Opening weekend!!!

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Well we had a pretty good opening weekend down on our humble Pulaski County farm. A combined 6 hunters killed three bucks and two does with a few other deer seen as well. My season only lasted three hours. Had deer around me from the moment I got to my tree (I had a buck chase a doe by at about 40 yards while I was getting dressed), then had deer around about every 30 minutes or so after that. Watched a big doe feed on acorns for about 15 minutes and finally was convinced she was alone and made a good shot at the last possible second before she got into the thick stuff. Watched a 5 pointer dog a doe for about 30 minutes and watched him try to mount her but she was having none of that. Then at 9:30 heard footsteps to my right and looked up to see a good set of antlers pushing through some thick brush. It was a deer we have multiple pictures of this year. He cleared the brush at a whopping 10 yards and my bullet made quick work of him. First buck I have elected to shoot with a firearm on opening morning since 1995! First deer double in quite some time as well. Early archery had been a pretty major struggle for me, so this is just what I needed!!!

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[RB]

Congrats on a great hunt. Wish our place was that good. How many food plots do you have? I that makes a difference and we don't have any.

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We have three on 243 acres. Two on our river bottoms. One is probably about half an acre, one is about 1/4 acre and one is about 1/8 of an acre if that. The key to our success (well my spot anyway) this year was acorns. The ridge I hunt is FULL of them and they are STILL dropping. The deer sign up there is the best I have seen in the 18 years I have hunted up there. The plots do keep deer around though. Our biggest plot has been hit hard and will likely start getting hit super hard in about 3 weeks if it stays cold in December. In the years when our acorns were down, the plots have been our saviors. We are looking to expand at least the big one to a full acre or more of clover. I'd really like to expand our smallest plot as well. Our bigger plot in the bottoms is pretty well maxed out unless we get some heavy equipment in there.

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Oh and thank you by the way!!! I am excited. Now I can turn my attention to my wife and my oldest who will be returning from college for Thanksgiving break this coming weekend.

[RB]

We have pretty good acorns but only 96 acres and about 25% of that is pasture. I tell the guys every year they need to come up and we'll put in some plots but they never do. They always talk about it at deer camp but that's about it and I have all the equipment necessary. Maybe next year.

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Yeah we did that same song and dance as well. Then I finally just borrow a hand tiller and went down in our bottoms and spent two days with a weed eater, rake and tiller to clear out a spot and put one in. Damn near killed me, but they saw how well it worked and we have tried to expand a little each year since. That original plot is now twice as big, we added the other in the bottoms and now our plot on top is 25 yards by 75 yards. They definitely work. We are getting to the point where they plow through our smaller plots in the bottoms a little too quickly after we plant them so some of the growth never gets a chance to mature.

[RB]

Still going to try to convince them we need to put some plots in. Maybe this time it will work.

[RB]

Still going to try to convince them we need to put some plots in. Maybe this time it will work.