fun thread ; what would you do ?

[jimbires]

today I took a couple pics of somebody's tree stand . it's on public game lands . this spring the game commission had a tree company come in and do a lot of logging . they logged a few hundred yards away from this stand . this won't bother anything . the game commission also erected a fence around a couple acres of ground . I talked to a couple of the wardens a few months ago . the reason they fenced it was to do a study on a few of the bushes , or trees inside the fence . I think it's a mountain laurel study , but not 100% sure . this fence is about 30 yards away from the tree stand . would you hunt it , or would you move locations , if this was you ?

in this pic you can see a red gate on the far side of the fence . it's between the two trees on the right side of the pic . you can also see the near side fence to the right of these two trees . the far side is probably 80 yards away . the near side about 30 yards away .



these pic you can see the near side fence , between the two trees at the center of the pic .



archery season starts in about 6 weeks , this hunter might be in for a surprise if he doesn't check things out before season . I know what I would do , what would you do ?

 

[Blkram]

It would depend on other factors:
- Are the main trails the deer are using here inside the newly fenced area? And if so, I would want to see how the new obstruction changes their travel pattern here...and if it does, will it be a negative or a positive?
- Is the newly fenced area a staging area, or feeding area? Or are these types of values outside the fenced area and will still draw deer through this area by the stand?
- How much disturbance will there be during the hunting season as they conduct the study? (If any) If limited to a certain number of days, and only during certain times (middle of the day), it may not have a big influence on the deer activity. If considerable, then relocation would be necessary.

If there is going to be enough disturbance, I would relocate the stand...if not, then leave it there and hunt it when the conditions are right, as animals adapt to changes in their environment, and it could result in better than expected results...but could as easily go the other way.
Only time and further monitoring will tell.

 

[jimbires]

I'd hunt it , especially for archery . "IF" I thought this was a good spot BEFORE the installation of the fence , I'd have no second thoughts on hunting it after the fence . the fence will act as a funnel . yes , the fence will funnel some to the far side , but there are always deer out of range . for archery hunting the fence will get some of the deer within easy archery distance . as Blkram said , only time will tell for sure .

I'll be interested to go back through there and see if the stand owner lets it there , or pulls it out . I'll bet he pulls it ??

 

[JMRhino]

I hunted a property in Mississippi where the landowner had a 12' high fence surrounding approximately 3000 acres within his total 10,000 acres for temporary game management with a state university and the DNR. I hunted one stand that was directly over and straddling the high fence. I observed the same quantity and quality of deer both inside and outside of the fence. The deer did not care, and they would actually come up and meet other deer on the opposing sides of the fence and touch noses and then go about their business. For this specific scenario, I believe that the fence was a good funnel to exploit.