saw mom again, heard no shots, and I prefer my climber

[mazzgolf]

Went out this morning on that private property my friends are letting me hunt. They had a lock-on stand that has been up for a while - they let me hunt it. I actually saw that doe and its yearling again - walked right by me at 15 yards. We discussed it on Sunday - we're gonna let does walk this season. They saw very few deer last year; this year, starting to see a bit more - so they want to see what happens next year if we just target bucks. I'm fine with that. I'll have shotgun with me this week, so females are off limits no matter anyway.

 

But the weird thing is I didn't hear a single shot this morning, and no "yo buck!"... and there is some public land near here. Very odd. I thought for sure after the rain out yesterday morning they would be out in force this morning. I actually wouldn't mind if they pushed some my way - but the quiet was still nice.

 

As for these lock-on stands you all use - those who do not use a harness with these are absolutely NUTS!  Until today, I've just been using my Summit Viper climber when hunting out of trees - and I actually feel very safe with that. This is the first time I've ever gone up into a lock-on. I realize now what scares the crap out of me - while in the dark having to climb up these screw-in steps, then stepping off of them and onto an open lock-on (no rails, just a seat), and then doing the reverse going back down. And of course, sitting there with no rails to lean on, realizing that I can't fall asleep or I'll roll off this thing. I had one of those 30' safety lines w/prussik knot so I has harnessed the whole time, but I couldn't do it if I wasn't attached. There is just way too many things that could go wrong. I don't know how people do it without a harness. I found out my friend actually only hooks up when he gets to the top - but is untethered going up and down. He's nuts, and I plan to tell him that.

[rossbowhunter]

"But the weird thing is I didn't hear a single shot this morning" That is because the deer have all the seasons (6 months) figured out, they are evolving to just eat and travel at night.

[smoking gun]

not to be a tird but how big is this piece?you guys wanna increase the number of deer you see DON'T GUN HUNT THE PROPERTY.I have 6 private pieces I hunt and we DO NOT GUN HUNT IT ITS STRICTLY BOW.1 doe we harvested this year as a group the rest we let walk and we only shoot 2.5 yr old bucks and older.it's paying off we got 3 nice 8 pt bucks this year and alot of young bucks according to my cameras and a mess of does with youngins

[mazzgolf]

Somewhere around 70 acres with about another 200 public acres adjacent to it (some being marsh/bogs). AFAIK, they do not gun hunt here a lot (no drives, the one guy brings a muzzy a few days - I think I'm the first to bring a shotgun out here in a few years), and I don't think a shot has been fired on this property in at least couple years. The only deer that I know that has been harvested recently was one late last year and that was with a crossbow. We talked it over this weekend and we are in agreement to let the does walk.