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Post by jbird on Dec 21, 2017 9:18:34 GMT -6
I love using fresh snow to see what the surviving deer are doing and how they are using my place. In my opinion it's the best way to see how the pressured deer react to that pressure and can lead you to things or places you may have otherwise overlooked. I have not had a lasting snowfall yet this year. I have had one that was here for only one day and then gone. Post season scouting in the snow is awesome and I am not afraid to enter bedding areas and the like as I don;t have to really worry about the bumped deer being shot.
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Post by honker on Dec 29, 2017 13:48:08 GMT -6
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Post by Catscratch on Dec 29, 2017 14:54:11 GMT -6
Snow? That would imply moisture coming from the sky direction. Not happening here lately!
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Post by Catscratch on Dec 29, 2017 14:54:33 GMT -6
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Post by Freeborn on Dec 29, 2017 17:14:04 GMT -6
Looks great Honker, do you have a food source close by? What are the eating on your place?
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Post by benmnwi on Dec 29, 2017 19:52:24 GMT -6
That's cool. That will be a good one next year too. what type of area did you find that shed?
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Post by honker on Dec 29, 2017 21:53:48 GMT -6
Looks great Honker, do you have a food source close by? What are the eating on your place? Thanks Freeborn. There are not very many ag fields in the area for them to use at this time of the year. The main diet at my place seems to be woody browse from maples, aspen, ash, and birch along with any other native forage they can dig up. My place was logged in the years prior to me purchasing it in 2014 and the open areas have filled in with dogwood, witch hazel, viburnum and other shrubs that seem to get attention throughout the winter as well. The 1st picture with the heavy traffic is in an area that I hinged cut a few maples and aspen. The 2nd picture is a trail leading to my brassica plot that they are still digging through hoping the turnips grew back. The winter wheat might be getting some attention still as well.
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Post by honker on Dec 29, 2017 22:18:17 GMT -6
That's cool. That will be a good one next year too. what type of area did you find that shed? I hope so. I have him on the trail cam recently with the other one still attached. Believe it or not the antler was on the ground about 10ft from the base of one of my ladder stands. This pic was the view from the stand in November. The shed was laying just in front of the birch tree in the lower left corner.
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Post by Sandbur on Dec 30, 2017 7:18:29 GMT -6
I really hate to push Deer around during this cold weather, but has the snow allowed you to pin point any bedding areas? Will those areas be consistent during the fall hunt after leaf fall. Looking at the pictures, I would say you need some conifers in there.
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Post by honker on Dec 30, 2017 14:42:45 GMT -6
I really hate to push Deer around during this cold weather, but has the snow allowed you to pin point any bedding areas? Will those areas be consistent during the fall hunt after leaf fall. Looking at the pictures, I would say you need some conifers in there. I stayed to the perimeter of the woods for that reason so I didn't see much for bedding, but I got a good feel for the primary routes in and out of the interior at the moment. I agree on the conifer suggestion. I continue to add some each year, I've got 450 black spruce and balsam coming this spring. This is a staging area on the north side of my property that I identified this past season and I'm going to focus some improvements on this off season. There is a slough on the left side of the picture that has a primary bedding spot to the south and there is about a 40 ft hill on the east side of the slough so they seem to funnel through this area on the way to the oak trees and other browse on the north side of the property. I plan on getting some black spruce going along the slough and filling in some of the open spaces. Looking to the west, slough is on the right side Looking to the North from the same spot
I hung camera in this spot in early Dec and it had pretty steady traffic throughout the month so I think it has pretty good potential for the future.
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Post by nhmountains on Dec 30, 2017 15:50:50 GMT -6
Nice photos Honker. Like Sandbur said, I'd get a few areas of conifers planted on your property. I'd also plant some lines of them along those trails or prospective trails so when the hardwoods grow taller there's dark trees for them to follow.
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Post by Sandbur on Dec 30, 2017 19:41:51 GMT -6
I really hate to push Deer around during this cold weather, but has the snow allowed you to pin point any bedding areas? Will those areas be consistent during the fall hunt after leaf fall. Looking at the pictures, I would say you need some conifers in there. I stayed to the perimeter of the woods for that reason so I didn't see much for bedding, but I got a good feel for the primary routes in and out of the interior at the moment. I agree on the conifer suggestion. I continue to add some each year, I've got 450 black spruce and balsam coming this spring. This is a staging area on the north side of my property that I identified this past season and I'm going to focus some improvements on this off season. There is a slough on the left side of the picture that has a primary bedding spot to the south and there is about a 40 ft hill on the east side of the slough so they seem to funnel through this area on the way to the oak trees and other browse on the north side of the property. I plan on getting some black spruce going along the slough and filling in some of the open spaces. Looking to the west, slough is on the right side Looking to the North from the same spot
I hung camera in this spot in early Dec and it had pretty steady traffic throughout the month so I think it has pretty good potential for the future. I like the looks of that with the slough nearby. What is in the slough? Reed canary? Willows? Do you need a waterhole?
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Post by honker on Dec 30, 2017 21:48:47 GMT -6
I like the looks of that with the slough nearby. What is in the slough? Reed canary? Willows? Do you need a waterhole? I misspoke on the caption of the photo. The slough is on the left side of picture facing west. There is some reed canary on the property, but this specific wetland area is pretty clean of it. It is mainly native sedges with some willow shrubs along the perimeter.
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Post by honker on Jan 1, 2018 20:10:11 GMT -6
Picture of the edge habitat in this area.
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