Home Forums Hunting & Shooting Deer Hunting Plans for next deer season?

Are you hunting the same place, getting a new lease? Are you going to build more stands, cut out brush to see better. I need to build an angle iron frame for this stand I built to hunt with my grandsons. It’s gonna have 3 foot legs. My other stands are 20’ towers, afraid to get a 5 year old that high. They are only 4x4 anyway. This one has glass windows and is insulated with foam board.

Hunted a new piece of ground owned by parishioners this year. Sat for two afternoons, filled both of our tags from the same ground blind. Had 4.5 and 9 y/o kids with us in the ground blind. Fully intend to setup the same blind in the same place next December.

I plan on adding a couple more stands on my place. Am trying to get access to a couple of other places, one out of state.

going to build a new stand on the other side of my property and open up a food plot some more which involves allot of brush cutting

Same as last year. Go to my brother's cabin in SE Ohio. Eat really good----Stuffed homemade cabbage rolls & Isaly's chipped ham sandwiches---play lots of euchre. How the public water shed---usually sit at the same tree--- a few deer will run by & the 870 will bark. Doesn't get any better.

Gonna hunt the same 150 acre tract as I have in the past. Although I did just pick up two new Rhino ground blinds (Amazon - $55 each!) which will allow me to hunt in two additional spots on that property.

CO, Iowa, KS are currently in the plans.

Apply for a hard to get tag, if I draw great, if not hunt an easy to get tag. Hopefully up around 9k-10k with my bow and rifle.

Have enough points I should get a CO tag this year. Aside from that I’ll be out in the hills sitting on a rock watching for a bruiser like usual.

Keep eyeing the Walmarts for close out stands.

One year i bought a couple buddy type stands for $60 ea.

Once upon a time it was cheap to build a plywood stand, not anymore

Not much new coming down the tube here... been down to my last spot for several years after the others got sold off. Can't justify spending 4 figures to lease a local spot for 7 days of season on my budget.

No plan to add land unless a specific 40 comes up for sale at a good price.

Probably add 1 new stand as we're logging off a chunk of the back area and I'd like to get high and cover all of that with 1 or 2 guys.

Get to hunt more with my son.

Bout it.

I need to find a new lease

Killem, cookem, eatum.

Same place, my 80 and my neighbor's 500 acres.

I have been invited to hunt SD this coming season on a friend's 3000 acre family ranch, but I've also signed on for a possible OTC CO Elk hunt in OCT.

I'm going to move one blind next fall and change one of my food plots to a spring/summer plot this spring. Other than that I've got enough work ahead of me keeping my oak seedlings and chestnut trees alive this coming summer, especially if this drought doesn't lift.

Looking for a new lease. I got off mine in Val Verde County after the end of the season. It got too expensive and all I was killing was hogs. Damned things were running rampant all over the ranch. It affected the deer hunting for sure. I killed decent 9, but the ranch capable of much better. Feeding corn and protein all year didn't seem to help much though. Other than having fat hogs...

Hunt more

Going to build a blind for evening hunting scenarios haven’t picked the spot yet

Friend whose land I hunt on wants to do some food plots this year as opposed to just feeders and get things a little better figured out. Having a certain amount of experience with that stuff, I look forward to helping him. I will also be putting in for some draw hunts on wildlife management areas. I didn't get anything but preference points this season past, got drawn for 2 last year. Also hoping for at least a week trip to Northern New York and/or one to Missouri which I'd planned on last fall but never made it.

It was bad all over Texas. We had a monster acorn and pecan crop. I don’t know what happened to our pig population, but most of them disappeared.

Gotta place to hunt, it's just not a lease. Neighbor gives me access.
It's sort of a weird setup.
It's 340 acres of wide open pasture and wheat field.
The south side butts up against a river bottom.
Along that fence, the landowner fenced off about 2.5 acres. I set a box blind inside the fenced off area, set up a feeder and plant a food plot.
Deer come up out of the river bottom. I kill deer every year. This year, due to my own ignorance, I missed a big old fat doe! 😖 Took a nice buck there in 2018.

They were like the deer. They weren't lost, they just didn't have to go far for cover for feed and water.

Muzzle loader mule deer in SW Kansas.

Our lease is in arbitration. 4 heirs already have half of what they’ll get on a 320 acre farm but can’t agree on who gets what of the rest. Actually it’s more like 1 of them can’t agree. Executor thought he laid out a fair plan a year ago but you know how that goes. Supposedly this spring the case comes up. We have been able to hunt 2 of the shares along with the contested area for the past 4 years IIRC but that could get cut drastically. So regardless of how the case shakes out I need to be finding some more land.

Would like to place a box blind in a new location on my property. However, the cost of doing anything right now is ludicrous. I bought a Muddy blind a couple years ago and it was the most overrated POS for the price. IT leaks and the walls have bowed in. I'm thinking about building something this go round.

Same chunk of public I’ve hunted since 2012, 2016 excepted. There are deer to be had without too much trouble, and pressure is generally light, especially for a spot so close to a town.

My plan every year is to shoot a doe in early season, then hold out for a big boy.
The reality is, I don't shoot a doe early because I don't want to scare the big boy that could be following her, then I end up shooting the first 8 point that walks by and have to hunt like crazy to find a doe late season.

I do have a new box blind to put up behind the house this year.

Move a couple of stands. Cut out shooting lanes (a never ending job). Repair winches (we have I think 21 on the place) Work on pickups, gators, side by sides, 4 wheelers, etc............... It never ends but is enjoyable in its own way. Only 8 1/2 months till season starts. Got to get after it.

Forgot to add.....KILL ARMADILLOS. they are taking over the place. Ranch hands killed 21 one day and 19 the next and they were not hunting them. Just doing their regular work. We all carry 22's and shoot them on sight but they keep increasing every year.

Maybe but no rooting, places where they go under fences are un disturbed. Hog wallows not used.

I'm going to shoot them dead, no changes needed.

My plan is to shoot deer. Several of them. It's been working for near 50 years.

I killed 15 this summer, bastards sure mess up a yard

Hunting in the dry woods they sound like a flock of turkeys coming in. That or rolling a bowling ball through a foot of potato chips.

Giving more serious thought to doing more ground blind hunting. I like the flexibilty......

Planting more trees
Hanging more stands and cams
Expanding plots to skid roads from recent logging on our place in PA

Going back to MO… tweaking stands in April replacing camera batteries. Meeting with farmer to arrange plots.

Going to be a fun year again

Resurrecting plans of a cancelled hunt last year & headed for the Allegheny NF to poke around. Maybe drift into Kentucky a bit. Looking for a little place to escape the worst of VT winters & get into some decent hunting.

Going to try to kill a deer with a bolt action 44 mag in the goofy straight-wall regulated southern part of the state

Shoot a pronghorn in WY and a couple of whitetail does here in TX.

Habitat work. Always room for improvements

I’m always cutting brush, no end to that

You ain't joking hanco. Had property logged about 5 years ago and now it's really coming into its prime.

Have to re learn the property. In years past, if grass and weeds got a foot tall, it's a good growing season due to the canopy. Now this past year I had to elevate the ground blinds cuz the growth is over 6'.

We had a real decent season and now that I have an idea, it's gonna be balls to the wall on habitat

use more round - up

Rancher will not allow that, runs cows.

We are no longer allowed to feed protein are ANY supplemental feeding through feeders. CWD.

So it looks like we will be planting a spring crop.

I'm gonna be moving some feeders. This past season I placed feeders close to the blinds 50-65 yds for the grand kids. it was their first year hunting deer. they are 7 and 9 years old. It worked great for the kids, but only young Bucks would come in during day light hours. All the shooter Bucks only came in after dark. They are shooting good now and will have no problem hitting a deer at 100+ yds next season. Once rifle season opens, even the young Bucks would be very skittish coming to the feeder.

We can't use feeders either for hunting but it's basically OK to use them for wildlife viewing????

Don't make sense to me on that logic. I guess it's like the covid logic, CWD only transmits in certain ways designated by certain govt people

Next year is my daughters first year to get her own tags.. so, alpine hunting with her right after fishing season. Hopefully she can knock down 2-3 bucks in a series of multi day hunts.

Then for me, heavily timbered ridges late Oct/Early Nov. Also want to punch a few tags 100-150 miles away by boat in some virgin timber.

Gonna hunt the same lease out of the same stands. They’ve been productive for several years and that should continue.

Maine, New Hampshire, and Pennsylvania

Most of the time will be on the home farm. No tree stands or blinds to deal with. Been thinking about spending some time wandering around a gamelands or state forest. Parts of the Allegheny National Forest aren’t too far away.

Dale

Not sure yet. I'll hunt idaho for deer and bow elk. I have 20 points for elk and deer in Colorado I need to burn some day. My son has max points in Wyoming for deer and elk plus 20 points for deer and elk in Arizona. Then I have a deer hunt I do in Eastern Montana every year. I think I'm going to be busy.....

staying in my home state this year goose ,duck . grouse hunt, bear hunt and deer hunt i have a cabin up at the border not many people around there .have lots of land to hunt on also.

I'd like to hunt the early bear season on our lease in Virginia. Maybe even go up there hunting during the rifle season for deer.

Sell all my stand’s except for a climber, a lock on and a pop up blind. I tag nearly all my critters on foot or at ground level on my big azz. Box stands and ladders are probably going down the road.

Deer numbers are down where we hunt in Colorado, so I’m going to save a couple of grand on tag, processing, and taxidermy and skip the NR deer license. I’ll hunt whitetail around home since I don’t have to buy a license as a Senior. I’ll probably stay in the club lease next year and I am currently investigating a private lease closer to the house.

I've hit a point in my hunting where I can have the opportunity to shoot does and small bucks pretty regularly....I have collected a number of 60-90" racks over the last years. A couple 100-115 or so. 2020 I killed a 135" 10 point in Ohio and it's kinda changed me. I was already on a mission to find bigger bucks. But killing him really kinda made me more interested in bigger racks and less interested in smaller racks. I know 135" isn't a monster and some of you pass bucks that size.


I've been scouting my butt off on public for the last several years. 9 years actually....it was 2014 when I really went hard at it.

I'd occasionally see a good one here n there...115"+ but never killed them and opportunities were very limited.

This year I decided to add a bunch of cameras to my arsenal. I really didn't run cameras much prior.

I ran 12-15 cameras in areas I scouted through the years. Areas I'd hunt or have hunted. I was kinda shocked at what they revealed. The areas I've been focusing on had nothing I'd even consider shooting even a couple years ago. Not sure why. I'm kinds thinking EHD has been hitting those specific areas.

Areas I've been driving past and not looking at had more buck than I could believe. Some nice ones but only 1 or 2 that really got me excited.


The public pressure is also getting out of control anymore...we have a mid October doe/bear muzzleloader season and the pressure is pretty dang high around here because we have the first good bear population most guys can easily drive to...that IMO hinders the rut.

I've killed a lot of deer on public. Some nice bucks...seen some gooduns over the years....but I've come to realization that I need to open my doors.

I never thought I'd pay to hunt deer...especially in my home state. But wanting to hunt bigger bucks, it's my best option.

I have 1 lease secured. We leased it in a hurry because leases go super fast around here and we were able to get it half priced since half the year is over (as they run their year..) really it was the 2nd week of rifle season. I didn't have high hopes after I started walking the place. It's big woods and mature timber. I didn't think it'd be holding what I wanna hunt....but in the late season I saw 3 mature bucks. A little bit of an unknown because late season deer are in different areas....but I know there are at least 3 good ones in the area....possibly more.

We have a line into a pretty sizeable chunk that is in the same area. It's got more guys but it's cheaper and will give me about 1000 acres to hunt. Hoping I can get onto that one.


Have another in the works I actually hunted a bit the last 2 years.


And working on another closer to the house.


My thoughts is to get into a few options...scout, cameras, hunt....then let the bad ones go and try to pick up others.


Actually just dropped some food and cameras on the one today...hopefully the good ones I saw come in and I can get their pics since I couldn't get them killed. And hopefully collect their sheds after winter.

Will scout hard as soon as winter breaks...



Also hoping to continue my out of state adventures in the fall. I hunted Ohio in 2020 and 2021. Couldn't go this season and definitely missed it. I have a blast hunting out of state and enjoy it. EHD hit the area I hunted very hard so it'll probably be at least 3 or 4 years before I consider going back. Looking at some other options...

Walking the woods scouting and checking game camera's has cost hunters big bucks figuratively and literally. That's the reason bow hunting is always before gun season. Look at aerial maps and mark the likely pinch points, travel corridors and land contours. Then have someone fly you around where you plan on hunting so you a visual of what's actually happening. You can also see how and where your neighbors are hunting.

Need to replace my blind and build a couple brush blinds

I got one niece set up this year in a ladder stand with the wind perfect for a trail to a bedding area with some scrapes and rubs around, and she got a nice buck opening morning.

I spent more time trying to make sure she was set up than I usually do for myself, and next year it's the same thing, but for her sister.

Not sure how/why he has that rule...

Going to build a box stand for my wife to hunt out of and plant some green food by it.

Been in the same deer camp here at home since 76. When I got in we had 3000 acres to hunt but only 350 owned. 40 deer down for the group opening week was common back then. 30 years ago my father and I kept telling them that we needed to buy land around us as it comes up. Log it to help the ground and to help pay for it in a ten year rotational plan. They all laughed at us and elected to keep costs down. FF to today. Those same 35 guys are all hunting on the 350. I haven't hunted on camp property in 20 years . The 35 of them shot 4 deer for the entire season (a month long). It's a joke. Dad and I have been hunting a small 119ac farm. We leave it alone until gun season. We both sit in the same 2 seats every year and are usually back at camp by lunchtime most years. My area does not produce good deer but we have a bunch of them. Its a meat hunt at best. My plan for next year is to try and find a lease to join out of state or another campout of state. Going to be putting in for Iowa, we'll see what the draw brings. Times changed and I can't swing the trips I used to do anymore.

That place is so overgrazed the cows eat the bushes, cactus, anything. He is afraid they would eat some of brush killer. He calls those bushes persimmons, gives the cows projectile cshits when they eat them. In the pic below you can see his fence line, lots of dead juniper on his place because it died during a big drought about 12 years ago. His entire place is like that. There is grass across the fence, ours is mostly bare ground.

hanco and pete53 are hunting together in MN & TX!

I ain’t goin to Minnesota

C'mon man - it might do you some good to experience deer hunting beyond guarding a corn flinger.
And you'd get to hunt with a MN legend.

I hunted a place for 15 yrs in Ozona Texas that I could walk and hunt, ease up on deer if the wind was right. I liked walking rims of canyons to see what jumps up. I tire of guarding corn feeders for sure, butt no desire to go to Minnesota.

Same as every year, hunt the Crown( public) land on the river and in the river valley proper for 90% of the season fir my mule deer and white tails . Possibly go down to a friend's place and huntvsome private farm land.
Cat

We'll be back at our camp. I'll hopefully will still be Patriarch. Wash Rinse Repeat.

We really are behind in a couple of general tasks due to my Chemo. We need to start developing a couple more hunting venues (stand or blinds). Moose's back injury makes it hard for him to climb ladders, and it'd help if we could get a couple more ground blinds established, especially ones closer to the cabin. On 200 acres, there's all kinds of potential, but finding a new spot that does not encroach on an existing spot is getting harder. Also nobody wants to go where there's a guaranteed 100-200 ft of altitude difference schlepping the deer out. Right now, 80 % of our deer are taken where we can just roll right out with the truck.

Glad you are taking care of the older hunters

Pretty much the same plan for me as in the last 20 years. Only better. Most of the spring and early summer will be opening trails and improving habitat.

I need to go towards the end of March, check things, spring Turkey season be soon after that. I’d like to get a couple of cameras that send pics to my phone. I haven’t fooled with cameras in years, mostly because of pigs. I grew tired of pig pics.

Definitely different. Last year was a transition from deer rich North Georgia (where we used to live until last summer) to the Northeast Kingdom of Vermont for deer hunting, and in the first couple days of the season there was a nice snowfall resulting in "tracking snow". I dug out my old woolens that had seen only occasional use for the last 40 years, and set about doing some "Benoit style" deer hunting as well as sitting in the evenings over fields. All told, I got longish shots off at 2 bucks, but no blood or hair. Anyway the whole experience was awesome.

So for this year the plan is to go big:

1) Prepare for tracking. There is a nearby state forest with plenty of room.
2) Set up ground blinds and tree stands for non snowy days, and for when it makes sense to hunker down.
3) Mebbe dig out the bow and get reacquainted with that.
4) Maybe try muzzleloader.

I got the tags for all variations, and excitement for all of it, so ...... going big!

I might be helping a guy I’m getting on our lease. He got me on one years ago.

I got off the lease that I was on in east Texas. I had people hunting my stand, blowing holes through the front gate of the property, and they were knocking down our feeders as well. I have had my fill of hunting east Texas. I plan to be on a lease in the future but I wonder if it will ever happen due to the increase in prices. Things have gotten insanely expensive. If you can find a place for under three thousand dollars you've hit the jackpot.

I have 18 preference points for CO. May cash them in on a high end hunt. Or maybe do one on my bucket list: Anticosti Island. Turning 60 in May so I may decide to gift myself.

That is the bad thing about east Texas. It’s the locals doing that. I hunted by the Indian Rez. We had feeders stolen, campers broken into. I hunted way in the back, didn’t have my things damaged.

Leases are expensive, paying 2500.00 plus 200.00 for electricity in Burnet county

Every place in the state I've ever hunted has
had poaching and some vandalism.
It's not noticed in the west and far south for
whatever reason, but it happens. If you're not
there all the time to catch em, they'll be trespassing
and doing whatever they want when you leave.
In east Texas, it's almost always the neighbors
and/or their kids. They watch you come and go
and know if you're coming back right away or not.
A good many have an entitlement attitude that
comes from the early statehood days when
people could go wherever they wanted and do
whatever they wanted to whenever they wanted
to. There's really no way to stop it if you're not
on site full time. Hunting the south is more scary
to me with all the border jumpers and possible
zetas running willy nilly all over the place.
One of the places around freer had a tall razor
wire topped security fence enclosure for the
"campsite " where the RV'S and vehicles were
parked that was locked every night to prevent any
robbery or worse. When you went to your blind,
you had to do a semi tactical entry in case there
were any border jumpers asleep inside. It
wasn't nothing to see some trying to slip by
during the day while sitting in the blind. The
La Migra trucks and agents were a common sight

Not assume room temperature until after.......

ya!

GWB

I hope not, but you never know. I got a friend on the lease, will need to help him get set up.

I’m changing things up quite a bit this year. For nearly the past 20 years I have hunted the same region of the Adirondacks, the High Peaks Wilderness Area. It is a huge chunk of public land that is cross crossed with numerous streams and rivers that surround mountains. The area hasn’t been logged for nearly a hundred years, resulting in a very mature, barren forest. Deer numbers are painfully low some years, but I kept going back because I love that country. Nothing beats spending a November day covering numerous miles here, rarely ever seeing another person. I just wanted some better deer numbers!
This year I joined 2 adjoining hunting clubs in the Cranberry Lake region. This is lower country, less mountains, more marshes. And it’s all timber land, the past 20 years it has been logged fairly heavy. Lots more deer, and plenty of really good bucks are taken from this area every year. One club is an established club, of 3500 acres. The other one is a brand new group this year. The 1500 acres have not been hunted for at least the past 15 years. Overall the whole area looks real promising. The fact that I’ll be one of the youngest in the club at 53 years old, is also promising! Most of the older guys go for a little “camp life” not so much hunting. That’s fine with me.

It's pretty much Wash. Rinse. Repeat for our camp. We really could use at least 2 more ground blinds, but we're finding it harder to find spots where you're not hunting the same deer or interfering with another blind. We're also running out of spots that don't guarantee you'll be schlepping the carcass out of a ravine.

That sounds like a good deal! Good luck with it!

I can remember when I was 53. Barely

My plans are to shoot something using a low recoil pump rifle wearing a low power variable scope, while wearing a red or orange vest, with my hand loads and cup and core bullets...
I think I covered about 4 or 5 recent posts there.

I'm in the mix for a combo tag in Montana, and for a West River tag here in SD. I don't really have an exceptional whitetail, so might hold out for same. I guess I might get an East River tag as well now that I think about it. I passed on a real nice mule deer last year, kinda wish I hadn't done that. Having another tag in hand would have made the decision easier.

Well, my efforts to get a good lease closer to the house were unsuccessful. There was one club nearby that I also considered after the private ground fell through, but I declined. Seems like they are considering a 4-point per side rule which to me sounds like there aren’t many quality bucks around since they are trying to “improve” their bucks. The club I’m already in has varied habitat and some bruisers cruising around, but they’re hard to hunt in the timber where they hang out in daylight hours. Same program this year but no Colorado mule deer this season.

Good luck, all!

I'll be hunting for the 2nd year on a new lease. Its a 4500 acre Timber lease. Mostly planted pines with some oak heads some small low swamp areas. It's not world class deer hunting, but if you put in the time you'll kill a couple. Camp rules are, you can take 1 nice 6 pt Buck. Any other Bucks must be 7 pt or better. last year you could take 2 does. This year they lowered it to 1 doe. There are plenty of turkeys and pigs that are a bonus. Limit on Gobblers is 2. You can take pigs year round, no limit. Nice camp life atmosphere, There's a good group of folks there. No A Holes. That makes it nice. I have been on leases in the past where there was a lot of up all night drinking and some problems in camp. Not fun. If the cards line up properly for me, I might be able to go out to Texas for a week this year. we'll see.

Trying to cash in a bunch of Antelope and Mule Deer points this year....fingers crossed. The areas I'm applying for didn't have as hard a winter as areas farther North. Applying for some some stuff in Southern Idaho as well. Can always hunt elk and deer close to home if the drawings don't work out.

spend more time with young grandson hunting , shooting and teaching him outdoor skills .

We got our lease three years ago and the first season the timber company came in and clear cut it. The only timber left on the place was hardwoods in the branch bottoms. After that, they replanted and it's filling in nicely. We take on average 8-10 deer off it every year and the odd hog or two that come and go off it.

We're going to keep improving the food plots and stands as needed. Typically, we fine tune the food plots and replace as needed older box blinds with newly built ones. With all the grand kids getting older and wanting to hunt, we're replacing single ladder stands with doubles.

Having a nice mix of box blinds and ladder stands really let's us tailor the days hunt to the weather and needs. I like a ladder, but was not able to climb one for two seasons because of illness. Last year I climbed a ladder for the first time on this lease and it was great.

I’ll be in the same 8 tracts/leases as last year which totals a little over 5,000 acres in Georgia. Can’t wait to get the cameras out in July. Lots to do before the season gets here.

We just got our lease in for Alabama. Been on that for 5/6 years. I will hunt there primarily but will hunt in Ohio with family for 5 days the week after Thanksgiving.

I’m building tripod feeders for a friend, it’s a lot easier to fill them than climbing up. I have legs and the tripod piece ready

I’m going to the panhandle of Oklahoma this year, to hunt the Beaver River WMA. I’ve never been there before, I’ve mostly hunted in the SE part of the state, and I’m looking forward to the change of scenery.

Lucked out and drew Montana deer combo with 1 point. Last year was 17% with 1 point. I'll take it! Struck out on NM elk.

Still have Montana draw for antelope in play but only have 2 points so only about 40% chance of a tag.

Rifle and bowhunt in MO. as usual.

Could hunt Illinois.....??

No big changes. I do want to blood a couple of new to me rifles. If I get a new knee, I will hunt more.

Since I didn't pull any of the NM tags I applied for, I'm thinking of doing a deer hunt on Anticosti Island in addition to 4 weeks in NY Catskills. Anybody have any recent experience and/or outfitter recommendations? Looking at going the first week in November.

Really looking forward to this year.

Starting off with opening week bowhunt in Illinois. Come home to bowhunt Alabama for a bit and then head to North Texas for Thanksgiving week. Will leave there to head up to SE Kansas for first rifle the first of December , and then finish January out back home in Alabama.