Pond Boss Forums GENERAL QUESTIONS Pond Boss Hunting and Trapping Fall/Winter 2010/2011

well guys i went all out yesterday.. I bought me a brand new Mathews
Z7 Extreme.. I have to say blows my Hoyt Mt. Sport away.. This is the smoothest drawing bow ive ever felt at 70 lbs it feels like 60 or less on my Hoyt.. The bow is so quiet its truly unreal.. heres a link to the Mathews site..

http://mathewsinc.com/product/z7-xtreme/

Man it feels good to be back in the deerstand. Come mon big boys.....

My game camera, which is a fairly popular model, has lots it's IR photo taking ability. I took it apart to see if there is a loose connection, but it appears to be something in the circuitry itself and not very user-serviceable. Guess I have to go buy me another.

Same thing happened to mine. I got it tracked down to a bad resistor now I have to find a resistor somewhere..

Wildgame IR4 by any chance?

nope moultrie..

Quote:

Moderators -- if this endorsement is out of line, please remove it. Ken

I couldn't sleep last night, so I grabbed my Kindle looking for a new book to read. For anybody who likes to hunt and fish, I can strongly recommend "If You Didn't Bring Jerky, What Did I Just Eat", by Bill Heavey. I was about $8.50 for the Kindle.

Think of JHAP/JWHAP, their adventures, and JHAP'a descriptions -- maybe funnier, but just as ...???... I'm at a loss for a description. Bill Heavey apparently lives somewhere in Northern Virginia. He and JHAP definitely balance the East and West Coasts.

I wouldn't take it to a deer stand. You need to read it in solitude where no one can hear you.

Ken

Hmmmm, I'm not sure whether to be flattered or offended.

Be flattered. Besides, he's famous!

Or be offended. To your credit, either response elicits the same from you.

Does anybody have any experience with deer feeders
you hang from a tree? I am not a hunter but would
like to attract deer around my lakehouse just to
admire their beauty and grace. I would prefer the
kind that hangs from a tree for cosmetic reasons.
But are the tree hung deer feeders practical as far
as filling and re-filling? How difficult is it cranking
up a feeder into a tree after you fill it up?
Any commnets or suggestions?



or maybe one like this?

Hanging from a tree you should somehow hang it far out enough so it will allow you to attach a pully to the tree and the feeder. That way you can raise/lower it to add the feed.

The directional Kenco feeder works well, but raccoons will reach their dirty little mitts into the feeder opening in search of food and they'll tear up the rubber flapper (dispenser) that throws the food. Been there, done that.

I've used both, and prefer the one that throws the food in a 360° pattern. I have noticed 6 coons at a time under the feeder eating the corn. I also have noticed them hanging off from the top of the bucket reaching down to the top of the spinner plate. Those buckte feeders typically have plastic dispensers. Squirrels will chew them - aluminum replacements are availalbe from most mfg's. as an option. Do it the first time and you won't have to repair the feeder.

Ok esshup thanks. Are you saying coons and other "robbers" are worse with hanging feeders? Or do they chew threw the plastic parts of all feeders? Can you get an all metal hanging feeder?

well i quess the deer are starting to group back up already here in Illinois seen a group of 5 does this morning. And seen a group of 10 does this evening all in all seen 18 deer today.. No shots though, maybe tomorrow..

Nope, not worse with hanging feeders, I think they'll be the worse with a feeder that is attached to the tree.

I had the rubber impeller torn apart by the coons reaching in to get the food. Squirrels chewed up my plastic funnel that regulates how much food is dropped on the spinning plate on the other type of feeder. The replacement aluminum funnel stopped that problem. I have pictures of the 'coons hanging by a rear foot from the bucket handle to reach down and under the 5 gal. bucket to get corn out of that type of feeder. The coons never were able to damage it, nor the squirrels after I changed the material.

The bucket is metal, and so is the spinning plate that disperses the food. (at least on mine)

There were 4 or 5 does in the open area when I got to the property. They spooked out there as I walked to where I was going to sit. 15 minutes later a small spike walked to the edge of the woods and watched the open area for a good 10 minutes before walking out. He looked my way and didn't like what he saw, and he walked away. I had an 8 point come out at 225 yds, and not too much longer another one walked out. They fed side by side for a while and when they picked up their heads together, it was almost a mirror image. I'm guessing twin brothers.

I heard some chasing going on behind me, and so did they, even at 200+ yds. The first one ran my way, followed by the 2nd one. The first one got to 28 yds, and stood there for a couple minutes looking into the woods behind me (he was at my 7:00). His brother was at my 10:00 in the open area. The first one, turned and spotted me. He blew, then jumped into the woods, spooking his brother. I grunted at him a couple of times and he stopped running and looked back at me. I gave him a snort wheeze, and a couple more grunts. He stood there for a good 5 minutes looking at me.

They finally walked off; by that time it was getting dark and I packed up and left as well. Tomorrow is the last day of firearms season. There's a 5 day break then ML starts for 16 days.

Rude neighbor tonight decided to shoot some 10-round magazined pistol over and over and over again right at dusk. I was sitting on the stand about 3:45pm planning to stay until 6pm. Right about 5:18pm (sunset) the bozo decided to start shooting...about 200 yds across the fence. What drives a person to start blasting a pistol just about THE prime time for the deer to move? This guy knows what he was doing.... They hunt. It might have been leftover beer from Thanksgiving.

/gripe off

Gotta love it when someone decides to do something stupid right at prime time when you're in your treestand... With all the urban bow hunting I do, I get my hunts messed up all the time!

Zep, I have all but given up on corn slingers as the parts seem to always break from wear and tear, squirrels, coons, bears and God knows what else that is trying to get at the corn... The solar panels and batteries are a PITA as well. I built a couple of simple to use gravity feeders to take inventory of my deer herd after hunting season is over in the winter. I used about a 6' length of 6" PVC pipe, cap the top and then cap the bottom. I cut a slit on the side near the bottom cap. I then place a plastic tray with small holes drilled in it to allow for water to seep through. The corn slowly feeds down the pipe and falls out onto the tray. I painted the piping a camo color to blend in with the tree I strap the feeder to. You can barely tell it's there even if you know it's there. The deer get used to it quickly and feed from it readily, even larger smart bucks. Total cost is about $30 and the two I have built have lasted for 4 or 5 years now. You do feed far more than just deer though, turkeys, squirrels, coons, bears, hogs, you name it... If they eat corn they'll come for a hand out.

Just got back from a couple of days hunting with my Grandson. No deer seen. Very few shots heard.

Other Texas hunters have the same story. Massive acorn drop is being blamed.

I have game cameras around corn feeders. Crows and squirrels are even ignoring corn.

26 degrees my feet are cold this morning

drop the temp another 10 degrees and that is what it was here when I left this a.m.

Well, The rut is finally coming to central Indiana during the break between shotgun and muzzle loader. Saw some midsize bucks running does today (morning and evening), but the does are still not in. Saw two does with fawns on friday. Wanted to take a mature doe during shotgun (actually with a 44), and had my chance. I saw a large doe laying down when I was coming in this morning. I was within 20 feet and saw its hind legs sicking straight out and thought it was dead. Guess what? One more step and it got up and ran away - Just worn out from being chased. Glad that I got my buck the second weekend of bow.

Thanksgiving evening turned out to be a good hunt for me.... I got this 7 point with a 17" spread right at the end of legal shooting light. He was the only deer I saw that night, but he is the best buck I've seen all season. This guy was working the roads with his nose... looking for a hot doe, I guess. When I started the tracking job it was really dark, because I gave him a half hour before starting to track. Could not find a blood trail, but I found him by his smell!! His tarsal glands were really black and smelly... this guy was definitely in rut.













The hunting has been hard since the acorns started dropping... the corn is piling up around all my feeders.

I went from getting hundreds of game cam pictures in a week to 20 pictures in a week when the acorns started dropping.

Nice one Gary, I've never heard of finding one by smell.

I've noticed the strong odor mostly on very calm days with no wind. The buck I shot opening weekend's glands were pretty strong when I went to field dress him.. It was cold and no wind that day. I could see how this could help in the dark if you're trying to track one down.

I had no dea Indiana was that far behind Illinois I figured they'd be around the same time..