Success - Ready to set ladder stand on new property

[NYDAN]

I have gained permission to hunt on hundreds of acres of two properties. One of those properties (hundreds of acres) is remote and all woods - with huge amounts of oak trees. Only about three people, including me will hunt it this year. It was not hunted last year.

I have been scouting on it, clearing logging roads, and doing some hunting from a pop-up blind. There is a ton of buck sign and I have seen bucks each of the two times I have hunted it so far. I located an excellent place (on the top of a ridge line) to place a ladder stand. So, my wife and I took down a low producing stand I had on the property that I sold and I have been getting ready to set it today at the new location I have scouted out.

The stand location is a long ways from a public road. We can drive a 4 WD truck part way up an old gas well road, but then we have to switch to old logging roads that are not currently passable by a pick-up truck. We will have to use my UTV.

This is how I plan to get close to the stand location with an extension ladder to use to set the ladder stand.

 

[DrMike]

That'll do, Dan. We're all puling for you to tag a fine buck.

 

[sako2]

Good luck Dan.

 

[JD338]

That looks like a good approach to getting to and settling up your ladder stand.

JD338

 

[Slimfinn]

That should get you there Dan, cant wait to see it setup.

 

[Wolfshead]

Looks like you’re going to gain a step up on those deer!
Best wishes to you!
On a side note, I hunted most of the day yesterday, and had a tick embedded, and engorged in my arm last night.
They are really bad here this year in CNY.
Take precautions and check yourself better than I did yesterday.

 

[wvbuckbuster]

Good looking process in motion. Here's wishing you success in your upcoming hunts. Dan.

 

[NYDAN]

That should get you there Dan, cant wait to see it setup.

Patrick,

This is what it looks like. This is on a ridgeline, just a short way from the very top of a hill.

It is a heavy oak woods with lots of acorns this year. There is abundant sapling growth on the ground, and it is very hard to get any visibility from the ground. The area around this tree has a little less undergrowth due to a HUGE oak tree nearby which has kept this area naturally shaded. The deer trail that runs the length of ridge is about where can see Tina standing. All of the bucks I have seen on this hill have been within 30 yards of this tree.

There are just enough evergreen trees around to breakup my profile so that I am not skylined.





I am starting to feel like I might be getting too old for this deep woods stuff as I was exhausted and sore after yesterday. But, if I connect with a big buck, it will all be worth the effort.

 

[JD338]

Looks like a good setup Dan. Best of luck to you on this new property this season.

JD338

 

[GregoryB.]

I added some camo material around the front of my stand. It seemed to help with the deer noticing me during bow season and the ones that did didn’t lock onto me for very long, they just head bobbed a few seconds then went back to feeding around me.

 

[NYDAN]

Thanks for the suggestion.

 

[NYDAN]

Yesterday was the first day of our NY state gun season. I got up at 3:00 AM to get showered, eat breakfast, and make the trip to the stand. I was very surprised by the amount of traffic around here at 5:15 in the morning. A lot of hunters were heading to their locations.

I drove my truck up the old gas well road part way using my fog lights and parked about a 1/2 mile from the stand location. Then I used a red head light to walk on up to the hill on first the old gas well road and then an old logging road. It was overcast, only a sliver of a moon, and very dark.

My hopes were up because last Monday or Tuesday I woke up to some snow on the ground and I took a little walk around the woods where this ladder stand is located. I was looking for tracks or fresh scrapes that would tell me I had chosen a good location.

I found this scrape about 50 yards from the ladder stand. In fact, you see my pop-up blind in the background. The ladder stand is to the right from the camera direction.



Only a short way away was this one.


The temperature was just about freezing, more or less, depending on where you were. It was colder on my house, but the truck thermometer said it was warmer on the hill side. Thank goodness the wind was quiet at only a couple of MPH.

I was completely positioned and settled into my stand when I checked the time at 6:17 AM. Legal shooting time was 6:31. I started hearing distant gunshots right at 6:31. It was still too dark to shoot where I was sitting. There was an unusual amount of shooting for the first day. However, the rut seemed to be a bit later this year and the start of season (third Saturday of November) was early this year. The bucks were paying for that.

Around daylight, I heard some turkeys behind me. I think heard what is called a fly down call.

Around 8:00 a single doe (fawn) walked behind me from my left to my right. I could see it disappear down the hill to my right. That gave me a little ray of encouragement. A short time later I heard a shot in that general direction. But, the shot was probably from across the valley. I had my hearing aids turned way up so I was very poor judge of the distance of sounds.

I must have been about 8:30 when the cold finally penetrated through my insulated layers and I could feel it. Thank goodness the sun finally peaked through the clouds and shone in my face. I was starting to shiver and wondered how much longer I could last before I had to break out the hot coffee.

Then I saw a doe coming from behind me on my left. The brush is quite thick behind me, and anything coming from behind can get almost even with me before I see it. But, I saw it coming to time to that I would (if I wanted) have a shot when it cleared brush. However, when it got even with me, it abruptly turned to its left and walked away from me, down the steep hill side in that direction. It had not noticed me.

I thought, well I had better be on a look out on my left side in case a buck was trailing her. So, for a few minutes, I was on high alert and paying attention as I should under those circumstances. But, being me, my attention lapsed and I began to think about all the shots I was hearing.

Thank goodness, I was looking off into space at my 10 o'clock when I noticed some movement out of the corner of my left eye. I focused my attention and could see a buck coming through the brush toward some openings on my left. I immediately concluded that his rack was large enough to shoot without counting points or doing a proper aging of the body. There were enough trees between us that I felt comfortable switching from a left-handed shooting position to a right-handed shooting position. After I got the rifle (BLR - 358 Win.) up, he was just approaching the more open area of my field of view. He was only about 25 yards away, I wondered if he would hear the hammer click when I cocked the hammer. I pulled the hammer back, "CLICK!". He stopped just before stepping into an open spot. However, I had a clear view of his shoulder.

I did a very quick mental analysis of the situation. One - the doe did not cross the open area. The buck might follow suit and turn to follow her path down the hill. Two, he was standing and I had a clear opening to his shoulder. Three, the hillside on the left dropped off into a very steep decline. I did NOT want the buck to get over the edge onto the steep hillside. I decided to go for the double shoulder/heart shot. I adjust my hold and placed the crosshair (which I could just barely see with my nerve damaged right eye) low on the shoulder and squeezed the trigger. BOOM and buck exploded into a 40 yard nose plow, bouncing off trees, logs, and stumps, headed for the steep drop-off. How he could keep going was beyond me. I jacked around round into chamber, just in case. He finally went down and stayed down just at the edge of where I could see. I gave it a few minutes and finally got down after dropping my magazine while unloading the rifle.

I walked over to the area where he had been standing where I shot and I could see path he nose plowed through the leaves. In the first few yards there wasn't too much blood, but then I saw a chunk of lung surrounded by blood on the leaves. The blood trail increased as I approached the dead deer. He did NOT make it to steep bank.





After field dressing the buck, and attaching the carcass tag, I walked back to the truck. Then I drove the truck up the old gas well road as close as possible.

I like to wear rubber "Northerner" boots when I am hunting deer up close. They can be washed with odor busting soap and then left out in the garage between hunts. I feel they have the potential to leave less of a scent trail than treated leather boots. I changed into my lace up leather hunting boots and got out the Jet Sled, my hand pruner, and a little folding saw.

It was an easy walk dragging the jet sled up the log road and through the uncleared woods to where the buck lay. As I went, I plotted my future course back out dragging the loaded sled and noted various things that I would have to cut out of my way.

Hmm, I must have left the directions on how to load the deer into the jet sled in the truck. Ha, ha.



Oh, OK, I got if figured out.



It was a test of my physical endurance and patience to get the deer out to a logging road. Slow and easy does it. Thank goodness I had switched out the factory supplied rope on the jet sled with a larger diameter rope and installed a piece on PVC pipe on the rope to pull with.

The ramps that I borrowed from Caleb proved to be invaluable in getting the deer into the truck bed.



This was a rewarding hunt for me with all the planning that went into it. I only had a couple of weeks to scout the territory, pick a stand location, install the stand, and figure a way to get a deer out of the woods.

The BLR chambered in 358 Win. and my handloads (200 gr. Hornady SP) worked flawlessly. I don't know what more I could have asked for. Yeah, a larger rack or a larger/older buck would have been nice. But, in all honesty, I don't know that I could have gotten a much heavier deer out all by myself.

At the end of the day, I was completely "done in". I am not sure I can continue to do these deep woods hunts.

 

[longrangehunter]

That’s fantastic news for your opening day hunt! Glad to hear that you succeeded in harvesting a really nice Whitetail so quickly.
It’s great when everything goes well and smoothly for what sounds like you’re getting up there in age?

I’ve been telling myself that I need to take the Elk where I can pick it up with my tractor in the fields around my house, but they’re usually gone by daylight during the hunting season.

 

[NYDAN]

It’s great when everything goes well and smoothly for what sounds like you’re getting up there in age?

I am 74 y.o. and have survived kidney cancer, bladder cancer, a heart attack, and several other serious illnesses. To be honest, I am very fortunately to still be walking around.

 

[DrMike]

You did well, Dan. He is a respectable deer and I love seeing the 358 Win work so well.

 

[Slimfinn]

Congrats Dan on a fantastic hunt