Chose the location nobody will go..... Want to go ,and will not find it ....
Quote:
Originally Posted by JPires84
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Chose the location nobody will go..... Want to go ,and will not find it ....
Quote:
Originally Posted by JPires84
J-why do You not try and hunt the deer without baiting?Quote:
Originally Posted by JPires84
Public land baiting is a good offer to anyone to sit on your bait-or close to your bait.And you could do nothing about it!First come-first served.Just because it is your gear-does not matter. Anyone can claim the same thing-It is mine.............just to chase the next guy away-You got what i mean?
If You build blinds,or put up tree stand,AND leave no traces,it is very unlikely someone will actually find Your stand,or care to steal it.
Or try to use a climber stand.
I am not bashing anyone's hard work on baiting-to each their own,but the moral rewards of getting a deer without baiting are much higher then -put out the corn,and see the deer coming in...........
Going in deep may help,but it takes a LOT of effort,and quite some time.Eventually the chances are not much better on scoring on the deer.Your gear will likely stay intact.
Yet-if You use ATV while doing all this deep in-secretive stuff-You are relying on ignorance and lack of curiosity of the next guy -who would perhaps investigate where the ATV tracks go???
Yea I would never leave a ground blind on public land. Or my $200 trail cam. Like was mentioned I would make some natural blinds on the ground in different locations to take advantage of different wind conditions. Do it early enough so that the deer get used to them.
As for location, alfoldivander nailed it, go where others aren't likely to bother, either because it's too messy or too much of a pain for the average Joe to bother. But that also means if you get a deer it's that much harder to drag out. Ice fishing sleds can make the job a lot easier, even with no snow on the ground. You could stash one there on one of your scouting trips.
As for bait and cameras, well for many years our gang and many others hunted a vast expanse of crown land on the north shore of a lake about an hour from here. We traveled by boat from our camp to where the north shore road ended, hopped in a truck we left there for the week, drove up the road a piece and then walked in a good distance in the dark and didn't come back till dark. My ground stand was more than a mile in, it was a rare event if we saw another hunter for the most part after the first 200 acres. There were swamps everywhere and the other camps never ventured in there much. That was fine by us and we respectfully stayed away from the other camp's "territories" as well.
So what I'm getting at JP is that you may be way over complicating things there lad, specially when essentially it seems you have no idea what the situation in that bush will be come hunting season unless you know someone who already hunts it. We never ever used bait or cameras and we still saw and shot deer, but we worked for them. Besides it would have been totally impractical. We would take one tour in before the hunt, check everything out and not go back till opening morning. Keep the bush virgin. As for blinds they really aren't needed to shoot deer. All of our deer up there over 15+years were shot off the ground. Hunt camps always name their spots and stands. Our better stands were called Big Rock, Lunch Rock ,Smitty's rock and Otter water. Not one of these stands had a blind, you just plunked your arse down on the ground or in my case I always carried a little folding stool. My spot was literally sitting in front of this huge boulder and I had lots of deer come within 30 yds or even closer over the years. But what all these stands had in common was location, 2 were near spots where deer traveled to cross wet areas, one was along a big pond and one was high on a rock point that looked down over a big swamp and had a great 360° view. Personally I much prefer the versatility of ground hunting, I find folks tend to get stuck with their blind or stand and not move around to take advantage of wind conditions or even go for a quick still hunt toward a bud in another stand.
JP I think your best bet is learn the area you want to hunt real well. Boots on the ground and studying maps and google earth before hand will provide you with the best knowledge you can get. You'd be surprised what little gems you might come across that will give you more confidence knowing you're in a good spot. and if the bush does get busy you'll have some hidden little spots that you can sneak into and let other hunters move the deer for you.
Good luck, hopefully the bush won't be too busy for you.
and as mentioned, if you leave the ground blind or tree stand, when you come out for a hunt and someone already there, they have the right to use it, just like a duck blind in a lake. You might have paid good money for the materials but it on public land which means it is public. I don't hunt public land, but that doesn't matter to thieves, can just imagine leaving things out on public land, it'd be like putting a sign up saying take me away. I do have a couple natural ground blinds, but I also have one spot that has a fallen tree that isn't far from a game trail and field. I got a nice 8pnt last year shooting over the fallen tree.
I simply do not leave anything out overnight unless I am in location. With the amount of trespasser posts I see on this forum and Gun Nuts even on Private Property it is a real each time you do. My suggestion is unless you are willing to understand the risk, save yourself the grief and expense, be present to track and pattern (as I have learned here) to improve your chances.
It is sad, that I have to even write this post!
I've had to dealt with theft issues at a couple of private properties I hunted in the past. Cameras gone, ladder stands gone. One year I had 1 climber stand and a ladder stand stolen within 2 months. I had to point a trail cam at one of my "New" ladder stands to find out a local property owner/hunter stole the new stand I set up just days before. I managed to recover that one. Couldn't prove that this fella was likely responsible for the disappearance of my other missing stuff but the fact that nothing else was ever taken from that property again pretty much says it all. Frustrating.
I only hunt public land (not by choice) I had a camera walk away last year and when I inspected my (other) camera cable locks this year I see that they have marks on them from where someone tried to get through them with a leatherman. I bought a climber just for that reason and never leave anything unlocked or extremely well hidden anymore. I've walked by cameras, waved, seen unlocked stands (once) and never once thought about taking them.
I only deer hunt on private land. I keep cams out year-round and the number of trespassers I catch is astounding. I would bet that your odds of gear going missing on private is similar to Crown.
Hang your cams high and point them down, and lock your stands. Even if you can reach the cam from the ground, when the cam is above eye level most people on cam don't see it. Pointing your cam at a stand, feeder or mineral site will draw attention to it. So far I've had decent luck but I'm sure that won't continue for long.
A great technique (which I haven't personally used) is to use a climbing stick as your first few tree steps and take it out with you when you go. You can also use it to reach your cams. This keeps your gear above eye level so it likely won't get noticed, and if it does get noticed, it deters all but the most ambitious of thieves.
Thanks for the tips guys! I think i will skip using the ground blind. Instead i will scout and any promising areas i will try and build a natural undetectable blind. But i still want to set up cams and feeders. I will put the feeders up higher above eye level.
What about those trail cam lock boxes? Have any of you used them? Are they eqsy to break into?
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I saw a picture recently of one of those lock boxes with a neat little hole where someone put a slug through it. Another piece of advice is lock the cam, not the SD Card door. I've heard of lots of SD cards going missing because a trespasser didn't want to get caught, better they take the card than destroy the cam.Quote:
Originally Posted by JPires84
I guess it is likely different on public land but lots of folks still don't want their pic taken.