Black Powder Season

[skyhightree1]

Its here and I havent found that many rubs just a few fresh scrapes... I haven't seen that many deer on my farms this year its got me worried... I hope they didnt die off due to a disease... Is anyone else experiencing the same thing?

 

[HOSS]

Its here and I havent found that many rubs just a few fresh scrapes... I haven't seen that many deer on my farms this year its got me worried... I hope they didnt die off due to a disease... Is anyone else experiencing the same thing?

I haven't seen a deer on my place in 2 years. I used to have them everywhere. I haven't changed anything. I even tried a corn feeder and attractants and had 3 game cameras out. Zero pictures of deer. I have tons of acorns and browse..............just no deer. I have been hunting a friends farm and the action has been heavy and lots of rubs, scrapes to go around. I set up 2 trail cameras there and have a bunch of pictures. I can't figure out for the life of me why the deer just stopped travelling across my place. I have not added any dogs nor is there any pressure on the neighbors farms. Just wierd. I hate it when I can't even hunt on my own property and have at least a little bit of confidence that I will see a doe. A friend bring his boy over to hunt the juvenile deer hunt and he got one every year. The last two years I have taken him to a friends place to hunt just so he will have a decent chance at getting one.

 

[skyhightree1]

Hoss, I don't see any sign but they are there tracks everywhere and pictures its just they are not making any sign there on my place.. I did have a friend that had the same problem as you and we found out later there were 3 packs of coyotes and multiple bears on site. We took care of those predators and they came back and now are all over the place. Do you have alot of coyotes there?

 

[highgrit]

Looking good here, lots of deer and a few bucks starting to show up. Saw one big 7 point I wanted but my wife was on the porch telling me not to shoot. Been wondering who wears the pants around here anymore. Sometimes I think he would of been a better trophy.

 

[skyhightree1]

highgrit.... hilarious.. but I would have blasted away... mine goes hunting with me sometimes.. just to watch not kill... But if it requires helping load or draging of it thats a NO GO

 

[HOSS]

Hoss, I don't see any sign but they are there tracks everywhere and pictures its just they are not making any sign there on my place.. I did have a friend that had the same problem as you and we found out later there were 3 packs of coyotes and multiple bears on site. We took care of those predators and they came back and now are all over the place. Do you have alot of coyotes there?

We have a few. I hear them at night but rarely see them. Maybe 4 or 5 times a year I catch one crossing an open pasture. Usually when I don't have a rifle with me.

 

[dun]

You may not have changed anything, but what about your neighbors? Has the timber or brush if you have any grown up much? Even with yotes and cats good habitat will draw deer.

 

[Kathie in Thorp]

We've got LOTS of deer around -- have to dodge them coming and going every day. But I haven't seen any respectable bucks at all. Hubby said there were several big 'uns down on the neighbor's "no hunting" property all through the summer.

 

[Caustic Burno]

You may not have changed anything, but what about your neighbors? Has the timber or brush if you have any grown up much? Even with yotes and cats good habitat will draw deer.

Not unusual to see bobcat's, yote's and several hundred deer pictures on game camera in a week.
Dun hit the nail on the head neighbor cleared some land and it changed the pattern's on travel across my place.
Place's I hunted for forty year's you better take a good book.

 

[HOSS]

You may not have changed anything, but what about your neighbors? Has the timber or brush if you have any grown up much? Even with yotes and cats good habitat will draw deer.[/quote

I did a select cut on my timber 3 years ago and it has grown up thick with lots of young undergrowth which should attract deer. My neighbors haven't changed anything to my knowledge. I saw alot of deer right after I cut the timber. They liked to bed in the downed tree tops. I have good cover, water and plenty of clovers in the pasture. I have tons of acorns from white oaks, pin oaks, chinqapin etc..

 

[Kathie in Thorp]

We've got LOTS of deer around -- have to dodge them coming and going every day. But I haven't seen any respectable bucks at all. Hubby said there were several big 'uns down on the neighbor's "no hunting" property all through the summer.

Saw 2 bucks under our apple trees with the regular bunch of does/fawns when I came in this evening -- both 2 pt. (Western count) mulies, but they had good body size for their 2 pts. They have to have 3 pts. to be legal. I think, here, the deer have really good feed opportunities, but not the natural minerals they'd have elsewhere in the western states for antler growth. Not many trophy bucks come out of this area. In E. Idaho, they have great minerals and grow huge racks, but the body-size isn't that impressive.

 

[HOSS]

We've got LOTS of deer around -- have to dodge them coming and going every day. But I haven't seen any respectable bucks at all. Hubby said there were several big 'uns down on the neighbor's "no hunting" property all through the summer.

Saw 2 bucks under our apple trees with the regular bunch of does/fawns when I came in this evening -- both 2 pt. (Western count) mulies, but they had good body size for their 2 pts. They have to have 3 pts. to be legal. I think, here, the deer have really good feed opportunities, but not the natural minerals they'd have elsewhere in the western states for antler growth. Not many trophy bucks come out of this area. In E. Idaho, they have great minerals and grow huge racks, but the body-size isn't that impressive.

Kathie, one of the largest muley bucks I have ever seen was killed by my brother-in-law on Cuddy Mountain near Council, Idaho. It was a big non-typical with knotty looking antlers going everywhere on an almost 40" spread. Huge mass. He killed it back in the early 80's. He never scored it. I have hunted this area several times for black bear and have seen some really good bucks. I hunted muleys near Shoshone a few years back and almost got into bow range of a monster buck. Stalking in that terrain is tough.......no cover.

 

[Kathie in Thorp]

Hoss, Council/Cambridge are good areas, for both deer and elk. Have elk-hunted up there. Did you ever hear the story about the 2 guys that were deer hunting, horse-back, shot a buck and then couldn't find their way back out in a snow-storm, killed/gutted their horses and snuggled inside them for an overnight stay? That was a bad, true story!!

Shoshone . . . there you go into the more eastern part of Idaho, and into bigger Mulies.

Don't know if it still exists, but for a number of years there was a pretty good ML elk hunt just out of Midvale, ID. Me and another guy drew up the hunt proposal presented to (and adopted) by Idaho F&G for that area. That's where I shot my first elk.

We also hunted ML up in the Lowman area, and at that time, you could hunt either sex Mulies and cow elk at the same time. Units 35-36, if I recall correctly. Same guy and I presented that one to F&G, too.

Wolves have wrecked a lot of the elk hunting in Idaho now.

 

[Kathie in Thorp]

Hoss, don't know if this one still exists, either, but outside of Mountain Home, around King Hill, ID, there was a ML hunt that was just about guaranteed (does) -- you'd just about trip over them out there. I remember being out there one morning when it was foggy -- way to foggy to shoot because you couldn't see but about 15 feet, but the animals were so thick and so close you could hear the deer traffic all around.

Running at the same time, same area, there was a controlled hunt for bucks; I believe it was open to center-fire -- very limited number of tags (25 or so), but there were some BIG bucks in there!

 

[HOSS]

Hoss, Council/Cambridge are good areas, for both deer and elk. Have elk-hunted up there. Did you ever hear the story about the 2 guys that were deer hunting, horse-back, shot a buck and then couldn't find their way back out in a snow-storm, killed/gutted their horses and snuggled inside them for an overnight stay? That was a bad, true story!!

Shoshone . . . there you go into the more eastern part of Idaho, and into bigger Mulies.

Don't know if it still exists, but for a number of years there was a pretty good ML elk hunt just out of Midvale, ID. Me and another guy drew up the hunt proposal presented to (and adopted) by Idaho F&G for that area. That's where I shot my first elk.

We also hunted ML up in the Lowman area, and at that time, you could hunt either sex Mulies and cow elk at the same time. Units 35-36, if I recall correctly. Same guy and I presented that one to F&G, too.

Wolves have wrecked a lot of the elk hunting in Idaho now.

Kathie, yes I am familiar with the story. I have been on Cuddy Mountain bear hunting several times. The ironic thing is the place where they killed and gutted their horses was only about 1/2 mile from the road. Of course in the driving snow they could not see it. Just a bad situation all the way around.

Idaho is one of my favorite states to visit and to hunt. I have hunted near McCall, Stanley, Shoshone, Pocatello, Council, Cambridge and in and around the Hells Canyon area. I have also hunted bow hunted muleys in Owyhee county near Murphy, Silver City and Grand View. I love calling coyotes in the Owyhee desert and hunting quail along the Snake River through there.

 

[skyhightree1]

Yea, I had neighbor beside me thin a 60 acre tract and now it seems as they have turned nocturnal but they thinned it earlier this year but I have plenty of hardwoods and 7 year old cutover they just aren't walking yet but the rut is closer and nov 7 its supposed to be full tilt. Blackpowder season starts saturday I will follow up and let you all know what happened. So far all the deer I have seen are at night in the fields where I am cutting beans.

 

[Farmerjon]

Same thing happened here on our farm a few years back. Ended up being two legged predators. Neighbor let some guys coon hunt their woods, well they were killing deer and selling them in Chicago. Went from darn near to many deer to nearly none.

 

[skyhightree1]

thats never a good thing... The timber prices are up around here so im pretty sure pretty soon there will me a mass tree cutting coming... I hope it comes after hunting season.

 

[Fly-guy]

Its here and I havent found that many rubs just a few fresh scrapes... I haven't seen that many deer on my farms this year its got me worried... I hope they didnt die off due to a disease... Is anyone else experiencing the same thing?

I haven't seen a deer on my place in 2 years. I used to have them everywhere. I haven't changed anything. I even tried a corn feeder and attractants and had 3 game cameras out. Zero pictures of deer. I have tons of acorns and browse..............just no deer. I have been hunting a friends farm and the action has been heavy and lots of rubs, scrapes to go around. I set up 2 trail cameras there and have a bunch of pictures. I can't figure out for the life of me why the deer just stopped travelling across my place. I have not added any dogs nor is there any pressure on the neighbors farms. Just wierd. I hate it when I can't even hunt on my own property and have at least a little bit of confidence that I will see a doe. A friend bring his boy over to hunt the juvenile deer hunt and he got one every year. The last two years I have taken him to a friends place to hunt just so he will have a decent chance at getting one.

I think they've all migrated over here Hoss. I've seen more activity around here than ever before. We saw a lot around the house this summer and now we're seeing them over by our cattle.

Unfortunately, I'm broke down right now so bow season is definately out as well as muzzle loader season. I've ordered a bipod just hoping that I can salvage a little bit of the regular rifle season.

 

[Isomade]

FG, it's the same here. I was driving home this afternoon and looked out in the pasture and there were 12 grazing in the pasture about 200 yards from the cows.