Prep work for 2016

[IkemanTx]

I know it is early, but I am starting to narrow down some areas for an early start to after season scouting. It doesn't look like I will have private land, so all public it is. I was REALLY discouraged with 2015 because I found it next to impossible to get away from the house and actually spend some time in the woods. I hopefully fixed that problem for next year (took a vacation first week of Oct. for season opener, and one the last week of Oct. to try to catch the beginning of the rut). Because of my proximity to a major metropolitan area, and the lack of much public ground in my state, I am expecting heavy pressure and am focusing my scouting in areas that are just plain hard to get to. I am considering using a kayak for access in a couple areas, but mostly I will just have to hike it all in the heat.

The first property is one that I sat a few times in this fall, It is archery only and doesn't seem to get more than 4 or 5 hunters for 1,300 acres on a typical weekday. I haven't hunted it on a weekend, but I hear the access roads look like a parking lot. Only 2 pieces of that property really interest me.

The first, and largest, is on the north side of the place. There is only 1 access point for the unit, and it happens to sit almost on the southeast corner. Predominant winds in this area are, unfortunately, out of the southeast. I couldn't get a Topo of this one without just blasting exactly where I was, but it is extremely flat with the exception of a 25 foot drop along the entire west side (the strip of trees) of that large CRP field in the center and east.

Archery place, Piece 1 - 480+/- acres


The second piece of the first property has a LOT of traffic due to the road that is in it. I have sat east of the road a couple times, but there is just too much hunter pressure over there. The area I am going to focus on is the northern part of the unit west of the road. This area is EXTREMELY thick with blow downs and LOTS of thickets, it also has some of the roughest ground features in the area. Access is along the road that splits the unit, as well as a small portion of county road that borders the far west fence.

Archery place, Piece 2 - 513+/- acres



The second property is gun and archery, and is known for getting hit pretty hard. This almost 18,000 acre property includes two lakes, and I think I will be hunting the bottom land between them. access is on the east of the property via a county road. if the weather is just right, I may be able to kayak in from the north on that big creek, though often times there is just too much debris in there. (especially with the record floods we had this year) The red is the only private land west of the road, and the blue is the only parking area.

Gun/Archery place 1,700+ acres




If you see anything that sticks out, let me know. If you recognize the properties and have some suggestions, I'm all ears. I hope to do more detail stuff over the next few weeks, and post my scouting stuff as well.

[IkemanTx]

Here are another two parcels on a different property.

The first is a small piece that is touching a wildlife refuge. The refuge does allow hunting, and I hear the number of hunters gets kinda ridiculous at times. I am hoping for some pressured deer to move "out of harms way" onto this parcel. It is small, and easy to access, so it may not be worth it. But, it is small and easy to scout, so no loss if it is covered up.

Archery only 100 acres



The second piece is much larger, has 3 points of access, and looks to have LOTS of edges. The downside is that what you see is about ALL the wooded area there is, so I don't think it will hold a very large herd.

Archery only 1,200 acres



Once again, Open to any ideas. Will update with more details as scouting gets closer.

[IkemanTx]

Went out scouting and sat the afternoon before thanksgiving on one of the pieces. Found a little ridgeline with an old road crossing. Hopefully it can turn into a decent spot for next year. I am absolutely sure I would have had deer in range at this spot if I hadn't walked all over the woods first. There is a great view with open ground on three sides of the tree out to 25 yards (that is REALLY open in this patch of woods)

I also found what appears to be a homemade water hole and perhaps an old mineral site next to it. I jumped a small buck out of his bed RIGHT next to the bucket. he was bedded at the base of the leaning tree in the pic below.

Overall it was a productive trip. Lots of GPS coordinates to log now.

[DaveT1963]

Public land in TX is hard. Everyone talks about how hard it is to kill a mature buck on public land in Michigan and how overpopulated it is... But that's only because Texas has very little public land. The big public land northwest of DFW gets hammered by the DFW folks and can be the toughest hunting for whitetails you will ever face..... Anywhere. If i was you i would drive at least two hours away from any public land near a big city as it will get pounded. Since TX is around 90-95% private.... And finding public land that isn't leased or closed is next to impossible.... Most hunters in the cities have no option but to hit the public land...... And seldom does any Texas public land near big cities ever produced a mature buck. Don't want to paint a bleak picture but i typically drive at least one hour..... A lot of times two to three hours to get to good hunting. Have you thought about hitting the national forest in E Tex? I hunt their occasionally and there are some monster bucks if you area willing to work for them.

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[IkemanTx]

I will most likely expand into Oklahoma public before heading out to east Texas. Not including Corps Land, there's 78,000 Oklahoma acres within 2.5 hours from me. I agree it is hard, heck even the private land in the area I grew up in is extremely difficult due to an extremely high level of poaching and lack of cover. But, out of 1 scouting session and 5 sits, I bumped or saw deer where I expected them 4 times. 2 of those times had decent bucks. (not quite sure if they would have met antler restrictions, but they would have been dropped immediately in most areas of the country). A season cutting my teeth close to home (10 minutes from my dad's house, hour and a half from mine), and I will add from there if I feel I don't end up without enough options next season. My hopes are to add 1000-1200 acres of scouted ground a year after that.

[Stanley]

Interesting about Texas. Never hunted there.

[IkemanTx]

My parents got me Extreme Whitetail Tactics, Marsh Bucks, and Hill Country Bucks for Christmas (by request). Me and my 8 year old son are watching them today while I'm cooking dinner. Starting him out right. Thanks again Dan for all the work you put into these DVD's

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[IkemanTx]

Just finished 3 "etriers" for my Hawk Heliums. They are made out of 1 inch nylon webbing, and I hope to test them out soon. The design is essentially a step inside a step, each secured with a single overhand knot. I have tried to loop style ones where there is a single step on alternating sides, and I really don't feel very secure stepping down in the dark. The rung spacer is flexible PVC from the lawn sprinkler section at your local big box. If I decide to leave the sticks at 3 steps, this will get me to 20 feet. But, I am really considering cutting the sticks down to 20" like DaveT1969 did, making the steps 18" apart. I would only lose 1.75 feet of height for the loss in weight.

The versa button and rope mod (8mm PMI accessory cord)


The full stick and etrier


A NON weight-bearing stitch to keep the inside step from twisting, this will be stitched along the length of the double strap with heavier stitching shortly (proof of concept)


The length from the top step (not the top of the stick, but the actual step) to the bottom rung


And I couldn't have planned the pack up any better if I tried.... simply twist the bottom rung a half twist and it has enough tension to hold like this!


I'm pretty pleased with how they turned out.

As always, I do not recommend modifying any of your own gear based on my mods. Not only will it void your manufacturer's warranty, but could also result in failure if not done properly

[IkemanTx]

Picked up some Honey Locust pods last week and separated all the good seeds from the ones that had big damage, were shriveled, or had mold. Ended up with a little over 30 "viable" seeds. Hope to start them soon in my parent's greenhouse. They have to undergo a scarification process (to simulate passing through a digestive track) before they will germinate. Hopefully I end up with at least a few make it. Transplanting will be done in the fall to my parents small farm, which currently has no food and no cover. I might have to lease the place long term and start fixing the habitat soon. I wonder what beast style habitat manipulation would look like.....?


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[IkemanTx]

Had a pretty rough day scouting today. Covered 7.6 miles of walking in an old 50 acre fallow field that is thicker than I can even describe. It is essentially 50 acres of solid blackberries, multiflora rose, plum thickets, greenbriar, black locust, and honey locust trees. I ended up crawling through several places, bled like a stuck pig, got hung and snagged more times than I could count. And all that for less than 10 rubs (no bigger than a couple inches thick), no scrapes, and "possibly" one bed. This area looks to be overrun with pigs, as most of the sign I saw pointed to the vermin. I did bump 2 does (one just stared at me while I waved my arms at her....), one very young buck who had shed, and a BIG 'ol coyote that came in looking for what was making all the racket. He didn't stick around once he saw me though. I would have sworn this area would have produced more, but the sign just isn't there. Any chance it is just too thick and thorny for them?

[BigCedarJack]

The Etriers look pro!

[IkemanTx]

The Etriers look pro!

Thanks, I'm hoping to finish them up next month when I get a speed stitcher (birthday list). I also will be sewing together a saddle. I'm trying to lighten the load a little.

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[Stanley]

Picked up some Honey Locust pods last week and separated all the good seeds from the ones that had big damage, were shriveled, or had mold. Ended up with a little over 30 "viable" seeds. Hope to start them soon in my parent's greenhouse. They have to undergo a scarification process (to simulate passing through a digestive track) before they will germinate. Hopefully I end up with at least a few make it. Transplanting will be done in the fall to my parents small farm, which currently has no food and no cover. I might have to lease the place long term and start fixing the habitat soon. I wonder what beast style habitat manipulation would look like.....?


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I would very careful about planting Honey Locust trees. They are very prolific and can take over a good timber in about 10 years. When doing timber improvement projects the goal is to eliminate as many honey locust trees as possible. I would suggest planting maple trees instead. Maples grow fast and have a harvest value compared to the locust trees that are almost good for nothing. After you kill off a honey locust it takes about 6 years before you can cut them up for fire wood.

The timbers that I hunt the owners goal is to get rid of any and all honey locust trees. Just food for thought.

[IkemanTx]

I'm putting on my parent's place which is about 97 or 98% managed pasture. They will be placed on the end of a point as a food source within bow range of the last tree. Around here, they draw deer pretty well when the pods first start dropping, and they aren't too difficult to control with some bi-yearly maintenance. I hope to include maples eventually, but don't have access to free seed, and don't want to spend the money for the protection required to keep the cows off of them for the next 5 years or so that the place has cattle on it. These will be started in forestry size jiffy pellets, transplanted very young, and forgotten. I don't expect a high percentage of survival.

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[Stanley]

Those locust trees are hard on cattle hooves. The branches break off and cattle get stuck by the thorns. Hard on any kind of tire. When you cut them down you need steel tracks or hard rubber tires to push them into piles. Deer do like the pods, I will go along with that.