August 2008 Updates page 6
11 August
John,
My wife has been working on teaching me the power of good intention. The theory suggests that if one regularly tells oneself that good things will happen, God, nature and the energy around us will bring us what we have aligned ourselves to receive. Working on that principle, I decided I had best do some scouting in [location deleted] because I intend to tag out quickly in [location deleted]! Most of the time, I would say that I was kidding, but keep reading.
The weather started out great this weekend, with temperatures much cooler than recent weeks, so I was highly optimistic at getting some eyes on deer. I took a look at [location deleted] county properties this weekend. Your website suggested that some properties in these counties might have been sleepers last year, and so I assumed that might still be true. I have to say that the 'Wow' factor was definitely missing in the initial time spent on this trip. I suppose I was spoiled from instantly getting on those [location deleted] bucks on my first trip. Truth is, after a couple of hours I was wondering why I hadn't seen any deer yet. This is more of what we understand to be the reality of most hunting. I finished out the first night in [location deleted] with a total of two does sighted.
Here are some scouting notes about the first properties I took looks at:
location deleted] was listed as potentially good. When I drove by, it was solid corn, so it didn't afford me much to look at from the road until the following day, but I wound up getting rained out before I could walk it.
[location deleted] is planted in beans this year with a bordering corn field on the east side and another corn field on the south side across the road. More than likely I should have spent the first evening looking at this field instead of where I wound up. I walked this property the following morning before I got rained out and I spotted a doe and a lot of very exciting sign. This one could be a good north wind evening property.
[location deleted] is planted beans. This is where I saw the two does Friday evening and also where I met another MAHA member for the first time who was driving and glassing fields. I walked this one the next morning. It looked like a great property with some very heavy wood cover on the creek. I cut some big tracks in the middle of the west side of this property, but the most activity seemed to be on the SW corner. Looks pretty good! The member I met said he hung a stand there last year because he lived 10 minutes away but he never hunted it. Between you and I, this stunned me. I cannot imagine being THAT close to so much good property and not hunting it.
[location deleted] looked like mostly corn. I got rained out from this one on Saturday.
[location deleted] looks awesome. It's a mixture of corn and beans in all sorts of twisting winding puzzle pieces of mixed planting. There is very little cover, but enough that it could get awesome at the right time of year.
[location deleted] is solid corn. It was thick with dove. Question for you: Can I dove hunt these properties for an early season wild snack?
[location deleted] is split with beans and corn. I walked out on this on Friday night to glass the field for deer but I was unsuccessful. I had expected the deer to come off the creek on the north end to hit the new beans but they weren't there. There was some sign but not like what I expected. I walked it the next day to get a good look at the creek bottom. It was impressive. There is a hidden little pond in there right by the creek and it's heavily trailed up by deer. There were turkey all in it but they were young. The coons on this creek were definitely not afraid of humans. I could have probably pet a couple if it weren't for the fear of rabies. I did find what might have been the cause for no deer sightings. The land owner is evidently cutting out a drainage ditch in between the two crop fields, and he has also cut out a huge finger of the trees off the creek forestry. There is one whole stretch of trees on my satellite photo that no longer exists. Still the property looks exciting.
[locations deleted] were all corn. Could be exciting for the duck hunters.
I probably walked 5 miles total around some of these properties Saturday morning until the rain hit and rained me out. I spent the rest of the day driving and just looking at the properties from the road.
[location deleted] was all cattle pasture and hay meadows, as well as [location deleted]. There was just no way I could tell what they were like with the rain being so heavy.
I set out for [location deleted] county. There were a lot of turkey on these properties but these boys had been hunted. I popped my head over a hill and spotted a group at about 300 yards and they blew out of there fast!
[location deleted] was hay grass and clover on the front side. The field in the middle was beans.
Basically I got frustrated for lack of seeing deer and the rain just really killing my ability to get inside on these properties. I checked weather and knew it was going to rain the rest of the day so I called an audible. One of the great things about your association is the proximity of so many great properties. I reasoned that the trip would not be wasted if I just pushed an hour drive over to [location deleted] and spent the time getting an idea of what crops were planted on various properties in [location deleted]. What I was looking for was an alfalfa field. If you'll remember, I had the most exciting success on my first scouting trip when I set up near an alfalfa field and watched the bucks that came off of MAHA property to hit that field. What I'm noticing is that KS and MO have an incredible abundance of corn and beans and it seemed like a little rare piece of land planted in Alfalfa might be just the difference to pull some early season big bucks out before dark. Unfortunately, I burned two tanks of gas and nearly got stuck out in the middle of nowhere in the incessant rain and didn't see any alfalfa fields. Still the properties look great from the road.
A few notes on [location deleted] is solid hay meadows. There are no row crops on it. [location deleted] is solid corn. [location deleted] is beans on the north and corn on the south. [location deleted] was not planted but nestled between bean and corn fields. [location deleted] was not planted. [location deleted] was corn on the a and b sections.
I decided I had enough of the rain and headed back home via the [location deleted] route. It was getting late up in the evening Saturday and I started seeing turkey out in almost every field I passed. I hit [location deleted] where I first set foot on MAHA properties on my first trip and it was like a switch was flipped and the 'WOW' factor set it. I cut across on a county road between two highways and I passed a field that was not MAHA property that had 8 deer out in it. There were two 150, 160 class bucks in the group. My blood got pumping. I called another audible and headed over to [location deleted] which was the property that had the alfalfa field off the NW corner. I reasoned that I could stay on the road and just glass the field and see what I could see and I might be blessed with some awesome deer sightings.
It was 7:15 and the rain was finally letting up. It was 65 degrees after a solid 10 hours of rain. The air just felt like hunting. I parked my truck on the dirt road at a distance and set up my video camera out of my window. By 7:30, there were 11 bucks in this alfalfa field and all of them had come in within 40 yards of the same spot. At least 5 of them were P&Y and there were two 10 pointers in the group that looked like they would push 150 or better. These deer operated precisely the same as they did the last time, coming out of the creeks right about an hour before dark, walking that thinly wooded treeline on [location deleted] and hitting that alfalfa field.
John, I will be calling in my reservation for [location deleted] 30 days before the opener! Provided I get that reservation, there's a very good chance I will be relying on my other state notes for the rest of the season!
Now I'm trying to be realistic here and believe me, I know that archery is rarely ever that easy, but I've never seen anything like this in my life and I can't help but be highly confident. My wife told me maybe I should take it slow and wait for even bigger ones so my [location deleted] season wouldn't be over so fast. I chuckled and said if one of those 10 points walked by me opening day, I would air him out and happily wait until next year to hunt a bigger one. Needless to say, I can't wait.
Thank you Jeremy for the rare detailed report that tells all to "...just don't quit..."
