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!

Mid April at Long Ridge, a busy time!

Happy Spring to everyone from Long Ridge Deer Camp! We have finally lost all our snow, even up on the Far Ridge, and the last of the lake and small pond ice disappeared a week ago. Once that happens things get really busy around the camp.

The first chore is to get a game cam out. I know for you lucky folks in the Southern tiers, you can leave them out all year around, but with our temps going below zero, batteries last only a few days, so I bring them in til spring. Up it goes during the first week of April. Below you see the first buck captured in a photo this year. He is in excellent condition, and shiney and alert. The mild winter was good on this group for sure. We'll be watching antler growth over the spring and summer months!

The second pressing issue is to get all the trails opened up and cleared of blowdowns, ice damaged trees (and there were a ton of them) and to clear some new trails. Below is one that I am clearing along the Eastern edge of the property, where there are no trails yet

Here I have cut my way along, and have yet to walk back to clear debri from the trail. Some folks have asked me if I always travel by ATV, and never walk! Well I do walk, with a pistol, or rifle, and binoculars. But when traveling with a chainsaw, hand tools, gas, and oil, I ALWAYS take transportation!

While walking along heaving brush and cut trees out of the new trail system, I discovered a bear den, kind of exciting because I have never found one right on our land. This one is very well used and there are black coarse hairs on the sticks around the cave. The trail in and out is well worn. I don't know if there are babes in there, but there could be. The sow I caught on camera this past summer had two yearlings with her, so it would be her breeding year. But there is no way to even know if it is her. The opening is about 24x30 inches, just perfect. I didn't poke around much in case there were cubs, but went home to bring Nancy back to show her so she'd believe me. She wasn't all that thrilled about sitting that close to the opening, so we did not

stay long...

Yesterday I hauled out two small Maples for runners and began to pack out firewood for fall camps. I use seasoned stuff that I cut and stack along the various trails. There is so much I would give it away for free if there were any takers. When this pile is all done and stacked there will still be at least five cords, seasoned and waiting around the food plots, trails, and fields. This stack will fuel a roaring fire for a full eight days of camps.

Coming up, I hope to get to the range soon, and try those Winchesters with the triggers all adjusted. Just been too busy!

April Fools at Long Ridge Deer Camp

It is just about April 1st here at Long ridge and we are finally able to see the end of Old Man Winter. For as mild as a winter we did have compared to the usual, it did seem to drag out. Any month beats March here in Northern New England. March has a span of historic temperatures from 70 degrees to -20 F. Day before yesterday it was 15 degrees! Nasty and unpredictable. But during the good days we do get out and start projects. Below you are looking down from the Tall Stand onto the start of a new food plot. I cleaned up a lot of logging debri in the fall and burned a huge pile this winter. Now the final cleanup and then around  mid summer I will lime, rake, and prepare the ground for a fall planting of No-Plow or Secret Spot. You won't believe how green this will look. This is primarily a bow stand though the hunters do take deer here with muzzle loaders too. It is not a popular stand because it is within a hundred yards of camp, and 200 yards from the house so the feeling is that people talking and yapping dogs will keep any deer from coming in. Quite the contrary, there is heavy cover here between the farm and the stand and the deer pour in here like water.

Another view above from the tall stand, just to the right of the ATV. This also gives a view of the far field

Typical for April 1, most of our snow is gone. The trails which I ran today are mostly clear (except for ice crushed trees) , with occasional runs of snow. Below you can see the last snow in our fields. Once that is gone the frost will leave the ground and we are off and running to a full spring. Tonight starts a nasty long rain storm and that will likely wipe out what you see of the white stuff .

Above:  Once I got to the Far Ridge, I was amazed to see that the opening there was almost completely covered with snow. It is in the open, and unshaded, so I thought I would find it clear. Walking across it I found a foot of snow in places, so I guess it is the elevation that makes the difference. This is just a tad less than a mile from camp...

And last, above you see a project I started several years ago and am finally bringing to fruition. A wild apple orchard - there are a dozen or more trees in here. When we bought the place this area was dark and dank, shaded by huge pines and maples, and poplar. The apple trees were tall and stringy and dying, some already beyond saving. But with a bit of sunlight we let in, and ongoing pruning and logging, the trees are full of blossoms in the spring and drop a ton of apples each fall. The deer gorge on these apples, and turn the soil into a bog!. Today I was in there to prune the apple trees and to remove downed trees from the winter ice storms. I'll post a later spring picture of this area when it is green and beautiful. Next month, more food plot prep, game camera placement, and organizing hangers and ladder stands for the coming fall!

Mid-March at Long Ridge

Several weeks ago I took a picture of this beautiful Red Fox from our kitchen window. He is about 50 yards behind the house just beyond the garden hunting mice in a pasture. We watch him (or her) all winter pounce on big fat voles down through feet of snow. Even with hard crusts they jam their snouts down through it and manage to catch them. I could see the shine on this one's coat, and fox are in season, but hey, they whelp out this month, so I won't. I do worry for the one lone free ranging chicken we have left though. ( It's the hawks that really do them!)

This is what we call the Overlook. It is on the opposite end of the property from the Far Ridge, faces East, and would be an extraordinary view if I logged off in front of it. We ATV, hike, or snowmobile up there and have fires, and lunch sometimes. During deer season I strap a seat on a maple just over the edge and it makes a great stand looking out over a nice open hardwood draw..

Today, as usual I walked the dogs up one of our main snowmobile trails. If this weather keeps up, it will be too muddy in a few weeks. You can see where this year around brook has finally busted out through two feet of snow. This snow trail won't be back this spring unless we get a late March blizzard, (don't bet that we won't!) and actually even in April and early May we have been wacked. But the sledding season is OVER. Now it is hiking alone, until mud season is over.

On this mornings walk we passed under the Mid Stand whick looks out over the Far Field. It is a good stand, and I have taken great deer from it. It's drawback is that it is quite exposed and you cannot even twitch in this stand or you will be had. You can see that the floor of the stand is quite crooked and I will fix that this summer. It's like that because I put this up last July, all alone. I was twenty feet up, trying to hang this 35 pound base with one hand while I drilled holes for lag bolts to wrench it tight to the tree. It was about 80 degrees and very humid, and when I assessed the job I had done I was too beat to fix it then. Never got around to it, and stood on it like this when I arrowed a deer in October. We'll get it changed...

These two purebred Shelties are the dogs you do NOT want to take for walks in the woods if you want to see anything. They bark, herd my poor old Lab, race around like the nutcakes they are, and I am sure can be heard for miles. In fact I know they can, because often in the fall when I am way out on stand I can hear their barking as far as the Far Ridge. But they are smart, neat dogs, both rescues from smokey, small urban apartments. They can hardly believe they live on a farm now, with real sheep and fields to run on. The physically abused one (Blue Merle on the right) has almost forgotten her pain. They are happy!

Update on the Winchester model 70's - I did spend an afternoon last Monday on the PD range, and shot both rifles.
The wooden stocked Featherweight I shot with Federal Premium 125 grain (remember I want this as a varmint gun) PowerShocks. With it's seven pound factory trigger pull the best I could do was 1 1/4 groups.
I hadn't touched this stock gun until now, and that is as good as it shoots with any load. I decided that this gun needs trigger work first, so when I got back to Deer Camp, I adjusted it down to 3 pounds. We'll shoot it again with the same loads, and see what a difference if any that makes. Remember I am sticking with the same load in an attempt to wring best accuracy. When the gun has achieved that, THEN we'll seach/load up the best round for the rifle.

The Macmillan stocked Winlite also is completely stock, though if you recall I took the stock off and removed a bubble that was in contact with the side of the barrel, sanded it down, and refit the action at 45 inch pounds. With a stock trigger weight of just under 5 pounds I started off with Federal Premium 180 grain Barnes Triple Shock X. I was amazed! Just the small bubble removed from the stock gave me an immediate 1 inch group with this factory load. I was able to reproduce this group several times. I then took both rifles home and as above, adjusted the trigger down to three pounds. Can't wait to hit the range again. I have had that rifle for twenty years, and never, with any load, has it shot better than an inch and a quarter!. I'll keep you posted.

Last item, this week Fish and Game bulletined that everyone should take in their bird feeders, because the bears are out in force and marauding them. They haven't hit us yet, but got a house in the neighborhood about three miles away. Usually we have til about April 1st before they break out of hibernation, so that illustrates what an easy and short winter we've had... Jack

Above is Long Ridge Deer Camp as you read this. But don't get the wrong idea! Today it will get to nearly forty degrees, and we will lose a lot of this snow. The sheep were sheared yesterday, and we are counting on low temperatures of 28 degrees. T-shirt weather!

Today at Deer Camp it was forty degrees in the sun at 1 PM! Imagine that...I spent the afternoon snowmobiling and packing trails before I put the sleds back inside our trailer. Typically in the winter, I load snow into a bay in the machinery barn, pack it with the tractor, and this is where the winter machines you see above will park. Fire them up, and go. But by this time of the year if we get a warm spell like this week, the snow starts to melt and they'd be sitting on dirt if not moved. In the morning now, we can walk the dogs on the trails through the fields and woods, and not break through. They are hard as cement in the morning. But by 1 PM, they start to get soft and hard to walk on. The picture you see above is a trip we took up to the Far Ridge, about a mile from Deer Camp. Lots of snow up there, but even in the near field this evening there was 21 inches of snow waiting to melt. Seems strange since this was a low snowfall winter...we never even went on a real snowmobile trip because of the scarcity of snow on the trails.

Since this blog is primarily about deer hunting, I will say that the winter has been particularly kind to the Whitetails. They are used to surviving way more snow and cold than they were exposed to this winter and they are looking pretty good. The coldest temperature at the house over winter was 7 degrees below zero, way warmer than most winters. If we don't get one of those typical late March blizzards that dump another twenty inches, the deer will be fine.

Deer Camp is still packed in with snow so not much in the way of projects going on, but I have assembled another twenty foot ladder stand, and a hanger for placement next summer.

Still working on the Winchesters to see what they can improve to for group, and today I used a trigger pull gauge I borrowed from the PD armory to measure trigger pull. The wood stocked Featherweight you saw in the previous blog pulled about 7 pounds! No wonder it won't group better than 1 3/4! The Winlite 70 pulled at 4 3/4 pounds. Funny, because I couldn't feel much difference between them, Not terrible, but I will get the needed wrenches and adjust both to about three pounds..

Above is my snowmobile in front of Deer Camp. This is a short lived sight this time of year, though in New Hampshire, ANY time in March you can get 20 inches of snow and -5 degrees. The deer don't like that, and neither do we!

This is looking out of Deer Camp doorway, and the snowbank you see is what had slid off the roof. Today I rode my Ribicon out on the snowmobile trails, and when I strayed off, I bogged helplessly down. Bottomed out, but within walking distance of the machinery barm. Jumped on a second one and hauled mine out. I measured the snowpack there and it was nineteen iches. It's going fast though!