What have you done to prep for deer season?

those tubes are a nice idea, wish we could bait in ny. i sent a rifle scope ot for repair, hope to get back next week. i need to pick up a new backpack. i need to scout the state land i am trying this year, small game season make it more fun to do. after my scope gets here i have to sight in some others for new loads i am trying. just picked up a cheap mz so have to shoot that to.

I have done the same as I have for 25 years. Nothing. I drive 7 miles to work. I get to stop 4 or 5 times daily for stupid whitetail. I'll check my scope at the end of bow season and fill my freezer and cans by two weeks in (assuming I get a couple days to hunt). Now back when I bow hunted it was far more involved. But between being 75 degrees all bow season, and the fact that I hate blood trailing, I've given it up for now. Prep was also important when I gave a crap about horns. Oddly I've killed more bug bucks (and I let most bucks walk) since I stopped caring

We can bait in NC and I tend to keep corn scattered out in my backyard year round to watch the critters. I dont care for baiting really but I do shoot a deer or 4 from that field each season. When I'm walking out to go hunting and there are deer in front of my vehicle when I go to start it, i figure that's one more for the cans.

Reprogrammed cameras, new batteries, and new locations. Mowed trails and checked tree stands for any issues.

I leave cameras up year round and take them down before season so some worthless piece of trash dont steal them. I've lost a lot of cameras, and not much pisses me off worse than pretty much ignoring the (mostly) foot traffic on my own land because I understand that some are less fortunate and own no land, only to find that some bastard stole something, left a gate open, or just done something stupid. (Some idiot cranked our older ford tractor out of the barn into a ditch. I guess they didnt know to push in the fuel shutoff. Another time someone stole every fuse out of a car i had totaled and junked. Who would use a used and rained on fuse......)
Anyway, Amazing that 4 aa batteries can last so long. My first game cam took 8 C or D batteries and a minolta 35mm camera. It was hundreds of dollars for that cam. Had to check twice a day and hope a coon or bear didnt see the flash or you got a whole roll of one curious animal. And those batteries only lasted a week or two iirc. Now I gave 12 bucks for my cams around black Friday (8 bushnells from academy online) , they take decent pictures and are great on triggering and battery life.
Even those of us who drive 60 year old cars and like to say older things are better have to concede occasionally. The current flashlight thread, the game cams, scopes, etc are proof of that.

Bought MI hunting license. My GA one is good through the season.

Sighted in my main deer rifle and shotgun several years ago and since it still hits hogs where I aim I figure it’s still good.

Will sight in my Marlin .44 soon though in hopes of using it up north.

I haven't done anything except make a laundry list of things I need to buy like feeder batteries, corn, doe pee, broadheads, and so on, and another list of things I need to do, like move blinds out there, brush them in, practice with my crossbow, and so on.

This past week, got some fellows to cut some 300 yard shooting lanes for the rifle.
Got them to fix the fences in a few places to keep stupid free ranging neighbors DOGS out of here while the fawns are
so small they can walk under their mothers.
The fences work real well until a dog comes up thru our driveway & gets trapped in here & runs it's self till it can't run
any more, they talk about how smart dogs are, Ha! Back & forth dozens of times like something has changed.
Beagles, now they got it right, they get trapped it takes about an hour then they just climb the fence, doesn't
look graceful & the landing is like a rock.
And yes, cleared out 3 long range targets as well.

Moved a couple of stands to more productive areas (I hope), fixed a feeder and put a new battery in it. I did a lot of work mowing and discing with the tractor on the firebreaks.

I thought a camera was messed up because it kept reading full when only 15 photos had been taken. I found out I had mistaken an old 16 MB card for a 16 GB SD card.

Got a 3lb bag of brassica mix to plant in my backyard next month. Get a good stand of that and there's no need to throw corn. Just wait and watch.

Two years ago, I shot a real good buck over a stand of brassica. Last year, baiting being made legal on private property (as per GA DNR), I shot another good one over shelled corn. So, I've done it both ways. To pick out the animal and make the shot is as selective as any of us want to make it.

I'm seeing does with fawns close by, but not the regulars on my place... wondering why.

Got the NEGC aperture sight mounted on the 77/357, and the new, taller WILLIAMS .570 bead front sight installed.


("Punch out" my ass - had to cut the OEM front sight in half with a hacksaw to get it out, and then had to press the new one in, greased, with a vise.)




GR

Sight in my newish rifle, break in new holster for my 629, bought some deer corn.

Been shooting the crossbow regularly. Moved a coupla ladder stands and have been working on building a new gun stand so I can take my 9 year old granddaughter with me this year. Have to mow the two clover patches I frost seeded this spring to keep them tender and have to clear some lanes for shooting yet. Come late August/early September I will plant my standard fall food plot mix under the bow stands. Got to get serious about shooting the revolvers again too since that is what I gun hunt deer with. Summer has been busy and I haven't been as dedicated as usual. Put three new sets of gongs up last spring an ain't hardly used them.

Ks5shooter said:

I built and painted new tube feeders.

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Love the simple and effective design. They banned baiting/feeding here a few years back tho because of CWD.

buck460XVR said:

Love the simple and effective design. They banned baiting/feeding here a few years back tho because of CWD.

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You in MI? I’m hunting a CWD area in MI myself. Ionia County.

Just trying to stay in shape at this point. Been getting a little more serious about gym time, riding my bike and walking up hills.

earlthegoat2 said:

You in MI? I’m hunting a CWD area in MI myself. Ionia County.

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No......West Central Wisconsin.

Went to favorite bow hunting spot this morning put out a mineral block, then went
fishing.

bought plane tickets and took off a week of work lol.

I've burned a couple of gallons of gas through the chainsaw and brush cutter. Barely made a dent so far, but a few of the lanes are looking more like shooting lanes and less like jungle paths.

I manage my property year-round for whitetail management. So far this year I have done a prescribed burn on 8 acres of woodland habitat, I've sprayed for grass in one of my clover food plots, I've tilled and planted a second food plot, I've mowed the same clover food plot, I've established a new mineral site with 200lbs of mineral on the ground, I've checked trail cams countless times.

My property is a part of a 4100 acre cooperative where all property owners follow QDMA management practices. Nobody shoots any does and we only shoot bucks that are 3.5 years or older. Starting next weekend, all the property owners are participating in a 2 week deer population survey. We map out our entire 4100 acres and we put a trail cam for every 100 acres. The state conservation department supplies a VAST amount of corn for the property owners for free. We pour corn on the ground and set up a trail cam and we count every deer we have on our properties and share the information within the coop so know what our population density, the age structure of our bucks, our buck to doe ratio, our fawn recruitment ratio, etc. So starting next week I will be very busy!

Ks5shooter said:

I built and painted new tube feeders. Made a trough design with weep holes in the bottom so corn doesn't get moldy. The hole in bottom cap is for 1/2 in.rebar to prevent deer kicking the bottom out.Wood block bolted on to hold square to the tree. I use 2 camo ratchet straps to attach to the tree. For bow I put one at 20 yds,30 yds and 40yds. I move them out a bit for firearm seasons. Lets see what THR members are doing to get ready.
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I had to give up gravity feeders because the raccoons were eating a vast majority of the corn. It was nothing to see pictures of 14 coons around my gravity feeder every night. I was going through several hundred pounds of corn every month.

I switched to using a protein pellet for cattle and the coons left that alone. But it was on the pricey side and my local MFA stopped carrying it. Then I learned I could produce more protein through food plots and burning and that was a lot cheaper so I don’t do protein pellets anymore.

Nothing as of yet. I will be getting permission slips signed this week. I only have two cameras and not really sure if I will be running them or not. I hunt farms that other hunt and get more pictures of them messing around my stuff than anything. I think this year I will pack the climber in and out and just be a ghost. Once the other hunters start coming out the patterns change and the camera work has been for nothing.

I have a set of sticks, millennium receiver and lifeline that's been on the tree for 3 seasons starting next month. I will change the lifeline and the receivers strap.

Crossbow shooting will start next month. I don't know if I will be shooting the compound this year or not. I will sight the deer rifles in around October/November.

Feeders have been out (intermittently filled) since turkey season ended. I have two new food plots in the works and we are going to replant several others with late season mixes. Eight cameras are out watching feeders and travel corridors.

Yesterday I shot all three firearms I plan to hunt with this years with the primary being my 450 Bushmaster and my back up being a 300 BO carbine & pistol.



2 MAO with Barnes 275gr TSX at 100 yards will work just fine on my property.

In late-August/early-September we will move any deer stands we think need moved and then do all the trimming of shooting lanes for archery hunting. Not taken a deer in two years, hopefully my luck changes this year.