New Property

After losing permission on the 240 acre farm from two years ago, it has taken me a while to find some places that can even compare to the potential that I experienced out there. I started cutting wood for a guy who lived out near that same area and he gave me permission on one of his 40 acre parcels. After I worked with him over time, he recently granted me permission on another, more secluded 160 acre piece that is really far off the beaten path. These two properties have the right ingredients for some tremendous deer. So that's two pieces.
About a year ago, I asked and was granted permission on a small 10 acre piece of property that normally, I wouldn't have thought twice about, but after studying the maps, it became clear that it could function in two ways: 1) an easy doe-in-the-freezer spot, or 2) a great rut spot because the 10 acres slope from a small ag field down to a popple/brush run into a swampy creek drainage. This slough really acts as a travel corridor between 2-3 larger blocks of timber, so you never really know what might come through there.
Then in September, as I was shooting photos for a high schooler, I asked about permission to bow hunt on a 100 acre property up in Sand Creek (a fair drive north). They said yes to 40 of the 100. I hiked out there and saw that it had some serious potential, as it connects to a much larger ridge system and again, once the third week of October rolled around, anything could walk across the ridge! So I hung a stand and two cameras out there and am eager to check them soon.
Lastly, two weeks ago I got into a conversation with a friend who though they had invited me to hunt a 40 of theirs previously and I had no idea that they had acreage of any kind. After hearing more about it and looking it up on the map, it seemed to get better and better. That same day I drove out there and met the neighbor. We chatted in his driveway for a goo 15 minutes and I headed back home. The following day, I brought two cameras and a junky stand out there, in case the place looked decent. Well, it didn't take 20 minutes to find some really nice buck sign and to hang the first camera over a fresh scrape. The second camera ended up in the northwest corner of the property, on the edge of an alfalfa field. I liked the stand placement, but the tree was not the straightest. I made it work.
I let the cameras sit for 7 days and decided to zip out there and see if anything reworked the scrape.. I'D SAY SO! in 7 days I had 4 bucks that were 3 years old or older come through! Jackpot. I waited a bit to collect my thoughts and eventually sat the property on the morning of Monday, October 28th - two days ago.

On Wisconsin!

Well, I'm back on here! Keeping up with a blog is not easy and I probably have less time than Ive ever had. But I love to look back and see how each season unfolded, look for patterns of dates and activity, and hopefully put those pieces together to aid in a successful hunt this year.
This summer, I picked up on a buck that had me drooling. He came through only one time on July 14th and I'm 80% sure it's a buck I got a few pictures of last season. In the 2018 season, I acquired permission somewhat late in the game, so I didn't really have a good idea of what this property could do, as it's only 10 acres. I'm learning now that it acts as a definite transition area for cruising bucks during the rut. So I hung single camera and ran it all summer and in walks this dude - Hercules.

The day I checked that camera was the 16th of July and I actually saw him about 3/8 of a mile away in a bean field. After I learned that I had pictures of him too, I was pumped! However, week after week of checking the camera came up with ZERO additional pics. That is until today:

 I knew that if nobody shot him early season, he would make a trip back through the area in this third and fourth weeks of October - just before the rut kicked off. I knew that this transition area would bring bucks through it, but it's not a place that they want to stay, so I'm hoping to remain patient until the conditions are perfect and the does are just about ready. I think he'll be moving in daylight around November 4-6, but I need to move a stand so I can stay completely downwind of the line that these deer seem to be traveling. Right now, the only stand there is in a really goofy spot, but I didn't put it there. 

My last tough decision is whether to put a flash camera there to get a really beautiful picture of him, or if that's just pressing my luck, and possibly alerting the neighbors. Maybe I'll switch to video mode instead. Stay tuned!