# Is this situation a problem



## GOLFWACKER (Oct 4, 2006)

My Father owns 80 acres in Central MN. In the mid 90's when he bought the land, the deer hunting was great! First year shot a nice 8point that went 225lbs. Two years later saw one even bigger bow hunting. Well now my father loves to be out there, this time of year almost every weekend. Out there I mean out cutting down trees, brush, ajusting stands, on the ATV looking for sign. In the last five years or so since this has been going on, we've seen plenty of doe's and fawns but maybe 2 or 3 small bucks. Nothing like we've seen the first 5 years. So my question is, is my dad's "hobby" the problem. Any opinions or words of wisdom would be great.


----------



## Fallguy (Jan 23, 2004)

It's his land. Even if it is the problem, can you do anything about it? I hope you find a solution. Good luck.


----------



## apeterson (Aug 3, 2005)

dont think so... they are still there... where are you at... I am in Brainerd


----------



## holmsvc (Nov 26, 2003)

GOLFWACKER,

I am sure he is spooking deer if he is in there tooling around on an atv! If the deer are pressured they will move, and sometimes they may not return. If you had food plots or something that makes them want to return the deer will come back. I really think that big bucks will avoid pressure from the outside world if they can.

One other thing is that these bucks may go nocturnal on you because of daytime activity.


----------



## GOLFWACKER (Oct 4, 2006)

I think you're right holmsvc, they went nocturnal on us. It's not like we're not seeing nice rubs and big tracks, just not seeing them in are stands. Now convince my dad!! 

apeterson, the land is near swanville.

Thanks for the help


----------



## holmsvc (Nov 26, 2003)

GOLFWACKER,

If you have some trail cams you could put them out and get a look at what is moving around in the dark.

If they have gone nocturnal you can always hope that they will come out during the rut chasing does. You may need to try using scents and calls while in your stand to see if you can get a big boy to show himself during shooting hours.


----------



## bretts (Feb 24, 2004)

Obviously you can't just tell the guy to quit what he is doing but In my opinion yes, that for sure drives the big bucks out...past/present experience on some family land...atv's :******:


----------



## djleye (Nov 14, 2002)

Get some evening pics and show 'em to your Dad. Ask that he try it your way for a while and see what happens.


----------



## Invector (Jan 13, 2006)

You might have a dominant deer problem. At times one male or female deer might become very taritorial and keep other deer out that are not in their group. If you see one very big girl out there that might be your deer to remove. Something similar has happend down on my grandfathers land in southern ND. We have one buck and one raelly big doe that runs the land. We have not been able to kill the doe and this year is the first year that we will try for the buck. This is not uncommin to hear of with deer. The other problem that you might have is food and habitat. Look around your dads land and see what areas the deer are using and what areas they are not. Then look at how many deer are there. If you have little land but lots of deer it could be a population problem. If you have lots of land but few deer it could be the dominacy thing I talked about before. A habitat and population assesment would give you a better look at how things on the land are going.


----------



## dakotashooter2 (Oct 31, 2003)

I'm not so sure the deer have been pushed out. If the activities he is doing are not threatening then the deer are probably just holding tight. If he is continually "busting" them out of their beds (sees deer running away) then you may be in trouble but deer readily adapt to non-threatening behavior. Huge bucks are often found adjacent to some of the biggest cities in the country. If the deer are used to seeing ATV buzzing across the property but you are walking to stands to hunt you walking may be alerting them more than the ATV.


----------



## DrHenley (Sep 5, 2006)

He may have cleared too much underbrush!

Unless he has some thick cover, he's not going to hold any big bucks. You might see some chasing does through there during the rut but they will hang out elsewhere.

Even if you have plenty of food, without sufficient cover the bucks will only come through at night and then leave.


----------



## blacklabbella (Oct 14, 2006)

Tit, whats up dog. Its probably not your dads fault. I've been hunting on your property morning and night, in season and out of season. Not to mention I've been leaving dirty laundry, pinched loafs and yellow snow in spots. Jk. I love this site, I can use it at work. This is awsome, wish you were going to ripley with us....


----------



## Flicka (Oct 21, 2005)

Blacklabbella and golfwacker, sounds like you guys have had some brokeback mountain hunting together! Nice work........


----------

