It appears we might be in for a little “warm” spell this weekend.  Of course that warm spell can’t come without some serious wind associated with it.  But at least its a warm up, regardless of some drawbacks.

Hopefully – if the weather does cooperate – I am going to manage to get outside a little this weekend.  Nothing major, because I’m sure with the wind and rain, that everything is going to be quite messy.  But either way we are going to do something outside.  We need to change our recent SimplyIndoors way of life to SimplyOutdoors again.  I thought all of you (you know who you are), who have been calling us that, would appreciate that little reference.

The wife and I are planning on heading to the main property we hunt and checking it out.  And to be honest, I left a pop-up blind setup out there at the end of least year, so we are going to go see what condition it is in.  I’m hoping that it is okay, and I’m going to be kicking myself if it isn’t.  Sometimes life just gets in the way of taking care of those things.

With the warm up we are also hoping to maybe find a few sheds.  I have never found one before, so this year is hopefully the year.  We’ve contemplated taking Abby, but that is going to depend on how “warm” it gets.  Otherwise, she might be staying at Grandma’s house for a little while.

Finally some outdoor activity this weekend.  You have no idea how much I am looking forward to it.

Go away snow.  We are seriously sick of you!

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After bickering last week about the lack of pictures on my trailcam, it finally came through for me this week. 

We had quite a few does on the cam, which is good, because where there are does, there will eventually be bucks.  And we also captured this little guy as well.  I know he is young, but for a young buck his rack is already growing quite nicely.  A few more years, and you never know what he could turn into.

I was pretty happy to see some positive results from the new area’s where we put stands.  We did move the camera away from them for now, though, so that they have some time to settle down before season finally arrives.  I so cannot wait for opening day.

On another note-this past weekend Jeff and I practiced up a bit for our Cinder Block Smash that is coming up this weekend, as well as for our 3-D shoot, that will take place a week from Saturday.  I’m happy to report that the practice session went well.  And you can see the positive results in the two pictures. 

These shots were from 25yds, and I was pretty happy with how I shot.  I’m sure, that come the moment of truth, it will be a little different story.  But I feel pretty good about my shooting capabilities at this moment in time.  Not that they can’t be humbled a bit when the shoots actually take place.  It’s all about having fun anyway, right?

Things are really starting to pick up speed in our outdoor world’s.  Throw a new baby arriving into the mix and we have a pretty exciting time coming up.

Stay tuned!

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Last weekend was a big disappoint for me.  After our great streak of shooter bucks on cam, and all of the success we have had with the trailcams, I headed into the woods full of anticipation.  Unfortunately, when I got to the newly placed cams, I only had, after an entire week of them being out, 20 pictures total between the two cams.  That wasn’t exactly what I was expecting.  To say I was a little disappointed would be an understatement.

The cams were located in the vicinity of two new treestand locations that we had set up, and I was really having a good feeling about what was going to be on them-too bad that didn’t turn out.

What am I trying to get to with all of this?  Well, here it goes.  I wonder how much weight all of you put in to what you get on camera.  Would you abandon this spot because of the lack of pictures on the camera?  I watched deer use one of these locations over and over last year, so I know they are there.  I just wonder what my next step is now.

I tend to lean towards leaving the camera’s there for one more week and seeing what I get on them this weekend.  I honestly don’t think I’m moving the camera regardless though, because there are just so many factors that could effect the pictures-slow trigger speed, dense cover, angle of the camera, etc.

The bottom line is that I was very disappointed, and I just wanted to know what all of you would do in this same situation.  I, for now, am leaving the camera and treestands where they are.  I have a gut feeling about these spots and I don’t want to abandon the spot because of a trailcam.

What do you think?

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On saturday Jeff and I headed out to the main property we can hunt and set up our treestands.  Well, to be more specific, we set up two treestands, left a couple right where they were, and moved a few we had to a couple new locations that we found last year.

One of the locations is across the road from where we hunted last year.  We didn’t find out we could hunt this area until late in the year, and I happened to stumble across a decent spot earlier this year in that location, so Jeff and I setup a stand in that area.

Another stand we moved into a deeper location, because I had quite a few ocassions last year where I witnessed a couple decent bucks using a trail that was a little out of my reach.  After some further examination we found a nice little area and put the stand up in that location.

We moved another a little deeper into the swamp where we hunt, and a few we left right where they were (Jeff missed a nice buck out of one, and I shot my doe out of the other).

We also put up trail cameras in two of the locations that are new this year, in the hopes that some big ‘ole bruiser will show himself.  I will be venturing out there this weekend and checking them.  When I say “venturing”, I mean venturing.  I put one stand clear back on the property and it is quite a haul.  It should be interesting to get to in the dark as well.  Hopefully, I get a few good deer on the cam there to make all of our effort worthwhile.  I’m sure we will.

While I’m on the subject of trailcams, by sister’s boyfriend Justin was at it again last week.  He had 422 pictures on his trailcam.  They included quite a few nice bucks so I picked the one I liked the best and figured I would share it with you all.  He is one big dude and hopefully he sticks around for Justin or my sister to hang on their wall this year (even if they won’t come shoot the 3-D course with us).

I have to say that this is probably the best I’ve ever felt about treestand locations, and I’m looking forward to trying ‘em out this year.  I am going to have quite a bit of flexibility and be able to be real picky about where I hunt-depending on the wind and such.  I can’t wait for that flexibility to get here and I have a good feeling that it is going to pay off.

How many days until season anyway?  It is just killing me.

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Jeff, along with Justin, went out to a lease that Jeff is on and planted our first ever round of food plots.  Now, I use the term “our” loosely, because I am not on this lease.  I have the property I can hunt for free, so I couldn’t bring myself to buy in this time, but Jeff, my dad, and our relatives from S.C., who are moving up soon, are on the lease.

We have never planted plots before, so Justin was nice enough to help Jeff get them started.  They used the Monster Plots product, and planted in an open area that was available inside a woodlot that the deer frequent.  I got to hunt on this lease a couple of years back, and I think this area has some definite potential for some good bucks.  Hopefully one of them get a chance to whack a bruiser.

They used my dad’s quad, and I’m sure that was a time-saver.  My dad also purchased a new disc for them to use.  Both of these things really help to make the job that much easier, and though I didn’t get to help, I’m sure equipment like this cuts the job time in half.

Jeff sprayed and cleared the area a few months back and made it ready for the planting.  I am honestly a novice at the planting stuff, so I’m not even going to try and sound like an expert, but for his first try, I think it is going to work out well.

At some point I might ask my current landowners if they would let us do something like this on their property, but I’m not going to push it at this point.  I don’t think they would mind, but I’m taking it one step at a time.

Hopefully Jeff, my uncle, or cousin, get a shot at a nice deer specimen off this plot come fall.  Not only does planting plots help to promote healthy deer and a healthy deer herd, it also increases your chances of shooting better bucks. 

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