I also have pics of four different bucks that have been hitting it hard. They are all pretty good looking bucks.They are not monsters but they all look pretty healthy and are all rack bucks. The one in the pic is the biggest one I have got on cam yet.  I have seen the time where he would have looked big coming through the woods. Two of the other three bucks I have gotten on camera are gonna be solid 6 pointers. The other has damaged his left main beam somehow because it appears to turn and drop downward. If I keep getting pics of these guys then the one with the messed up main beam will be the one I try and target during the early bow season. Not because I think there is anything wrong with his genes or nothing, I just have never killed a buck with a messed up freaky looking rack.

I have gotten several more pics of single does with no fawns. I guess they were too young to get bred last season, but I hope they keep hanging around and bring me in lots of buck action this fall. The doe and fawn below are the ones that stay on the lick the most. All in all things are starting off right this year so far. I am already pumped even though it feels like it is 110 degrees outside. I just wish I owned about three more game cameras though. Them things can get addictive! 

 I have heard of so many different ways to make salt licks or mineral licks that I cannot count them all. The way that works best for me is to just buy those cheap 50lb white salt blocks, dig a hole deep enough to bury the block but leave  the top sticking out about an inch above the ground. Then I fill in the hole around the block with the loose bag salt,  and  cover the top of the block with loose dirt and more bag salt mixed together with a rake. Then I pray for rain.

I mix the bag salt in with the dirt and cover the top so that the deer will start using them sooner. I learned that one year when I put out a couple of blocks and just buried them up to the top and nothing ever touched them. I figured that the deer where I was must not like salt. The next spring rolled around after the block had dissolved into the ground and had been forgotten about, and  I noticed deer were tearing the ground up where the blocks had been the year before trying to get the salt. So if the deer start hitting them pretty heavy and it’s not raining enough to melt the block into the ground some, I will just keep recharging the licks with bag salt until they stop using them for the year. 

I put four licks on our new property this year. The deer have already started using all four. I put one by each feeder and one by each of our ponds. I know that some people will say to use the brown blocks because they have more mineral than salt, and have more of what the deer need. I myself have used the brown blocks and white blocks side by side and never had anything touch the brown blocks, even after they melt into the ground. I do not put out licks to grow monster bucks anyhow, I just want to hold deer on and around my property. I try to do so by keeping as much stuff out that appeals to their cravings. The pic below is one of my licks I made at the first of April, it was completely covered with dirt and salt when I made it and now the deer have dug all around it.  

He will always admit when he got skunked, but most of the time he connects with what he is after! Brian, his dad, and his buddies are all cool and make the show great even when they are having a hard time connecting with something. They are true hunters and will tell you real quick that is why it’s called huntin’ and not called killin’. I love watchin Primo’s, Michael Waddell, and Mossy Oak’s hunting shows because they keep it real and are down to earth cool guys also, but PigMan is my favorite show. If you like hunting shows check it out on the sportsmans channel. I think the new episode for the week airs on Wednesday evenings.

I had checked it Thursday and the batteries were still showing 75 percent, so I decided to move it back overlooking my feeder to see if any deer or pigs had found it yet. After checking it today I had a little over 700 pics of more coons, squirrels, and birds in two days time and the batteries are still at 60 percent! I was a little disappointed that no pigs or deer have been hitting my feeder, but I am still more than happy with the D40 so far. It has taken almost 1100 pics and still has more than half the battery life left.

Before I left I went and set it back up along the creek crossing where I had placed it before. I am just gonna leave it alone for a couple of weeks now and then go see what it got. I know deer and hogs have been crossing there, but what I would really like to see now is some turkeys! I will post the results when I get them. The pic below is one of the does that has been crossing our driveway.

 I am happy with the performance of this camera so far. I have it set on low quality image due to the fact I think the higher quality setting will make it slower. The pic below was taken around 5:25 am, and the deer was 15 to 20 yards from the camera so the flash is workin great. I love this new camera and if it continues to work this good I will have to get at least one more before October.  

I just turned 39 this past week, and for my birthday my mom and dad bought me a new Moultrie D40 Gamespy camera. I have read good and bad reviews on this cam, but so far I love it, just wish I would have had it back in October. I actually got it earlier this month and went and set it up over the same feeder that I had my wildview over, and was only getting two or three dark pics from. I set the Moultrie up to take 3 still shots when triggered and in 2 days I had 366 pics of coons, squirrels, and birds. Some were night shots and the flash is great, the pics are clear day or night. The camera runs on six Dcell batteries and after 366 pics they still showed 95 percent full.

Another thing I like about this camera is I can set it up to take either a 10 second video or 1,2,or 3 still shots whenever it is triggered. It also stamps the date and time on each pic which would have been very helpful when I had all the hogs coming in on my feeders at night a couple of seasons ago.

I moved it off the feeder Saturday to a spot I found where deer and hog tracks are crossing the creek. I will check the camera again this weekend and post the results. I am not really expecting alot just kind of playing around to see how good it works and how the batteries hold up. If it keeps taking pics and working like it did the first two days I set it up, this September and October I expect to get quite a few pics of some bucks when they start moving around getting primed up for the rut.

I have always washed my hunting clothes in unscented detergent and stored them in a scent free bag by themselves. I always shower with unscented soap and shampoo, and use a scent free deodorant. Problem now is, that’s  about as far as I take it anymore, other than pinning a earth scent wafer to my cap and maybe spraying down my boots with earth scent spray. Now I just usually shower the night before,  get up and pull my hunting clothes out of the bag and put them on, get in my truck and head to the woods, sometimes stopping for gas and a morning snack at the local store, contaminating myself  and clothes with foreign scent all over again. Then I just spray myself with earth scent when I get to my area and head for the stand.

 My routine used to be to wake up earlier, take a shower with unscented soap and shampoo. Then I would dress in my regular clothes until I arrived at my hunting area, then redress in my hunting clothes and spray everything  down with scent eliminator,  add a scent wafer to my cap and head for the stand. Immediately after I was done hunting and returned to my truck, I would dress back in my normal clothes, and my hunting clothes went back in their bag. It was a little more trouble and I had to get up a little earlier, but at least it assured me that I was controlling my scent as much as I could, and not contaminating my stand sites with foreign odors. 

 I have never been busted and winded by deer as much as I have been this year, that I can ever remember. I have had deer within 5 yards of me while hunting from the ground on my old place, and they never knew I was there. I realize that after owning a piece of ground that I have hunted for 25 years, and entering that place year around filling  feeders, repairing stands, and preparing  food plots,  it is only natural that the deer and other animals were kind of used to my scent being in and around the area. Not that they ever jumped right out in front of me because they were not afraid of me, but they probably were not too terribly alarmed if they came across my scent in the general area.They were pretty much calmer and more relaxed unless they spotted me or my scent blew straight to them head on.  The deer on my new ground seem more nervous and on edge, they will not tolerate human scent for 1 second,  if they even get the slightist whiff of a strange scent, they are outta there in a heartbeat!

It is too late this year as the season is about done, but next season I will be taking alot more precautions and steps to remain as scent free as possible. I know that there is no way that I can completely eliminate my scent, but the more I can cut down on it,  the better my chances will be. There are so many scent eliminating products on the market and I have used quite a few of them and I guess they all work, but you can spend alot of money on products if you plan on buying the whole scent free systems they have.

While I was searching the web for scent eliminators the other day, I came across a new product I have never seen before called BioExtreme. This product is made by a guy here in Texas and is guaranteed to work. What sounds so great about it to me,  is that it is a complete scent eliminating  system in one bottle. You can wash your clothes in it, shower and deodorize with it, and spray it on as a scent eliminator when you reach your area. Some products will cost 40 or 50 bucks for the complete system, but a 32 oz bottle of  BioExtreme is only $16.00 delivered to your door. It has no harmful chemicals added, says it works for longer periods than the other brands, and it has a money back guarantee if not satisfied. I ordered some and am anxious to try it,  because I like the idea of  having just one bottle that does it all,  instead of 15 bottles laying around taking up space.

If you are interested in checking it out go to bioextreme.com, it sounds pretty cool and I hope it works like they say it does. Let you know how it works for me.

To make a long story short, by 9:00 am sitting on the cold ground I was freezin’, so I decided to move and just still hunt into the wind along the creek. Don’t know for sure what the temp actually was, but I know that the small pond on the backside of our property had ice and frost around the edges, so it was well below 40.  

Good news is that while I was easing along the creek, I found lots more rubs and also narrow places where I could see deer had been crossing. Also realized that the fields that border our property that were green not more than 3 week ago, are all  just dead grass now. I had thought it might have been wheat or something planted for their cows they have but guess I was wrong.  So all in all it was a good morning I learned a few more things about the area. I have about made up my mind just to chalk this season up as a bad one, and just start focusing and preparing  for next season. After all I did manage to take a buck, just not a monster like I dream about.

I know now that all I have to do,  since I know so much more about the area, is make it more attractive and huntable for deer. My plans are gonna start right after the first of the year. First thing I plan to do is widen the path through the center of the property a little bit, between the cedar thicket and the creek so I can see a little further and cover more ground. Next I will build a box stand and place a corn feeder and some salt licks off to the side of the path to maybe help attract them a little more. The main reason I am building the box blind,  is so that I can take the kids, one at a time of course, and they can be comfortable and not have to sit just still as a rock. And even if all they see are does, I want them to be able to see deer when they go so they will not lose interest.  

I already have an aerial map of my place so I plan on placing my other stands in about four other spots around the property, 2 morning sites  and 2 evening sites,  so that I will have a stand to hunt for whatever the prevailing winds are for that day. And no matter what if the wind is wrong for a stand it will not be hunted, and any time the wind is swirling and shifting around, no matter how bad I want too, I will not hunt at all that day! It may sound like that I am getting too anal about it, but I am trying to really turn this place into a great spot not only for me, but for the 5 kids me and Michele have between us. I want them to be successful and see deer and other wildlife, after all they don’t get a whole lot of time with school and everything, so I have to make the best of what time they have.

The last thing I will do, besides maybe setting up a couple more feeders, will be to plant about a acre and a half along the edges of the woods behind our camp trailer house,  in a mixture of wheat, oats, and winter peas around the first of September. Not planting it so much to hunt over, but to give the does and yearlings something to munch on, and to keep them comin through our woods and hanging around close by. Because we all know the does are what keeps the bucks coming through! 

 I have not givin up completely on this season, but I cannot help but get excited when I think about getting the place ready for next year and having a whole new fresh start. When I stop to think about it under the circumstances I really did not have that bad of a year after all. I got deer meat in the freezer, and seen quite a few deer for no more than I have done to the place. Also I know for a fact that several people went and looked at the property when it was for sale, so really there is no telling how many different people stomped around up in my new woods from August to the middle of October, me and my dad included. One of the main things the place probably needs is just a little cooling off period. When I get a few things done in there after the first of the year,  that is exactly what it is gonna get.

Hope your season is turning out good, I will keep you posted on how things are coming along.

Well I eased my way back to my stand and got there just before daylight. I used my windicator spray powder and checked  the breeze and it was blowing from exactly the way the weather had forcasted. I climbed up about 15 ft off the ground in my Summit Viper Climbing Stand, and got all settled down for the wait. After a bit I grabbed my windicator out of my pocket to check again, because it felt like it changed a little, and dropped the bottle to the ground. I was surrounded by trees, so without the windicator it is hard to tell really which way its blowing, unless it is a pretty gusty or strong wind, and this was only a slight breeze. So I told myself it is probably just me being paranoid and that I was gonna trust the weather forecast,  because I did not wanna climb all the way down to get the bottle, and risk getting caught off guard by deer in the middle of climbing down or back up the tree. 

Well I should have because I sat there for a good 4 hours and saw nothing at all. About 11:30 the wind started gradually picking up a little and then I could tell that it was all wrong. It was blowing from the NW which put my scent blowing right down the trail into the thicket. It had changed on me earlier in the morning, but I could not be sure which direction because it was only a slight breeze and without my windicator spray I could not figure it. I also did not figure on it changing from SSE to NW just like that, but it did! I climbed down and was pretty disgusted at the fact that I had sit there,  probably for at least the last 2 hours, with my scent blowin in the thicket and warning every deer in there of my presence. 

I have not completely givin’ up yet, but I must say I am about ready to admit defeat this year. I know that this time of year, it is like bucks just vanish off the face of the earth around here. With all the hunting pressure that has been on them and the wear and tear the rut put on them, I know they are gonna be in lockdown mode for awhile. I can only hope I get lucky, and a good one might make a fatal mistake, like just being at the wrong place at the wrong time. But I also know that if I keep making stupid mistakes like I did Monday morning, then it is very doubtful that he will!

I started my vacation Thursday, and with the kids being on Christmas holidays and all, I will only have a few serious hunting days to get a good buck on the ground over the next week or so. I plan on taking some time out and taking the kids squirrel hunting while they are on Christmas break also. Michele and I are getting married on Dec 31st,  so after that I will be calling it quits this year for deer. I still love my new place and have learned alot about where I need to be when next bow season starts. I am really looking forward to getting it ready for next year, and predict that I will kill my biggest buck ever in the 2010 season. If not there is always 2011!  Heck,  Michele’s already started calling me” Buck Repeller”!  I don’t think it is very funny at all, but she sure does, and I am starting to believe she is right!

Last Friday evening I did have a pretty decent buck coming right towards me, but just as luck would have it he decided to cross my shooting lane on the wrong side,  and right before he stepped out into the trail where I could get a clear shot,  he winded me and blew out of there back in the same direction he came from. I tell ya I have been trying my best to play the wind right, but it seems like where I am now it changes directions every 20 mins or so.

I hunted yesterday evening and did not see anything but a few crows, and this morning was the same story. So before I left today I moved off back in the cedar and pine thicket and found some nice fresh rubs, and also found a couple of pretty worn trails that criss cross in some pretty thick cover. I found a good tree overlooking the area and put my climber on it. I usually try and stay out of the thick stuff so as to not disturb them if they are bedding in there but it’s do or die now. From the sign all around I know they are there, but they are  just not moving much or far at all. I will not be able to hunt again until Monday morning, but if the wind is right so I can hunt the spot I am expecting to see something.