Went up to the deer camp today to scout, trim lanes etc. Lots of sign and stumbled across 6 or 7 fresh scrapes. I know many guys are reporting not too many apples this year but we seem to have more than average this year with lots on the ground and decent numbers still in the trees as well. I set up a mineral site and had not looked it at since April. It appears to be popular:
https://live.staticflickr.com/65535/...19460be7_k.jpg
They have ate a pit that is roughly 4 feet by 5 feet. This is in the vicinity of a half dozen apple trees that are still holding good numbers of apples. I also set up a blind on an elevated platform that is tucked into the bush edge overlooking the meadow where the apple trees and mineral pit are located. This is looking towards the blind standing in front of the mineral pit and with 6 apple trees within 20 feet:
https://live.staticflickr.com/65535/...7ad0f811_k.jpg
The blind pic was taken before i trimmed up the shooting lanes. Looks to be a good season and probably try and get in a few sits with the crossbow in the next couple weeks. This is what the platform that you can't see looks like (not taken today and this is not the actual platform but is an identical one elsewhere on the property). It is 8 feet by 8 feet and is 12 feet up and constructed from cedar and corners are set on concrete sonotube 4 feet into the ground. They were a $%^& to build as everything was carried in on my back including the concrete bags and mix water. It was worth it though as many deer taken and they are still as solid as the day they were built 11 years ago:
https://live.staticflickr.com/4510/3...98bd85f2_b.jpg
Given the price of lumber today pretty sure they wouldn't be built now or if they were they wouldn't be cedar.
