ArcheryIA44
PMA Member
Okay, I'm a scientist by training (read...big nerd), and what do nerds to with data? Analyze! (skip to the next thread if you are easily bored)
This year was my first learning the place. I didn't get the small food plot planted until Aug. 8. It came in pretty spotty (low rainfall), but had lots of action. Our place is heavy timber with crop fields about 1/2 to 1 mile away, north and south. A couple of neighbors have good food plots in the timber.
I ended up with two cameras on the food plot, which probably covers about 1/3 of the deer traffic in the plot. I also had one camera in a transition area at the base of a heavy cedar stand and another on a trail that runs north-south through the property.
First thing I learned? If you want to shoot a mature buck in October, stick with the food plot.
I cataloged only bucks that looked to be at least 3 years old and only during legal shooting hours, from the week before archery season started until this weekend. It was nice to see that there are big bucks running around at night, but it doesn't help me shoot them.
From Sept. 25 to Oct. 15, there were ZERO pictures from the trail or the transition zone during shooting hours. None! In the same time period, there were 14 mature bucks in the food plot...sadly, I wasn't there.
Things started to change on the Oct. 15 date. From the 15th through Halloween, there were seven pictures of nice bucks in the food plot, but there were eight coming out of the cedars and three on the north-south trail.
How about that rut? Nov. 1 to Nov. 15, eight bucks in the food plot, six near the cedars and seven on the north-south trail.
End of November...eight in the food plot, two cedars, four on the trail.
Conclusions (these will be nothing old hands on here don't know)? Hunt the food plot if you can, but during the rut any stand with the right wind can get good action. Keep in mind that my small food plot has become kind of a center of action after the food grew, so I think that much of the action is not feeding, but just cruising through looking for does.
Also, the cedars make a great bedding area, but basically 90% of my property is bedding area; I find deer beds everywhere. Also, although I like my camera locations, there are deer trails everywhere through the woods. Lots more camera locations to try out (hmmm, will my wife get me another camera for Christmas :way:?)
It was a fun season. Saw three shooters while hunting and let loose one arrow on a big non-typical. Didn't get the range right
.
Never stop learning!
This year was my first learning the place. I didn't get the small food plot planted until Aug. 8. It came in pretty spotty (low rainfall), but had lots of action. Our place is heavy timber with crop fields about 1/2 to 1 mile away, north and south. A couple of neighbors have good food plots in the timber.
I ended up with two cameras on the food plot, which probably covers about 1/3 of the deer traffic in the plot. I also had one camera in a transition area at the base of a heavy cedar stand and another on a trail that runs north-south through the property.
First thing I learned? If you want to shoot a mature buck in October, stick with the food plot.
I cataloged only bucks that looked to be at least 3 years old and only during legal shooting hours, from the week before archery season started until this weekend. It was nice to see that there are big bucks running around at night, but it doesn't help me shoot them.
From Sept. 25 to Oct. 15, there were ZERO pictures from the trail or the transition zone during shooting hours. None! In the same time period, there were 14 mature bucks in the food plot...sadly, I wasn't there.
Things started to change on the Oct. 15 date. From the 15th through Halloween, there were seven pictures of nice bucks in the food plot, but there were eight coming out of the cedars and three on the north-south trail.
How about that rut? Nov. 1 to Nov. 15, eight bucks in the food plot, six near the cedars and seven on the north-south trail.
End of November...eight in the food plot, two cedars, four on the trail.
Conclusions (these will be nothing old hands on here don't know)? Hunt the food plot if you can, but during the rut any stand with the right wind can get good action. Keep in mind that my small food plot has become kind of a center of action after the food grew, so I think that much of the action is not feeding, but just cruising through looking for does.
Also, the cedars make a great bedding area, but basically 90% of my property is bedding area; I find deer beds everywhere. Also, although I like my camera locations, there are deer trails everywhere through the woods. Lots more camera locations to try out (hmmm, will my wife get me another camera for Christmas :way:?)
It was a fun season. Saw three shooters while hunting and let loose one arrow on a big non-typical. Didn't get the range right
. Never stop learning!
