DaveH

Right next to my place is a 4-5 acre thicket which is just crawling with deer. It's a honey-hole and I've hunted it for over 20 years because my grandmother owned it until she died. There are 15 - 20 or more deer bedding in there at times. I've been watching a decent 8 point for a month that comes out of it to feed in the alfalfa field that surrounds 2/3 of it.

Here's the problem:

My cousin now owns the place and has given permission to 3 other guys to hunt there since he bought it. They've been hunting there now for 4 or 5 years and they really suck at it. In that time, they've wounded, and lost, one deer and killed a tiny doe fawn last year. They hang their stands in the only funnel in the area (that I used to use) and clear every living plant with-in 15 yards of them. They then have 5 "volcano-like" heaps of corn placed with-in the cleared area as bait. I've seen then walk in to hunt - arriving just before sunset and making a HUGE racket climbing into the already hung stand! They leave equipment all around the stand which tips off the deer to the presence of hunters. I've adjusted my methods and tried to use their foolishness to my advantage and managed to take quite a few deer from the area every year despite them.

This year is different.

I just went over there to check it out and found the huge mountains of corn surrounding their stand that now hangs in the exact same spot. As I was walking out, I smelled a slight rotting smell -- like a decaying animal. Without looking, I suspect a gut-pile or worse - a lost animal.

I also just found out that my cousin is planning on running a bulldozer through there clearing much of the brush so that he can run horses and cattle there. He's fencing in the entire area and replacing the alfalfa with pasture grass. He's already in the beginning stages of this and plans to pick it up just as the pre-rut starts kicking in. [:@][:@][:@]

Trying to talk to him about any of these things only seems to make him more determined to do this. He only allows me to hunt there because my grandmother forced the issue before she died.

So this will be the last year that the area will be like it is and the other "hunters" probably have already scared the resident herd and may have shot the buck that I've had my eyes on. He was predictable and may have bought an arrow.

I know this may not matter to the rest of you all, but I've had one farm "leased" out from under me this year and my other place just went from 140 acres down to less than 6 because of different management. My lands are dwindling and I came here to cry and whine about it!

Got any cheese?

rookiebowhuntr_PA

Hey Dave,
So sorry to hear about you loosing so much land! Sharing things with family can be curse then a blessing alot of time.
Well I am sure some new land will come to you soon!
Good luck this year!

buttonbuckmaster

Is there any way you could buy it off him?

Alpha Capo

dave

i got a huntin buddy that goes farm house to farm house and offers to dolabor in his spare timein exchange for permission to hunt, plant trees,cut ditches...whatever he can think of.He now has permission to hunt 12 farms.Hes only doing6-12 hours of work at each place during the spring & summer, has made new freinds while doing it.Andhas plentyopportunity to shoot theDeer of a lifetime. He works 50 hours a week at his regular job.

DaveH

I thought about that. Nope, he wouldn't have any of that . . . it would be something that suits me. I don't even think he would have been so anxious to "ruin" the place for bowhunting except he knows how much I have enjoyed it. He's one of those guys who is always on a power trip and gets his kicks having power over people's wishes.

kenman

Sounds like your cousin needs a good ass-whoopin

buttonbuckmaster

Sorry to hear that. Do you own any ground there, or is it just next to your home? If you have any ground, add some food plots or cover to try and keep them around. That just sucks.

DaveH

I own 14 acres right next to him. It's not a bad spot, and I do intend to utilize it a lot more after he "develops" his land. His land was where the alfalfa was and the super thick bedding area with a stream running through it. All of that will be out of play very soon. I'm hopeful that some of the deer will relocate to my place, but there are farms in the opposite direction which feature soybeans, alfalfa and corn along with water sources and cover. My place may not seem as attractive as thoses areas. In the past, I have planted some clover and oats , neither of which came up very well, but my land is fairly rolling with some steep slopes and with the way it's laid out, it's not as well suited to food plots.

nodog

Bummer! I get the feeling this is just a temporary set back and you will soon be "sitting pretty" again!

Good hunting!

Heidicazz1

Kinda know how you feel here in N.H. hunting land is much harder landowners arent all that crazy about hunting and now we've been hunting some land in a remote place you have to drive 40 min to get in on a snowmobile trail well land in there is being sold and people are POSTING land they've baught and gonna build people are in and out all the time I've hunted this so much I know when and where and all maybe lost the more goes on 3yrs of all that work gone rrrrrrr I know the feeling
Sorry that does su** and I hope your land will flurish and be plentiful never know they could be heading there now.