The Hillside Thicket

The hillside thicket is one of those places we can hunt even late in the season and expect to see deer.  The place is remote, steep, and thick.  Kevin scored first here two years ago on a nice nine-pointer.  It took four people a half-day to get the deer out.  Last year both Kevin and I saw good bucks while hunting here, but Kevin had already shot a buck, and I couldn't get a good shot.

Last year I hunted here on the afternoon of opening day and saw some hunters hauling out two big bucks on four-wheelers.  Needless to say my hunt felt ruined but I stayed in the stand anyway.  About an hour later a nice eight-pointer, about the size of the one in the picture above walked right past me, but I let him go.  Every couple of years we have to deal with other people riding through on four-wheelers, but a call to the game warden or the U.S. Forest Service office typically takes care of the problem.  I don't feel good about calling, but I feel even worse when a noisy machine ruins my hunt.  I spoke with a game warden about this.  "Please call."  He told me.  "It's illegal for them to ride on public ground, it's not fair to the legal hunter, and usually we don't know about it unless somebody tells us."

The buck in the following two pictures was killed on a private farm over three miles away the day after the pictures were taken.

I doubt I will put my trail cameras here this year.  There is plenty of public land I want to learn about -- I just have to find the time to go there.