So here we go again, rifle season week 2 over, only one week left to get a deer this year. Doug, Dad, Frank and Tina all have deer, well done all of you.
Andrea and Noah were off Friday so as soon as they got home Thursday evening we headed to camp, it was drizzling with a little frozen stuff mixed in and made for a very messy drive. It was nice and clear by the time we got to camp though and the moon was shining bright. Not so good news if you subscribe to the theory that deer browse on moon lit nights and stay in their beds in the morning then browse again mid-day and back to bed…anyway..
Friday morning Noah and I went and checked the cameras and there was very little action on any of them. I set up early morning looking over an open crossing point on a trail they seem to be frequenting. I stayed there until dark and not a sniff of deer. Andrea and Noah started the morning in the raised box blind down by the pond and seen nothing moving all morning so they ducked back to camp for a hot lunch and warm up. Andrea ducked down to see me and drop off a thermos of hot coffee which was wonderful. She and Noah then headed down to the ground blind overlooking the clearing in the woods where I had seen so many deer bow hunting. They immediately found the bright sun in their faces a reason to complain, however the hollow is set in the bottom of a ridge that is covered in trees, this ridge is to the west of the hollow and always got darker faster than the open areas and I found bow hunting the deer would begin moving along the ledge and into the hollow early than elsewhere because of the early shadows…Anyway the evening turned to blackness with nothing observed. Friday was over and other than a ton of fresh air nothing to report. Friday evening was another brightly lit night, and the coyotes were howling all around us.
Saturday we rose to find clouds rolling in and snow forecast on the radio (we are not far outside Brandon and use their weather forecast). The wind was cold and heavy and I figured if the deer were not out feeding before the snow they would likely not be seen again until after the storm. It appears I was right as we spent a long day Saturday brazing frozen snow pellets driven by a fierce north east wind without seeing a hair moving.
Sunday morning I was up to early, 4 am and wide awake so I sat in a dark camp drinking coffee as the wind howled and the frozen snow blasted on the window….at 6:30 I headed down to the blind, not a great morning spot from all experience and camera history but I was up and the blind would provide some shelter from the wind. After waiting there for three hours without seeing anything I decided to walk the boundaries of the property. There are some bedding areas on the eastern border the deer use quite heavily during the fall when they are feeding in the neighbor’s corn. I found nothing, not even a track in the snow until I got back to camp, a doe had crossed the open area right in front of the window at the table…I could have set in the warn heated camp and shot a deer out the window…of course it provided great fun teasing lazy bone hunters in the family who never braved the cold Sunday morning about the deer walking right by the camp in full view for 70 yards and they never even noticed…
We packed up and left at lunch time even though the snow was ending as we have a rule about stopping hunting in time to make sure the employed portion of the family is back home in time for work and school…of course I will likely be employed somewhere next year in order to pay for this fun and the changes we are planning.
I am planning to head back up early Thursday morning to hunt late morning until dark and all day Friday with Andrea and Noah hoping to get up Friday night…
The changes: Currently we access the property in the north east corner drive back and forth across the property in a very winding route avoiding swamp areas and other obstacles. We then drive a narrow path up a 100 foot high ridge to reach the camp on top of the ridge in the south west corner of the property. Not only is this a pain in the butt, the camp is actually located in a terrible spot strategically. All noise, scent, etc is blown down over the ridge through the trees where the majority of the hunting is.. I wonder sometimes if the deer a have patterned our coming and going as to a higher hazard period and alter their behavior.
We debated tearing down the camp and rebuilding it in the north west corner of the property close to the pond to make a less noticeable footprint in the hunting area. The camp is fine as a hunt camp, not a cottage and the cost of upgrading the size and insulation on top of moving it is not endearing to me. I began researching options and found that you can buy a park model camper used in the 30 – 40 foot size range for under 10K. Drop it on a leveled pad, box in and insulate the exterior and a comfortable weather tight hunt camp and cottage is done. The existing structure will be torn down o be rebuilt, the main building as a small barn for storing our quads, decoys and other items, the addition will be brought down to attach to the camper as a porch / cold room what have you.
We are debating on location, there is some attraction of having it looking out over the water but then again as we are going to be doing a bunch of goose and duck hunting over the water maybe the other corner would be a good idea. We will debate that all winter I am sure.
The picture below will give you a better idea what I am talking about, the pinkish line is a rough idea of the boundaries, the white line is the path we have to get to camp which is the yellow blob. The blue dot is a box blind, the red dots are stand locations. The land to the left has been donated to Ducks Unlimited and is posted no hunting. This picture is at least 4 years old, the growth that has happened in that time has been great, there is much more brush and early growth trees than shown here. We are no longer allowing cattle to be grazed on the browner northern portion and that will help with rapid regrowth of brush and trees as well. The yellowish outline is actually a well grown in area of cattails etc that may make a very good blind location for bird hunting…
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