Tom good ideas. We lease out our open ground and our arrangement is to plant 1/3 corn, 1/3 beans, 1/3 alfalfa. That way I get paid for it and don't have to cut it fertilize it or spend any time for money to care for it. It has really worked out well, because the alfalfa is REALLY a good draw, one of the BEST in my opinion. Let me know what you do on the water side of the equation. Because of EHD and not wanting the damp soil around the ponds for midges to survive we have gone to burying large plastic cattle tanks. We also have a few small ponds that we dug, but not being fed by any water they are all dry. We have had a really dry year in SWWI. Let me know what you do if you take on the water issue, we seem to hit sandstone and no springs. Keep up the good work. Thanks, Bob

Same here in Michigan, drought since Mid August only a few small rains since i planted. I did plant a radish, clover and chicory plot. Just now getting some growth. Same time planted an oats, clover and chicory plot. Oats are doing well.

I agree putting in half my clover plots in alphalfa in spring !

Ryan Looks familiar. Does he go to Bucks and Bulls in Plover? I worked there for 2 years and looks like a guy that came in there a lot.

Poptart has an amazing rack. His body doesn't look huge. How old do you think he is? Great video.

Tom....great video and beautiful bucks. Thanks for sharing, Bob SWWI

Glad im not the only one im in southern iowa and fall plots poor again this year no water equals no plots . But i got 2 acres of beautiful standing beans for late season!! Love the videos guys! Good luck this fall!

Tom are you still shooting spitfires this year?

This has been a blast with you! Thanks for always being patient with me. Love you, Wishbone.

Man I hate to see this happen. Ehd wipes out a lot of deer when it strikes

Horseshit!! 100% all gimocks

Good tips. I've been using a hair dryer like you mention for many years. I also have a separate set of shower towels for hunting. I did make a DYI ozone closet pretty cheaply that seems to really help.

I use it on the belly button and behind the ears and everywhere the scent builds. I also use a defoliating glove when I bathe.

Is it free of UV brighteners?

Rub the antiperspirant on your feet too. Helps limit the sweat which in turn helps keep your feet warm.

Loved the video. I use a scent free soap from Buff City that is better on my skin vs alcohol based antibacterial. For my skin contact layers, I turn them inside out when I hang them outside after the hunt. Great tip on the antiperspirant in all cracks and crevasses....I agree we cannot ever be scent free but every little bit helps.

Had to laugh when you said you only put one pod in the washer and Amy said you were cheap. I am the same way.

Sorry, Amy. Sushi is a better name than worm. Lol

Tom, when you release the beans around gun season how long does it take for the deer to start using it and really hitting them hard? Also, how long do the 2 acre plots tend to last before the deer consume all of the beans? Thx, Zack

Tellin it like it is, just keep it simple. I've learned over my years if a hunt dont feel right, move and make it feel right. Every hunt you hunt should be a good hunt wether you tag one or not. Best of luck everyone...

Can’t wait to bring kominski’s shed back next spring 😁

Facts. Good video

Daahyuum right they are!! They observe & adapt, or ELSE they leave this world!! 15 years ago, in a heavily dotted business area, between two towns w/combined population of approx 80,000 + heavy tourist travel, my dogs alerted me to two bucks( a mature 12-pointer & a spindly 6-pointer.) Living litterally within 30 YARDS of a mega-big-box store, open 24/7/365. On corner of auto-shop/ warehouse & 1/3 of parking lot!! They were living inside an abandoned 1950-60's dairy home delivery van!! I have no idea how long they had lived there, but,I do know they were there for 3 additional years after my dogs alerted me.( the store had been there for approx 12 years.) I racked my brain trying to think of a way of poaching the 12-pntr, WITHOUT getting caught. No Way it could happen. Too many people around, too often. Eventually, development of land happened, thus forcing them away. But, I NEVER heard anyone mention even seeing them!! And, believe me, if anyone else had seen them, it would have been the talk of the towns!!

if they were so smart they wouldn't end up in the back of my truck

Then again the huge mature bucks are better at playing defense...where hunters play more offense. He may only play offense 10%(breeding/ feeding) and 90% defense. Where hunters are playing say: 80% offense and 20% at best defense (minimizing human sent, stand placement, and stand approach/ movement in & out) tough odds of success for the hunter. Simply mature bucks are playing the defensive long game better. Best of luck folks this season. Remember your the intruder in their house.

I agree with nicer bucks can be less active and inturn grow huge. They may get huge, because they occupy the very best core area within the bigger habitat. And human activity and presure plays into this too. I love my deer hunting but ill use a trophy example from trout fishing that is similar to huge deer. Ive noticed the trophy brown trout alway live in the best core areas of a stream. These areas have the best feeding areas, best cover and eat far less often than smaller, more active trout. This huge trout may not feed as often, because food and cover is close. Just like the big bucks. Also these two trophies can easily detect danger near them and simply not do much more than hold tight to that cover. A giant cornfield or a huge logjam provide every thing trophies need. That giant cornfield has food, water and early detection security and cover for big deer. The huge logjam gives the trophy trout the same...no reason to leave a good place, unless your spooked out. Both habitats also are very difficult for the harvesters to harvest a trophy.

They are cautious and don’t move alot and move at night mostly because they know better. Because they are smart. Deer by nature move alot. Deer are like people some are smart and some aren’t. If you watch big big bucks out in the wild you can see he is smart just by observing them. Most people hunt all their lives and never see an alpha buck. they are smart for sure. The most important thing on their mind is servival and the smart ones master that and the ones that don’t die. If it wasn’t for the rut and cars alot more would around. They feel hunting pressure at all and they limit themselves to moving less and moving more at night. They are smart enough to know that the less they move the more chance they have at servival. Hunt them like your hunting a really smart person and don’t let them know they are being hunted. Be like a ghost….

Deer as species have gotten smarter over the centuries. Human hunters over the time unfortunately have gotten dumber

Well said

I had a very successful bow hunter hunt with me once and at the end of the weekend he shared I give big bucks way too much credit when it comes to deer intelligence. I took his advice and it made a big difference in my success. That hunter was a guy named Rob Evans

I think theyre inherintly lazy and hunters educate them to theyre best stands

The deer club I have been in for 15 years in NC is timber company land and timber country. It's 2.5 square miles of clear cuts in various states of growth. So anything you know about deer hunting up north or out west...doesn't work here. Everywhere is a bedding area. There is no patterning deer. You can't see long distance unless the timber was just cut off and the growth is in the first and second year. Third year you can't even get rabbit dogs into it. If you see a doe every fourth hunt, you are doing something right. This kind of hunting takes a different mentality to grind year after year that the Ohio or Iowa hunter couldn't do.

I would agree. We have pretty heavy hunting pressure in my neighborhood but everyone tends to sit and wait for deer to show up. If deer don’t move, they live. If they travel, odds are they’ll die. I don’t think deer are smart. They don’t think or rationalize situations. They are wary and instinctive.

Depends on hunting pressure.. Older deer are smarter... .

I’ve said this for a long time. The same goes for a mature turkey Tom. The number of times I’ve heard about how smart a gobbler is by someone that’s hunting him amazes me. The best word I could use to describe a mature deer or Tom is “wary”. There is a difference in the amount of caution some deer move with versus others. Hence the reason movement becomes so much more prevalent during the rut. A “smart” animal would beat the instinctual urge to breed in order to stay alive.

I don’t think bucks are putting on that much daytime movement at all. They wouldn’t survive if they did. But I completely agree with your general premise

I don’t think bucks are putting on that much daytime movement at all. They wouldn’t survive if they did.

lol management efforts! I live in western pa and only have access to public land! Lucky to get a chance to see a 3.5 4 yr. Old once a year

I agree 100% with this. I always thought of it as habits or traits. Just like people, some deer are more active than others and some deer are more aggressive than others. I never tried to make hunting more complicated than it needed to be.

2023 I watched a 3.5 or 4.5 stop within 5yds of my youngest daughter getting a shot and it looked like his common senses kicked in. The wind was in our face so he didn’t wind us or hear us. But his body language said not today….he turned around and walked away. It’s like he read the script and didn’t like his ending. This season he’s even bigger. I hope he makes a mistake in front of my daughter. Good job.

I believe this as regional and has to do with pressure in some areas. Here in Michigan i butcher deer and hunt almost evey deer ive killed or processed over 4 has been shot at some point so yes in definition ide say more cautious then smart but make no mistake about it with pressure comes caution in almost all cases with mose deer..

The idea that animals with the biggest antlers or horns are the smartest is ridiculous. There's nothing in science to support that. I remember when hunters believed the smartest deer were the biggest bodied deer under the notion that the smarter deer would know where the most and best nutritious food would be, so they ate there and became the biggest. The antler size craze is all about money. The suits in the advertising business pushed the concept of buy this for bigger racks and use this to be able to kill bigger racked deer. The three most popular rating organizations SCI, Boone and Crocket, and Pope and Young demand you pay them if you want your deer in their record book. Truth be told, any animal that lets you get close enough to kill it with a bow and arrow isn't all that bright. Look how small their head is; that's not a large brain. Deer are not some intellectual evolving creatures as they're doing the same thing now, they did 1,000 years ago. They keep getting hit by cars after 100 years of cars hitting them. If a deer could actually be overly intelligent, they would never move during daylight for any reason, not even to breed. Deer get old due to luck, better nutrition, being less curious, avoiding diseases. Antlers get bigger due to nutrition and weather and the luck of surviving another year. I've bow hunted all over N. America and usually the smartest one in the herd is not the one with big antlers. Deer don't out smart hunters they just know their habitat better than the hunter and they notice what scent, noises, movement, and changes are different. Hunters are not scent free enough (scent tolerable), not quiet enough, move too much, and change the habitat too much.

I would say they are more cautious. What you are saying makes sense. It goes along with what Dan Infalt says about having to find their bedroom to kill them. These big deer are often not broken up as much making me think they are probably not very aggressive either, though I'm sure it varies from deer to deer.

Also true, but for someone to say they're not smart, is dumb. That's like saying dogs are all equal 😂 so answer this, are Does smart? Ppl who hunt in fantasy land Iowa would say they're not smart

Tesla was smart. Big bucks just have wicked instinct. Big difference.

I agree with this. I've always felt you could replace the word smart with the word shy or nervous.

Well said!

Those big boys make mistakes during the rut.. then back to limited movement. Most hunters don't know what bucks are in the area.. myself included! However.. my two older brothers and nephew do! They'll have 30 to 40 sits sometimes until they harvest a deer. Passing on lesser bucks of course! All of us hunt public land here in Pennsylvania.. sometimes I'll see another hunter.. but it's once in a while! Thanks for sharing your knowledge.. much appreciated 😊 If they don't get a big one during the archery season.. they'll take the first 8 point they see during rifle season.

I agree with you on that. Most of these so called experts have hand fed deer thats trained to eat this food at a certain time. If its a real fair hunt in the woods most TV personalities would starve then they can't sell This line of clothes or this bow or I'd never got that buck without my X treestand over Y brand. It's all about SELLING and Promoting...Money 💰 talks. Thanks for telling the true.

They outsmart me every dang year... so either they are actually that smart or I'm an idiot 😅