2024 Live From The Tree

Justin riegel wrote:

<div class=”d4p-bbt-quote-title”>Bearcat89 wrote:</div>
Justin at least you were able to salvage the rack on that guy. Crazy how fast he was eaten

They are definitely a problem where I am hunting. I shot doe last year and recovered her 2 hours later. They already were on her when I got to her. Thankfully they only got some hide.

We have the same issue with the properties i hunt near home. This year surprisingly I haven’t seen a yote on camera. Last season was every day multiple times a day.
We did kill 15 of them at the end of last season after shotgun.

It’s been a busy morning. I had deer on the field on the way in. Since I got in the tree I’ve had two does, a fork, a 6, and a really nice young 9 point go by.

hillhiker wrote:

It’s been a busy morning. I had deer on the field on the way in. Since I got in the tree I’ve had two does, a fork, a 6, and a really nice young 9 point go by.

You must be in the right spot. I am not, only a dreaded yote this morning. 1.5 days left for me.

Its been completely dead since the first hour. By brother was hunting the farm with me this morning and he only saw a fork. I’m on my way out now to let the dog out and get a couple things done at home. I’ll be back out in few hours.

I switched it up this afternoon and went road side again. My brother sat all day on the opposite side of the farm and hasn’t seen a deer since 8. I really thought they’d move better today.

Either way you’ve got a beautiful day to be sitting in a tree!

We fished this morning and saw more deer on the shores than we caught fish. About 50-50 buck/does. A couple of the bucks were something else. The downside is that most all of the deer were in shoreline properties, not far from the houses either.

Just got to the stand, had three different bucks visit a scrape this morning, all between 750 and 1015. One was a shooter. In a rush to leave house, forgot my portable setup but have ladder close by. Nice afternoon for a sit.

Good luck guys! Exciting if you had a shooter come through, hopefully he comes by this afternoon Weedis!

Been stuck working long days all week during one of the weeks I wanted off the most. Oh well. I did get a chance at Brutus a week and a half ago and blew it. I’ll tell that story at some point. Really pulled my hunter heart right out. He’s still alive though.

Good luck to everyone getting out!

The kid and I are out trying to shoot his last mn doe, and I randomly can’t stop coughing. He’s looking at me like shut the hell up or go back home lol

He should have left you in the truck

Youbetcha wrote:

He should have left you in the truck

He’s thinking the same thing. I have had a cold for almost 3 weeks. But randomly my cough is the worst it been right now while sitting in the very quiet woods. If he doesn’t see one tonight, it’ll be all my fault.

Had a nice 8 at 80 yards, couldn’t get him any close. That was at about 445. Very nice evening in the stand.

We didn’t see a thing. Slowest night of the season. I didn’t even see a squirrel.
5 minutes after we left the property my lady called and said she is looking at one of the biggest bucks she has ever seen standing where I park my truck when I hunt there.
I’m letting my buddy and his dad shot gun hunt out there so I’m hoping one of them tags that big boy.

Wisconsin buck keeps showing up but won’t day light. This was a hour ago

Been in SD since Sunday afternoon.
Hunting in the Kadoka area.
First night I scouted and found 3 big bucks chasing does around on private.
Scouted again the next morning and found another good buck bumping does around on private.
Forms a good pinch point and almost got to shoot at a coyote with my bow. Called him in with a hand call but at 80 yards he spotted my buck decoy and decided he didn’t like it.
Hunted another piece of public and had a decent 8 pointer bumping does around. He never got any closer than 400 yards.
Went to my pinch point area and had this little guy come in bumping around 7 does and fawns. He was intrigued by the decoy but was afraid to get his butt kicked again.
These plains deer really put on the miles. I had a big ten with a flyer on his right G2 run right in front of my truck. The first night I was here I seen him 1.5 miles north of where I was tonight.
I should have brought the E call. Wow have I seen coyotes. I am up to 10 in 3 days of hunting.
The pinch point set up is a little bench next to the creek bed and a small ridge
Not much for trees so I have been just sitting on the ground next to a tree.

Wisconsin buck keeps showing up but won’t day light. This was a hour ago

I/m getting the same down here in Richland County. Big boys are doing their thing, but all after sunset

Randy Wieland wrote:

Wisconsin buck keeps showing up but won’t day light. This was a hour ago

I/m getting the same down here in Richland County. Big boys are doing their thing, but all after sunset

I tried pushing in closer to where I thought he was bedding but that only made him disappear for 3 days. So I am staying back a little and waiting for him to make a slip. Wishing I could get in for a early sit but this job thing I have really gets in the way.

Gonna be out this afternoon for the first time since Saturday. Hope their active today.

JEREMY wrote:

Gonna be out this afternoon for the first time since Saturday. Hope their active today.

I haven’t gotten a pic today. First time that’s happened in a while.
Good luck.

Bearcat89 wrote:

I haven’t gotten a pic today. First time that’s happened in a while.
Good luck.

Gotta remember cameras only tell 1/2 the story of what is really going on… This time of year its probably more like 20% of the story. Out here in the open country of SD the rut is just about full swing and between my 5 cell cams I have 1 that has gotten pics everyday. The other ones havent had anything for 2 weeks but I know there is deer around

What a disappointing final day to my rut vacation. I set up in a pinch yesterday afternoon, that I have had soaking for awhile. After the stand is set I swapped the cards and got into the tree. After a couple hours I remembered I grabbed that card and checked the photos. To my surprise there was daylight buck pics ever for the last 5 of 6. I didn’t see anything last night but figured I would do an all day sit today. I have been sitting all day except for 30 min lunch break and stretch. Two roosters is all I have seen. Oh well, still plenty of season left and weather l[ks mild foreseeable future.

Jake D wrote:

<div class=”d4p-bbt-quote-title”>Bearcat89 wrote:</div>
I haven’t gotten a pic today. First time that’s happened in a while.
Good luck.

Gotta remember cameras only tell 1/2 the story of what is really going on… This time of year its probably more like 20% of the story. Out here in the open country of SD the rut is just about full swing and between my 5 cell cams I have 1 that has gotten pics everyday. The other ones havent had anything for 2 weeks but I know there is deer around

Oh I am very well aware. But I’m guessing it’s more so to do with warm sunny weather we had today. Cams busy tonight now that the sun is out of sight. Not ideal conditions for a all day sit today.

These plains deer are definitely wired different.
The can bed in cover but will bed out on a hill side in a cut wheat field.
Tge more I hunt here the more I think it’s best to sit up high. Glass and then make a move afterwards.
Decoys are good. They see a deer they move to it.
Tonight was majority mulies for action. I did see one big whitetail a mile off in a cut wheat field but had 3 nice mulies and one big guy in the pasture I was hunting.
Seen 6 more coyotes tonight. 5 of them were running together.

Morning was beautiful. 20 degrees, clear skies and lots of frost.
Had this little guy chase a die to me. She had to be getting close. He stayed on her for over a half mile.
Between the two I have had in range I have a complete rack. lol

These plains deer are definitely wired different.
The can bed in cover but will bed out on a hill side in a cut wheat field.
Tge more I hunt here the more I think it’s best to sit up high. Glass and then make a move afterwards.
Decoys are good. They see a deer they move to it.
Tonight was majority mulies for action. I did see one big whitetail a mile off in a cut wheat field but had 3 nice mulies and one big guy in the pasture I was hunting.
Seen 6 more coyotes tonight. 5 of them were running together.

Morning was beautiful. 20 degrees, clear skies and lots of frost.
Had this little guy chase a die to me. She had to be getting close. He stayed on her for over a half mile.
Between the two I have had in range I have a complete rack. lol

Last morning sit for atleast a week started out with a great sunrise and one decent 8 that turned and went onto the neighbors. I sure hope there’s better movement than yesterday.

I’m back out also. 5 bucks so far, 1 I would shoot but he stayed just out of range. Good luck to all, stay safe n shoot straight if hunting the MN season.

Rut activity is definitely different this year around me. So much happening at night and minimal day time. But I can tell the does are sick of being harrassed. Looking out the office window this morning had a couple does scrounging up acorns. With little hesitation, they got the heck out of Dodge and kept running. Minute later, a small buck walked up and sniffed where they were standing and walked off. My theory is late rut is about to start (later) with the buck/doe ratio low and most of the does are bred. They have been pounding the does since Sept 18th (ish) here and the more aggressive bucks have been more active since about Oct 20th. I run 16-20 cameras on 100 acres, so I get a lot of info back on the where/when. Now that the few remaining does are hard to get, the effort the bucks need to put out will increase. For me, I like the early part of rut when the local bucks are moving in with the local does. Its exciting to see the odddities of new bucks, but then their racks are getting busted up, see a few injured from fighting, and the does are always on high alert.

For the number of people that don’t believe that does are being bred by late Sept, calculate this. A whitetail carries for approx 201 days. I consistently find newborn fawns while picking morels in April. By first crop hay in mid May, fawns are getting copped up. Those April/May fawns are Spet/Oct bred does

Looking forward to being able to post on this thread starting tomorrow morning. Although we won’t be in a tree?? All this bow hunting talk has me anxious to get my shoulder replaced and get back out next fall.