2010 Deer Season Finally Rolls in to Long Ridge Deer Camp

Well people, the hunting season is upon us! The Long Ridge 3-D deer archery target finally folded for good, and has been taken to the landfill. I am all done practicing, but do draw my bow four or five times before I head out.  It is not really cool enough yet, so I have only been out two times. Once (and the first) time on the East Stand. I have both bears and a nine pointer you see below, showing up there, so I lugged both bow and 12 gauge shotgun to that stand in hopes of bagging a bear or buck. No luck, I saw nothing that day. That was the 21st of september, the last day of bear season in this unit.

I have multiple pictures of this dude from many angles. He is a taker, as his rack is wider than his ears. Whether he gives up his absolutely nocturnal habits will have to be seen. All the bucks remained completely nocturnal all summer, which is highly unusual here. I think it is because of the extreme heat and lack of rain this entire summer. Now that it is cooling to the forty and fifty degree range, I am hoping they will range out a bit more.

Today, I took my loaded ATV up toward the Far Ridge Stand, and parked about a hundred yards away on the trail. I rigged up my safety harness, unloaded bow and gear, and headed up to the stand. It was quite warm, but I had showered with scent free shampoo, sprayed all my light cotton camouflage with scent killer, and was comfortable. The leaves are coming down heavily now, about two weeks early because of the lack of rain, and it was noisy going in. But once twenty feet up in the oak, I was dry and comfortable. The first thing I do is hang all my gear, then rig my safety harness to the tree. Then, and not until then, I pull up my bow. I pull out the seat, and nock an arrow, then hang my bow to my right side. Now I can sit down, arrange everything the way I want it, and break out my range finder. Now, I have hunted this stand for some five years, so I basically know the ranges to most markers but it is always good to redo, and review ranges when bow hunting. There is a stump to my left I range at 16 yard.  Use the twenty yard pin quite low on the deer. There is a rock at 18.5 yards. Use the twenty yard pin dead on. There is a bald spot in the grass at 29 yards. Use the 30 yard pin low on the deer. That's the gist. I always prefer to shoot  a bit low anyway, as my experience has taught me that if the sound of your shot alerts the deer, they will crouch to bound away, and that is why so many archers shoot over the backs of their deer. These days, any quality bow is so quiet, that it is generally not an issue. But it is my habit. Last year, I shot a large doe at twenty yards using the twenty yard pin. She was moving, so I was leading, and in doing so, forgot that I was twenty five feet above her. I took a good aim, released, and took out her spine, when I was aiming behind her shoulder. This is because I forgot how high I was in the air. (I do not use rangefinders with ARC, and won't unless I go on a sheep hunt!)

In any case, once I have reviewed ranges, puttered around for five minutes with equipment, it is time to wait. In this case I waited for an hour, seeing and hearing nothing but squirrels and chipmunks scavenging the many acorns I could hear dropping all around me. As I said, with all the crispy dry leaves, it was LOUD out there! About 5:30 I heard deer coming in...first a momless babe, obviously born this spring, but having lost 99% of her spots. She was alone, and edgy. I'd give good money to know how her mom died. She popped acorns, and grazed toward me for about twenty minutes before she alerted to sounds I could not hear, and beat it out of there fast. She should have saved her breath, it was only a large shiny doe with spring twins. Couldn't tell their sexes, but both were good sized and shiny, and playful. They grazed all around  me, while I pulled my bow from it's hanger. Our doe season for archery is closed until October 1st this year, but you never know when a silly young buck might burst upon the scene! Anyway, these five deer kept me entertained for an hour or so, as the younger ones raced around and played, and the does grazed and kept careful watch..It was an instructive hour, because I noted that the deer, while grazing initally, actually meandered to acorns...so now we know where the deer will be - up on the high ridges, where the mast is.

The other day I found these moose tracks wandering all over Long Ridge parking lot. He wandered in from the South, sniffed around my equipment, and wandered off down the lane toward our sheep on pasture. I have not caught this one on camera yet...but it is a large one.

 Here is a young five or six pointer. There are a half dozen of these younger guys hitting the cameras, but we won't take anything less than an eight pointer. This is the second year I have instituted this rule as an experiment to see if we increase the size and regularity of seeing large mature bucks.

 Below is another six pointer, and as I said above, all the cameras are getting ones like this.

 This youngster below is an odd ball. It appears he got tangled up somewhere while still in velvet, and lost one antler and severely deformed the other. I do not believe this is the result of bad genetics and definitely not the result of a fight. We'll give him another chance for next year.

So, while I have not recorded many mature bucks, I am hopeful that they will begin to appear. The coming week is cooling, so I will be out there. October 9 and 10, Long Ridge Deer Camp will host a two day non-stayover archery hunt for members. I'll keep you posted and hope you all are finding the deep excitement, and solace found as deep season approaches! Good luck, and let me know how you do! Jack   jackzeller@myfairpoint.net

Annual Summer projects Ending

Hello fellow hunters, summer is wrapping up! I know, I KNOW! August just got here, and it is HOT! But never the less summer is coming to a close as far as hunting prep goes! Remember there are astrological seasons, and meteorological seasons. But  here in New England, we consider summer to be June, July and August, fall to be September, October and November, and winter to be December, January and February, leaving spring as March, April and May. So as we enter the month of August we have a myriad of chores to get done in order to be ready for Whitetail season. Since bow season starts September 15th, we need to be ready and fit. Below you see a view of my deer target 40 yards away. (No, I do not shoot over the pup's backs!) And below this picture you can see a 3 and 3/4 inch group shot from forty yards. I am not satisfied until I can consistently make 2 inch groups at twenty yards, 3 inches at thirty, and 4 inch groups at forty. Not once or twice, but consistently. If I find this is not happening for me, I visit my local archery shop and they always set me straight. It may be my technique, or equipment, but he can usually spot it right away. In any case, the standard I have listed is my own, and I have no idea how I arrived at it years ago, only that I will not go out until I have achieved it consistently. Thankfully, I am there for this upcoming season...

The next job we have is to put our fields and food plots in shape for fall. This means liming, fertilizing if necessary and seeding. When we first started to set up LRDC as a paradise, we did it all by hand. I can well remember humping fifty pound bags of lime into the woods on my shoulder, hand raking, and no equipment. Gradually we cut trails, aquired ATV's, a tractor, and implements. We still do a load of handwork, but nothing like back in the 90's! Below you can see the limespreader I use, a piece made in Pennsylvania, and the ruggedest, most versatile limespreader I could find. This will spread any lime you put in it, including dripping wet lime. Below that, check out the massive axel inside that churns out the lime. It holds 1000 pounds per load, and I have hauled this baby way into the woods and ridges, over the toughest ground you can imagine. The lime pile is a leftover from liming our sheep pastures three years ago. I have twenty tons delivered bulk, and that way it is cheap. Have them dump it on a tarp! I still have about four tons left for next year.

Above you see a plot I tilled over, limed, retilled, and it is ready to be seeded. Below this you are looking at our tiller. It is a six foot First Choice, and if you have bushel basket and basketball sized rocks the way we do here, this is the only way to go. This piece of equipment has hacked acres of rocky New England soil for years. No breakages, faultless so far. My wife can hear me tilling from over a mile away, when I am in rocky areas. The next picture is of a plot that I lime first, then till, to mix in the lime before I reseed by August 1st.

Of course one of the 'chores' we hunters all have during the summer months is to rifle practice,. Now I don't mean just to 'sight in'. That is something you do the week of your hunt. I mean to practice regularly. I suppose if all you do while hunting is sit in a stand, with a handy rest and a rangefinder, then 'sighting in' will do. But if on occasion you decide to still hunt through the woods and want to be able to swing up and on a jumped buck with good chances of success, then regular practice is required. To sight in, I use the targets below which I make myself. They are 2 inch dots made with a magic marker, three to a sheet. I shoot these to sight in a rifle or new scope, to practice fundamentals, and to test the accuracy potential of a new gun or load. Once I have done that, and selected my load, my practice consists of standing off hand, shooting at a 14 inch by 14 inch metal plate at 100 yards. If you can make hits consistently like that, you are going to be successful in the field. I hunt exclusively with a 30-06, so there is some recoil there. The following pictures show a good spotting scope necessary for sighting in, and a ruler for measuring groups, and a recording book for different loads, factory or re-loaded.

I fully admit it, I am a sissy. Maybe it is my SWAT operator background, but I ALWAYS wear elbow pads when sighting in a rifle at a shooting bench. They do not care what caliber you are shooting - they cushion and protect, and prevent flinching. In other words, if you shoot your rifle with elbow pads on, you WILL be more accurate. Doesn't mean you need to wear them in the woods - that is silly. But when it is time to sight in, concentrate on that, not pain. Next to them you see a Past Recoil pad. (remember I admitted to being a sissy?) Use one, and get good with that rifle. When the time comes to actually use it, you will not be thinking about recoil, only about calling your shot. Well worth the money. Yes, Sally, even if you shoot the demure 7mm-08...

Below is my Winlite Winchester 70 in 30-06. It weighs just a tad over 6 pounds so kicks a bit. I have a Kick-EZZ pad on it, but otherwise it is stock, and I get sub 1 inch groups from it with regularity. The scope on it is a Redfield 3-9 for sighting in a load, but for hunting I use a Redfield Widefield 1 3/4 x 5. But it's accuracy isn't what I love best about this rifle. It has the slickest bolt (cool) and a good trigger (nice) and is very lightweight (still feels good at the end of a long day) and will shoot a 3/4 inch group with factory ammo. But what I love best, is it's inherent forgiveness. That is to say, when you pull this rifle up, and plant the crosshairs on game, it barks and the game drops. I have pulled so many shots that I was sure were bad, but when the smoke clears (figuratively) the game is always there. I marvel at that. Moving or not, it gets them. It's not a fancy 'claw extractor' model, just an early 90's model push feed, with a McMillan stock. Other than African Water Buffalo , or Elephant, I would be confident with this rifle on any game on earth. If you feel that way about your hunting arm, no matter what it is, you are a blessed hunter! In any case, summer is going to end in three weeks or so, and we need to be ready! Have fun, and let me know what you think!

jackzeller@myfairpoint.net

Summertime at Long Ridge Deer Camp

Back in April you saw just the first layer or so of camp wood laid out here. With the literally dozens of trips to and from the woods each week, the pile is now complete, and will fullfill the wildest dreams of campers for nine days of camps this fall...

You can see that the fawns here are much bigger than just several weeks ago, and we are glad they do not all succumb to the bears and, fisher and coyotes.

What did I just say about coyotes?

Mid June or so, this is on the Far Ridge Stand, and we have two bucks - the bigger one in the rear, coming along. Hard to tell this early what they will turn out to be, but by mid July we'll have a better idea...

Here is a developing handsome fellow, but still with remnants of a winter coat. This week in Southern New Hampshire it is 95 degrees, and the deer have to hate this, just as we do. In fact, it has not rained here in weeks, and the lawns are dying. I know my friends in Mississippi take this in stride, but it kills us. -40 degrees to +95? Yeesh! It about puts the Moose down.

This doe is sleek and healthy, and well bagged up. Can't see her fawn here but it is likely to be a healthy one. This is just below the Far Stand.

I decided to put a small plot up on our Eastern Ridge, where we have always had a woods stand (pictured below). Not very productive in the past (one buck in ten years) but it IS on the edge of a 30 acre sanctuary that we leave mature bucks undisturbed in. This is nasty country, about a half mile from camp. It is ledge, loose rocks and terrible soil. Six of us and a mini-excavator did the cutting and clearing in about 5 hours. All large pine and Oaks up there. I took the Red Oaks off, leaving the Whites.

After the inital help from fellow hunters, I spent several days up there de-rocking the place. I have a six foot heavy duty rototiller on the back of a 1070, and I weasled that up there, spun the rocks and soil over. I had to hand shovel most of the rocks out, and with the deer fly population at it's height, this was NOT fun!

Below is the plot mostly finished off. I would haul my harrows up here but the trail is simply not wide enough. I think I will  lime, fertilize, and seed the plot, then haul a four foot roller up here to set the seed. It'll come in all right by late September, and by next year, I 'll make access for harrows.

Here you see the woods stand we have mounted on a Red Oak many years ago. This was simply a strategic stand twenty feet up on an Oak on the edge of the sanctuary. I have gotten away from the permanent stands. They ruin good trees, such as this otherwise valuable Oak. The trees grow around them, so you can't remove them. Now we use ladder stands, and hangers. Since we are changing this over to a food plot, I will erect a twenty foor ladder stand on the North side. Too late to remove the permanent one at this point...

Down below you see the basic products I use to make initial food plots. Mostly I use Whitetail Institute products because they carry a full range of things such as seed, weed killer, mineral stuff and the like. I have a field planted in the Whitetail Clover seed and it has served the deer (and hunters) well. It is not the best clover out there for attractant strength, but it is good. When I make a new food plot, the first year I generally seed it with No-Plow. After a year or two I like to switch to Secret-Spot , and both have shown great results as far as making deer more healthy. I have three spots where I put down minerals (30-06) and the bucks are literally tearing up the ground to get at this stuff. Does prefer to have some poured on a stump, but follow Whitetail Institure directions if you want the bucks to use it. By the way, the five gallon bucket has left over clover seed in it, but it is a Lamb-Saver milk replacer bucket that has kept a bottle feeder healthy and happy!

These are bowhangers which I found on sale for twelve bucks for three. How can you beat that for summer shopping?

Yesterday, when I was doing the final rock removal at the East Ridge plot, I stopped to have a cold beer (hey, it IS 95!) and looked up to see this fellow staring down on me. He was panting like a dog, but followed me with his eyes wherever I went. They DO love clearings!

And here, mid-summer is a patch of the Far Field, which I never mow til late summer, because of the beautiful wild Sweet Pea. The deer don't eat it, so I don't know what purpose it serves except for beauty, but in that respect, it is worth sparing and enjoying. The following picture is of the rest of the Far Field. If we do not grow clover for deer, or graze it to sheep, we let our fields grow through the summer. I try not to mow before August 15th, so that all the field birds are done fledging out, turkeys are matured, and resting fawns a memory. The sight of fawns through mower conditioners is NOT pretty...of course in deference to real farmers and ranchers, we do not make a living from farming, so I make no judgements on those that must make hay!

And here you see the results of my daily bow practice...At 40 yards I was a bit high with four arrows and literally broke the back of this 3-D target. The last arrow to hit sent his head jerking to the ground, and he looked like a live deer for a second!. But what a costly mistake, as these things are not cheap. In any case I assume all you bow hunters are out there sending a half to a dozen arrows a day toward some target, so that when the day comes, you are in shape and ready for the challenge. In two weeks I will begin shooting at this target from elevated heights. I put it below a climber for realism.

Just had to throw in this picture of another little one. Looks quite new to the mobile world. Have a great summer, all, and keep your aim in line!

Two Months at Long Ridge deer Camp

Hello Fellow Hunters!  It has been about two months since I  have posted and the reasons are legion, but stated succinctly, I have retired from the police services after 32 1/2 years, and also we went through lambing here, and ended up with a bottle feeder...Of course I took that chore on, and it becomes a love, even if you do have to get up and feed every two hours for the first week. It took pretty much all of our turkey season, and still, even though little Lily has grown from 5 lbs. to nearly forty, I still feed her about 90 ozs. of milk from the bottle a day, four times...Also, we have been haying so putting first cut in the barn has left little time for much other than changing cards in the cameras. Below are some pics I have weeded from the hundreds taken this spring, some rather graphic.Below, you see a doe at the end of April still in shaggy winter coat. Later on, you'll see some others also still in winter coats as late as June. That is New Hampshire for you!

The scourge of all deer herds in the east is the coyote, several times his western cousin's size. Some 70% of Eastern Coyotes have gray (timber) wolf blood. That's the  reason they reach 70 or more lbs here...

Most of our deer came through the winter looking sleek, and well. This doe below is NOT! I have some dozen pictures of her, and was not sure she would make it. But she seems to be gaining weight on our whitetail clover. If she gives birth, not sure what kind of chance hers have of making it...

Below you see a recent trail picture of mom and babe..a future trophy maybe? I find that the little bucks usually precede their moms, while the girls follow. Just sayin'

Below is a fairly tragic example of why we hunt coyotes with such fervor. If you zoom in in this guy, you will see his belly absolutely stuffed, and in his mouth is the head, front quarters, and legs of a fawn. I just hope it's not the little guy above! Actually, if you check the picture dates, you'll see that it was not!

Here is that weaker doe again, a month later. I think she will make it through, but offspring? Doubt it...

This little gray fox is beautiful, and shiney. We don't bother them much because they are no harm, although they are pretty good at finding turkey nests...

Here you see a doe on June 9th still sporting most of her winter coat. Time to lose it girl, although we realize that preparation for temps as low as -40 degrees requires a lot of hollow hair and undercoat!

This young lady is the same doe as seen with the fawn. She is sleek, and healthy and has shed her winter coat. Obviously had a better wintering ground...

Each week I go out to a food plot and do something, anything, to improve it. Back in April, I went out to the West plot and girdled this hemlock to kill it. It is in lockstep with the white oak next to it and taking valuable nutrients form the nut bearing tree. When it is dead and dry, I will take it down and we'll burn it at camp fires.

Below are two different does, about a mile apart, but both sleek and healthy...not flanked out at all, so really hard to tell if they have birthed out yet. Here's hoping for a high fawn survival rate!