Build it and they will come!

[BIGREDD]

Food Plots and Wack Shacks... 8)
Hunters are starting to realize just how effective and beneficial Food Plots are for attracting and concentrating game. Not only are food plots good for the hunter, they are good for all manner of wildlife by providing a food source. Food Plots do not have to be huge, a 1/4 acre food plot is about 55' X 55' and this can be done by hand with some effort and small expense.
Seed for food plots is available at your local gunstore and co-op and there are many brands available. A well banced mixture of seed will contain perennial and annual forage seeds designed to attract and hold deer, turkeys, grouse, rabbits and other foraging wildlife.
On two of the properties we hunt we have planted and maintained small food plots with great success. This year we are planting much larger sections (aprox 20 acres) with the help of heavy equipment and ATV's.
The food plots we planted in the past grew up high enough that it provided good cover for the deer and by the fall the fescue and millet was tall enough to hide the deer.
It was soon obvious that we needed tree stands or tower blinds if we were going to hunt successfully over the food plots. This year we are building a number of blinds (wack shacks) and putting them on raised platforms in order to get a better view and clearer shots. We are currently experimenting with designs and sizes to try and figure out the most effective type of tower blind.
We have a number of apprentice hunters and we are building two wack shacks large enough so that we can have an apprentice and a mentor situated comfortably and safely together.
I don't know if any of you guys use wack shacks or tower blinds but I could use some ideas if you have any.
I will get some pics of the food plots as they grow up and some pics of the Towers as we build them.
The voice in my head says... If you build it they will come... what do you think... am I on to something here... or should I call the nurse for some more medication :?:

 

[BadgerDog]

.......what do you think... am I on to something here... or should I call the nurse for some more medication :?:

Well, I'd avoid more medication, but have you considered therapy as an alternative? :lol:

The mentor training idea is a good one ....

Regards,
Badger

 

[Grouse Man]

You need to come up with a different name for your hunting stands.

Grouse Man

 

[senior]

What works fairly well is scaffolding
You can make the height you need, tarp it in, install a good floor
And the best part for those of us that hunt old fields & bush is as the folige changes it's easy to move



P.S.--BREDD-do you ever check your E-mail??

 

[Foxer]

I've often wondered why tree stands have never really caught on here in the west.

I've heard they're very effective - apperently our deer haven't learned the value of 'looking up' yet

 

[bone-collector]

cause in the west bizzlybears can climb trees and its a crappy place to have to defend yerself :wink: :lol:

 

[Foxer]

cause in the west bizzlybears can climb trees and its a crappy place to have to defend yerself

I thought we'd agreed to use p-17 for bait? surely that takes care of the problem? :lol:

 

[BIGREDD]

I've often wondered why tree stands have never really caught on here in the west.

I wondered about that too... is it because you are glassing and stalking more?

 

[walksalot]

Actually alot of the hunters I know use tree stands and is my favorite way to hunt with a bow.

 

[Foxer]

Actually alot of the hunters I know use tree stands and is my favorite way to hunt with a bow.

Bow hunters have cottoned on to it, but of all the hunters i've met i don't think a single one does it regularly.

I wondered about that too... is it because you are glassing and stalking more?

I don't know - it seems like such a good idea. I guess part of it is our terrain is such that its easier to get a bit of a vantage without 'em. Definately people tend to spot and stalk or still hunt a lot.

 

[BC Bigbore]

Actually, a lot of the mineral licks in this area have old tree stands built around them. Hunters have been using elevated platforms for many years up here however, the majority of these old stands are very unsafe and shouldn't be used. One of our Huntshoot members suffered a nasty fall last year from an old stand overlooking a lick. He was a hurting unit for quite a spell but fortunatly it didn't end his first moose hunt ...KF

 

[John Y Cannuck]

The guys at out moose camp found that old TV towers are just the ticket for stands. They last forever, and can be had for free if you're a scrounger.

 

[walksalot]

Actually alot of the hunters I know use tree stands and is my favorite way to hunt with a bow.

Bow hunters have cottoned on to it, but of all the hunters i've met i don't think a single one does it regularly.

I wondered about that too... is it because you are glassing and stalking more?

I don't know - it seems like such a good idea. I guess part of it is our terrain is such that its easier to get a bit of a vantage without 'em. Definately people tend to spot and stalk or still hunt a lot.

One of the things about a tree stand is that sometimes it takes alot of moving it until you get it in the right spot and this can be quite a frustrating process. Until you get the animals moving right near your tree stand it is in the wrong spot, for a bow hunter. :wink: I have three stands hanging in the bush right now. I moved one stand many times as all I heard was whitetail telling the whole world I was there but on day I moved it to a tree and just like magic the animals were moving right next to my stand.

With so much logging hunters tend to hunt the cut blocks instead of in the bush. I just prefer to be in the bush as the animals move in the bush all day long but only frequent the cut blocks dusk and dawn.

 

[BIGREDD]

We are in a different scenario in S.Ont... lots of Agriculture, bush lots and Swamps.
There are some very big forested tracts but for the most part we pattern the deer where they come into fields to feed. Once you have patterned the deer selection of a stand site becomes a little easier... mostly field edges, fence lines and funnels :idea:
Sometimes you can make the deer come to you by selective cutting of trails... planting food plots and baiting. Decoys and scent will work under many circumstances as well 8)

 

[senior]

While I'm am only 120kms from BREDD we have almost no agriculture, the best hunting is around old overgrown farms thus the need to get up there! & as walksalot said
"One of the things about a tree stand is that sometimes it takes alot of moving it until you get it in the right spot and this can be quite a frustrating process."

That makes the scafolding work well once you get it in the right spot you can build a semi-permanent set-up, making the scafolding available again to search out another good spot

 

[walksalot]

We are in a different scenario in S.Ont... lots of Agriculture, bush lots and Swamps.
There are some very big forested tracts but for the most part we pattern the deer where they come into fields to feed. Once you have patterned the deer selection of a stand site becomes a little easier... mostly field edges, fence lines and funnels :idea:
Sometimes you can make the deer come to you by selective cutting of trails... planting food plots and baiting. Decoys and scent will work under many circumstances as well 8)

I have permission to hunt property which holds some decent whitetail bucks. I sit on a ridge and watch them come into the field during the summer and the first day of bow season I am laying in wait. I pass up many smaller bucks waiting for the bigger bucks to come out but as soon as a doe or small buck crosses my tracks to the stand they start to stomp and act agitated and those bigger bucks never show. I could sit in a hay loft and shoot one on the first day of the rifle season but I am bound and determined to get one with my bow. I think a mature whitetail is one of the hardest animals to hunt one on one.

 

[BIGREDD]

I pass up many smaller bucks waiting for the bigger bucks to come out but as soon as a doe or small buck crosses my tracks to the stand they start to stomp and act agitated and those bigger bucks never show.

I assume there is no way to approach the stand in a way to minimize cutting their trail... What about rubber boots... maybe scent pads on your soles. I certainly hear what you are saying about approach though... a deers nose is tough to fool :idea:

 

[cdngunner]

An old farmer trick...

Always leave a piece of old clothing with your scent on it in the area you want to hunt. Change it every couple of weeks, so that your scent does not wash away. Eventually they will get used to the scent and ignore you. Or so the theory goes.

I imagine it works better in the more populate rural areas.

 

[BIGREDD]

The clover is coming nicely,, a beautiful carpet of green... I dragged teh rakes around for about four hours on the weekend... gonna plant the annuals this week... should be primetime in October.
We are building wack shacks today... I will try to remember to take some pics. :idea:

 

[BIGREDD]

We framed a shack yesterday... 4'X6' floor... 6' high at front 5' high at back... door in back... 24' windows all around... Imagine this puppy 15 feet in the air... I will get more pics of the finished product... flip open windows.... insulated... carpet on the floors... room for lots of room for two hunters ... or three in a pinch :wink: