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Post by Sandbur on Nov 1, 2021 8:28:12 GMT -6
I'd say once you're north and east of Ripley, your odds of seeing huge antlered bucks go down substantially. Huge bodied bucks would be a different story. If your goal is to shoot large antlered bucks, buying land in an area that has produced them reliably for many years is the "best" place to start. The increased severity of winter is a big part of that as well as the presence or lack of sufficient ag in the area. . I also wonder about thepH of soils. This map is not entirely accurate as I know large portions of Meeker county and parts of Stearns do not need lime to grow alfalfa. I also thought SE Mn had some limestone in their bluffs. Ag producers who use soil consultants Are also benefiting the deer herds in my opinion.
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Post by smsmith on Nov 1, 2021 8:51:59 GMT -6
I'd say once you're north and east of Ripley, your odds of seeing huge antlered bucks go down substantially. Huge bodied bucks would be a different story. If your goal is to shoot large antlered bucks, buying land in an area that has produced them reliably for many years is the "best" place to start. The increased severity of winter is a big part of that as well as the presence or lack of sufficient ag in the area. . I also wonder about thepH of soils. This map is not entirely accurate as I know large portions of Meeker county and parts of Stearns do not need lime to grow alfalfa. I also thought SE Mn had some limestone in their bluffs. Ag producers who use soil consultants Are also benefiting the deer herds in my opinion. SE MN has a lot of limestone around. Get down there and all the gravel roads are crushed limestone. We take our car down there with brown dust from our roads and come back with white dust from theirs. Having a fair amount of ag around definitely seems to be a key to consistently cranking out big antlered bucks.
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Post by Foggy on Nov 1, 2021 9:36:15 GMT -6
Shoot what makes you happy. I will add that mature bucks here seem to learn pretty quickly where their pictures get taken. Most don't like that, so they don't get their pictures taken very often. I agree completely. That is one of the reasons I don’t run cameras. I don’t want to be in the woods messing around with them. Those old bucks know which areas have human activity and which areas don’t. Eve an old doe that has been pressured knows it. I feel they sense the presence of cameras. The recent youth and antlerless hunts have changed Deer activity where the deer were hunted and even effected adjacent properties. As it should always be, shoot a deer that makes your season a success. I hate the story of shooting a buck to cull for genetics. Plain BS for all of us here. Yeah....but Art.....these new cameras allow you to stay OUT of the woods and not have to mess around with them too often. I placed some of these cameras about six weeks ago....and have not been back to tend to them since. I did move a few which was part of the learning curve.....but I have not touched 6 of the seven in two weeks. Your old and out of date....grin.....just saying. .
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Post by smsmith on Nov 1, 2021 9:39:25 GMT -6
I agree completely. That is one of the reasons I don’t run cameras. I don’t want to be in the woods messing around with them. Those old bucks know which areas have human activity and which areas don’t. Eve an old doe that has been pressured knows it. I feel they sense the presence of cameras. The recent youth and antlerless hunts have changed Deer activity where the deer were hunted and even effected adjacent properties. As it should always be, shoot a deer that makes your season a success. I hate the story of shooting a buck to cull for genetics. Plain BS for all of us here. Yeah....but Art.....these new cameras allow you to stay OUT of the woods and not have to mess around with them too often. I placed some of these cameras about six weeks ago....and have not been back to tend to them since. I did move a few which was part of the learning curve.....but I have not touched 6 of the seven in two weeks. Your old and out of date....grin.....just saying. . Are they black flash?
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Post by Foggy on Nov 1, 2021 9:49:44 GMT -6
Yeah....but Art.....these new cameras allow you to stay OUT of the woods and not have to mess around with them too often. I placed some of these cameras about six weeks ago....and have not been back to tend to them since. I did move a few which was part of the learning curve.....but I have not touched 6 of the seven in two weeks. Your old and out of date....grin.....just saying. . Are they black flash? Not at this point. Thinking on changeing them to black flash.....can be done....with a module change. Some say they "get used" to flash after a bit....and just accept them. Dunno.
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Post by batman on Nov 1, 2021 9:51:46 GMT -6
Not at this point. Thinking on changeing them to black flash.....can be done....with a module change. Some say they "get used" to flash after a bit....and just accept them. Dunno. Some guys use flash cameras to push deer to the half of the field they hunt.
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Post by Catscratch on Nov 1, 2021 10:50:08 GMT -6
I'm in the category of not using camera's in my hunting spots. From my house I can see 3 plots, a mineral lick, a water hole, and a scrape. I keep a camera up year round and witness first hand that some bucks simply avoid them. I even kept a cuddilink up in that spot for right at a year and certain deer could be seen from the house that never got their pic taken. With that said... most deer don't seem to give to much of damn.
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Post by Sandbur on Nov 1, 2021 11:37:02 GMT -6
I'm in the category of not using camera's in my hunting spots. From my house I can see 3 plots, a mineral lick, a water hole, and a scrape. I keep a camera up year round and witness first hand that some bucks simply avoid them. I even kept a cuddilink up in that spot for right at a year and certain deer could be seen from the house that never got their pic taken. With that said... most deer don't seem to give to much of damn. Your deer don’t have the pressure that deer in central Minnesota have. I suspect a few more are afraid of cameras here.
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Post by Sandbur on Nov 1, 2021 11:44:08 GMT -6
I agree completely. That is one of the reasons I don’t run cameras. I don’t want to be in the woods messing around with them. Those old bucks know which areas have human activity and which areas don’t. Eve an old doe that has been pressured knows it. I feel they sense the presence of cameras. The recent youth and antlerless hunts have changed Deer activity where the deer were hunted and even effected adjacent properties. As it should always be, shoot a deer that makes your season a success. I hate the story of shooting a buck to cull for genetics. Plain BS for all of us here. Yeah....but Art.....these new cameras allow you to stay OUT of the woods and not have to mess around with them too often. I placed some of these cameras about six weeks ago....and have not been back to tend to them since. I did move a few which was part of the learning curve.....but I have not touched 6 of the seven in two weeks. Your old and out of date....grin.....just saying. . I know I am old and out of date. In more ways than one. At this point, I am not interested in adding cell phone cameras. I have not been outside of my yard and driveway in 5-6 weeks. I would guess 60 plus acres haven’t had intrusion In 2-3 months or more. I feel that is important for success on my place. It is not true for all places.
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Post by Catscratch on Nov 1, 2021 11:50:19 GMT -6
I'm in the category of not using camera's in my hunting spots. From my house I can see 3 plots, a mineral lick, a water hole, and a scrape. I keep a camera up year round and witness first hand that some bucks simply avoid them. I even kept a cuddilink up in that spot for right at a year and certain deer could be seen from the house that never got their pic taken. With that said... most deer don't seem to give to much of damn. Your deer don’t have the pressure that deer in central Minnesota have. I suspect a few more are afraid of cameras here. I believe you are 100% right that my deer aren't pressured anywhere close to what you guys deal with... and I still have deer that don't handle the slightest pressure well at all. The goofy thing is, the scenario I described is basically my yard. We shoot, play, run around, cookout, drink, etc and the deer are fine with it but every once in a while a buck that is fine with all that activity and scent still won't tolerate a camera.
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Post by Sandbur on Nov 1, 2021 12:00:55 GMT -6
I'd say once you're north and east of Ripley, your odds of seeing huge antlered bucks go down substantially. Huge bodied bucks would be a different story. If your goal is to shoot large antlered bucks, buying land in an area that has produced them reliably for many years is the "best" place to start. The increased severity of winter is a big part of that as well as the presence or lack of sufficient ag in the area. . I also wonder about thepH of soils. This map is not entirely accurate as I know large portions of Meeker county and parts of Stearns do not need lime to grow alfalfa. I also thought SE Mn had some limestone in their bluffs. Ag producers who use soil consultants Are also benefiting the deer herds in my opinion. I found this map of alfalfa yields across the state. I see some correlation between 3 things, nice bucks, good alfalfa yields, and counties with dairy farms.
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Post by smsmith on Nov 1, 2021 13:03:24 GMT -6
Yeah....but Art.....these new cameras allow you to stay OUT of the woods and not have to mess around with them too often. I placed some of these cameras about six weeks ago....and have not been back to tend to them since. I did move a few which was part of the learning curve.....but I have not touched 6 of the seven in two weeks. Your old and out of date....grin.....just saying. . I know I am old and out of date. In more ways than one. At this point, I am not interested in adding cell phone cameras. I have not been outside of my yard and driveway in 5-6 weeks. I would guess 60 plus acres haven’t had intrusion In 2-3 months or more. I feel that is important for success on my place. It is not true for all places. The last few years I've stayed completely off my north 45ish acres from the first week of September until after firearm season. It has changed deer patterns (for the better)
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Post by Sandbur on Nov 1, 2021 13:08:09 GMT -6
I know I am old and out of date. In more ways than one. At this point, I am not interested in adding cell phone cameras. I have not been outside of my yard and driveway in 5-6 weeks. I would guess 60 plus acres haven’t had intrusion In 2-3 months or more. I feel that is important for success on my place. It is not true for all places. The last few years I've stayed completely off my north 45ish acres from the first week of September until after firearm season. It has changed deer patterns (for the better) I used to stay out from the first week of August, but I now have apple trees that I wish to pick a few apples from. This year I was also hauling water up to about Sept 1 or so
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Post by benmnwi on Nov 1, 2021 13:10:46 GMT -6
I think having a significant % of a property (or a neighboring property if you are really lucky) is the key to holding the oldest bucks in your neighborhood. Old buck don't like human disturbances, so staying out of most of the property and hunting only when the deer won't know you are there makes a big difference.
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Post by benmnwi on Nov 1, 2021 13:15:03 GMT -6
I don't walk into the back side of my property from August through the end of all of the deer seasons and that has worked well for me. I could add food plots, trails, etc. there, but it would likely hurt my deer hunting. My neighbor did that and the deer use his property less than they did prior to his arrival and his "improvements".
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