Hunting 2023

[retro 4,048]

It's opening day of archery Deer season here in the rugged northwestern UP of MI. I have stands set up for five 8 point bucks and a decent 6 point, plus a big elusive bad boy that looks like he has 12+ long and tall points, that I've scouted so far. Today the first of the five young 8 point bucks was taken, he's 4.5 years old and the same age as three of the four remaining 8s. The older 8 is 5.5 years old and has a bigger rack than the others and he's a bit more shy. There is also one large 10 point here that I haven't eyeballed yet this fall, but I'm expecting him to wander by a stand cam anytime.... 

 

From a north wind direction setup this youngster made our day!

 

 

[Fishfiles 20,145]

Nice looking  deer !!  >>>> I like the color of you'll deer , silvery sheen  >>>>  Nothing better than fried lion 

 

Last night was the first time I seen this new show , it was about game wardens in Northern Michigan , I'd watch it again >>>>  " Wardens of the North " 

[Fishfiles 20,145]

Hunting is about to start here. Was hanging with my buddy sighting in his guns right after daylight yesterday  This is his 45-70 buffalo primitive weapon  on the 50 yard lane. He is dead eye dock. I have the H + R short model 45-70.  Shot his H+ R buffalo barrel yesterday and what a difference a few inches of barrel can make.  Kicks like a mule.  Also shot his other primitive. Whalen 35.  I think that one kicked harder.   Might have just been the shells. 

[PROV 1,440]

You never feel the kick when you're shooting at an animal. We've been ruffed grouse hunting here and it has been quite good. Just did 9 days at my shack, went home and resupplied. Now I'm at a friend's camp through Thursday. A buddy had a black timber wolf cross the trail in front of him.

[jeepwm69 7,619]

I get to burn a vacation day Friday to accompany people who have been hunting without permission some land Dad has, apparently for several years, while they remove their stands and feeders from Dad's land.

 

In the early 80's, Dad found 240 acres for sale.  He couldn't afford to buy the whole place, but thought that the property was a bargain, so he asked a friend if he wanted to go 50/50.  The other guy balked, so dad said he'd do 2/3 and the other guy could do 1/3.

 

They bought it, with Dad getting 160 and the other guy 80.  They were allowed to hunt ours, and us theirs, but no one was allowed to hunt without being with a family member of one of the two families.

 

This worked well till about 10 years ago.  Dad's friend passed away, and his son is a grade A POS.  Enough to where I won't speak to him if I see him.  The son sold the 80 without ever telling us he was selling it.  He also cut all the timber over 24" off the place before he sold it (RUINED the timber stand on that part of the place).  The guy who bought it asked Dad for the same agreement about hunting, which Dad agreed to.  That said, Dad is weird about such things and required a lease for the guy, and in that lease it stated that if he sold the adjoining 80, his lease on Dad's ground was immediately null and void.

 

Guy needed money 4-5 years ago, and sold the 80.  He then leased hunting rights from the new owners, but Dad told him he no longer had the right to hunt Dad's 160.

 

A few weeks ago, the boy my daughter has been dating for 4-5 years asked me about the property (he apparently saw it on the county property map that shows the owners).  I told him it was Dad's, and told him good luck.  My father never let ANYONE hunt that property unless he or I were physically present.  Not even my closest friends when we were young.  The boy asked, and Dad says "Sure, you can keep an eye on it for me, and hunt it.  ONLY you, no one else"   No telling what all other stipulations were in that lease Dad made the boy sign LOL.

 

Boy goes out to walk the property.  Asks if there is an easier way in that hiking ridges and valleys through the public land to get there, and I tell him we have an easement using a road on that 80, tell him I'll get him a key.  Key doesn't work.  Someone has changed locks.   I was there bank in the spring and my key worked then........

 

I contact the group that owns the 80, and they say "Nope, not us, and no one is leasing the 80 from us any more".  I tell them I'm going to cut locks and put new on, which I did.  I left notes on the gates stating "Private Property, No Trespassing" with Dad's name and my cell number (Dad never answers his phone). 

 

Boy goes in there Friday and finds stands, feeders, and game cameras in several places.  Power line easement is one giant long food plot.  Tell him to grab the game cams and we find the guy who isn't supposed to be there anymore (the guy who owned the 80 for a couple of years).  Tell that to Dad and the owners of the 80, and tell them to talk and figure out how to handle it.  The next morning I get a call at dawn from the previous owners son, who had found the notes on the gates.  

 

Apparently they had an auto-renewal on the lease with the current owners of the 80, but hadn't paid or even talked to the owners since 2021.  They weren't supposed to be on Dad's land at all as of the moment they sold that 80.

 

Dad tells them to get their stuff off the land, and now I get to burn a vacation day Friday to stand watch while they get their stuff.  They said they were going to remove bridges and culverts they put in too, and we had to have the family lawyer tell them that they weren't allowed to remove improvements that they did to leased land (bridges are in bad shape, and don't really care about the culverts, but Dad doesn't want them destroying the place with equipment, so it has to stay).

 

It never ceases to amaze me how stupid, unethical, and entitled people become when it comes to hunting.

 

On a bright note, the boy is getting sole access to land that is covered in food plots.  Bet he really kisses my daughter's ! now!

[WonderMonkey 723]

My brother, uncle, two friends and myself lease around 500 acres in Northeast Kentucky.  We have been there for 13 years now and are still making adjustments to our hunting spots as needed.  We are fortunate enough to have cellular trail cams so the first thing I do when I wake up is check my new photos!  Bow opened for us the 2nd of September though we generally don't hunt that warm of weather unless we just need to sit in our stands and watch the world go by.  There was an old house on the property that we helped fix up a bit 13 years ago and stayed in it.  Over time, the mold has taken over and it hasn't been smart to spend too much time in that cabin.  My uncle and friend bought a large shed to insulate and stay in, and my other friend, brother and myself each bought an enclosed trailer to convert to sleeping quarters.

We go to the property about six times a year before we begin to hunt.  We maintain this or that, move stands and feeders and use all as an excuse to be out there hanging out as a group.

Hunting for me is doing all that with my group, developing the herd, and putting myself in a position to take the kind of deer that I know is in my area.  I take deer most years and give it to a local food bank.  Sometimes I won't shoot anything and other times I'll put one in the freezer.

[shadetree 5,884]

On 10/10/2023 at 11:05 AM, jeepwm69 said:

I get to burn a vacation day Friday to accompany people who have been hunting without permission some land Dad has, apparently for several years, while they remove their stands and feeders from Dad's land.

 

In the early 80's, Dad found 240 acres for sale.  He couldn't afford to buy the whole place, but thought that the property was a bargain, so he asked a friend if he wanted to go 50/50.  The other guy balked, so dad said he'd do 2/3 and the other guy could do 1/3.

 

They bought it, with Dad getting 160 and the other guy 80.  They were allowed to hunt ours, and us theirs, but no one was allowed to hunt without being with a family member of one of the two families.

 

This worked well till about 10 years ago.  Dad's friend passed away, and his son is a grade A POS.  Enough to where I won't speak to him if I see him.  The son sold the 80 without ever telling us he was selling it.  He also cut all the timber over 24" off the place before he sold it (RUINED the timber stand on that part of the place).  The guy who bought it asked Dad for the same agreement about hunting, which Dad agreed to.  That said, Dad is weird about such things and required a lease for the guy, and in that lease it stated that if he sold the adjoining 80, his lease on Dad's ground was immediately null and void.

 

Guy needed money 4-5 years ago, and sold the 80.  He then leased hunting rights from the new owners, but Dad told him he no longer had the right to hunt Dad's 160.

 

A few weeks ago, the boy my daughter has been dating for 4-5 years asked me about the property (he apparently saw it on the county property map that shows the owners).  I told him it was Dad's, and told him good luck.  My father never let ANYONE hunt that property unless he or I were physically present.  Not even my closest friends when we were young.  The boy asked, and Dad says "Sure, you can keep an eye on it for me, and hunt it.  ONLY you, no one else"   No telling what all other stipulations were in that lease Dad made the boy sign LOL.

 

Boy goes out to walk the property.  Asks if there is an easier way in that hiking ridges and valleys through the public land to get there, and I tell him we have an easement using a road on that 80, tell him I'll get him a key.  Key doesn't work.  Someone has changed locks.   I was there bank in the spring and my key worked then........

 

I contact the group that owns the 80, and they say "Nope, not us, and no one is leasing the 80 from us any more".  I tell them I'm going to cut locks and put new on, which I did.  I left notes on the gates stating "Private Property, No Trespassing" with Dad's name and my cell number (Dad never answers his phone). 

 

Boy goes in there Friday and finds stands, feeders, and game cameras in several places.  Power line easement is one giant long food plot.  Tell him to grab the game cams and we find the guy who isn't supposed to be there anymore (the guy who owned the 80 for a couple of years).  Tell that to Dad and the owners of the 80, and tell them to talk and figure out how to handle it.  The next morning I get a call at dawn from the previous owners son, who had found the notes on the gates.  

 

Apparently they had an auto-renewal on the lease with the current owners of the 80, but hadn't paid or even talked to the owners since 2021.  They weren't supposed to be on Dad's land at all as of the moment they sold that 80.

 

Dad tells them to get their stuff off the land, and now I get to burn a vacation day Friday to stand watch while they get their stuff.  They said they were going to remove bridges and culverts they put in too, and we had to have the family lawyer tell them that they weren't allowed to remove improvements that they did to leased land (bridges are in bad shape, and don't really care about the culverts, but Dad doesn't want them destroying the place with equipment, so it has to stay).

 

It never ceases to amaze me how stupid, unethical, and entitled people become when it comes to hunting.

 

On a bright note, the boy is getting sole access to land that is covered in food plots.  Bet he really kisses my daughter's ! now!

just wow..what a read jeep !. thank goodness catfish knows al ( the guy's land i hunt on ). we met up a few years back one day i was out at catfishes place. catfish and al are out in front, al brought an old atc 200 that needed fixing, and of course catfish does not like working on atc's anymore, and low and behold, he calls me over..indroduces me to al, who i meet, al tells me the story on this atc, which he uses only on his 200 acre he leases. he tells me, '' i can either pay you to fix it ?..or i'll give you hunting rights on my lease '' ?.oh heck..i just hit the state lottery !..rofl. i said in a heartbeat '' i will fix it like its brand new..and i'll take the hunting rights '' !..we agreed..shook hands..and i've been hunting there for about 3-4 yrs now. took my very first 5 pointer that very first year there !. great group of members there, they all are very helpful. one of the members is the guy with a large tractor that is going to be there this weekend to help me get my new blind to my spot, and ( hopefully ) up on the metal stand that is there ?..lol. 

[jeepwm69 7,619]

The folks showed up Friday with a crew, got all their stuff loaded up and out in about 3 hours.  The father said he had a verbal agreement with the new owners of the 80 that he would have hunting rights on that land, and most of his irritation seemed to be with the owner of the 80.  That said, he also talked about all the good stuff they'd done out there as far as bridges and food plots, etc, and said that he figured one day Dad would want hunting rights back for his land.  Dad said "Well your lease with me ended the day you sold the 80.  That was in your lease" and the guy kinda stammered and said "Well I didn't read it very closely."   The he said "You know I got you an easement across this 80 to get to your land.  I did that for you." and Dad said "No, I've had an easement across this since I bought it in the early 80's.  It's recorded at the courthouse".   Conversation was polite, but Dad wasn't letting the guy get by with any BS.

 

All of that said, they weren't supposed to be on us, but the way the 80 acres was leased could go either way in my mind.   After they left we went back and discovered that they put in a new bridge on the 80, crossing a sizeable creek.  That makes accessing our land very easy, and I certainly understand why they said they wanted to get their bridges back, since they'd just put in a new bridge sometime in the last 6 months.  But that's not on our land, so between them and the owner of the 80.

 

I did find some "good junk" that I'm going to go out there and get; several telephone poles and some I beams, that I hope to use to build a bridge back on the family farm close to town, a portable carport that was used to cover a small tractor used for bushhogging on the 80 (old man who bought the place with Dad put that there, and the subsequent owners haven't used it), and some cinder blocks and old corrugated tin from where the old cabin was torn down.  The carport will cover my fishing boat and a couple of 4 wheelers, and the cinder blocks will fill in some washes I have on my trails on the farm.  Tin will be used to cover my woodpiles. 

 

I like "free junk" LOL.

[retro 4,048]

I pulled all of my Deer stands out of the woods yesterday because no one was around to hunt out of them. My friends are slaving when they should be hunting this year, me thinks. Oh well, it was a lot of fun. Got lots of good bucks here and they'll all be bigger next year!

 

On a sour note, it was a bad season for bear here, worse I've ever seen. No one even wanted to hunt bear after the first week of the season passed with only one big boar showing up -- just a couple times during the night. So the bear stands were yanked early on. I may not set up for bear again, so many have too little time to hunt. It's becoming a waste of my time... maybe someone can change my mind next year?

 

I'm still shooting my crossbow for fun; but the days are getting colder and wetter now, so I'm gonna have to put that down too, pretty soon. It's held it's tune over from last summer through the entire summer this year, I'm still punching 1 inch dots out to 100 yards on every shot. I need to find a new custom arrows guru this winter though, cause the guy who made all of my arrows for me sold out and the quality isn't good anymore. I need to buy a dozen, made to my specs.... Anyone know who the best arrow maker in the world is now? 

 

 

[retro 4,048]

14 hours ago, jeepwm69 said:

The folks showed up Friday with a crew, got all their stuff loaded up and out in about 3 hours.

 

My neighbor just found himself in a similar situation as your dad's. Neighbor is buying the 180 acres with a camp on it that borders his camp property, which butts up against my land. He went back there to look his new land over and he found No Trespassing signs nailed to trees everywhere along the two-track that goes past the camp and runs the length of the woods. He found cellular cameras along the road and he found a popup blind on the edge of a powerline that crosses the front 40. The trails are rutted up by a pickup truck or maybe two.... and he was told by the previous owner that no one had permission to hunt back there before he bought the property. So now he's gathering all the stuff up that he found and taking the stuff to his camp, cell cams and all. He's gonna put a gate up tomorrow, so the owners of all that stuff are gonna have to come out and talk to my buddy about getting their stuff back. We're thinking they likely have a few tree stands set up out there too, so maybe there's a few hundred bucks worth of equipment still out there. My buddy says he's gonna make them fix the damages they made to his trails and two-track, so there might be some cussing goin' on next door shortly. :)

[Wheeler 2,525]

The ole Honda did it again!! Pulled 2 more deer outta the bush for me! 
I still have 1 more tag left! I gotta tell ya, it was my first time butchering a deer at home. Took me 2 days to get them all done!

2 rump roasts, 30+lbs burger, Lots of steaks, 4 back straps, 4 tenderloins, 3lbs stew meat, ribs, 20lbs jerky meat, & all scraps cooked up for the dog! Went by myself into the middle of no where. Had amazing time by myself. Came around trail first morning out, first hour out, to a doe standing there. Got her with 7mm at 40yards. Windshield made for great rest!  Next morning, first hour & half out, I was on trail which was hard to get too just idling along & looked down another trail.. what do I see? A doe staring at me off the side of trail. I know my firearms very well & practice a lot. I jumped off, put the 30-30 over the mirror as rest, lined up the Burris Fast Fire 2 red dot right on her head, (it covered her entirely) squeezed the Ranger Point Precision Trigger & let my hand loaded  150gr Nosler Ballistic Silvertip Fly! Well heck she took off across the trail & into bush. I reload & go down the trail to look for blood or anything. NOTHING so I think! I looked a little further down the trail & there she was.  DRT! It was another deer I didn’t see that took off! I hammered her. Ranged back to the quad, 115yards. Longest most accurate shot I’ve made with the 30-30 & red dot to date!!!! 

(I do not recommend anyone actually take a frontal shot!)

 

 

Edited October 19, 2023 by Wheeler