Whoa, is it ever blowing out right now--I just came back from up on the hill back of my house where I once again jumped some deer browsing for food. It seems as though every time I've gone up this year, they're right on my property!
However, somehow I've neglected to write of my experience last week up on Laraby Mtn. I drove in to the parking lot at camp, then walked up to Laraby, crossing a few set of tracks going up towards Porcupine. When I reached the 'condos', there were lots of very fresh sign! Also, right before the 'condos', there was a fairly big track that walked right by Condo #1. So I snooped around a bit, trying to figure out how many deer there were before they'd headed on down the mountain. Impossible to tell, but there probably 4-5 or so. I sat down Condo #2--which is a rubber blind--for a few hours, and didn't see anything at all. On my way back, I saw a running track between the two condos (which is where all the fresh deer sign had been). Therefore it's quite probable that I jumped those deer walking over there, pushing them out. Another possibility, was that big track that wasn't with the rest of them. Perhaps it was a buck chasing some does, who knows? I also heard 2 shots coming from around the 63 lot.
Today, it was snowing quite heavily, and the wind was whipping. While certainly not quite as severe as it had been earlier this week (66 MPH winds!!), it was fairly nasty outside. I still-hunted up my trail, as that's where I've seen all the deer this year, in the evergreen trees that are growing up through the hardwoods at the top of my property. It's fairly thick in there, so they like it.
I had just encountered what was probably a track made an hour prior, headed north, and had just resumed on the trail when suddenly I felt, or heard something, and then quick as a blink of an eye, I saw one deer going like crazy for perhaps a fraction of a second. I thought that there was possibly a second one. When I got up to where they were, they'd just crossed in there from the Bannerhouse lot and had been chowing down on the fuzzy tops of a yellow birch tree that had broken off in a recent storm. There were 3 sets of tracks headed back towards the Bannerhouse lot (south), so I followed those tracks over to the road leading up to the mine. At that point, they crossed the road and were headed into that real thick evergreen stuff where not even a rabbit can crawl through. Also, it's been cut over in there, and is it ever hard to walk through. I decided not to follow them, but just in case they decided to swing uphill, I scurried over to that treestand near the big mineshaft behind the Bannerhouse. After about 20 minutes in there, I decided that I didn't really care to sit in a tree that was blowing back and forth, so I climbed back down again. There's a great view from up there, although the person who built the treestand messed up by obscuring the rear view.
From the mineshaft I walked down the road across the Secore lot, crossed right on top of that knoll that's been cleared off, then headed east towards the Roberts lot (Kramer's). Once I got into that open area, the wind was blowing that icy sleet right into my eyes, so instead of walking the long way around and then cutting back along the back lines of those lots, I just walked through one of Brian's skidder trails and then back down by the mineshaft on my property.
On the way back I remembered that there had been that other single set of tracks headed north. I figure that deer is up in there lying down in a nice warm place.
I wish I had someone to help me get one of these deer; with another person, it would be more effective.
However, somehow I've neglected to write of my experience last week up on Laraby Mtn. I drove in to the parking lot at camp, then walked up to Laraby, crossing a few set of tracks going up towards Porcupine. When I reached the 'condos', there were lots of very fresh sign! Also, right before the 'condos', there was a fairly big track that walked right by Condo #1. So I snooped around a bit, trying to figure out how many deer there were before they'd headed on down the mountain. Impossible to tell, but there probably 4-5 or so. I sat down Condo #2--which is a rubber blind--for a few hours, and didn't see anything at all. On my way back, I saw a running track between the two condos (which is where all the fresh deer sign had been). Therefore it's quite probable that I jumped those deer walking over there, pushing them out. Another possibility, was that big track that wasn't with the rest of them. Perhaps it was a buck chasing some does, who knows? I also heard 2 shots coming from around the 63 lot.
Today, it was snowing quite heavily, and the wind was whipping. While certainly not quite as severe as it had been earlier this week (66 MPH winds!!), it was fairly nasty outside. I still-hunted up my trail, as that's where I've seen all the deer this year, in the evergreen trees that are growing up through the hardwoods at the top of my property. It's fairly thick in there, so they like it.
I had just encountered what was probably a track made an hour prior, headed north, and had just resumed on the trail when suddenly I felt, or heard something, and then quick as a blink of an eye, I saw one deer going like crazy for perhaps a fraction of a second. I thought that there was possibly a second one. When I got up to where they were, they'd just crossed in there from the Bannerhouse lot and had been chowing down on the fuzzy tops of a yellow birch tree that had broken off in a recent storm. There were 3 sets of tracks headed back towards the Bannerhouse lot (south), so I followed those tracks over to the road leading up to the mine. At that point, they crossed the road and were headed into that real thick evergreen stuff where not even a rabbit can crawl through. Also, it's been cut over in there, and is it ever hard to walk through. I decided not to follow them, but just in case they decided to swing uphill, I scurried over to that treestand near the big mineshaft behind the Bannerhouse. After about 20 minutes in there, I decided that I didn't really care to sit in a tree that was blowing back and forth, so I climbed back down again. There's a great view from up there, although the person who built the treestand messed up by obscuring the rear view.
From the mineshaft I walked down the road across the Secore lot, crossed right on top of that knoll that's been cleared off, then headed east towards the Roberts lot (Kramer's). Once I got into that open area, the wind was blowing that icy sleet right into my eyes, so instead of walking the long way around and then cutting back along the back lines of those lots, I just walked through one of Brian's skidder trails and then back down by the mineshaft on my property.
On the way back I remembered that there had been that other single set of tracks headed north. I figure that deer is up in there lying down in a nice warm place.
I wish I had someone to help me get one of these deer; with another person, it would be more effective.
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