A couple of weeks ago I cleared out a small area and threw down soem Rack Stacker walk and toss seeds and put out a bunch of salts and whatnot. I checded back this past weekend and it looks as though it has staretd to grow and has had some visitors, with deer poo in the middle of the plot and a hoof print in my salt. I also saw the moose tracks not too far away from the plot on my trail, so I know the cow is staying around, for now anyways. I do have some pictures that I will post in the next couple of days, so stay tuned.
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The area that we hunt in has never really held any moose but we did see sign of them passing through once a year or so, but that was about all. So far this year we seem to have a cow staying around our area. I haven't yet gotten a picture on the trail cam but I am hoepfu
Well, I visited the camp over the weekend, still lots of snow and ice on the lake! I went out and checked where I had been planning on setting up and found a nice sized moose track and a number of deer tracks, all only a couple of days old as it snowed earlier in the week. I found a small clearing that I will use as my spot to put out some salt, some feed, and try some throw and grow. I have seen many racks in this area before and got a picture of a nice buck in this area last season, plus I’m not too far from a creek for them to get some water.
I am planning to do some work on May long weekend, namely put out some salt, feed, and some throw and grow all at once. I’m going to clean the area up a little bit prior to that, move some old trees that are down, and rake up the ground a little bit as well. Outside of that, not too much else to report. Next big one will come after the May long weekend has passed. Good luck turkey hunting! I finally made it back up to check on the food that I had put out and it was barely even touched! I guess it’s true what they say, when the snow starts to fall the deer leave our area and herd-up elsewhere. We still had a god couple of feet so it is probably a good idea for the deer to move out for the winter.
We did manage to hit some trails and check out the bush for a couple of hours and check out a section that is being marked for logging. It may work out as it looks as though the area that will be logged is close to where I was thinking of putting a stand so with some fresh growth in the next few years and now easier access to a couple parts of our bush it may help, one all the noise and commotion cools down, although with logging in our area in the past we haven’t noticed much of a change in the deer from the noise or whatnot. In any case, I will be up there again over Easter so I will be putting out more food at that time and as well putting out a homemade salt station for the deer so at that time there will be a little more to put up. I have just returned from a day at the camp. I was planning on staying later but we lost power last night and it still was not back up by mid-afternoon today and no timetable of when it would be back up so we decided to come home a day early. In any case, I was able to bring in a load of food for any deer still remaining in our area. There is still quite a bit of snow but I was able to get back to where I had left food a few months ago. Here is a picture of what used to be a full cedar which has since been eaten away to just bare branches. I wish I had a picture from when the tree had first fallen so that you could see the difference from then until now, but I don't, so here is the aftermath. As you can see, there isn't much left of this tree, but trust me, there used to be full branches everywhere before the deer got at it. I decided I would just throw my feed right here on the side of the trail for now but will make a proper feeding site later in the spring. Here is the feed that I have used thus far, I believe it is locally made. You can see that it is much more grainy than a corn-based feed, which I have read is better for the deer and from what I have seen thus far the deer seem to like this more than just corn on its own, but again time will be the test.
All in all, I was just glad to get up there and get some food out. It will be a few weeks before I can get up there again and hopefully all of this feed will be gone by then, hopefully because of the deer. I plan on bringing more up during that next visit as well and maybe even getting the trailcam up for a bit. Well I managed to pick up my deer feed last night, a whopping $12.50 for 50lbs....It is a barley, oats, corn, and molasses mix which the deer have reacted well to thus far afte the first bag a few months ago. It is not the Rack Stacker feed but from what I have seen they are pretty well the same thing. I am still hopeful that I will be able to put it in the same place as the last one but from what I can tell there is still a lot of snow and the bikes may not make it. If not I will put it just in behind our camp and see what happens, but in any case when I get back I will post a few pictures of the feed so you can see how it looks and a picture or two of where I have put it.
Even though I may not be able to put the feed out where I want just putting it out will be good as they will eventually find it and eat it so if nothing else I am helping with their diet and giving them more food so that they will be healthier Welcome to my deer hutning blog!
I have been deer hunting since around 2005; my dad and brother have hunted together for a few more years than I and are joined by the rest of our hunt camp, a group of friends, my father included, that founded our hunt camp more than 30 years ago. I am glad to now be a part of it. We hunt a couple hundred acres or so of bush not too far from Algonquin Park. The area is awesome and has been pretty good at producing good numbers of deer. As I am still new to the camp I still have yet to find a spot where I can have a stand for myself. Most other members have their established spots where they feed and sit most of the days. As I have yet to really find a spot my goal herein is to share my journey with finding my spot. I will share how I chose the spot and what I did to help bring the deer in closer, and whether or not it has led to a successful hunt. Let me bring you up to speed with where I am.... at the end of last deer season I was up in the bush and saw a big cedar that had falled due to the wind and snow. That tree had a ton of deer tracks all around the tree from the deer eating and picking away at it. Not too long after I put down a bag of Coarse Deer Chop, a deer feed similar to Rack Stacker. From what I have been told, the deer just loved the feed. I will be heading up there this weekend and will be dropping another bag down to see how they like it. If the deer are hittign it I will plan on puttnig a stand not too far away. My goal is to keep putting out feed every so often to not only keep the deer coming to that area but to also improve the health of our herd. |
AuthorI have been deer hunting since 2005, or so I can remember. Hunt in Ontario not too far from Algonquin park, with family and friends in our established hunt camp that has been a gruop for more than 30 years! Archives
May 2011
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