New Hunter, New Feeder - Suggestions

[mr ed]

since its not "your" land. best to have written permission slip in your back pocket.

 

[shootermcgavin]

OP, did you have any luck at Thunderbird last year? I went myself a few times and only saw does twice. Gets a pretty good amount of pressure from other hunters.

I'd bypass Thunderbird and try Lexington. I went out there about 6 times last year and scared up or saw a deer, including a few bucks, every time I went out there. I didn't do any preparation before hand so was mostly walking around, finding a place and hoping I got lucky, but with some legwork I think you could do well there. I finally found an awesome place the day I got access to private land so never tried it out.

 

[CoryHawk]

Nope.. No luck last year.. was after rifle.. and saw signs but never an actual deer out there.

 

[CoryHawk]

since its not "your" land. best to have written permission slip in your back pocket.

The Step-Dad-In-Law mentioned this to me too.. I have never seen this in a reg.. is it actually required... or just an "unwritten" rule.. IE. Is this something that would absolutely keep me from hunting that day if I forgot it.. Easy enough.. The land owner is my partner at work and I get to see him 12 hours a day so not really an issue.. just wanted to know if it was in a reg and like my license, where forgetting it that day could turn out bad.

 

[mr ed]

The Step-Dad-In-Law mentioned this to me too.. I have never seen this in a reg.. is it actually required... or just an "unwritten" rule.. IE. Is this something that would absolutely keep me from hunting that day if I forgot it.. Easy enough.. The land owner is my partner at work and I get to see him 12 hours a day so not really an issue.. just wanted to know if it was in a reg and like my license, where forgetting it that day could turn out bad.

They have removed the written part page 14 second column. However, say your hunting on a piece of land that the owner has been having problems with trespassers/poachers and has complained to the game warden about it. The game warden finds you there.
Your either going to get fined or detained if the owner can't be contacted right away. Only takes a couple minutes to type up a simple statement and get it signed. fold it up and put it with your license.

 

[Kingmarine]

• How often should I have it feed? I have it set just to feed 15 mins before sunrise and 15 mins before sunset for 8 seconds. Is that enough? Any tips or suggestions?
• What are the rules on private land and feeders? I know and read the restrictions on WMAs, but what about hunting a feeder on Private Land?
• Any other tips or suggestions are welcome.

If you really want to leave the area alone and let the feeder do it's thing and know you still have feed:
Set off the feeder 5 or 6 times at the timeframe you would like to use with a bag around the spinner to catch everything. I then used a kitchen scale to measure the amount of corn it spit out every time. Average those 5 or 6 weights and you have a baseline of what will generally be tossed out everytime it goes off. Going twice a day keep adding days until you get close the amount you put in the feeder. That is when you would need to refill it. Using this method takes the guess work out of it and unless you have something chew a hole in your feeder or animals are spinning the spinner to get additional food out, you know where you stand on feed at all times.

The other thing I did was look up the shooting times for the days I was going to be out there on opening day. I adjusted the time to go off 30 minutes after shooting time on opening day and an hour prior to sunset on opening day. That way, if the deer do get accustomed to the time it goes off, they will be there where you are on opening morning.

Just what I did, may be a little overboard.

 

[Okie4570]

They have removed the written part page 14 second column. However, say your hunting on a piece of land that the owner has been having problems with trespassers/poachers and has complained to the game warden about it. The game warden finds you there.
Your either going to get fined or detained if the owner can't be contacted right away. Only takes a couple minutes to type up a simple statement and get it signed. fold it up and put it with your license.

I don't recall ever having to have written landowner permission to hunt, other than antelope and to trap. Just in the last few years they added the part about needing to get verbal landowner permission yearly. Even written permission would require the landowners presence if true permission were questioned. I know of situation where a guy was trespassing, wrote his permission letter and signed it himself. He was approached by the landowners wife and he said that he had written permission from her husband. The trespasser wasn't aware that the husband had passed away about three months before he dated and forged the landowners signature.

CoryHawk, just an idea, you and your landowner should should call your county GW and introduce yourselves. Tell him/her who you are and what you'll be driving. Chances are, the GW already knows who owns the property that you hunt on. A good relationship with your GW is great asset.

 

[dlbleak]

kingmarine's suggestion is a good one. try getting the deer to move to a more daylight feeding time. try to keep as much scent and movement out of the hunting area. it doesn't take much to make deer go nocturnal. scent down when going in and try to keep activity to the middle of the day when deer movement is down.
one of the best things about hunting is that the excitement you feel right now can last a lifetime. i've been hunting for well over 20 years and still get pumped!

 

[CoryHawk]

UPDATE!

Went to check the batteries and the SDcard on the cam (Hear the C cell Wildgame cams drain batteries FAST) Batteries were good.. and my friend the doe told her buddies the restaurant was open!!!

and then I got a single pic of what I hope will be my first deer ever!!

 

[WacosSon]

Next season (dont mess with it this year), might want to try clearing the ground under and around your feeder. You'll waste less corn that way and its easier for em to get to.