Deer Season - I've got the itch

[garret01]

3:34 pm on a Friday afternoon and I have the whitetail deer season itch.

Last year I was s o l because all I had was a rifle and wasn't willing to hunt public during a firefight. This year I have a shiny new compound bow. Now all I can think about is getting out in the field and knocking something down.

So, now I am sitting in my office comparing WMA maps to Google Maps side by side (double screens). Looking for the parking spots, hunter trails (how do I get from here to there) and trying to spot any game paths. I just can't shake it.

Almost makes me want to go out this weekend and see if I spot anything, just for the hell of it.

Quick question and I know there will be opposing views on this...

What are the odds of getting a game cam stolen if I set it out at a WMA for a week?

Thanks guys!

 

[Okie4570]

I would say if stays around the 100 degree mark, there probably won't be a lot of other people around..........always that chance though.

 

[garret01]

True. So if you see a guy with shorts, sneaker's, a blaze orange vest, and a 45 strapped to his hip...

You'll know I decided to go scouting.

 

[dennishoddy]

There are metal boxes you can mount to a tree with a heavy cable, and padlock it.
Of course anybody with a gun could probably shoot the cable, but its worth a try.

 

[nhagar]

yeah I wouldn't take my favorite camera out there. but yeah I wouldn't expect it to get stolen unless ya know you have it marked up all nice for everyone to see. And I tell ya I have been getting some pics on my cameras that have done the same thing to me. Oct. 1 can't get here quick enough.

and your description of what you will look like and then chevy chase to the left. It sure reminds me national lampoons vacation and this is what I picture as your out in this 100 degree weather

 

[garret01]

Nice! Pretty close. But you forgot the 1911.

For some reason all of my buddies are a bunch of dorks and won't go hunting. So I have to start my scouting super early. Nothing like walking out into a WMA in the pitch black dark without knowing what it looks like in the daytime.

 

[Glock]

I'm one of them dorks this year. The drought the last two years has killed off hunting in/around my land. It's been extremely rough even with irrigated food plots, crp bedding areas, we even welled solar pumped watering holes for last year... No improvement around the 2k acres. Allthough, last year we glassed and stalked a 170-180 class white antler/black tip mature absolute bruiser dogging a doe. Couldn't get within 600 yards of him before the doe would grow tired of a bed area and move a few hundred yards. If I do go, I'm taking the Beanland 6.5/284 and nailing that sucker... I've just never though to lug around an 18lb rifle for hunting.

 

[Brandi]

I've wanted to go, I haven't been hunting in a long time, I used to really enjoy it. However, unless you have your own land it's just not worth the hassle from what I've seen around here.

 

[schmeeking]

If you are bow hunting, public land isn't all that bad. If you are gun hunting, be prepared to be preparing for a shot only to watch the deer get shot out from underneath you. My father and I used to hunt a piece of public land near lake Tenkiller. I had hunted the same patch of land all bow season and opening day of black powder. When we came in Sunday morning, I was surprised to see a man in a trees tand literally hunting the same opening I had been for weeks. I have no idea how the guy manged to get a tree stand up from last light Saturday evening to predawn Sunday morning, but I am guessing he didn't get much sleep that night. Same weekend, my dad had a buck traveling in to him, and he watched another hunter shoot it. We haven't been back.
We used to take family trips to Three Rivers WMA in the Kiamichis, SE OK. The land is world renowned for being dog hunted heavily. Instead of the familiar chirp of birds, you are more likely to hear to baying of jack Russells running all the deer. I was hunting at the end of a logging road, about 150 yards into the woods. I heard the dogs getting closer and closer, as well as four wheelers running full throttle up and down the logging roads. About the time I had decided the next Jack Russell I saw was leaving injured, a guy pulls up into the woods on a four wheeler ten yards from the tree stand. "Hey I'm hunting here a-hole" "I'll be gone soon enough, take it easy" "Get the f outta here. And the next dog I see if getting popped" "You ought not do that" Then he drove away.

I was about 16 at the time, and my Dad informed me that I shouldn't have popped off. Apparently those woods are also known for hunters never returning due to local "stray" bullets. We havent been back there either. Luckily, we have some connections to cattle ranchers in Southwestern OK now, and hunt on private land. We have had more run ins, even on private land. I have learned that in hunting, you just have to expect to see folks and deal with it.

 

[AllOut]

Never put anything on public you plan to keep...
If left long enough, it'll disappear.