but there were moments of sun here and there so at least some blossoms were no doubt pollinated.

 

[Chainsaw]

I reported about planting daylily seeds in jugs this past January and throwing the jugs in a snowbank back on page 34 post 666. Daylilies are not grown for deer here but maybe the jug planting process has applications for starting deer plants/trees. To recap the seeds were planted in potting soil in water jugs and put outside in the snow and left completely unattended until two days ago. This is what they looked like.


The jug was cut around (horizontally) to the label four inches from the bottom to put in the potting soil and the seeds and then duct taped shut. This next pic shows the duct tape removed and the jug "opened" to reveal the daylily seedlings. It looks like I maybe could have put less seeds in the jug. Planted some today and they had nice root systems.



Note--forgot to mention--they were watered once before closing and that was all the attention they received. It sure beat starting them in the house for a number of reasons.

 

[dogghr]

Cool pics as usual Chainsaw. Pike and walleye reminded me of my Canadian fishing trips of past.
The Daylilly miniature hot house good idea. Rain here incessant also. Been trying to get lime truck into fields for over a year now. I wo t complain as no rain for months in 17 ruined even deer health.
Thot of you as I watched The Mule w Clint Eastwood couple wks ago. You aren’t hauling Lilly’s across state lines are you?? Thanks for showing as always.


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[Chainsaw]

Thanks Dogghr! Can you get that theme song out of your head? I know I can't. Toby Keith on you tube told how he was golfing with Clint (Eastwood) and he asked him what he was up to. Clint responded that he was directing the Mule movie and when prodded admitted he was playing the lead as well. Toby asked him what keeps you going and Clint's reply was---"I Don't let the Old Man In". Toby stated that he thought he had written all of the songs he had in him but Clint's reply could not disappear from his mind. He wrote the song that was screaming in him over the next few days, shared it with Clint and it became the theme song of the movie. The movie is actually based on a real life daylily guy named Leo Sharp. https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Leo_Sharp

Leo was a daylily grower deluxe but probably a poor businessman. I had never met Leo but many of the daylily people remember him well. As you can imagine some daylily people understood how Leo could do what he did and others had zero sympathy for him and talking about Leo was discouraged on the daylily forum and actually was banned.. As I saw it Leo was a good person backed into a corner and he made a bad choice. He wasn't a bad person although he did a bad thing hauling drugs and drug money.


On the fishing I was always a brown trout and steelhead fisherman and thought who would want to catch pike and walleyes. That has all changed now and I love jumping in the fourteen footer with the 15 horse and trolling for pike. Dad had always told me don't knock somebody's game because someday you may be one of the players. And sure enough I now like to fish for pike over browns and even steelhead.!

Don't fret though Dogghr, I am not contemplating hauling anything for anybody across state lines or even across town.

 

[Chummer]

I used to ice fish the pond for pike when I was a kid. It was great the water was only 5-6’ deep and you could watch them swim under you. I still have to get up there for lunch. Work has been crazy.

 

[dogghr]

Yep Chain, that song sticks in your mind. And you are right, one shouldn't swear theyd never change their preferences as I've eaten those words also.
Lak Seul of Canada kinda ruined me on fishing as it always seemed so good. Always went right after ice out. Funny story as we were traveling back home along a 100 mile stretch of nothing in Canada, we passed a truck camper heading north with a boat trailer but no boat. My buddy said he bet their boat came off down the road. I laughed but no lie less than 10 miles sat those guys boat in the middle of the road. Apparently it had just slid off and with truck camper on, they didn't see it happen. Appeared to be hardly damaged. I wish I couldve been at the gas station at the next available town 50 miles away when they pulled in to get gas and saw their boat was MIA. I think about that everytime I see a boat/trailer.

 

[Triple C]

Dave - Always good to catch up on your thread. Sounds like you guys and your guests are having quite the time on the lake. It's turned hot and dry down this way. Nothing new going on at the farm so no updates on my end. Just trying to find the time to stay up to date on a number of the property threads I follow.

While no where near you, I'll be traveling to Grand Haven, MI in a couple of weeks for a biz meeting that will include an afternoon of fishing on Lake Michigan. Should be the perfect time of year to get away from this heat for a couple of days.

 

[Chainsaw]

I used to ice fish the pond for pike when I was a kid. It was great the water was only 5-6’ deep and you could watch them swim under you. I still have to get up there for lunch. Work has been crazy.

Work has a way of doing that Chummer, call anytime on the lunch.

Thanks for following along 3C. Good luck on Lake Michigan; Currently the temps on the water here have been running from a little cool to kind of cold but definitely not too hot yet! A week or two and a dead flat sunny day can change that of course.

 

[farmhunter]

Very nice big pike for your guest - Our group tries to get to your area every spring - we visit Fair Haven area mostly - but would like to explore other areas too - we love what NY fishing has to offer - especially in the spring.

 

[Chainsaw]

Property ran on auto-pilot this past summer as Anne and I enjoyed "relaxing" at the lake. The property is in its sweet spot succession wise and the deer have responded as hoped. The 35 acres of Ag fields have volunteer winter wheat growing as well as planted triticale. The driveway plot and a few other small food plots are still producing clover and chicory and required only a single mowing to cut the weeds back. The other ten acres of food plots were planted with the usual mix of brassicas and grains and are doing good enough. Many of the 2,000 plus released apple trees could be released again but never the less they are still making a lot of apples. Overall the property looks quite rough and unkept with briars, sumac, all types of seedling trees, poke berries, Joe Pye Weed, R O dogwoods, poplar shoots and hundreds of of other plant types all mixed together and pretty much over running the place. Ground scrape trees are hanging over most of the tractor trails slowing but not impeding tractor or side by side use. It was decided not to trim the roads back with all of the ground scapes under those trees hanging and leaning over the tractor roads.

I'm not a fan of this early season hunting but the extensive camera survey done here in 2018 showed that in a very few key spots, mature deer had been active on certain mornings at this time frame last fall. So Wednesday out I went out close to one of the early season bedding hot spots identified from the 2018 camera survey and as hoped for the bucks were active there. Right off in the low light under heavy tree cover and heavy clouds, a thought to be large eight came by but I passed as I was unsure of it's age (3.5 is our agreed upon age limit for our deer co_op.) The big eight was moving quickly stopping only for a millisecond to survey his surroundings. He definitely was not comfortable being away from his bed at that time of day.

Twenty minutes later a second buck was spotted in the heavy brush. He was visible for only a part of a millisecond but he screamed shooter to me. He was heading my way and behind a tree so I picked up the muzzle loader and aimed it in his direction. Thirty-forty seconds went by and no deer. I began looking for him thru the scope and eventually at 100 plus yards out thru the scope a patch of fur here and a bit of antler there could be picked out through the tangle of briars and brush. I seldom shoot that far but suddenly he raised up and twisted and his behind the shoulder sweet spot showed in the scope. Automatically the hammer went back and muzzle loader fired. At the shot the ten point ran forward across in front of me. He ran kind of low for forty yards but then settled to a quick and erect walk as if he was not hit. Twenty minutes later a third buck (2 1/2 year old) emerged; No reaction was heard from the third buck as he walked the same trail which added to the possibility of a miss. The shot though had felt so comfortable.

I climbed down from the stand and went to the shot site and found out why he wasn't moving up the trail after the initial millisecond sighting; he had been working a ground scrape. One bound away was a single drop of blood and then another. I left the trail to cut out of the briars and walked back in at the last spot the buck was seen walking out of the briars and there it was obvious that he would be lying there very close by.

He dressed at exactly 190 lbs and gross scored at 129--he is not the biggest deer on the property but great for this area. His body is much larger than his weight indicates. For reference his ear measured eight inches long from where the white fur starts to its tip. Apparently in some parts of the country the ears measure 6 to 7 inches where here they measure 7 to 8 inches.
Today is the opening of rifle season but rather than deer hunting I will be doing a property line walk to train both deer and people that the property line is not a safe place to be. I still prefer to hunt the early chase phase and the rut peak so will be just setting cameras out and patrolling property lines until then.

 

[Native Hunter]

Dave, I love everything you are doing and how that the habitat is responding to all of your hard work. That great picture is a testament to it.

 

[Mennoniteman]

Good story about a great hunt!

 

[Elkaddict]

Congrats Dave, that’s a great NY buck. I’m excited to see you finally benefiting from your logging efforts. I’m convinced things will only get better for you and Ann. You ought to get Dennis to leave a few acres of standing corn. I think you’ll find that adds a lot to the buffet you’re already providing. Can’t wait to see how your season progresses.

 

[OkieKubota]

Good job on getting back in the timber where those guys feel safe. Great deer!

 

[rusty1034]

Great story about great habitat ending with a great buck !


Rusty

 

[farmhunter]

Congratulations Dave - he's a beautiful well earned buck - I'm happy for you!! He is a big boy - Hope you get him aged - he might go more than 3.5, 190 lbs is awesome!! I bet in 3 weeks he'd have been 170 or less. love that neck and his antlers look to show nice pearlation which I think is an indication of exceptional nutrition.

 

[dogghr]

Great management great analysis of where to hunt great shot great buck great story. Congrats.


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[TheOldOak]

Nice story ending with a beautiful buck. That neck is just massive. Congrats!

 

[Chummer]

Great buck Dave, on to the target buck!