Fall 2021 Season(s) recap
Hope everyone is well. It has certainly been a while since I have been here.
I'm going to try to recap my fall bear and deer seasons without forgetting too much. Having said that.... any comments I make here are my own observations and opinions. I'm not up for having a debate but questions or CONSTRUCTIVE criticisms are welcome. I will talk about what did or didn't work for me. I am not endorsing any product that I mention nor am I paid to do so.
Before I get into the details I will say that actively pursuing both deer and bear kicked my butt. I'm not the type of hunter that buys a tag in case something walks in front of me ( not that there is anything wrong with that it's just not who I am ).
I spent almost every day I could in the woods. I am a shift worker ( 7 shifts every 28 days... I'll let you do the math ).
For those who are unfamiliar with my postings I hunt public land for deer and fall bear and regardless of the season I only hunt with a bow.
Lets start with bear season.
I spent a lot of time getting boots on the ground ( all my hunting is done on foot..no ATV ). I chose two spots that had decent sign and plenty of trails. I set up a barrel in one spot and a ground pile ( three sided log structure covered with brush in order to try and manipulate the bear's approach to the food. The barrel I established was mistake #1. I installed what I call a trickle barrel. My thought were that the bear would knock the barrel over and the food would trickle out as it was rolled around. The problem was the bear it attracted hardly showed any interest in the barrel. One thing I still haven't figured out is why the bear would only show up every 7-10 days. With the barrel I also hung a chicken wire basket from a nearby dead tree. In this basket I used meat scraps from a local grocery store. My thinking here was that the scent would travel while keeping the racoons out of it. I did also put bones and meat scraps on and near the barrel but all that did was bring in a wake of vultures. Close to the end of the season the meat basket was vandalized ( rope cut into lots of pieces and chicken wire was shredded. The basket was at least 15' up. ). Unfortunately my camera wasn't angled towards it. Not a big deal. More of an insult than an injury. Long story short the bear never showed up during daylight hours and once rifle season for deer opened up I didn't see it again.
Moving on to bear site #2.
I love using a ground bait setup for bear. The drawbacks of using a ground bait pile are no matter how hard you try raccoons and birds WILL get in. Another drawback is that the bear doesn't have to work too hard and once the pile is uncovered it will probably just lie down and eat until it is full. The problem with this is once the bear is full ( or had enough ) it will just get up and leave which in turn doesn't leave much of a shooting opportunity. This spot was so perfect ( at first thought ). Right on the edge of a swamp, tons of trails through the tall grass, tracks in the soft ground and lots of scat. Never once had a bear on camera here ( to my knowledge....there is a reason I say this ). As with site#1 I didn't take deer season into consideration. The added traffic, dogs and overall human presence are all things I didn't consider. I have located another spot that I think may be a better solution ( awesome spring spot but I can't get to it in the spring as all entrances to the property are gated in the spring and summer. Anyways back to Site#2 and a problem I did encounter. I did have deer hunters set up a bait site 50-75 yards away from my bait pile. I'm not blaming them for setting up there ( they couldn't have seen my spot ). I never saw them there but I did inadvertently walk in front of one of their cameras one day when I went in to replenish my bait. That's when my problems began. The bait was being consumed but no pictures were being taken. I set up a secondary camera and caught two hunters manipulating my camera. They deleted pictures. Complete in my opinion. My fault for not locking it. Lesson learned. I opted to avoid a confrontation and pulled my bait site.
Both bear sites I used the same baits. Meat, bones, sweets, popcorn, fryer grease. I tried it all. Cooked bacon on site and did honey burns.... Nothing... One thing that I will carry over to spring bear is something I developed that creates an incredible amount of scent. I heated up a large coffee tin filled half way with fryer grease. Once it has reached frying temperature I put in good sized beef bones and let them cook for a while ( bones straight from the butcher work best... the meat and marrow produce soooo much scent). I will post pictures of this setup later.
So.... lessons learned during fall bear.... try to have all equipment covered by a camera, lock cameras and other equipment and when you think you've gone far enough away walk further.
Before I get into deer season I will say that after spending the first part of bear season with the wrong cameras I switched to two new ones which I love. I will NEVER buy another Spypoint product EVER again. I bought a Tactacam Reveal X and a Bushnell CelluCore A20 and I couldn't be happier with them. I still use Browning, Primos and the odd Moultrie cameras but I will phase them out in favour of the new cameras.
Ok....Deer season....
By far this was my best season even though I did not harvest. In the three previous years of hunting I've only had a handful of deer ( maybe 5 ) in front of me. This season I had 33. Not a typo. I know that it was a variation of a group of six or seven for the most part but without an ear tag I can't be 100% sure. The first month of the season was eerie. It was like I had the forest to myself aside from the four wheeling crowd. Once gun season arrived it was a different story. On one occasion I counted thirteen trucks on the way in. The day before rifle opened up people were setting up campers ( totally against the rules for the area ). It was crazy. I even saw one group that brought in a construction office trailer. No idea how they got that in there. There was sooo many ATVs and dogs.
One day I decided to try an area that usually is only accessible during a dry season. This was a relatively cold day and definitely not during a dry season. I brought waders with me but unfortunately I brought the pair that leaks ( not bad but enough to be uncomfortable ). I should have turned around but I'm a little stubborn. The first part of the kilometer walk wasn't too bad. The ice that had formed wasn't thick and the water wasn't too deep. The ice did get thicker. Not to the point of holding me but to the point of needing my weight to break it. Eventually I tripped on something and ended up having the front part of my waders scooping up some water. This pretty much ended my search for new ground for the rest of the season.
One of the main areas I hunt held a really wide typical 8, a second decent buck and a really big doe. The wide 8 has been on my radar for a couple of seasons ( I didn't see him on camera after Nov 1... hopefully he made it through ). This is where I saw the majority of deer this season.
One of my new purchases that I attribute the increase in opportunities was a Scentlok gear chamber ( I wish I had purchased it before the season began ). I somewhat believe that Scentlok gear helps with scent control. As with all hunting apparel it is pricey ( wish we could go back to the red and black flannel jackets and jeans ) but I ALWAYS buy my Scentlok gear when it is on sale.
I had deer ( doe and two yearlings ) walk past me while I was on the ground with no blind at 3 yards. I had a wolf ( or the biggest damned coyote I have ever seen ) walk to 10 yards ( at my 5 o'clock ). I was almost always on the ground ( I did do so tree sits with my saddle but not a lot ) and never once was I busted ( that I know of ) due to scent. I did get busted a couple of times due to movement but even still the deer didn't take off. I even got in a stomping contest with a doe ( she would stomp and I would punch the ground in response ).
I did have a close encounter with a buck. A doe and two yearlings came in. I was able to stand up and had my back to a tree. The tree deer began to eat and out of the corner of my left eye I could see a fourth deer coming in. I could see that it was one of the bucks I deemed as a target buck. Problem was it would come in to about 4 yards short of the feeding deer, turn around, leave and then repeat the process for the entire time the doe and yearlings were feeding. No idea why. None of the deer were making any noises ( no grunts, bleats or snorts ). The way I was standing I could draw on the feeding deer but due to branches I couldn't swing on the buck. Very frustrating but oh well. Still an awesome experience.
I tried everything this deer season. I did cut WAY back on my calling and the use of scents. I tried a variety of different feeds and finally settled on a combination that I like. I tried minimal effort food plots. I tried hunting natural food sources. Morning, midday and afternoon hunts. I found that afternoon to end of shooting light was the best time for the area I was hunting.
This was the first deer season for me that didn't seem like work by the end. Maybe I'm starting to put the pieces together. Don't get me wrong I'm still bummed out that I didn't harvest a deer.
On to spring turkey and bear..... I'm soooo pumped.
I hope I didn't ramble on too much.
Some photos to follow.
