Getting ready for first deer season, budget issue

[Doc7]

Hello all,

If you had $200 and could spend it on either food plot necessities (garden tools [i am an apartment dweller], sprayer, chemicals, fertilizers, and seed) or a muzzleloader which gets you 2 extra weeks at the beginning of firearms season (Nov 1-14th), which would you get right now for this year and which to save for next year?

I am in a private hunt club and have 2 big areas that are assigned to me to do what I please. One is in the woods and has small clearings (natural, not logged areas) that currently supports weed growth so it may support small food plots. (maybe 20-30 feet wide x 80 feet long is current heavy weed distribution area).

The second is on an old logging trail and again would support a small food plot (think 20 feet wide x 125-150 feet long).

I can pick my own areas (300 yard radius circle from other people's stands) anywhere on the 3000 acre property but these two were inherited to me from a previous member and I looked around today and felt like they both seemed like decent spots.

What would be more beneficial for my first year and limited budget? An extra two weeks in the woods or planting shade tolerant clovers or oats or etc?

I feel like it should be the two weeks but don't know squat about deer hunting. I know many people who hunt in tree stands and don't have a food plot so this must be somewhat effective.

I can post maps of the areas if need be, but neither spot is near a farm field. Both are relatively near small (ankle deep) streams that have hardwoods around them.

The one in the woods with only natural occurring sunlit areas is bordered by a stream, a steep rail bed and a steep hilly area making me think it is a natural funnel.

 

[Fremmer]

I suppose you could use a feeder if legal. Or try and grow stuff to attract them. You'll need water to keep it alive and growing. Irrigation maybe.

I think I'd buy the muzzleloader and invest lots of time in quietly scouting your areas and the paths leading in and out of your areas before the season starts. If you can learn what those deer do and when they do it, you'll do just fine. JMHO.

 

[HB]

Agreed with the above poster, unless you have a large foodplot I doubt you can "hold" the deer. More or less you will be guiding deer through others spots to get to yours.

Scout a ton and get that extra two weeks with the smoke pole.


Also others may not advise this but try cutting a trail through the thick stuff. It seems that deer will check out a new trail and begin to use it heavily if it makes their travel easier. Funnel them right two you.


HB

 

[gspn]

I'd buy the muzzle loader. Your job as a new hunter is to learn how to HUNT! Not to learn how to plant clover.

Find their natural food source, their bedding areas, and the trails they use to connect those places, then set up accordingly.

I'd spend every minute I could in those woods scouting and learning. You don't need to plant food plots to kill deer...nature has already provided the food...but you do need to learn their habits. Look for big white oaks and persimmon trees. You find those and you've found a spot to hang a stand.

If other people in your club have planted food plots, then look for bedding areas in your zone and find trails they'll use to to get to the other plots.

Post questions here, buy local hunting magazines, find a local hunting forum for that region. You've got plenty of time, just do your homework and spend as much time in the woods as you can. Good luck.

 

[susieqz]

i can verify what hb said. i don't hunt because i'm not fond of venison but i study deer. they often adopt a path that you might make. they will mostly just follow the path of least resistance .
behavior does change when hunting season starts tho. they respond to hunting season.

 

[IlikeSA]

I am with the others: buy the muzzleloader. I don't know where you will get the muzzleloader and the necessaries for 200 dollars though.

 

[jim in Anchorage]

Any oak trees in your area? Some of the best hunting times I ever had where stand hunting in a good acorn crop.

 

[Davek1977]

I've done a lot of deer hunting in my day, successfully, without ever using a food plot, or hunting one. To me, the issue isn't even a question...I'd get the muzzie myself.

 

[ZeroJunk]

Agreed on the oak trees, not sure exactly if they are falling during VA muzzle loading season. Don't think he can do the corn feed thing in VA.

There should be some trails. If the deer are crossing those creeks you should be able to find a crossing that they use.

A lot of times if you just walk around picking the easiest way to get through you will end up on a deer trail.

 

[Sean Edmunds]

If all else fails (and it's legal to do so!!!) hunt next to the pine-apple trees.

 

[Skyshot]

Buy the muzzle loader and hunt the oaks, provided you have them. A rake and a couple of bags of throw&grow can make you a couple of small supplemental plots.

 

[jrdolall]

Having never seen the property (or hunted in VA for that matter) I would spend all my time scouting and buy the gun. I plant multiple food pots every year but they are more for supplemental feeding rather than for attracting deer. Spending time and money to put in food plots within 300 yards of other hunters is pretty much a waste of money. What you CAN do is buy a 50 pound bag of rye and spread it on a firebreak or old logging road. As long as it gets some rain and sun it will come up and the deer will eat it quite well. Rye is used to over seed all the time and doesn't require a bunch of prep work. You do, of course, need ground contact but a rake will do the trick for most of it. There are approximately 6,359,874 seeds in 50 pounds of rye.

 

[TimSr]

Most places with a short gun season brings everybody into the woods at once, and within the first half of the first day, most normal deer habits are abandoned for several months after. If they visit your food plot during gun seaon, it will proabably be at night. Tree stands and food plots are for archery hunters.

You need to spend as much time in the field as possible, studying the deer and learning their habits. For gun season, its all about figuring out what route they are most likely to take when passing through or hiding in your area when spooked by other hunters in adjacent areas. The dumbest thing new hunters often do is pick a spot and watch an open field because they can see a lot of area while the deer pas 20' behind them in thick cover. Part studying deer is noticing the routes they take when you jump them. Think like a deer. If you wanted to get from point A to point B while passing through your area, and didn't want to be seen or get shot, what route would you take? When watching an expected route, its a good idea to know you are downwind from the tail. Watching the flame from a Bic lighter ignited at arms length is great for figuring out which way the air is moving.

AFTER you learn the deer and their habits is the time to consider whether a food plot would help in subsequent years, and will best prepare you for making a wise choice on where to locate it.

Those cheap CVA inline muzzleloaders they sell at Walmart for $175 shoot great!

 

[Bullseye]

I would buy the muzzleloader. A couple years ago, I got a good used 50 cal Traditions Tracker with a Bushnell scope out the door for $150.00. It shoots great. You don't need much but there will be costs of projectiles and powder and primers and cleaning supplies.
You'll most likely need more than $200.00. We need a muzzloader tag too here in PA and a doe tag. That's a little more on top of the hunting license.
Actually, I would buy at least one or even a couple comfortable and sturdy tree stands and study the paths the deer travel and set them up in a couple good spots. The food plot can wait. You must have at least 10 other guys who have rights on the hunting club doing the math of dividing 3000 by 300.
I'd get to know my neighboring hunters on the club and see if you could get together on planting a food plot with them on strategic spots that would benefit both you and them and cut the costs and share some work. Maybe they would be happy to plant one on the border if you just help with the tiller and muscle work.
If it's a club then you guys should work together.

 

[3212]

Buy the muzzleloader and study the streambank for deer tracks.Set up about 50 yards from the area with the most tracks.

 

[jim in Anchorage]

Most places with a short gun season brings everybody into the woods at once, and within the first half of the first day, most normal deer habits are abandoned for several months after. If they visit your food plot during gun seaon, it will proabably be at night. Tree stands and food plots are for archery hunters.

Very true but the OP said the muzzle loader season is 2 weeks before the regular gun season. In that case it may very well be like early bow, hunting calm deer on their regular habits.

 

[Bobson]

I'd buy the muzzle loader. Your job as a new hunter is to learn how to HUNT! Not to learn how to plant clover.

Yes, you need to learn how to hunt. You sure don't need a muzzleloader to learn how to hunt. You can go out and start NOW, without any gun at all. Only thing the muzzleloader will do is give you more time to get lucky during the season.

You said you know a few hunters and alluded that they're successful at it. Take that $200 and thank one of them for teaching you to hunt. "Hey man, let me buy you a nice steak dinner in exchange for teaching me to hunt."

That'll be money much more likely to pay dividends in the field.

 

[HB]

^forgot to add 200 bucks buys a lot of gas too. Our muzzleloader season is way late here but scouting trumps all. To kill a big buck you gotta find doe territory. Does will stick to the low thick stuff when the shooting starts. Bucks are dumb in the rut because they only can mate once a year. Find does, get bucks.

Thank The Lord humans mate more than once a year. We are dumb enough as is, I can't imagine the violence and loud brightly colored cars that would be prevelant. Wait a minute...

HB

 

[Bobson]

LOL nice one HB

 

[Hookeye]

Call the deer to you. Forget making a micro farm.

 

[Sunray]

$200 wouldn't buy the kind of tools food plots require. Think farming. Too late to be planting anything anyway. And as a member of a private hunt club you don't get to decide about that stuff by yourself.
Buy the ML. Don't think you'll get one for $200, but that'll be a sizeable chunk of it.
And a bag of apples. Probably illegal to bait 'em though.

 

[jrdolall]

I don't know about VA but down here it is too EARLY to be planting food plots. We don't plant until late August at the earliest for our deer plots and in Alabama we don't plant until September 15th or so.

A "food plot" can be created for $25 and a rake. I have often put these strip plots in fire breaks with nothing but a broadcast spreader.

I don't think it's the right move in this situation because a little extra hunting time is a lot more valuable than a food plot that may or may not be effective.

 

[storiale]

My first deer was taken in Virginia just after I got out of the Old Guard (Army) in D.C. George Washington National Forest. Greatest time of all time.

In fact, I gave the deer mount to the retired police officer that helped me drag it out.

Anyway... spend time scouting and spend money on weapons.. That's my opinion. Good luck!!

 

[Loyalist Dave]

Scout a ton and get that extra two weeks with the smoke pole.


Also others may not advise this but try cutting a trail through the thick stuff. It seems that deer will check out a new trail and begin to use it heavily if it makes their travel easier. Funnel them right two you.

These are both excellent ideas, so add me to the "buy the muzzleloader" crowd. When he writes "cut a trail" deer don't need nearly as wide an area as you or I might think we need...I'd only cut it about 1/2 as wide as your body, wide enough for the deer, but tight enough so they feel "screened" as they move.

How much growth would a food plot planted in the end of July give you anyway?

Spend the time scouting your area. Get to know where the deer move, and which direction; are the deer paths showing travel in both directions OR do they take one path in the morning and another on the return trip?

Acorn mast is a good idea BUT...check to see who in the neighboring area already has a huge food plot, OR if you have nearby property with crops such as corn or soybeans. The deer may pass on the acorns until that large food plot is used up or those crops are harvested...again you need to scout your area.

LD

 

[ldlfh7]

Buy the muzzleloader , work up a good load, and get out and get some venison.
I bought a cheapo CVA Wolf at Wally World last year for around $180. Works great and got me a deer after rifle season was over.