I think there was a hunting incident in Michigan over the weekend where one a guy shot his brother in a cornfield while they were tracking a wounded deer.

I've done some cornfield drives before, like others have said they can be safe if done properly. No guns for the drivers and safe lanes of fire for the shooters. We had a few fields around here getting harvested over the weekend because of the cold weather it must have frozen just enough to get in and out.

Yep, there is a lot of standing corn, and will be through the deer seasons.
With the cooler, wet fall, the corn hasn't dried down as it usually does, and many farmers are not wanting to spend any more money on propane to dry it down than they have to. Desired moisture levels before combining the corn is 15% or less, I've heard that moisture levels are averaging around 25 %. That's a lot of LP.

Back in the Fall of 1985, we had so much rain that over half of the corn in WI stood in the fields all winter. Deer hunting was more challenging that year.....looks like we will have a similar situation again this year.

Will be checking wind direction opening morning and then deciding which stand to hunt behind the house. Was fortunate to harvest a nice 10pt during archery season and have a few bucks on camera that might be worth taking, need to see in person. Have a few anterless tags to fill too. Weather looks nice for opener!

Good Luck and be safe!

Dave

Nice one Alex congratulations! Lot of hot dogs there..

Mac

Headed out tomorrow afternoon to set up blinds. Lots of corn still standing all around the farm. Aunt and Uncle haven't seen many deer outside the corn. Might be a slow year.

Thanks Mac! Got into the stand late with hopes of filling an anterless tag, did not see a deer until 30 minutes from closure when he came thru feeding. Wind was in my face and he never knew I was there. I guess you spend enough time in the woods and get lucky once in a while!

Dave

Nice looking buck Dave!

Safe travels to all who are leaving tonight or heading out tomorrow.

Good luck Saturday.

Brian

voice drive time , to get them moving.

good luck

a safe hunt to all

Where we hunt in a national forest there never is or are any crop changes or slow harvests etc. Not as many deer or hunters anymore but we enjoy the larger woods experience even though we don't eat as much venison. This year the change will be is that any and all low spots will be very, very wet and not frozen either. That won't change deer patterns much but sure will change mine a bit.

Bryce

I was out scouting some today , hip boots are going to be necessary to reach many places , scouting higher ground tomorrow.

Wishing everyone a safe and successful hunt!
Heading up to Ladysmith this morning- my son has a bobcat tag so he will make some sets that he can check on the way to his stand this week and I'll make some fisher sets, might drop a few weasel boxes in along the way also.
Good Luck Everyone

Good luck everyone and be safe. Just got back from CO with a nice 6x6. I'm going to take my father out in the glorified tower that everyone makes fun of. Not really interested in shooting whitetail, but will enjoy the time I have left with Dad. He enjoys just shooting pictures anymore and thats fine by me.

Got another decent public land buck today!
Hope it went well for those out!

Not enough signal to post pics but The Boy was in the stand with me again this year and picked out a doe this afternoon that came into the stand and I shot it at 17 paces from the stand he pulled it out of the woods for us (about 150 yards) and we gutted it in the field then he drug it to the cabin. Mostly down hill but I was impressed with his enthusiasm for the job as the deer weighed 120lbs and he goes 65 with a full stomach. He didnt want me to help but I insisted as the pull about stopped on any rise in terrain but he did it for the most part by himself and I for one am proud of his effort. Tomorrow he says we will get our buck, lol. Good luck and stay safe out there everyone!!!

Congratulations deerfly that is a nice looking buck!
Was a decent day for me with seeing three doe opening morning and no clear shot. Then in the evening an adult doe with two buck fawns I elected to pass with hopes a buck would be following. 20 minutes later I think the neighbor shot her. Oh well back in the stand in a few hours.
Dave

We are back from our day and a half in the National Forest. Was in the woods 10 hours Saturday and 4.5 Sunday. Heard 2 shots within a mile of me and we saw sign but no deer. Weather was great so one could sit all day and with it being 22 Sat.AM and 30 Sunday AM the leaves crackled like H so still hunting was out. Very, very limited hunters both days. Did have two groups drive sections of the forest right near us. About 7-8 in each group but never heard any shooting. We totally miscalculated about the high water. Yes there was water every where but froze hard enough to walk on it so we did not need the higher rubber boots. Changed up to the better boots to keep our feet warm. Flushed or heard lots of grouse and am seeing way more grey squirrels where I used to see red squirrels.

Home safe and that is a good thing. Time to turn on the football game.

Bryce

Thats interesting.

How has the habitat and environment change?


Go Pack Go

I finally have something worthwhile to contribute to this thread. Shot a really nice doe just before last light tonight. She weighed 160 pounds live weight and came in with another doe and 2 fawns.

Besides me we had 7 other hunters in camp hunting all or most of the day both Saturday and Sunday and none saw a live deer during legal shooting hours. But still a fun time in our camp. I'm the 5th generation there and hopefully it goes another 5 generations at least.

I will offer some of my thoughts on why there may be a change in species, but remember this is just based on being in the woods in this reason only since the mid 1980s and that is a not even the life span of an aspen tree.

Bryce

More acres of standing corn around here than woods. Been a very difficult hunt so far and doesn't look like much hope for the corn harvest before the season ends. Should be more deer next year if there's a bright side to this. Good luck to you all.