Need some advice on legal spotlighting of deer in n.c.

[hipoint]

I have obtained all my necessary permits and am 100% legal to do pretty much as I wish here on my farm for the next 30 days to take out some deer. Having never spotlighted before I was just looking for a little advice on the best way to get non-rutting deer to come to where I'm at. I've done all I can do to keep them away and it's worked for the most part, but there are still some losses of whole blueberry bushes to these critters so I am at a point where they need to bet thinned out. I have a huge electric fence with 12k volts running through it and while it has helped alot it still hasn't made them stop entirely. If I can shoot a few this next month during daylight and nighttime hours I think it'll at least make them quit coming around for a while, at least until hunting season opens up. Any advice? Please, if you're going to bash me for spotlighting, just keep it to yourself, imagine a deer eating your 401k and then speak, and remember I am 100% legal as a farmer with a depredation permit.

 

[osprey176]

I would hunt them pretty much like I do in daylight.Find where they are crossing your fences,and put up a stand.You may want to concentrate on fairly open areas,as deer spend more time in the open at night.Check the areas with heavy cover close to the crops the are damaging and wait there.Keep the wind in your face and sit still.Good luck,but if you still are overrun,call my son in Waynesville,he will be happy to help thin the herd.

 

[hardluk1]

How many acers are you try'n to cover?

 

[hipoint]

@ hardluk, the blueberries are only about 3 acres, but I have over 3,000 bushes in those 3 acres. I can easily get a shot across my whole field. I plan on eventually building a hunting shack about 12-15ft off of the ground so I can cover the whole thing. My dilemma is that I've only got a month on the permit (the warden said I can get another permit if I need it though) so I'm trying to make them come around so they learn that this pasture is definitely off limits. I know during the regular season once I shoot one or two from a place, they change their habits, so if I can shoot 3 or 5 at differing times of day then maybe they'll start avoiding the whole area.


@ osprey, I'm only about an hour from waynesville, but I was only able to put one other person's name on my permit, anyone else and I have to be there with them in order to be 100% legal.

 

[hipoint]

I've actually happened upon a pretty good spotlighting rig, I got one of the really nice mag-lites from wally world (3D with LED) and it is pretty dang amazing. Not quite as good as a true spotlight, but a little duct tape and it went right on my gun no problem. I'm hunting with a 22 mag at night and a 30-06 in the daytime, figure the .22 mag won't be as mean to the neighbors and I've never had a problem dropping a deer with a .22 before, only had to track one and it didn't make it too far, a good shot in the head with high velocity ammo and it's done.

if anyone knows of a good way to make them come around I'm all ears. So far I've gotten 1 on my permit on the first night but I haven't had much of a chance to sit out there all night until dawn yet.

 

[jmorris]

3 acres should be pretty easy to cover. For hogs over a much larger area I use game radios to alert of their location. This will be much less likely to drive them away that running your spotlight over the field from time to time. Sit still until you know where they are is the idea.

 

[hipoint]

Now that is an interesting contraption, I'll look into some of those. I had no idea such a thing was mass produced but it looks like it would be a huge help for a more permanent solution after I get my elevated shack built. Then it can tell me where they are at before I turn on my light.

 

[hipoint]

the real shame of the whole thing is, all of the deer seem to like to congregate in our little neighborhood. everyone here owns large tracts of land and I'm the only one who hunts them (in season or otherwise). So while all the other hunters around here are complaining of not many deer, it's nothing to go out and count 20+ at one time. My buddies are dumbfounded that I'm the only person they know who doesn't want deer on their land yet seems to have them all. I've got a good swamp area of maybe 2 acres, a very large creek, a couple pastures and some woodland areas. I'm hoping some dead critters will make them start going to some of the other properties around here where they will be more welcome.

 

[okiewita40]

Back years ago my cousin and I use a standard million cp Q-beam light with a red lens filter. It worked great on coyotes and rabbits. Plenty of light and the eyes showed weel and didn't spook them at all.

 

[jmorris]

Now that is an interesting contraption, I'll look into some of those. I had no idea such a thing was mass produced

I built them with 12v IR motion sensor, digital voice recorder and old radios from a prision.

 

[hardluk1]

May be a worthless idea but one of our carpenters tried most ways to keep out deer including killing deer, sprays and electric fenceing. After taklkng to a farm copo guy he went back to the electric fence and with just 2 strands of aluminized steel wire 2 and 4 foot with an high steady current for cattle . What made it work this time was higher steady current an useing an attractant at first on aluminum foil bent over the wire here and there around the wire and deer came to it and hit the current and did not come back peroid. Lost all interest in his garden. You could put some blue berry jam on the aluminum foil. He said he did this some years back and no more problems with deer . He said will walk the fence but not cross or jump it. Only had a couple times that the wire was pulled down or broke from spooked deer. He had a 1 1/4 garden Cheaper than a light. stand and time needed to do it. Now its rabbits and coons.

 

[hipoint]

I've heard of the baiting idea on the fence, i'll give it a try, it's cheap and I've already got everything in place. My fence is very hot, 12,000 volts running through it is more than most put out. I had head peanut butter smeared on tin-foil flags on the fence as well. Might as well give it a shot and see what happens. all it'll cost me is a couple jars of jam/or P.B. and a roll of aluminum foil.

 

[hardluk1]

Is your fence set up to pulse or stay hot all the time. Thats the one thing the agent told our carpenter to change to. Good luck.

 

[hipoint]

pulse only, I can't afford a solar charger hot enough to run continuous. I bought the hottest one I can afford a 12k unit that cost like $350, for a comparable always on solar unit they started costing in the thousands so a bullet became my next best option. One day I may have enough income to pay for a temp pole back there, but the farm won't be generating income for a few more years. It's probably 500 yards from my house, so I don't think I could afford the wire and transformers to put juice back there either. I do have multiple grounds all throughout the system and alternated the ground wires and hot wires as per our cooperative extension service recommends. The only other thing I could do to help is a "3 D" fence that's at an angle, but there's no way to cut under those with machinery and everyone that uses those uses round-up to keep the lines clear. The cost differential of staying "organic" makes roundup not an option for those.

If I ever get a meter set back there then I'll be golden to run a super hot always on fence and that'll do the trick for sure, like you said, the pulse just isn't nearly as good. Money is too tight right now for that option though, the cost of the pole and meter being set plus the $35 per month meter fee (I'm sure the power usage will be minimal) would be a strain as well. Too bad I'm poor ;-) hence the name "hipoint" haha