Recreating a Deer Woods

[Chainsaw]

Thank you for the congratulations for Anne and yes Anne is smarter than each of us on many things. I did get a morning of still hunting in Wednesday. Still hunted to my stand, almost 1600 ft. in four 1/2 hours. Had one doe bound out from 15 yards-never saw her until she bounded. Got more in tune and spotted a doe standing at just over twenty yards. Didn't take the doe but enjoyed the hunt anyhow. Ground cover is just soo-ooo thick now. No matter how slow one goes, the noise of briars grabbing at you from every angle warns any deer in the small openings ahead that the game is on. To have better still hunting here, still hunting paths need to be cut/sprayed in.Will put that cutting some hunting paths job on the list for habitat improvements for winter. It sounds like fun, even planning the still hunt paths out is pretty exciting to me.

Your picture taken in your bottom lands is beautiful. The analogy of reversing roles and thinking yourself as prey is very interesting; that can keep one thinking slower and maintaining more careful movements. Shooting a deer with a recurve bow while still hunting would be REALLY hunting and a very worthwhile endeavor. I'm certain that you will succeed with it in good time.

How things have changed. Years ago still hunting in northern Maine was done in sprints. We would walk at what we called a coon hunting stride, quickly with long steps and little concern for stealth until something that screamed deer in the area was spotted. Then we would slow down to a crawl until the sign ran out. Then it would be back to the coon hunting stride until the next deer spot was discovered. If one had still hunted right out of the gate as done here not even a single deer track may have been crossed in a full day of still hunting. Many times I didn't slow down in time and jumped the deer before reading the signs and slowing to a crawl. Usually though after a couple of days in the woods jumping them while on the move didn't happen so often. Maps covering two to three miles or more would be used at night to share our days travels with the few other long ranging still hunters in camp.

 

[OkieKubota]

Thank you for the congratulations for Anne and yes Anne is smarter than each of us on many things. I did get a morning of still hunting in Wednesday. Still hunted to my stand, almost 1600 ft. in four 1/2 hours. Had one doe bound out from 15 yards-never saw her until she bounded. Got more in tune and spotted a doe standing at just over twenty yards. Didn't take the doe but enjoyed the hunt anyhow. Ground cover is just soo-ooo thick now. No matter how slow one goes, the noise of briars grabbing at you from every angle warns any deer in the small openings ahead that the game is on. To have better still hunting here, still hunting paths need to be cut/sprayed in.Will put that cutting some hunting paths job on the list for habitat improvements for winter. It sounds like fun, even planning the still hunt paths out is pretty exciting to me.

Your picture taken in your bottom lands is beautiful. The analogy of reversing roles and thinking yourself as prey is very interesting; that can keep one thinking slower and maintaining more careful movements. Shooting a deer with a recurve bow while still hunting would be REALLY hunting and a very worthwhile endeavor. I'm certain that you will succeed with it in good time.

How things have changed. Years ago still hunting in northern Maine was done in sprints. We would walk at what we called a coon hunting stride, quickly with long steps and little concern for stealth until something that screamed deer in the area was spotted. Then we would slow down to a crawl until the sign ran out. Then it would be back to the coon hunting stride until the next deer spot was discovered. If one had still hunted right out of the gate as done here not even a single deer track may have been crossed in a full day of still hunting. Many times I didn't slow down in time and jumped the deer before reading the signs and slowing to a crawl. Usually though after a couple of days in the woods jumping them while on the move didn't happen so often. Maps covering two to three miles or more would be used at night to share our days travels with the few other long ranging still hunters in camp.

The Benoit way...love it!

 

[Letmgrow]

"The Benoit" way. I went to a deer hunting presentation with the Benoit's a few years ago. They did a fine job. It was a sort of a reunion for me. I raced snowmobiles with Larry and Lanny Benoit back in the early 70's. What a great pair they were. A lot of laughs but they ran well even though back then their sleds looked like they'd been thrown over a cliff at times.
My son has become friends with Landon (Lanny's son) and we have a lot of conversation about hunting and sleds. Landon is one of the most respected sled engine builders in the country and grew up building engines like the ones my son and I run now in our race sleds.

 

[Chainsaw]

The Benoit way...love it!

I have not met the Benoits that I remember but of course in the north country they were legendary. As far as I know their style was much more specific and physically and woodsmanship wise demanding than the still hunting I described. In their book they described how they would find a big buck track and quickly follow it until it showed signs that it was just ahead and then put the hunt on it. The chases lasted many, many miles. Whereas we were still hunting for any deer, doe or buck.

More than once but once that I particularly remember I decided to really try the Benoit style. It had snowed up until just before first light and not long after first light I stumbled across a "giant" buck track. It put new meaning to the word "cruising". That animal was moving very quickly with long strides and dragging feet thru the snow. It was headed west into country that I knew well enough to handle so off I went down that track as fast as I could in an effort to catch up to the fast moving animal that had an hour or two head start on me. His track took me dead west non-stop for 6 miles(six air miles on a topo map). There we crossed the only road (a gravelled logging road) in this journey. He never slowed or ambled or checked out bushes. He just kept on traveling. I don't think he knew I was there and could have been farther away from me at that point than when the tracking had begun. Not far beyond the logging road the track crossed the East Branch of Penobscot River just down stream from where Wassataquoik River runs in. The East Branch was partially iced over and I was pretty well spent and not so inclined to follow his tracks across the partially iced in river so I quit the track.
It was then I decide those Benoit guys must be a lot tougher than I was if they were hunting that style everyday! And I'd stay with the easier less demanding still hunting style we knew. Once in a while I'd try tracking down a single deer again but not with the same exuberance and enthusiasm as that six mile wild goose chase that "giant" buck dragged me thru.

 

[OkieKubota]

I have not met the Benoits that I remember but of course in the north country they were legendary. As far as I know their style was much more specific and physically and woodsmanship wise demanding than the still hunting I described. In their book they described how they would find a big buck track and quickly follow it until it showed signs that it was just ahead and then put the hunt on it. The chases lasted many, many miles. Whereas we were still hunting for any deer, doe or buck.

More than once but once that I particularly remember I decided to really try the Benoit style. It had snowed up until just before first light and not long after first light I stumbled across a "giant" buck track. It put new meaning to the word "cruising". That animal was moving very quickly with long strides and dragging feet thru the snow. It was headed west into country that I knew well enough to handle so off I went down that track as fast as I could in an effort to catch up to the fast moving animal that had an hour or two head start on me. His track took me dead west non-stop for 6 miles(six air miles on a topo map). There we crossed the only road (a gravelled logging road) in this journey. He never slowed or ambled or checked out bushes. He just kept on traveling. I don't think he knew I was there and could have been farther away from me at that point than when the tracking had begun. Not far beyond the logging road the track crossed the East Branch of Penobscot River just down stream from where Wassataquoik River runs in. The East Branch was partially iced over and I was pretty well spent and not so inclined to follow his tracks across the partially iced in river so I quit the track.
It was then I decide those Benoit guys must be a lot tougher than I was if they were hunting that style everyday! And I'd stay with the easier less demanding still hunting style we knew. Once in a while I'd try tracking down a single deer again but not with the same exuberance and enthusiasm as that six mile wild goose chase that "giant" buck dragged me thru.

I used to read their stuff when I was much younger and I always wanted to try what they did. When I was in my teens back in the 70’s we got a lot more snow than we do now and we could go pretty much anywhere we wanted as far as neighbors were concerned and when we saw the neighbor we just waved and went on hunting. I remember my joy when I would awaken in November sometime during the week of Thanksgiving and we had snow. I would grab my lever action 30/30 and try to hit the track of a giant (lol) buck. I would look for staggering, foot dragging tracks and I would do what I had read the Benoits would do. I even killed a deer or 2 but my “Giant” bucks were yearlings...lol...good times!

 

[Letmgrow]

I have a friend who hunts like this. He was known for it when we were in high school and that was many many years ago. He still hunts like this today. I saw a buck he dragged out of the hardwoods alone over 4 miles. The buck weighed 241# dressed. My friend got tired and spent most of the night in the woods wrapped up in a makeshift shelter he always carried. He isn't afraid of man or beast.
He has asked me to go with him a couple times. Needless to say I always had a good excuse why I couldn't go. I buy a 1/2 beef each fall so that sort of takes the urgency off to try to kill myself dragging a deer for miles. In my later years I have gotten a little lazy. If I can't shoot a deer and get my tractor with a bucket, or my ATV to it I'll watch the deer go by unless I have help nearby. T.G. for cell phones LOL
Lynn

 

[OkieKubota]

I have a friend who hunts like this. He was known for it when we were in high school and that was many many years ago. He still hunts like this today. I saw a buck he dragged out of the hardwoods alone over 4 miles. The buck weighed 241# dressed. My friend got tired and spent most of the night in the woods wrapped up in a makeshift shelter he always carried. He isn't afraid of man or beast.
He has asked me to go with him a couple times. Needless to say I always had a good excuse why I couldn't go. I buy a 1/2 beef each fall so that sort of takes the urgency off to try to kill myself dragging a deer for miles. In my later years I have gotten a little lazy. If I can't shoot a deer and get my tractor with a bucket, or my ATV to it I'll watch the deer go by unless I have help nearby. T.G. for cell phones LOL
Lynn

On my place just a few yards can make the difference between an all night recovery and driving my tractor up and using my loader...I have some DEEP hollows that will never have a motorized vehicle in them!!! My first buck this year got 5 yards from the edge of the deepest one...

 

[Chainsaw]

During good weather like 35 degrees and up if the deer fall more than a hundred yards from our tractor roads it is easier and actually takes less time to just bone them out in the woods rather than drag them out to do it and then have to bring the carcass back into the woods anyhow.. Normally it is Anne and I and deer these days are just too heavy for dragging up hills and over logs. The four wheeler can be used with a chainsaw to get about anywhere but it is just plain easier to get the job done right out in the woods unless we can drive right up to it. And then boning it out at home is more convenient--not easier just more convenient. And our highest elevation is only 520 feet so our "hills" are really just gentle slopes compared to your deep hollows but gentle slopes get steeper every year. Some years like this year we were able to drive to the last two deer and the first a neighbor was handy and offered to give me a hand; it was a 100 yd pull with about a ten ft. elevation and one log to pull over but with two guys versus just me or me and Anne it was easy. And then other years it seems they all get done in the woods. It is neat when doing them in the woods; one is never alone in the stillness surrounding the work area. Very quickly a chickadee or two investigates and enjoys the scraps tossed about as I work.

And likely having the option to process the deer in the woods is why I like morning hunts so well; one gets to bone the deer out during the usually best part of the day. And it completes the hunt in a most pleasant atmosphere.

 

[Letmgrow]

Dave,
I know I took you for a tour around my lands including what I call "My Hill" across the road from my house. When I bought that land in 2008 I had walked it several times and while most of it is easily accessible there is one spot about 50 yds. wide on the edge of my property which is a shelf that drops off at about a 60 deg. angle and is covered in briers, brush and trees. I remember telling Nellie I wouldn't want to have to go down there. I probably didn't point it out to you.
Fast forward to 2010, Marc and I had a friend of our's from Canada come over to hunt in deer season with us. The same friend who comes every spring to hunt turkeys with us. He and Marc became friends via the internet on another forum. Kevin is an accomplished hunter as well as a former Canadian championship turkey caller. Kevin shot a large doe not far from the ridge I mentioned. As luck would have it the doe turned and headed straight down that embankment. It only made it about half way down and piled up into a heap. 2 1/2 hours later we had the doe back up onto flat land using ropes and come-a -longs. I said I'd never want to do that again.
Last year. Marc took his girl friend's 16 YO daughter hunting. A really nice 8 point came out of a hedgerow and headed to the open field and stopped. Marc talked Jolene through the shot she was to make and she pulled the trigger. It was down! But, not for long. Up it sprang and down the shelf it went. Marc and Jo went over where the deer had stood and there was a large pool of blood and some flesh. Marc knew the deer was hit hard but decided to back out and come back home. By now it was getting dark. They stopped at my house and told me what had happened. Marc called our neighbor who borders me on that side and asked for help. No problem there. Our neighbor met us where the deer headed over the shelf and had his side by side with him. I had loaded up my chainsaw and brush trimmers along with our other retrieval gear. Over the bank we went flashlights in hand. I couldn't believe the added growth we encountered in comparison to that of 8 years prior. It was jungle quality.
This time the deer went all the way to the bottom before it expired. This turned out to be a blessing. There was an old road about 50 yards from where the deer laid and it was on our neighbor's land. Using our flashlights and the headlights on the SxS we were able to cut a trail down the old road to connect with one of our neighbor's trails. Marc field dressed the deer to make the physical work easier while my neighbor and I started cleaning the trail out. Marc joined up with us and we got the SxS in as closely as we could, dragged and loaded the deer and headed for my garage to hang it. It was just past midnight when we were done. All three of us looked like we had been put through a paper shredder. A few 12 oz. curls took some of the pain away.
I've never considered putting high fence on my property but if I ever do it will be on this strip of land.
Lynn

 

[Chainsaw]

Dave,
I know I took you for a tour around my lands including what I call "My Hill" across the road from my house. When I bought that land in 2008 I had walked it several times and while most of it is easily accessible there is one spot about 50 yds. wide on the edge of my property which is a shelf that drops off at about a 60 deg. angle and is covered in briers, brush and trees. I remember telling Nellie I wouldn't want to have to go down there. I probably didn't point it out to you.
Fast forward to 2010, Marc and I had a friend of our's from Canada come over to hunt in deer season with us. The same friend who comes every spring to hunt turkeys with us. He and Marc became friends via the internet on another forum. Kevin is an accomplished hunter as well as a former Canadian championship turkey caller. Kevin shot a large doe not far from the ridge I mentioned. As luck would have it the doe turned and headed straight down that embankment. It only made it about half way down and piled up into a heap. 2 1/2 hours later we had the doe back up onto flat land using ropes and come-a -longs. I said I'd never want to do that again.
Last year. Marc took his girl friend's 16 YO daughter hunting. A really nice 8 point came out of a hedgerow and headed to the open field and stopped. Marc talked Jolene through the shot she was to make and she pulled the trigger. It was down! But, not for long. Up it sprang and down the shelf it went. Marc and Jo went over where the deer had stood and there was a large pool of blood and some flesh. Marc knew the deer was hit hard but decided to back out and come back home. By now it was getting dark. They stopped at my house and told me what had happened. Marc called our neighbor who borders me on that side and asked for help. No problem there. Our neighbor met us where the deer headed over the shelf and had his side by side with him. I had loaded up my chainsaw and brush trimmers along with our other retrieval gear. Over the bank we went flashlights in hand. I couldn't believe the added growth we encountered in comparison to that of 8 years prior. It was jungle quality.
This time the deer went all the way to the bottom before it expired. This turned out to be a blessing. There was an old road about 50 yards from where the deer laid and it was on our neighbor's land. Using our flashlights and the headlights on the SxS we were able to cut a trail down the old road to connect with one of our neighbor's trails. Marc field dressed the deer to make the physical work easier while my neighbor and I started cleaning the trail out. Marc joined up with us and we got the SxS in as closely as we could, dragged and loaded the deer and headed for my garage to hang it. It was just past midnight when we were done. All three of us looked like we had been put through a paper shredder. A few 12 oz. curls took some of the pain away.
I've never considered putting high fence on my property but if I ever do it will be on this strip of land.
Lynn

Lynn, I remember that strip of land very well. We didn't walk down it but it was obviously steep and even back then it appeared very thick. Does it have a killer deer trail running parallel to the field above and the ATV trail below? I have processed deer in the dark at night with a flashlight but it is not such a great option although it would be better than lugging on a deer for two hours or more. In recent years for those deer we can't drive to at night which are very few and far between these days, we of course field dress them and then just winch them up into a tree and leave them to be processed the next day. I leave my T-shirt and an old sweatshirt hanging there as well. To date no coyotes have bothered hanging deer here. That whole winching deal takes about twenty-five minutes depending on how close a good hanging branch is found and then it 12 oz. curl time as you put it.

Okie. I can relate to the sizes of the "giant" deer you mentioned. Mostly for us the ones that were giants were the ones that we never saw. Of course we had all kinds of cool ways long forgotten by now to tell how huge they must have been. Tracking deer down in Northern Maine where woods not broken up by paved roads were seemingly infinite versus in Connecticut where land was all chopped up by paved roads was of course very different. The cruising deer in the big Maine woods sometimes went tremendous distances whereas the ones followed in Connecticut seemed to mostly stay in relatively small areas of say a few hundred acres. The deer per square mile was just a small single digit percentages of what most areas are today.

 

[Letmgrow]

Dave, I hope I'm not taking this thread off topic and if I am the Mods can move it.
Something we have noticed this year, in most of the deer taken in our area this season, the deer seem to be shorter than in years past. By shorter I don't mean height but the length of the deer from head to tail. One of the land owners who borders our land behind my house took a 4 1/2 YO 10 point. Seeing it laying on the garage floor before it was hung the deer looked almost square. Marc's 8 point also showed this characteristic as well as a couple others we have seen taken nearby. I don't know if it is just the way we're looking at the deer or if they are truly shorter. I have noticed this on some of the pictures on our trail cameras. Perhaps there is a change in genetics or there is some other contributing factor. There hasn't been much change in crops grown around this area. I have seen this trait in some of the does and fawns around here also. Others around here have commented on the same observation without us saying anything.
Have you noticed any change in body size or length or heard anything about this from anyone?
Lynn

 

[Chainsaw]

Lynn, I think we are OK on topic, I get off topic often. On less longer deer I don't measure them but it would be handy to do. Still I see a mix of those "long" looking deer and the "short" looking deer. I think what we might be witnessing is a larger percentage of older deer which possibly due to their extra deep chests, huge diameter necks, giant shoulders, lower stomachs and large hinds are presenting themselves as more square than they did when they were two year olds. The trail cam deer in the first post on page 40 of this thread is a good example of a deer that due to it's bulk is looking more square than the younger deer we are more accustomed to seeing. To be sure though we maybe should add a measurement of nose to tail base of hanging deer to our regular record keeping of deer taken and then we'll know for sure.

Having seen what can happen in just a few generations of daylily breeding it is easy to imagine that with the right or wrong gene combination when coupled with short or easy winters the local deer characteristics could change enough for us to notice. In this case though I'm thinking we are simply seeing more older deer.

 

[Paradise725]

Anne is maybe,,,, NO definitely smarter than both of us. She quietly hunts the blinds when it is windy and the ground when conditions are perfect. Tonight she hunted the blind. I hunted from the ground from 11 am until sunset and saw a nice doe. Anne hunted the Redneck from 3 pm until sunset and saw eight does, one 3 1/2 four point and one three and 1/2 nine point. Another great buck was taken by Anne's Thompson Center 243. It is normal for one of us and sometimes two of us four to take a "shooter buck". This is first for us for three of us to each take a shooter buck.

Skip went home this morning but we skyped him for the celebratory Jagermeifter shot. In grand fashion over the internet connection Skip toasted Anne's deer with "I'm proud of you and I'm proud for you". And I am proud of both of them.
View attachment 17541

Congrats on a great end to a great season!!


Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk

 

[Chainsaw]

Thank you Luke.

 

[Chainsaw]

It was back to habitat maintenance and improvement last week. Cleaning the edges of Dave's Field in preparation for preparing it for food plot expansion. The first tractor went down pushing old brush piles back while scraping 8 ft. high briars. A log jammed in the loader frame (totally operator error) and disconnected the hydraulic line that lifts the bucket past knee high. Got it back together and after an hour it popped off again and I could not get it pushed back in. Drove over to our local tractor repair shop and Keith had me put the bucket down and work the control stick back and forth which I had done before but still no luck. He then took a center punch and pressed on the ball with the tractor off and most of the pressure relieved and let the hydraulic fluid squirt out until it just dribbled. The two of us were then able to get it together fairly easily after that and it seems to be holding now. While I was there I decided to leave the tractor because the transmission shift button had stopped working so their was no high range. It had made for a very long four mile trip to the tractor shop with the skies dripping a little to top it off.

So I switched to using the second tractor the next day. Brush hogged smallish buck thorn and smallish prickly ash. The next morning that tractor would not turn over. Cheated with the wire in the starter after putting it in three neutrals, the bucket down, and the throttle low. Drove it over to the shop and returned home with the first tractor now having high gear--was just a relay problem on the first tractor. It sure was nice to drive along the road in high gear rather than crawl in low, especially with a very violent thunderstorm threatening. Made it home with thirty minutes to spare before the skies really opened up! So lots of time used up but not a lot accomplished.

A couple of years back I attempted crossing apple trees but had no success. The pollen was stiff and not powdery each time I tried it. I don't know if I caught it wrong time wise or if the pollen is that different than daylilies.
So yesterday, day after Thanksgiving I visited apple trees not deep in the woods and picked apples from 14 different trees that were still loaded with apples that I thought had a good chance that a high percentage of the seeds would be carrying the late drop/no drop plant habit. And with this morning being 17 degrees out I'm sitting in the sun room taking the seeds out of the apples picked yesterday and will let them dry for a few short days. I plan to plant some direct in the ground in about a week if the soil is workable and plant the rest in jugs thrown out in the snowbank in early January like was done for the daylilies the last couple of years. Don't know if the jug trick will work with apple seeds but fully expect it to,
not very exciting activities but still slugging along at least.

 

[George]

Very nice Dave, congratulations to the Mrs.

G

 

[farmhunter]

I hate working on tractors in the cold!! Nice to get some work done - cannot count on that this time of year, Way to get right back at it - I know It'll be April before I do!!

 

[Chainsaw]

Farnhunter, working conditions are tough, that is for sure. However since we live here it is a lot easier to just slip out around 1 pm for a couple of hours on those very few days the sun is out and the temps hit 30 degrees, that is while the snow is still less than a ft. deep. After that it will be snowshoe and chainsaw or hand saw/hand pruner time or just marking shooting lanes to cut or apple trees to be released and even then only on those very few jewels of a day when the sun is out and the temps are above twenty degrees then. Total accomplished won't be earth shattering but it will be rewarding. I consider myself a little ambitious but some guys though like Rusty1034 on his days off work on their property thru the winter as if there was no winter. My hat is off to him and other hardy guys that say to heck with the weather. On that I'm plowing myself out of the driveway and driving thru the heavy falling snow to have a few brews and wings down at the old Wayside.
I mean if one does not admit it, are the frigid temperatures and the cold, wet blowing, blinding snow really a big deal? On the good side there will not be any traffic jams; in fact there will even be plenty of parking and maybe not a single other car will be seen on tonight's adventure into the white darkness.

 

[Chummer]

Cold is mind over body. To live here your mind has to be able to ignore cold. Snow is just Mother Nature’s way of punishing you for ignoring the cold.

 

[FL Plotter]

Did you get that big one?

Where do you aim with the .243? Seems like a lotta big deer get killed with 243s, but we find they run off with little to no blood trail. Most of us use 270s.