Getting something off my chest......
Kansas
I guess I need to get something off my chest. I need to put it out there and into words for fellow hunters as my friends and family don't understand. I hunt "pasture deer" and don't have a field field close to me where I have mainly been hunting the last few years. I felt like I "had to have" a feeder or corn piles to be able to keep up with my friends that are always shooting big deer. I have had a good 4 or 5 year run shooting some nice bucks, all over corn piles or feeders. Last year I bought a tactacam reveal and set it up over my feeder. I had a buck I had chased a couple of years coming in every night on that camera. I waited until the wind was right and got in the stand and shot "my buck" within the first hour of hunting last year. I never even got excited, it was like a cow coming to a trough and I knew the exact time he was coming in almost every night. I have almost felt remorse more and more each year and after shooting this deer I was almost ashamed inside. As season approached this year I had almost no desire to hunt any longer. I got into waterfowl last year since I shot my buck so early and fell in love with it. It wasn't the hunting so much as it was the comradery of hunting with really good friends and getting to visit about life etc. So as this season rolled around I had waterfowl on the brain much more than deer. I know exactly why also, it's the damn corn. I was no longer hunting. When you run a feeder it's always messing up to, getting clogged up, coons eating it.......coons setting it on fire......yes they set one of mine on fire and I have the game camera pictures to prove it. Last week I drove my wife to the Mayo clinic in Minnesota and as we drove from Wichita up there I noticed TONS of corn sacks littering our roadways. Probably saw more than 50 in ditches or medians. We have to be better as hunters and it's damned obvious what they are when you see them. Farmers will know also. Iowa, Minnesota and Wisconsin I saw ZERO.......because they aren't allowed to use it. Anyway here we are a week before it gets "good" and I haven't touched a stand, nothing. I'm going out this weekend to set some stands and "scout" for the first time in years because I've made a personal choice to not use a feeder any longer. I miss the "hunt".....i remember back in the day getting excited about seeing a rub or scrape, looking for funnels etc. When you become a corn addict you do none of that any longer, you simply go set and wait. My nephew shot his first buck last year with a rifle over my feeder. He "hunted" exactly an hour. He's never been in the woods and scouted, looked for trails, looked for rubs, looked for scrapes etc. All he has in his head now is set over a golden pile and pull the trigger. This is what we are teaching a new generation of hunters........I for one am making a personal stand to not do that any longer. I'm mad at myself and embarrassed but I'm making a public confession and getting it off my chest. I made a post asking about decoys. I think the money I used to spend on corn and batteries I'm going to save up and buy a decoy and get back to hunting and having fun again. Cause I can promise you I almost quit deer hunting over this issue. Post over and thanks for letting me get this off my chest.
I have pictures of them on the feeder and timer 10 seconds before it caught fire to.
Travis, I know a lot of guys/gals deep down feel exactly as you do, but are afraid to admit it. I applaud your new found interest in the sporting aspect of hunting, but you knew I would.
Crazy pictures for sure...now the little bastards are carrying BIC lighters?
Good for you. Nice thing about not using bait is that it makes almost every buck you kill with a bow a trophy IMO. If I could ever kill a 4+ year old buck with no bait I'd be super stoked even if it was 105". About got it done last year off the ground but one lung wasn't good enough. I guarantee if you rattle and decoy from the ground and end up only shooting 2 year olds you'll have far more enjoyment and fulfillment than if you shoot 160"+ deer over a feeder or corn pile. And I completely agree that we are teaching kids the wrong things...
I have never hunted over bait, never hunted a food plot, and never will. Prior to 1995, I don't think I ever saw a deer feeder in woods. No deer feeders, no box blinds, and no purple paint. Post 1995, it has all went down hill.
Travis....good for you! I think you are definitely on the right track using the "decoy" strategy on your pasture ground instead of corn and feeders. Might be best to think about buying/using a doe decoy (either standing or bedded) and see how that goes during the rut this season.
I too hunt prairie pasture ground (with cattle present) and it has a good number of timbered drainages/draws (natural funnels with trails, scrapes, rubs, etc.) that eventually connect to AG that in most cases is 1/4-1/2 mile away. I sometimes use a decoy and like Writer said on your decoy thread, decoying for me works out to a realistic shot opportunity about 50% of the time.
If you ever get to the point again where you are thinking about quiting....PM me and you can ride out with me ( I live in Wichita too) to where I hunt and I'll put you up in 1 of my 7 tree stands. Wishing you the best.
Good for you Travis. I personally have never had the desire to sit over a bait pile. Never could relate it to “hunting”. I,like you have always hunted for the thrill of the hunt, figuring out the deers habits, their trails, how they change with the seasons, the food sources, and trying to get one step ahead of them. The days of hunting the same stand 2 days in a row and having the deer move under a different stand within sight, so the third day you move to the other stand, and the deer show up under the stand you just moved from. That’s what keeps me going back. I’m even to the point if one shows up and the situation seems to easy, I may even pass just because it just doesn’t feel right. I’m more of a meat hunter to make matters easier. Do what feels right for you, the important thing is keeping your heart in it. You owe nobody explanations or apologies, just love the hunt and you’ll be fine.
Travis: nice story and I agree have never baited or planted a plot, no acres to do so. Have never killed a monster or have I ever measured one. Try to get back to the way it was before all the scoring and money got in the game, good luck.
I ordered a bottle of Cover-Up today and will hunt from the ground with my recurve. I always used Cover Up back in the day. Going old school. I sold all my compounds last winter but would mind finding one that I could shoot with fingers.
Nice thread KS gang. Travis - great post. You did nothing illegal. Nice offer from Crested Butte. I do not hunt bait and do not use cameras because I know quite a few guys that have many cell cams and hunt stands when they get pics. I feel guilty about using my 250 FPS Bowtech with a release and wonder if I should go to an older lower tech bow and fingers as I can shoot accurately a long distance due to these advances/advantages. I feel today's equipment/bait/tree houses/multiple cell cams violate fair chase - most hunters and game agencies do not think they do. Really nice to see the KS bunch step up. Kudos to you guys.
Good for you Travis. Glad you are finding a way for you to hunt in a way that keeps you in the game. FYI, I think parts of Wisconsin does allow baiting. I hunt my property in west/central Ks. There are zero trees on it except for the 15 or so 10’ high apple trees that I planted. The nearest tree stand able tree is over a mile away. It is 640 acres and a relatively flat piece of CRP grass that 4” to 4’ tall. It’s surrounded mostly by cattle pastures that are grazed and really have zero deer cover. And there is either wheat or milo planted next to it on one side. I’ve hunted the property since the mid 90s, and bowhunted it the past 10 years with feeders. I know the property and surrounding property very well. I’ll be baiting and bow hunting it as long as it’s legal. That’s the only way to hunt it and have a chance at a deer in range. If baiting becomes banned, my only choice will be to hunt it from a tower blind with my 257 weatherby. I wish my property was forested with some mast producing oaks, a flowing creek, pinch points with trees for tree stands, kill food plots, and lots of browse, but it’s not. If I arrow a deer at a feeder on this property, I’ll be quite happy. Hope you have a successful season.
I love food plots... love planting them. No regrets or apologies for having them and I’ve been planting before it was “cool”. Guess how many bucks I’ve killed in a foodplot? One. It was a good one, but he was the only one.
I rarely ever sit over a food plot. It’s probably been 5 years since I’ve hunted near one hunting for a buck. Late season does? That’s another story.
I’ll keep planting them because I do think it helps other wildlife (I know that’s debatable) and I enjoy the work.
As for getting back into traditional methods of hunting... kudos. Best decision you’ll make. I get the desire to bait. Especially if you are surrounded by lazy jack wagons.
I had the best hunt of my life last year. Probably will never top it. Actually, I know I won’t. Cat and mouse with a once in 10 lifetimes monster for almost 3 months. Tagged him just days before rifle season. Every deer on my wall has a great story to go with it... and I’m damn proud of the methods I used on each one. They were hunts.
I honestly enjoy taking others, but I think I’m done with that for a while as well. I’m hoping to get my son out a few times in the coming weeks and begin teaching him woodsmanship. I just like being out there... don’t have to kill. It’s also likely that my bowhunting days are over due to my ongoing shoulder issues, but I have this nagging desire to pick up a recurve.
I’ve had a great run.
Baiting deer is not, nor has it ever been, something I cared to do. I've never liked bird feeders either. Feeding wildlife regularly makes them dependent on the food hand outs, they discontinue their natural feeding habits and patterns, they will head straight to the easy food trough every time after first discovering it.
Where I hunt, deer seldom bed there. They sleep on neighboring properties where there is more cover and less human presence/traffic. I mostly hunt near or alongside grain fields, so in a sense, I am baiting the deer there near my stands. If I hunt near oaks trees knowing the deer love acorns, am I not using bait to attract them? Food plots? Had one for one season, saw absolutely no benefit from it. To each their own though.
Good luck with this decision Travis, hope you can enjoy your time in the field
I found out a few days ago the giant buck I was after was killed over a corn pile and neither the hunter or her boyfriend actually had permission. The gate has been locked but they were driving around it using another property to access the ravine. The buck scores 182". Really ticks me me off.
Jason…sorry to hear about that. Any pics of this buck?
We planted a food plot. Corn Milo beans. Neighbors ship keep getting out. 30-40 sheep devour a plot in just a few days. That pisses me off.
^^^ Mutton chops for supper tonight it is!
I hear you Thornton. An adjoining property to mine in MO took 4 bucks opening morning of rifle season, all scored 130-140. I knew at least a couple of them were regularly using our piece. Sure changes the excitement level for most.
I am starting to agree with Dave though, antler addiction is a lot of the problem with leasing and fewer opportunities for newbies. I will be back at it this weekend, took the last one off to prep a couple of stands to hang in areas I haven’t before. Deer have adjusted, I will do the same.
Enjoy the journey and time in the woods! Good luck all.
If you have hard evidence they didn’t have permission, I would think there could be some legal action taken?
"I found out a few days ago the giant buck I was after was killed over a corn pile and neither the hunter or her boyfriend actually had permission."
Was the owner of the property ever notified even though everyone through the grapevine knew? I'm assuming if the owner had a "failure pile" on his property he may of had an issue with someone trespassing and killing a deer over it? What's missing from this story?
What's missing is the landowner died last year and the aging wife is in charge. Her son handles the cattle business in the summer but he lives 2 hours away and does not know who was given permission.I spoke to the area manager warden in Emporia and he stated even though the gates are locked, the property is not posted. If there was permission granted, even years ago by the actual owner, it may be difficult to make a case. He is going to follow up with all parties. I've asked for permission and had permission the last 25 years.
No hero or trail cam pics of this 182” buck?
Hmmm... it has always been my understanding it didn’t matter if land was posted or not?
That is what happens when the Judges, County Attorneys, other Lawyers, and LEO admins are allowed to tell the public what they believe is the definition of the law is Ray. I have heard of trespassing cases being dropped because there weren't signs every so many feet, or the appropriate shade of purple on the posts and gates. Our current judicial system is archaic, behind the times. I heard one judge during a trial for a guy arrested for road hunting, illegal hunting (out of season), and trespassing on multiple properties, telling the attorneys and court room that the accused was most likely just simply feeding his family (the guy left whole carcasses behind, only took the heads and antlers with him). The judge went on to say that it was likely that he had asked permission and had been turned down at too many places, basically telling us that it was ok to trespass if you got turned down too many times. I sat in disbelief listening to the judge, he was telling the court room that in his court, poaching was excusable and a waste of his and the court's time
What judge was that? That's absurd.
Randy,
What county was this? How long ago? Is the judge still a judge, and was this his/her regular way of handling such cases? Is there more to this story?
Wow. I guess I need to buy a tanker full of purple paint and be putting signs up every 5 feet.
I’ve got family/landlords that don’t post their property at all.
Surprised? Nope, but it doesn’t make any sense.
