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Hunting in the wilderness, he says tongue in cheek

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Joined
Oct 10, 2004
Messages
5,308
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9,711
Location
Florence Alabama
Old age and some mobility issues have made my desire to travel an hour or so to public hunting areas non-existent. I have 4 acres of woods below my house, all the other lots in the subdivision around me are 4 or 5 acres as well with deep hardwood hollows between the branch roads., I have at least 150 acres of big woods that join my place, my land just happens to be on a deer travel path between the large fields outside the subdivision and other blocks of hardwoods. It is legal to shoot where I live but those of us that hunt behind our houses are very conscious of shot safety and the location of any houses on the ridges around us. All of use compare notes and the most common topic is" I had a big buck come down the hollow but there was no way I could safely take a shot".

My neighbor shot this buck traveling down the hollow on his place next to mine a few days ago.

jason's deer.jpg


I have lived here for 22 years and just watched the deer for the most part, I killed a doe a couple of years ago off my deck because the season was just about over and a good friend and hunting partner was out of deer burger and needed a deer. As many of you know, running out of deer burger at the end of season is a bit of a crisis situation for those of us that haven't bought ground beef in the last 40 years or so.

For the last couple of years, I realized that hunting my land and my neighbors 50 acres was about my only option, it has actually been fun putting up treestands, clearing brush to open the woods for new growth and planting a small food plot.

I am a meat hunter, I let any of the bigger bucks go in hopes that my younger neighbor might get one of them, we compare notes after a hunt by text. I only hunt with traditional bows and sidelock M/L now, I shoot a percussion gun occasionally but use my flintlocks most of the time.

When I joke about going to the wilderness to hunt it is definitely a tongue in cheek statement. This trail cam picture puts things in perspective, my ground blind is the brush pile in the upper part of the picture, I killed a small 6 point out of it a few days ago with my TC. These deer are not like normal suburban deer, house dogs run them relentlessly so they stay wired, they will pick you out from 200 yards in an open field, turn tail and run.

dec 8 doe.JPG


This buck was right behind her, the rut here is just now ramping up and will peak around Christmas.

dec 8th buck.JPG


My TC buck;

TC six point.JPG


If I don't look back at my house this patch of land feels like any other I have hunted, beautiful and serene except for the occasional squeal of laughter from the neighbors' kids across the hollow or someone blowing leaves with their leaf blower.

Are there any other suburban hunters in this group?
 
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I am I live on a cul-de-sac and am over run with squirrels lots of hardwoods around me I cant have a garden or fruit on my trees because of squirrel's so I declared war I have killed at least 30 in my yard and still have more to kill it is a blast for me
 
I ran into the same thing on squirrels, before my wife died, she had several large bird feeders out, they were squirrel proof but every now and then one would figure out how to make it squirrel friendly. One year the squirrels decided to use the stuffing out of my wife's fancy deck furniture cushions for their nests and the war was on.

I killed 50 that year, this put a dent in the population, I removed the bird feeders after she died, this made the biggest difference.

I still catch one in my blueberry patch every now and then, my .22 takes care of them and they go to the freezer, in season or out of season I don't care.

I had a pair of hawks nest just inside the wood line this year, they are squirrel hunting fiends, I hope they come back next year, I love to watch them work.

Here is my buddy looking for squirrels;

hawk.JPG
 
Eric, congrats on your buck. That'll be a good eater!

I don't live in a suburb, but I do live in a small town. I have five acres that borders farmland woods. I have taken numerous deer, including three B&C eligible bucks (I don't enter deer in record books) on this acreage, one with bow and two with traditional muzzleloader. You don't need a lot of land...it just needs to be in the right place! :) Like you, I need to be very careful with the muzzleloader as several homes, including mine, are well within range.
 
I have five acres that adjoins 3000 acres of city watershed property. All of my neighbors have at least five acres, some twelve, twenty five, or more. I have hunted the ridge behind my house for twenty years, and taken some does and a few nice bucks, some with muzzle loaders. All of the neighbors readily gave permission to hunt.

Two years ago, my nearest neighbor sold her house (it was their seasonal ski house) to a family with three out of control sons and three out of control dogs. The deer and turkeys all fled the area. And the new neighbor sighted my tree stands and told me they were too close to his property to hunt and must come down. Since he obviously knew the F&G laws of our state, I reminded him that the stands were perfectly legal FOR ARCHERY and would remain in place.

In the past year, with his dogs properly leashed per our town laws, and his sons slightly better behaved, the deer and turkeys have returned (although much more leery.) I took a nice long-beard off the hill this spring with my flint Fowler, having determined exactly where 501 feet from his door was. I gave him a thumbs up on the way down the hill.

My back yard is as wild as my hunting lease, and holds more deer. They feed on every plant and shrub in the neighborhood. I look forward to the day this neighbor sells and moves on, when the rest of us can return to our neighborly ways. Until then, I maintain my trail cameras, and sit in my stand from time to time to enjoy the critters.

ADK Bigfoot
 
Something that kind of amuses me, is the years and miles I have traveled in the mountains hunting. The past few years I have been too crippled up to do that anymore. I found I have seen more big bucks here on my own property than I would usually see out in the bush. Several bucks have been taken from the doorway of the Fuzzy Pink Slipper Hunting Lodge!
 
Old age and some mobility issues have made my desire to travel an hour or so to public hunting areas non-existent. I have 4 acres of woods below my house, all the other lots in the subdivision around me are 4 or 5 acres as well with deep hardwood hollows between the branch roads., I have at least 150 acres of big woods that join my place, my land just happens to be on a deer travel path between the large fields outside the subdivision and other blocks of hardwoods. It is legal to shoot where I live but those of us that hunt behind our houses are very conscious of shot safety and the location of any houses on the ridges around us. All of use compare notes and the most common topic is" I had a big buck come down the hollow but there was no way I could safely take a shot".

My neighbor shot this buck traveling down the hollow on his place next to mine a few days ago.

View attachment 183398

I have lived here for 22 years and just watched the deer for the most part, I killed a doe a couple of years ago off my deck because the season was just about over and a good friend and hunting partner was out of deer burger and needed a deer. As many of you know, running out of deer burger at the end of season is a bit of a crisis situation for those of us that haven't bought ground beef in the last 40 years or so.

For the last couple of years, I realized that hunting my land and my neighbors 50 acres was about my only option, it has actually been fun putting up treestands, clearing brush to open the woods for new growth and planting a small food plot.

I am a meat hunter, I let any of the bigger bucks go in hopes that my younger neighbor might get one of them, we compare notes after a hunt by text. I only hunt with traditional bows and sidelock M/L now, I shoot a percussion gun occasionally but use my flintlocks most of the time.

When I joke about going to the wilderness to hunt it is definitely a tongue in cheek statement. This trail cam picture puts things in perspective, my ground blind is the brush pile in the upper part of the picture, I killed a small 6 point out of it a few days ago with my TC. These deer are not like normal suburban deer, house dogs run them relentlessly so they stay wired, they will pick you out from 200 yards in an open field, turn tail and run.

View attachment 183390

This buck was right behind her, the rut here is just now ramping up and will peak around Christmas.

View attachment 183391

My TC buck;

View attachment 183399

If I don't look back at my house this patch of land feels like any other I have hunted, beautiful and serene except for the occasional squeal of laughter from the neighbors' kids across the hollow or someone blowing leaves with their leaf blower.

Are there any other suburban hunters in this group?
I have a similar area in my neighborhood. I live out in the county, so it’s ok to shoot, just being mindful of the line of fire. I have corn fields and dense brush on either side of my property. They naturally travel through my back yard. I also have permission from the neighbors to venture into their neck of the woods. This is also prime area for squirrels. So, many a busy tail has fallen. Congrats on your hunts!

Anthony
 
We have a house on 25 acres that is very well situated between State land and farm fields. Lots of deer traffic. It is mostly a hillside so any way you go it is uphill. Several years ago I got motivated and put the tree stand up at a likely spot, cleared firing lanes down the trails and generally got ready for hunting to start.

Well, did something to my knee right before opening day and could hardly walk. Loads up and made it about 100 ft before sitting under a tree behind the house. Killed the nicest doe there that year. Have taken or passed on a deer in the exact spot every year since.

This year was a complete bust. Had the flintlock and my gear ready. 2 days before opening day got Covid. Did not feel well at all. Wife got over it in 5 days. It has taken 3 trips to the Dr, 2 courses of antibiotics, chest X-rays , steroids and an inhaler to straighten me out. Never made it to the woods once. Still fighting some of the effects. Oh well, next year!!

Don
 
Congrats Eric. Do what you have to, to continue hunting. I also have a few hunting areas at the edge of humans. The hunting is good there.
Timber
 
Oh and you already know this but whatever you do, don’t quit hunting until you have to. My ol’man quit at 76 and he got mentally and physically old very quickly after that.
Good luck
Timber
 
Eric, your hunting location reminds me of when I used to hunt on my cousins 5 acre property in Western NJ. There was about 100 yards between homes with a wooded ridge line behind his home where I would put my tree stand. Harvested several deer on top of that ridge over the years. One season I shot a big doe that was moving up a rise behind all of the homes. The shot was parallel to the homes so wasn't worried about hitting a homes. After the shot the doe made it to the top of the rise and collapsed rolling down the other side. Walked to the top of the rise and had one of those "Oh sh*t" moments. The doe was laying in the back yard of a brand new home that hadn't been there 6 months before. Couldn't see the house from my stand; but if the slug had gone over the top of the rise.....

Mentioned this to my cousin who didn't even know about the new home. More don't shoot tape to hang after that one. Some of the best hunting I've ever experienced; but finally left because I got too nervous worrying about new homes going in near the top of the ridge (the one safe direction to shoot).

Glad you have space. Hope you don't have to worry about that any time soon
 
Acquaintance waterfowler one year filled over 35 doe tags hunting subdivisions in Boone County, Missouri (Columbia) and continued to do similarly for several years. Most was word-of-mouth among real estate people who knew of nuisance deer areas in various subdivisions. All were donated to local food banks through Missouri's "Share the Harvest" program.

According to a deer biologist friend of my son, the single most common factor in nuisance deer populations is the absence of free-running dogs. Where leash laws are enforced, deer multiply. So does Lyme's disease and car/deer collisions.
 
I had a hip replacement 2 years ago that went badly, I took this gag picture of me "hunting" when I couldn't get out of the house very well.

100_4901.JPG


For the next couple of years this was what I considered hunting, it was too long a "poke' to where the deer traveled for my flintlock. I could have shot deer several times but held off because I knew I couldn't retrieve one in the shape I was in unless it dropped on a spot where I could drive my tractor to it. I just had to hunt the best I could, killing a deer on any hunt has always been optional to me. To me this is no different than people who sit in an elevated shooting "house", at least in my shooting house I could hear every squirrel jump and every deer footstep as they eased through the brush below my house, I even had the wind in my face at times.

deck hunting 001.JPG


Here is the overall view from my deck, I was able to plant a food plot but my tractor with a tiller and a seed spreader on my 4-wheeler did all the work.

deck view 2022.JPG
 
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Old age and some mobility issues have made my desire to travel an hour or so to public hunting areas non-existent. I have 4 acres of woods below my house, all the other lots in the subdivision around me are 4 or 5 acres as well with deep hardwood hollows between the branch roads., I have at least 150 acres of big woods that join my place, my land just happens to be on a deer travel path between the large fields outside the subdivision and other blocks of hardwoods. It is legal to shoot where I live but those of us that hunt behind our houses are very conscious of shot safety and the location of any houses on the ridges around us. All of use compare notes and the most common topic is" I had a big buck come down the hollow but there was no way I could safely take a shot".

My neighbor shot this buck traveling down the hollow on his place next to mine a few days ago.

View attachment 183398

I have lived here for 22 years and just watched the deer for the most part, I killed a doe a couple of years ago off my deck because the season was just about over and a good friend and hunting partner was out of deer burger and needed a deer. As many of you know, running out of deer burger at the end of season is a bit of a crisis situation for those of us that haven't bought ground beef in the last 40 years or so.

For the last couple of years, I realized that hunting my land and my neighbors 50 acres was about my only option, it has actually been fun putting up treestands, clearing brush to open the woods for new growth and planting a small food plot.

I am a meat hunter, I let any of the bigger bucks go in hopes that my younger neighbor might get one of them, we compare notes after a hunt by text. I only hunt with traditional bows and sidelock M/L now, I shoot a percussion gun occasionally but use my flintlocks most of the time.

When I joke about going to the wilderness to hunt it is definitely a tongue in cheek statement. This trail cam picture puts things in perspective, my ground blind is the brush pile in the upper part of the picture, I killed a small 6 point out of it a few days ago with my TC. These deer are not like normal suburban deer, house dogs run them relentlessly so they stay wired, they will pick you out from 200 yards in an open field, turn tail and run.

View attachment 183390

This buck was right behind her, the rut here is just now ramping up and will peak around Christmas.

View attachment 183391

My TC buck;

View attachment 183399

If I don't look back at my house this patch of land feels like any other I have hunted, beautiful and serene except for the occasional squeal of laughter from the neighbors' kids across the hollow or someone blowing leaves with their leaf blower.

Are there any other suburban hunters in this group?
I probably fit into the category. Two strokes, heart disease, and T2 diabetes have limited where I can go. I spend a lot of time on the back side of my property, a small tract, but I can get out. I do have a disabled Hunter access pass to certain public land. Due to neuropathy, I haven't gotten out this year, yet. I'm hoping to get in some late season squirrel hunting. We usually find a way to hunt, fish, camp or get outside.
 
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