Deer are hitting trophy rock (pic)

[catman529]

I put the rock out at least a couple weeks ago. Only got a few pics and the deer were just passing through or grazing on the fresh cut area.

5 days ago, I replaced the batteries in my Wildview because night pics had gotten darker and darker till they were black.

Today, after 5 days, the fresh batteries solved the problem and the deer started hitting the rock. Around 275 pics of deer in the past 5 days. I had to set the delay from 20 seconds to 1 minute due to the amount of pics. Mostly the same few does re-visiting the rock but I'm sure more will follow. Sorry I didn't have a spare card to swap so I will have to take my computer out there to transfer the pics.

No bucks yet, maybe I pushed em out of the area from walking the thicket too much. Think they will come back for spring and summer?

Here is the rock

 

[Hunter 257W]

That is pretty remarkable getting that much salt/mineral use this time of year. I usually have just a trickle of pictures over my licks in Feb. Just goes to show that deer habits vary as you change locations.

 

[catman529]

That is pretty remarkable getting that much salt/mineral use this time of year. I usually have just a trickle of pictures over my licks in Feb. Just goes to show that deer habits vary as you change locations.

yeah there were a bunch of pics with 3 deer side by side with their noses stuck in the rock. Other pics with 1 or 2 at a time using the rock and a few of deer browsing around or passing through.

 

[Mudbone]

Better put another rock there. That one will go quick I assume.

 

[LA man]

i bought a TR today. ill put it out tomorrow at my spot. there were 4 deer there this evening

 

[PinchPoint]

Cool deal! Love Trophy Rocks

 

[Phil1979]

Cool

 

[Football Hunter]

They never stop using TR on my place

 

[Bayou Buck]

They never stop using TR on my place

Same here.

 

[BSK]

I usually see salt-lick usage explode around mid-March. Although most of the salt-lick use at this time of year is by does.

 

[catman529]

I usually see salt-lick usage explode around mid-March. Although most of the salt-lick use at this time of year is by does.

BSK, it seems the bucks have vacated the area... no pics of them since deer season and I've had my cams in several locations. Now that I have gotten it settled in with my trophy rock, do you have a guess on when the bucks might show up? I'm hoping they will come in during the spring and summer and not just during the rut. Would like to watch their antlers grow

 

[nate17]

cat i have been wrong before, and im just taking a stab in the dark not knowing ur situation, but it could be that your increased human presence in this "thicket/sanctuary" could be directly related to decreased buck sightings.

Ive heard you refer to this place as a sanctuary before, but sanctuary from what? I know the cover is good from your pics, but as much as you hunted it and as much as i hear you talk about it, im not seein much of an opportunity for a sanctuary. Shed some light for me brother.

 

[catman529]

cat i have been wrong before, and im just taking a stab in the dark not knowing ur situation, but it could be that your increased human presence in this "thicket/sanctuary" could be directly related to decreased buck sightings.

Ive heard you refer to this place as a sanctuary before, but sanctuary from what? I know the cover is good from your pics, but as much as you hunted it and as much as i hear you talk about it, im not seein much of an opportunity for a sanctuary. Shed some light for me brother.

yes I think I have pushed all the bucks out from walking thru the place too much. Now that I have a clearing, ground blind and a TR, I will stay out of the rest of the "sanctuary" and let it o back to normal, with only the occasional visit to the clearing to check cams or work on the blind. I have a single entry trail into the clearing and don't intend to go anywhere else in hopes that the bucks will come back.

 

[BSK]

I usually see salt-lick usage explode around mid-March. Although most of the salt-lick use at this time of year is by does.

BSK, it seems the bucks have vacated the area... no pics of them since deer season and I've had my cams in several locations. Now that I have gotten it settled in with my trophy rock, do you have a guess on when the bucks might show up? I'm hoping they will come in during the spring and summer and not just during the rut. Would like to watch their antlers grow

Every property will display its own unique pattern for seasonal food and social-related shifts in deer range. But the most common shifts occur for social reasons as does begin to establish their fawning territories in late May, and when buck bachelor groups break up in late August. Food-driven range shifts usually occur when acorns begin to fall at the end of September, when white oak acorns go to root at the end of November, and at spring green-up at the end of March.

 

[nate17]

let me offer this piece of advice to you if you would like to kill a mature buck, if not disregard completely...

You have now picked apart this sanctuary with a fine tooth comb im sure, and you know its good. STAY OUT of it, make it a true sanctuary. Find a place NOW that you can hunt next season that is the best funnel opportunity entering and exiting sanctuary, go ahead and clear your shooting lanes and have your spot ready to hunt. Buy you a cheap lock on, hell i have one you can have. Get it up and leave it so you can enter and exit your stand site quietly without the noise of a climber. Stop screwing around with ground blinds, you need to get elevated to outsmart mature deer in most cases with a bow. Set up your mineral site on the edge of the sanctuary, the deer will find it and use it and you dont drop scent in the sanctuary to check your camera.

Dont hunt the thicket, its a sanctuary which means STAY OUT. You step one foot in that place the deer know it. Kill your does in your other spots or late season, save this spot till the first 2 weeks of november. Dont hunt your stand site unless wind conditions are right. You do this right, and id bet a benjamin you get a crack at a real good deer this fall. You got a good opportunity here man.

 

[catman529]

let me offer this piece of advice to you if you would like to kill a mature buck, if not disregard completely...

You have now picked apart this sanctuary with a fine tooth comb im sure, and you know its good. STAY OUT of it, make it a true sanctuary. Find a place NOW that you can hunt next season that is the best funnel opportunity entering and exiting sanctuary, go ahead and clear your shooting lanes and have your spot ready to hunt. Buy you a cheap lock on, hell i have one you can have. Get it up and leave it so you can enter and exit your stand site quietly without the noise of a climber. Stop screwing around with ground blinds, you need to get elevated to outsmart mature deer in most cases with a bow. Set up your mineral site on the edge of the sanctuary, the deer will find it and use it and you dont drop scent in the sanctuary to check your camera.

Dont hunt the thicket, its a sanctuary which means STAY OUT. You step one foot in that place the deer know it. Kill your does in your other spots or late season, save this spot till the first 2 weeks of november. Dont hunt your stand site unless wind conditions are right. You do this right, and id bet a benjamin you get a crack at a real good deer this fall. You got a good opportunity here man.

thanks for the advice. Last year, I started out hunting the woods outside of the thicket. Plenty of does, but I did not see the first buck until they started dogging the does. One the rutting began then I saw them in the woods, and that's how I killed that mature 1-horn buck, he was on the tail of several does coming into the woods from the sanctuary, and he was the 3rd buck I saw that morning.

Once the rut winded down, I didn't see any bucks in late season except for the one I jumped off the bed.

The sanctuary area is a crp type field approx 40 acres or so. At least 20 acres are the dense thicket where the bucks were coming from during deer season. My clearing and mineral site is a small bit of the 20+ acres of sanctuary. If I enter with the wind on my face, do you think it's huntable without messing up the deer down on the other end of the thicket? My plan is to hack the trail in the summer so that there are no sticks or weeds or anything on the trail so I can walk in completely silent and set up in my blind without making a sound. My goal is to hunt there in bow season to try and kill a couple does close range from the ground. When the bucks are rutting they will surely come through there but I will leave the rest of the thicket untouched. Do you think this plan is too intrusive?

 

[nate17]

Is it huntable?? sure.... Any place is huntable and people get lucky every day.

Would I hunt it unless I was going for broke?? Nope

I would definately not let my scent blow into the thicket while hunting that area. The idea behind a sanctuary is to have an area deer feel comfortable using, that usually means void of human presence and scent.

I think you could prolly get away with killing a couple early season does, but i personally would save that spot and just have spots that are good for pounding the hell out of does only. If you did hunt it early i would give it a nice 2 or 3 week break before you rut hunted it. Like i said in the first post, you are greatly turning the odds in the favor of the deer with the ground blind, a lock on would be mandatory for me.

 

[catman529]

There no tree big enough for a stand in the thicket. I want to kill one or two from the ground just for the challenge. I know it decreases my odds of getting a shot but that's kind of the point. It's one of my goals to kill one from the ground close range with a bow. Ill just have to be extra careful when I go into my spot in the thicket. Wind direction and scent control are definitely on top of my list as well as not making a sound coming into the blind.

 

[nate17]

I mean lets be realistic about all of the 'challenge' mambo jambo. Killing a mature buck with a bow is enough of a challenge. I know your in that deer hunting is easy phase cause you had a little success, but as you grow as a hunter things will change. I hope u pound one on the ground but the deer you end up spooking in the process will be more detrimental to the cause.

 

[catman529]

Oh I would just like to kill a doe, young or old, from the ground. I'd be happy to get a 3.5 year old buck any where, and would preferably be in a tree. Do you think hunting in my clearing when the wind is right will push bucks out of the area during the rut? Just the whole commotion of killing, gutting and dragging out a doe too much pressure on the bucks? That little bit of woods where I killed my buck is the same place I hunted hard during bow season and killed 3 does out of the same tree... Once the does started coming in, the bucks were there anyway. I guess it's different in their sanctuary though... I got a lot to learn, and think some of its going to just come from experience. But I will take note of any advice given to me since you and many others here have hunted a lot longer than have. Maybe I will hunt my ground blind in early bow season and then abandon the whole sanctuary once the bucks start to roam. Then they will have a safe place to bed down and I can hunt the perimeter in the privet bushes where they will be chasing does....