Deer Lease

I spent the morning on the deer lease, working on a stand.

While I prefer to hunt deer by still hunting, I'm not able to do this yet on the lease, as I am hunting near other hunters this year. This year I will be stand hunting. If someone drops out of the lease next year, I can be assigned another area to hunt, and it will be exclusively mine, but because I am the new guy and the last hunter accepted on this lease, I have to take the leftovers.

However, the guys have gone out of the way to help me, and give me a good hunting area. Of course, you can click on these pictures for a larger view.


This photo is taken from my stand, down the shooting lane. The area is smack dab in the middle of a large thicket consisting of young pines and volunteer hardwoods. It is virtually impenetrable. From the spot where I took the picture, to the shadow at the end of the lane is 111 yards, prefect for any rifle in my battery, from the .243 to the .30-06. The .30-30 WCF should shine here, especially with my homemade 311041 bullet. This is a great cast bullet stand.

I planted the far end of the lane in a wheat/oats/rye mixture for late winter browse. I walked down there to see how my seed was doing and was disappointed to find that it hasn't sprouted yet, but in one spot where I spilled some seed, I found a track.

That is a deer track next to a .30-30 cartridge for scale. The deer are using my lane, and they've been investigating the seed I left on the ground.

I might think about putting a corn feeder on the end of the lane, but that decision will come later.