Duck and Cover Baby !

Teegate

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Sep 17, 2002
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I was waiting for this post as I do every year. I will temporarly start switching my day of operation to Sunday starting next week.

Thanks Scott!

Guy
 
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PINEY WARDEN

Explorer
Jan 13, 2012
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Good Luck to all my Hunter friends and please be safe! YO BUCK I hope to find a big one this week myself! :siren:
 

Boyd

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Jul 31, 2004
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Ben's Branch, Stephen Creek
Thanks Scott! That link answered something I always wondered about...
________
"Hunters must have permission to hunt agricultural or private land even if the land is not posted"
 

PINEY WARDEN

Explorer
Jan 13, 2012
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Any luck Piney? I have had the entire week off. First time I have had the entire week off in a LONG time.

No sir. Been a tough week with all the wind and Noreaster. Probably the worst 6 day week I have had in many years. Not even a whole lot of deer been seen all week. Damn coyotes are really bad in the area. How bout you???? Any Luck?????
 

Teegate

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I was stopped by an old timer that I know in the pines and he also said the coyotes have taken most of the deer. Is anyone seeing all of these coyotes?
 

46er

Piney
Mar 24, 2004
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Coastal NJ
I have not seen many yotes, have heard them at night though. On the other hand, the number of deer seen is as high as ever. They are not that active during weather as we have had recently, especially wind. Taking a stand in this kind of weather is less fruitful. Those out today should have a good day.
 

Hewey

Piney
Mar 10, 2005
1,042
109
Pinewald, NJ
No sir. Been a tough week with all the wind and Noreaster. Probably the worst 6 day week I have had in many years. Not even a whole lot of deer been seen all week. Damn coyotes are really bad in the area. How bout you???? Any Luck?????

Yes, I killed a nice buck in zone 21 Monday evening. The second biggest buck I got on camera in the pines this year. He was the ninth deer I had seen in two hours. I shot him at 4:30, he reacted at the shot like it was a solid hit. I gave him a half hour before I got out of the tree and hit the blood trail. 50 yards into a faint blood trail I jumped him out of his bed. By the condition of the bed I knew he was a dead deer and was not going far if not pushed. Even with the forecast I knew it was time to back out. I marked the bed as a wayoint in my GPS and headed home for a long sleepless night spent pacing the house with a pit in my stomach. I was back at the bed I jumped him out of the eveing by 7am in heavy rain and strong winds. All blood was a wash, now it was a body search. With a little searching I found him dead in his bed 50 yards from the bed I jumped him out of the evening prior. It was a long wet drag back to the truck, but well worth it. He was a heavy horned six pointer, would have been a nice eight pointer if he was not lacking brow tines.

The area I hunt in the pines is on the up and up with the deer numbers. I see a lot more than I did four years ago. I pulled out of deer hunting in the pines for half of the '10 season and all of the '11 and '12 seasons. From 2006 until 2010 I was having a hard time even seeing deer let alone killing any in the pines. I started hunting suburban Monmouth County. I was seeing deer but the hunting just did't feel the same. One of my best stands had a view of a nice stand of white oak along with an auto body shop, a strip mall and the hum of a major state highway. Yeah, I killed deer and seen plenty more but it was not quality hunting. I was also spending mor time hunting my little 7 acre private piece in Barnegat east of route 9. I killed some nice deer there also, but the hunting there depends on how much human activity is going on in my friends yard while I am hunting. If the kids have play company and the dogs are out and barking I know it will be a slow hunt. I got back into the pines last year. I was tagged out by Tuesday evening last year during six day in zone 21. It is nice to be back to hunting a location where the only thing you hear and see is nature.

The coyote numbers are down in my neck of the pines. I am seeing less and less tracks in the sand roads. I used to hear them almost every evening about the time I was getting out of my stand, now I never hear them. I think the population has peaked and is now on a downfall. I found a small female dead a few weeks ago in the woods. She had a bad case of mange and the elements most likely did her in. I think mange has done a good job in some areas with getting the coyote numbers in check. Coyote populations sound to still be high in other areas of the pines. A large coyote population in never good for the deer population. They will get a large number of the fawn born every Spring.
 
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46er

Piney
Mar 24, 2004
8,837
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Coastal NJ
Congratulations. Always a hard decision to leave one for a return. I did most of my younger years hunting the NW corner of the state, got my first buck in Stokes SF on Sunrise Mt. Big deer and fortunate for me another hunter came by that helped my pack it out or I would still be there :eek: I do miss that kind of hunting, dramatically different from the pines, I would like to head back up there, but it is a bit to crowded nowadays for my liking.
 

PINEY WARDEN

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Jan 13, 2012
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I was stopped by an old timer that I know in the pines and he also said the coyotes have taken most of the deer. Is anyone seeing all of these coyotes?
Coyotes.jpg
 

RednekF350

Piney
Feb 20, 2004
4,944
3,080
Pestletown, N.J.
Congrats again Chris, you are a good hunter.
As for coyotes, they appear to be very mobile in my area. Haven't cut many tracks lately down here but I do have some areas in mind not too far away for some permit hunts come January.
 

Teegate

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Sep 17, 2002
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I marked the bed as a wayoint in my GPS and headed home for a long sleepless night spent pacing the house with a pit in my stomach.


Why were you so worried? Did you think you would not find it or for legal reasons? Or something else?

Guy
 

Hewey

Piney
Mar 10, 2005
1,042
109
Pinewald, NJ
Thank you, Scott and 46er.

Why were you so worried? Did you think you would not find it or for legal reasons? Or something else?Guy

Guy, the fear that I would not find it or coyote beating me to the deer. It is never a good feeling when a hunter has to leave a deer that they shot over night in the woods. Sometimes you have to do it though. If you hunt long enough it will happen to you. I have only had it happen to me four times over thirty years of deer hunting.
 

Teegate

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Sep 17, 2002
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Scott,

What should I expect in the next few weeks in regards to hunting? Basically, I will be out on weekdays and Saturdays quite a bit and want to know what is in season.
 
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