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Post by subzero350 on Oct 16, 2018 11:58:49 GMT -5
You are lucky all he took was the ladder.
A number of years ago someone stole my entire stand.
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Post by subzero350 on Oct 16, 2018 11:56:17 GMT -5
IMHO hang on stands with cables should not be left out year round. I think this is a major culprit in the failure of these types of stands. Agree. I'll go further and say no stands should be left out year-round. Mother nature is relentless...
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Post by subzero350 on Oct 15, 2018 19:54:23 GMT -5
Was it one of those stands where the bottom platform is supported by cables? Not sure. My best guess is he was in a climber There seem to be a lot of falling accidents from collapsing climbers and fixed stands that use cables to support the base platform.
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Post by subzero350 on Oct 15, 2018 14:39:12 GMT -5
Apparently his bottom platform gave way. Was it one of those stands where the bottom platform is supported by cables?
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Post by subzero350 on Oct 15, 2018 14:34:14 GMT -5
Congrats!
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Post by subzero350 on Sept 29, 2018 12:36:43 GMT -5
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Post by subzero350 on Sept 29, 2018 9:42:38 GMT -5
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Post by subzero350 on Sept 29, 2018 7:15:56 GMT -5
I'm just hoping to get a couple of stands up by Oct. 1st. I'm running way behind. You're not alone...
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Post by subzero350 on Sept 27, 2018 10:46:26 GMT -5
After reading some other online reviews, I would like to clarify something. This was indeed a high fence hunt. Knowing that, we did not go into this with the expectation it was going to be just like deer hunting on public land up here in Indiana. I think some of the people who wrote negative reviews about this same place had that expectation.
I read a lot of comments in those negative reviews about how "domesticated" the wildlife was at this lodge. To some extent, that is true. There were feral hogs and certain other species of animals that would let you get relatively close to them. But we also encountered species of all types that were weary of our presence. If you wanted to make your hunt a challenge, it certainly isn't difficult to do that. The couple we went on this hunt with were a bit more picky about what they wanted to shoot, and it took them until the very last day to get their game (and they were almost unsuccessful; due to deteriorating weather conditions).
So if you book a hunt at this lodge expecting it to be just like hunting on a million acres in Africa, you are going to be disappointed. The parcels we hunted were completely fenced in, and even though 1100 acres is a pretty large chunk of land; the game is still trapped within the fence. If you aren't particular about what you want to shoot, it is fairly easy to get something. But if you are particular about exactly what you want to shoot, it can be a challenge finding that specific animal you want to take - especially given the terrain.
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Post by subzero350 on Sept 25, 2018 20:59:33 GMT -5
I forgot to mention that when we were stalking a group of boars, they were capable of traversing that steep, rocky terrain far more effectively than we could. Even though they moved at walking speed, they didn't slow down for obstacles like we had to. We were tracking a sizable group on the second day and quickly lost them after they went down a ridge. I was also amazed at how quiet that big of a group could be while moving.
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Post by subzero350 on Sept 25, 2018 20:53:41 GMT -5
Nice going. I know a couple guys who have done the same kind of hunt. They were all happy with the outcome. How much did you have wrapped up in the whole trip? We spent about $2k on the lodge/hunt for the two of us not including gas to get down there and back.
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Post by subzero350 on Sept 25, 2018 13:26:16 GMT -5
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Post by subzero350 on Sept 25, 2018 13:16:53 GMT -5
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Post by subzero350 on Sept 25, 2018 12:10:55 GMT -5
We just returned from our hog hunt and I would like to post a review. To recap, we reserved a hunt here: wildernesshuntinglodge.com/They offer hunts for the following species: Russian Wild Boar Razorback Boar Fallow Deer Axis Deer Black Buck Antelope Sika Deer Texas Dall Ram Merino Ram Black Hawaiian Ram Corsican Ram Mouflon Ram Spanish and Catalina Goats Aoudad Bull Elk Red “Stag” Deer Buffalo “Bison” Water Buffalo Your reserved hunt includes 3 hot meals provided each day. We reserved boar hunts which included 3 nights, 3 days lodging. We arrived late last Thursday and the guides were already asleep so there was no staff on duty. However, the door to the main lodge was unlocked and a note was posted on the door with our names on it explaining what rooms we were assigned to. There were 3 guests already there (they were finishing up their hunts and leaving the next day). They had bunk rooms and couples suites. The wife and myself reserved a couples suite. It had a queen bed, bathroom with shower, and a sink outside of the shower. I would say it was a bit smaller than your typical hotel room, but still offered plenty of room for the two of us. There is a TV with DISH service available in the main lobby (along with several couches and tables), free WiFi high speed internet service, and a landline phone you can use. Note that cell phone service in and around the lodge was non-existent for AT&T customers. I was told by others with Verizon cells their service was very spotty. Breakfast was served at 7am CDT (local) and our guide let us use the on-site shooting range which has targets at 60 and 90 yards so we could verify all our weapons were still zeroed after the long trip. Then our guide took us out for our morning hunt. Lunch was served at 12 noon but left in warmers if we happened to return late. After lunch, our guide took us back out into the field for our afternoon hunt. Dinner gets served around 5pm, but as with lunch, the food was left out in warmers so if you were a little late getting back it was no big deal. Leftovers were available in the fridge if you missed a meal. The terrain offered to us for our boar hunt was their ~1100 acre parcel that was pretty steep: I would estimate an average of a 50% grade on a 500 foot rise from the road. In the woods it was pretty rocky terrain with a few sheer cliffs. However, there are several ATV trails cut into these hills so the guide can drive you up to virtually any point you want and drop you off (which is great for those with disabilities). There are several stands and blinds on site you can hunt out of, or you can stalk like we chose to do. This time of year is just before their busy season, so it wasn't too busy in the lodge with other hunters and the animals were stocked up. The wife any myself got our boars on the second day, and the guide loaded them into the side-by-side ATV and took them down to the lodge for processing. We elected to pay the lodge for full processing because the price was very reasonable. Our meat was professionally vacuum packed and frozen on-site in their walk-in cooler by the time we left Sunday afternoon. The couple we reserved the hunt with didn't get their game until Sunday morning, so their meat didn't have enough time to freeze before we had to leave. However, it was chilled, and we iced it down for the trip home and it arrived safely. On Sunday, quite a few more hunters arrived for their hunts before we left - most were from Indiana. Some of those that we talked to said they had hunted this lodge before and it has been a lot busier most of the time. I must say I'm glad we reserved our hunts when we did because I don't care much for crowds. Our guide was knowledgeable, professional, and very accommodating to our requests. We saw a LOT of animals and I have quite a few pictures I will try to get posted a little later. Overall, I would rate this experience as a 4.25 out of 5 as there were a few areas that could be improved upon by the lodge. They were in the process of finishing up a new dining lodge while we were there that is supposed to be open in 3 months. Based on our experience, I do plan on returning with some more friends and family. I would also like to add that the staff was very accommodating to my wife's food allergy which was a huge bonus.
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Post by subzero350 on Sept 25, 2018 11:21:26 GMT -5
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Post by subzero350 on Sept 13, 2018 10:25:14 GMT -5
I've never technically hit a deer. I've had one run into the side of my car after I came to a complete stop (to avoid hitting another deer) and I ran over one's legs when it slid and fell down trying to avoid running into my car (no damage to my car and deer got up and ran away). Guess I'm lucky; but I do watch for them.
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Post by subzero350 on Sept 6, 2018 22:56:09 GMT -5
The Deer reduction Zones have been in place for a while now....the area just alongside road is something they rolled out new this year. I was aware of the Deer Reduction Zones existing before, I just didn't know about this 1/2 mile inclusion zone from the centerline of certain highways being a part of that. Like jbird believes, I'm betting the insurance companies influenced the DNR to reduce eliminate the deer population around some of our more congested highways. The problem with this is deer travel more than 1/2 a mile and I doubt this effort is going to have any real impact on the deer-vehicle collisions. Let's just hope the DNR is only doing this to "throw a bone" to the insurance companies and they won't take more drastic measures in the future. I would sure hate to see a repeat of what the deer population was in this state back in the early 1900's (even though I'm sure the insurance companies would love that).
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Post by subzero350 on Sept 5, 2018 14:31:46 GMT -5
I'm gonna have to can some. But is there a recommended amount of time it should stay canned? I still have a good amount of deer left. I feel really bad if I don't eat it by time season rolls in. What's your guys experience or thoughts? We found some chunked up venison buried in the bottom of our chest freezer we forgot about from the 2015 season. We do our own processing. Triple rinse the meat, double bag in freezer grade zip-locks, and wrap with butcher's paper. This meat from 2015 had zero freezer burn and still looked great, so we decided to can it. We later ate that canned meat and it tasted just as good as other meat we canned that wasn't quite as old. I've read that canned venison has about a 2 year shelf life. Ours never seems to last this long; not because it goes bad - but because we eat so much of it. I primarily use it to make venison and noodles, but we also make stews with it. There are several different canning "additives" you can use to can venison. We use Worcestershire sauce.
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Post by subzero350 on Sept 5, 2018 14:04:39 GMT -5
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Post by subzero350 on Aug 21, 2018 18:26:15 GMT -5
I was in a fixed stand last year...the ones that have the cables that support the leading edge of the platform. One of the cables broke on me. My tether to the tree kept me from becoming a statistic. I collected myself and got out of the tree. Almost went up in another tree as I felt I still had daylight left....but then thought better as someone upstairs may be trying to tell me sometime.....and maybe, just maybe, I should listen. I went home. I've heard of so many stories of cables snapping on these types of stands I won't use one (of this type, anyway).
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