Posted: 7/30/2026 1:18:15 PM EDT
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Hey all. I'm a pretty new hunter. Unfortunately, my dad was never a hunter/super outdoors kind of guy so I'm having to play catch-up and learn in my mid 30s so my girls will grow up knowing the craft. I've "tried" the past two seasons and gotten nothing but this year I am trying to actually put in effort. I live on 5 acres that backs up to over 13k acres of WMA. We have maybe 1/2-3/4 of an acre cleared and the rest is pretty dense woods with some light spots/pathways. I see fresh deer tracks every single day and we see them pretty regularly on the property and all over the neighborhood (we're all pretty out in the boonies). Last year I had a corn plot and some cameras set up and the deer would come just after dark and then super late at night/around midnight or early morning pre sunrise. This year, I used the bush hog to push back to the back of my property through a natural trail that was already there. Opened up a spot I believe deer are going through and set up a feeder and a cam and now I am consistently getting deer there...but at night and early morning. They've been pretty consistently coming by at 8:30-9pm and 4-5am. I've got a few months until deer season but I'm pretty lost. I really want to hunt my own property and not have to go through the whole thing of trying to find a club to join or any of that. Is there anything I can do to encourage the deer to come during daylight hours? I have my feeder set at 6:30am and 5:30pm but so far no takers at the times it goes off. Sorry if this is all stupid, like I said I'm pretty darn new at this and didn't grow up with it so I'm trying to learn now. Any help would be greatly appreciated. Attached File Attached File |
The artist formerly known as Blanco_Diablo
The Lord is my light and my salvation; whom shall I fear? The Lord is the stronghold of my life; of whom shall I be afraid? - Psalms 27:1
The Lord is my light and my salvation; whom shall I fear? The Lord is the stronghold of my life; of whom shall I be afraid? - Psalms 27:1
| Don’t beat yourself up over when they’re moving now. It constantly changes throughout the year/season. Plant food plots and provide feeder for them . Stay out of the hunting area as much as possible. Nothing runs deer off like human activity and scent. Colder weather helps with movement. |
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About planting clover and food plots, do you guys plant them near your hunting spot or just at different spots on your property? And do you just plant corn? Is it a good idea to put block feeders or a watering hole out near the feeder as well? I know these daggum deer sure tore up the corn in my garden last year 
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The artist formerly known as Blanco_Diablo
The Lord is my light and my salvation; whom shall I fear? The Lord is the stronghold of my life; of whom shall I be afraid? - Psalms 27:1
The Lord is my light and my salvation; whom shall I fear? The Lord is the stronghold of my life; of whom shall I be afraid? - Psalms 27:1
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OK, USA
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Originally Posted By Blackbeard91: About planting clover and food plots, do you guys plant them near your hunting spot or just at different spots on your property? And do you just plant corn? Is it a good idea to put block feeders or a watering hole out near the feeder as well? I know these daggum deer sure tore up the corn in my garden last year Set your feeder to dispence at 11am. The deer at my house are there in early morn when I leave for work, still there in late afternoon/evening when I return, They're so use to seeing us, as long as we don't move fast or make loud noise, they just stand & watch. |
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Now I'm having a different issue. Dang black bear keeps coming around, knocking the feeder over. What do you guys do about this? Shock fence? Wire and stake it to the ground? He's not even really eating any of the corn, just pushing it over. The deer come on the nights he doesn't come, but I keep having to go out there and put the feeder back up. Attached File |
The artist formerly known as Blanco_Diablo
The Lord is my light and my salvation; whom shall I fear? The Lord is the stronghold of my life; of whom shall I be afraid? - Psalms 27:1
The Lord is my light and my salvation; whom shall I fear? The Lord is the stronghold of my life; of whom shall I be afraid? - Psalms 27:1
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You got a problem... Some years back this guy hung around a while. One morning on the way into the stand I grabbed the SD card and that fucker was at my stand when I came in. I never saw him or heard him. Pitch black in the swamp bottom you can't see shit... glad he heard me and drifted off. FWC will throw your ass under the jail if they catch you fucking with the bear in order to run him off... just so you know. My bear just simply vanished, I have no idea what happened to him.  
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Originally Posted By Bowhntr6pt: You got a problem... Some years back this guy hung around a while. One morning on the way into the stand I grabbed the SD card and that fucker was at my stand when I came in. I never saw him or heard him. Pitch black in the swamp bottom you can't see shit... glad he heard me and drifted off. FWC will throw your ass under the jail if they catch you fucking with the bear in order to run him off... just so you know. My bear just simply vanished, I have no idea what happened to him. https://imagizer.imageshack.com/v2/640x480q70/924/OvX2HI.jpg https://imagizer.imageshack.com/v2/640x480q70/921/L1Z9u6.jpg Geez. So that tells me that a hanging feeder isn't a sure answer either lol. I definitely don't want to do anything to harm the guy. I love bears, even though they can be a nuisance. He hasn't been back in 4 days so I'm hoping maybe he got tired of it. The jerk wasn't even eating the corn, just dumping the feeder over for days on end and leaving it for the birds and squirrels. He did give me some cool pics the last time he came though Attached File Attached File |
The artist formerly known as Blanco_Diablo
The Lord is my light and my salvation; whom shall I fear? The Lord is the stronghold of my life; of whom shall I be afraid? - Psalms 27:1
The Lord is my light and my salvation; whom shall I fear? The Lord is the stronghold of my life; of whom shall I be afraid? - Psalms 27:1
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Originally Posted By nvcdl: I never see bucks on my property in the daytime until the Rut gets going - then I see them at almost anytime. I'll get bucks on camera all summer, then come fall they are gone. Come rut time, I start seeing different bucks. Our farm is like highway, then constantly come and go, but they never stick around. Guaranteed I don't see this guy in Sept/Oct/Nov....  |
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Politicians should wear uniforms like NASCAR drivers so we could see their corporate sponsors.
Politicians should wear uniforms like NASCAR drivers so we could see their corporate sponsors.
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Originall Posted By LoudLyle:Don't beat yourself up over when they're moving now. It constantly changes throughout the year/season. Plant food plots and provide feeder for them . Stay out of the hunting area as much as possible. Nothing runs deer off like human activity and scent. Colder weather helps with movement. Concealment. Are you able to get to and leave your stand without being seen, heard, or smelled? Dead-end trail to the back of your stand? Jeff touches on some of this in the following video (he's all about deer hunting on small parcels). The problem for us is he's dang near in Canada but the basic rules still apply down here, timing and plants/trees just might be different. Note how the deers travel path/plot is farther beyond his stand location. He's not walking through the plot to get to the stand and it's hidden other than a couple of small windows.  Best Time To Clear Shooting Lanes | Hidden Access Tips |
"I think we should get a Machine Gun. We can use it to hunt game, spell out things, or ring in the New Year!" - Bart Simpson
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Keep tht feeder going and like another poster said, set it to feed around 11 am or so. We plant clover with chi Joey mixed in as well as radishes, turnips, brassicas, rape see and I forget what else. We have also put in salt and mineral licks for them as well. Learn to work with the wind and as another poster said if it’s in Tue wrong direction don’t go. Now for us that’s not a worry with several hundred acres and several additional stands and blinds in addition to the elevated 8x12 blind over the big clover field. About 15-20years ago the wind was acting squirrelly so I was just going to site the morning hunt out but I decided to have a look just after legal shooting hours at the big clover field at the shooting range which is literally next to the barn. I was literally in sweat pants and flip flops and a t shirt. I opened the side door just enough to get the binos in there and there were multiple big does and a fork horn buck all within 150 yards. I eased the door closed and grabbed the 06 and used the door frame as a brace and dropped a nice far doe. Not all of them tan at the shot so I dropped another big doe since I had a second doe tag. Went inside and got dressed for the cold and spend a couple of hours field dressing bf them and running them up to Slater, MO to the meat locker. Since you have a fairly small plot of land is it possible to find a place to shoot from incase the wind isn’t in your favor? |
