I have a love/hate relationship with my cellular trail camera. Having been on
this property as a lessee for nearly 25 years, I know that the best cell signal
is via AT&T service, especially in the lower lying areas of the 500 acres. The
property lies about 8 miles east of IH 37S and about 1:15 south of my house
in San Antonio. From my home or office, I can see what animals and when
those animals begin hanging around their dinner bell area where my tripod sits.
There sits my only camera, and even though there are times I am sure
pictures are not being sent when I know they should have been, I do wish
that I owned at least one more.
My son and I arrived at the lease just after 2 pm on the day after Christmas.
Knowing my feeder had run dry just a day earlier, we made a bee line to the
"Honey Hole" where I normally bow hunt. While he filled the feeder (he's a
great kid!) I changed the batteries in the Moultrie XA-7000i and then we
headed to his gun blind, The Meat Locker.
I have an older Stealthcam (card pull type) set up overlooking the feeding
area at The Meat Locker. When my son and I head down there to fill feeders
and/or hunt, we enjoy loading the pics into the Macbook and looking over
the various deer, pigs, and turkey that visit. This time, though, it would have
been nice to have been forewarned. It seems that on the evening of Dec 18,
the feeder came crashing down, spilling around 250 pounds of corn! The
problem is, the last time we were down was on the 12th, and only to fill
the feeders up. I felt bad for my son. We spent the next 45 minutes rigging
up a legless, heavily dented, bent motor mount Frankenfeeder so that the
pavlovian response of our local herd might be witnessed for this hunt as well
as the Sunday morning sit. We planned to replace this one with an old spare
feeder we have at camp. The Stealthcam pics did not reveal the cause.
I texted my son at 3:38 pm that I was well situated at the Honey Hole. His
spirits appeared not too sullen as he awaited untold action at The Locker.
We had poured one 50 lb bag of apple scented Mumme's corn into the now
questionable feeder as well as hand corned a good portion of land between
him and the feeder. Prior to climbing my tripod, I hand corned a few spots
within bow range as the wind picked up and the sun shone seemingly brighter
than a summer afternoon in Port A. As the afternoon waned toward sunset,
we texted back and forth. He was seeing few deer, and the deer he did see
were extremely skiddish. His feeder spun corn rather nicely at both 3:55 pm
and 5:10 pm, the same as my, new this season, ASF I picked up from TSC in
late September.
I watched 1, then 2 doe as they meandered in an out of a 50 yard radius of
my shooting lanes for more than an hour. I believe it was the 15-20 mph
winds which had them spooky, as well as the GoPro I had just attached to the
ASF. The just kept starring at it as if it meant imminent death, which, it
really did. Having failed to charge the battery fully, I lost the signal to it
before any deer appeared in its view. As 5:00 approached, the two doe were
joined by a tall-tined 7 point and they inched into the red zone. I didn't care
which doe it would be as they were identical in size and weight. I drew once
while her head was down and the breeze was strong but my cam squeaked
ever so slightly, send both doe into the brush about 10 yards. By this time
my son became downtrodden as his once paradise at The Meat Locker had
been reduced to a near barren wasteland of few deer, none of which came
out for more than a few seconds. A few minutes later, 5:09 pm to be exact,
the stars at the Honey Hole aligned. The arrow was flung and the blood
spewed forth, leaving no doubt as to what the final outcome would become.
I took a selfie of excitement as I texted and waited to finally find her buried
in underbrush at the roads edge 80 yards to my southwest.
Jackson texted me that after a large 9 point and several doe had dissipated
from his area, the pigs invaded. I gave him the green light and with one well
placed shot, the porcine disappeared with one less amongst them. I picked
him up, we loaded my doe, then headed to camp to meet up with my wife,
daughter, and my daughter's boyfriend. We grilled burgers and watched Star
Wars after cleaning the doe to hang in the 40 to 30 degree weather for the
evening. They drove back to San Antonio around 10:00 pm and we went to
bed.
Jackson did not want roll out of his warm sleeping bag. I had been up since
4:30, lightly prepping for the frigid morning hunt. Not wanting to be a party
pooper, I laid down for another 20 minutes, finally coaxing him out of bed at
5:15 so we could make it to the blind by 6:15 as we had decided that I would
sit with him for this hunt. We both settled in at 6:38 as I had forgotten the
hand corn and had to make the trek back to the truck. It's a good thing I
came back loaded down! I made three yellow brick roads of corn about 10
yards long each running in a line from blind to feeder beginning around 45
yards from the blind. The feeder motor spun at 6:55 yet not a kernal flew.
The motor mount had completely given way over night, and as daylight grew,
we could see quite the pile under the rig. I played a feeder noise I found on
You Tube. Again, just as the last evening, the deer were very scarce. It was
odd for this location too not see a dozen or two deer at feeding times, hence
the moniker "The Meat Locker", but here we were. Deer filtered around, even
a few pigs made their way near, but none came into the clearing. After the
second display of a quiet humming of the feeder motor, a buck was spotted,
though he was nearly 100 yards beyond the feeder, but he was chasing a
doe, albeit half-heartedly. When the finally decided to follow the road of
corn, my son was eager to help the family by bringing home some venison
and "kill a buck" that I thought worthy enough. I told him to aim for the exit
hole and fire when ready. I am also trying out my hand at vacuum aging
the meat from the doe, though I did not get to the front shoulders for de-
boning before I went to bed at home last night at 11:00 pm. The rest of
the pics and video is below:
[ame="https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=QmI0Rc19Lk8"]Buck down 12-27-20 - YouTube[/ame]
Glad it was a long read!
Todd
this property as a lessee for nearly 25 years, I know that the best cell signal
is via AT&T service, especially in the lower lying areas of the 500 acres. The
property lies about 8 miles east of IH 37S and about 1:15 south of my house
in San Antonio. From my home or office, I can see what animals and when
those animals begin hanging around their dinner bell area where my tripod sits.
There sits my only camera, and even though there are times I am sure
pictures are not being sent when I know they should have been, I do wish
that I owned at least one more.
My son and I arrived at the lease just after 2 pm on the day after Christmas.
Knowing my feeder had run dry just a day earlier, we made a bee line to the
"Honey Hole" where I normally bow hunt. While he filled the feeder (he's a
great kid!) I changed the batteries in the Moultrie XA-7000i and then we
headed to his gun blind, The Meat Locker.
I have an older Stealthcam (card pull type) set up overlooking the feeding
area at The Meat Locker. When my son and I head down there to fill feeders
and/or hunt, we enjoy loading the pics into the Macbook and looking over
the various deer, pigs, and turkey that visit. This time, though, it would have
been nice to have been forewarned. It seems that on the evening of Dec 18,
the feeder came crashing down, spilling around 250 pounds of corn! The
problem is, the last time we were down was on the 12th, and only to fill
the feeders up. I felt bad for my son. We spent the next 45 minutes rigging
up a legless, heavily dented, bent motor mount Frankenfeeder so that the
pavlovian response of our local herd might be witnessed for this hunt as well
as the Sunday morning sit. We planned to replace this one with an old spare
feeder we have at camp. The Stealthcam pics did not reveal the cause.
I texted my son at 3:38 pm that I was well situated at the Honey Hole. His
spirits appeared not too sullen as he awaited untold action at The Locker.
We had poured one 50 lb bag of apple scented Mumme's corn into the now
questionable feeder as well as hand corned a good portion of land between
him and the feeder. Prior to climbing my tripod, I hand corned a few spots
within bow range as the wind picked up and the sun shone seemingly brighter
than a summer afternoon in Port A. As the afternoon waned toward sunset,
we texted back and forth. He was seeing few deer, and the deer he did see
were extremely skiddish. His feeder spun corn rather nicely at both 3:55 pm
and 5:10 pm, the same as my, new this season, ASF I picked up from TSC in
late September.
I watched 1, then 2 doe as they meandered in an out of a 50 yard radius of
my shooting lanes for more than an hour. I believe it was the 15-20 mph
winds which had them spooky, as well as the GoPro I had just attached to the
ASF. The just kept starring at it as if it meant imminent death, which, it
really did. Having failed to charge the battery fully, I lost the signal to it
before any deer appeared in its view. As 5:00 approached, the two doe were
joined by a tall-tined 7 point and they inched into the red zone. I didn't care
which doe it would be as they were identical in size and weight. I drew once
while her head was down and the breeze was strong but my cam squeaked
ever so slightly, send both doe into the brush about 10 yards. By this time
my son became downtrodden as his once paradise at The Meat Locker had
been reduced to a near barren wasteland of few deer, none of which came
out for more than a few seconds. A few minutes later, 5:09 pm to be exact,
the stars at the Honey Hole aligned. The arrow was flung and the blood
spewed forth, leaving no doubt as to what the final outcome would become.
I took a selfie of excitement as I texted and waited to finally find her buried
in underbrush at the roads edge 80 yards to my southwest.
Jackson texted me that after a large 9 point and several doe had dissipated
from his area, the pigs invaded. I gave him the green light and with one well
placed shot, the porcine disappeared with one less amongst them. I picked
him up, we loaded my doe, then headed to camp to meet up with my wife,
daughter, and my daughter's boyfriend. We grilled burgers and watched Star
Wars after cleaning the doe to hang in the 40 to 30 degree weather for the
evening. They drove back to San Antonio around 10:00 pm and we went to
bed.
Jackson did not want roll out of his warm sleeping bag. I had been up since
4:30, lightly prepping for the frigid morning hunt. Not wanting to be a party
pooper, I laid down for another 20 minutes, finally coaxing him out of bed at
5:15 so we could make it to the blind by 6:15 as we had decided that I would
sit with him for this hunt. We both settled in at 6:38 as I had forgotten the
hand corn and had to make the trek back to the truck. It's a good thing I
came back loaded down! I made three yellow brick roads of corn about 10
yards long each running in a line from blind to feeder beginning around 45
yards from the blind. The feeder motor spun at 6:55 yet not a kernal flew.
The motor mount had completely given way over night, and as daylight grew,
we could see quite the pile under the rig. I played a feeder noise I found on
You Tube. Again, just as the last evening, the deer were very scarce. It was
odd for this location too not see a dozen or two deer at feeding times, hence
the moniker "The Meat Locker", but here we were. Deer filtered around, even
a few pigs made their way near, but none came into the clearing. After the
second display of a quiet humming of the feeder motor, a buck was spotted,
though he was nearly 100 yards beyond the feeder, but he was chasing a
doe, albeit half-heartedly. When the finally decided to follow the road of
corn, my son was eager to help the family by bringing home some venison
and "kill a buck" that I thought worthy enough. I told him to aim for the exit
hole and fire when ready. I am also trying out my hand at vacuum aging
the meat from the doe, though I did not get to the front shoulders for de-
boning before I went to bed at home last night at 11:00 pm. The rest of
the pics and video is below:
[ame="https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=QmI0Rc19Lk8"]Buck down 12-27-20 - YouTube[/ame]
Glad it was a long read!
Todd
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