So I dragged my butt out of bed this morning a bit later than planned, but I didn't have far to go. I was heading south to a spot I've hunted before, but taking my time, sipping some coffee, looking for critters along the way. I'm only eight minutes into a fifteen minute drive when somebody, with obviously much more to do than I, is suddenly riding my butt as I'm driving. I just happen to be on the corner of a clearcut/reprod parcel in a busy rural area that I've eyed numerous times wondering if there's any deer in there. The area is open to the public for hunting, but it is noisy and relatively small.
Rather than driving by as I intended, I pulled into the forest road gate to get the tailgater off my butt. I had an immediate answer to my question of whether or not there were deer in there. Two deer carcasses right at the gate of the approximately eight-year-old, 80 or so acre reprod/30 year-old timber mixed unit. One was really fresh, probably from the previous evening. There was still a deer heart and shanks laying right there, but for the most part, the meat was well harvested.
So I scratches my head a bit, and thinks "self, we got ourselves a dilemma" - Hmmm, there's obviously some deer in there, maybe a lot of deer in there, despite the busy highway bordering the far side. There's obviously two less bucks now then there was a few days ago because the remains are right in front of me. Hmmmm, should I hunt here?
I'm curious what you think. Hunt or move on? I'm not sure there is a right answer on this, but I've got some ideas.......
