The Hunting Beast

Nice job JDW!

I got two fired up on the other side of the valley. Of course, nowhere near each other. Problem is that it's a BIG valley.

Thunder chicken down

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Nice one brkiss. My step dad got one today

Spotted one off public a bit. Parked and did a big half circle and got as close as I could. He responded to me twice over about a half hour but never closed any distance and went silent. Probably not a wiling participant

EDIT: I walked out and to my surprise, he had. Only moved about 30 feet. Still strutting. I'm going to try again, but I am not real hopeful

Got my first ever on opening day in MA. Measured in at just shy of 24 lbs.

In NH I heard one from the road right at a trail head. Walked in a bit and had it answering back. Almost certain it was on the ground. But then two busted out of some pine trees not 40 feet from me. Figured I blew that one. Probably should have circled around and stayed on them. Live and learn.

Congrats!

So I’ve been putting on miles driving around to get on birds... and it figures that I saw 6 toms in the neighborhood while walking the dog just now. Four had beards dragging the ground. Kind of like this winter when I had four bucks in the yard the day after bow season ended.

Just bumped one. Got to aggressive and close after I heard the lone gobble

Keep after em Dave. Persistence kills em.

Heard him gobble again and spotted him over a knoll on private. He wasn't too far off, but the wind was picking up and I couldn't get a response and lost track of him because he wasn't in direct line of sight when I set up. Moving on around the property

Went to a new place that looked good. The habitat was great, but the birds were scarce. Not sure why unless they got taken out in the earlier seasons. It's a little odd because the deer were the most laxidaisical I've encountered in a long time. Yeah, I know it's May, but these deer weren't acting like they had seen scores of people recently. Way calmer than other places I've turkey hunted this year. So, I might turn it into a deer hunting property. Saw a good rub and a buck that started his antler growth and left a 3.5-finger-wide track in the dirt. Probably a 3.5 year old looking at his body. So I had fun exploring and put on more than 4 miles, but there were no birds, or at least no vocal birds.

https://youtu.be/KCG8UQKUGSo

Went back to the place I had a run-in yesterday and took an alternate approach. Well, I was completely on the other side of the large meadow from where I bumped that I one when I glassed the same area. Bird. No, three. It was raining lightly and they came out in the open. All were toms, but one was a tank. I watched from a slightly protected location and then wanted to guess their destination. I had to backtrack to avoid being seen then I went to setup and call. I called quietly and never heard back. The birds were silent the entire time. I didn't see where they exited and I probably should have simply observed than guess their destination. But I know where they came from and at what time. I may try to intercept them in the next day or two and planned out an approach and location before I left. We'll see.

Went out this morning to a wma I left several cams from last October im sure the cam died by January but I'm looking forward to seeing what all visited this scrape over the course of the season. I had been intendng to do this for weeks but t was a very very long way back to the cam about 2 miles. Plus over a hours drive to get here.

I spent my season last year hunting a boone and Crockett so all my other areas i never hunted.

Hopefully it will give me intel on when the most bucks were active in that area.

A cam update.
Cam put in October 13th 2020 over a scrape.
Saw a few small basket bucks n does.
Nov 6th another hunter walked past bucks disappeared for 9 days. 2 miles back a person crazy.

More bucks came in at night.

December 14th a different hunter walked past.
Unbelievable that multiple people went this deep during season.
No deer sign for a week.

December 27th at night had a 140 inch 8 come by.
January 4th same buck again pawing working scrape.

Cam died on January 14th it had been giving really bad dark pics since Jan 9th.

Really goes to show that any human activity completely shuts down mature buck movement in a area for a few weeks. On pressured public.

Tennhunter3 wrote:A cam update.
Cam put in October 13th 2020 over a scrape.
Saw a few small basket bucks n does.
Nov 6th another hunter walked past bucks disappeared for 9 days. 2 miles back a person crazy.

More bucks came in at night.

December 14th a different hunter walked past.
Unbelievable that multiple people went this deep during season.
No deer sign for a week.

December 27th at night had a 140 inch 8 come by.
January 4th same buck again pawing working scrape.

Cam died on January 14th it had been giving really bad dark pics since Jan 9th.

Really goes to show that any human activity completely shuts down mature buck movement in a area for a few weeks. On pressured public.

That's some good Intel. It's nice to see real world proof of human intrusion around buck bedding and a rough estimate on when they feel comfortable to return.

Moose wrote:

Tennhunter3 wrote:A cam update.
Cam put in October 13th 2020 over a scrape.
Saw a few small basket bucks n does.
Nov 6th another hunter walked past bucks disappeared for 9 days. 2 miles back a person crazy.

More bucks came in at night.

December 14th a different hunter walked past.
Unbelievable that multiple people went this deep during season.
No deer sign for a week.

December 27th at night had a 140 inch 8 come by.
January 4th same buck again pawing working scrape.

Cam died on January 14th it had been giving really bad dark pics since Jan 9th.

Really goes to show that any human activity completely shuts down mature buck movement in a area for a few weeks. On pressured public.

That's some good Intel. It's nice to see real world proof of human intrusion around buck bedding and a rough estimate on when they feel comfortable to return.

I know I've seen this data before... I think it was in Penn State studies. I'll try to find the chart.

Ok, I'll post it here even though this is the turkey hunting Live from the Field.



https://www.deerassociation.com/fast-ca ... -pressure/