>>18931642>on game cam at around 2pmI'm talking in generalities, but I think you get the point that I didn't when I first started hunting. I thought that if I didn't get one at daybreak, I may as well leave. That assumption was highly incorrect.
>>18931675>deer came to check out gut pileYes. Absolutely. I shoot the fuckers out my bedroom window (it's completely legal in my area and with my specific area density). I use a cheap security cam to watch the spot all day and get used to the individual deers and their behaviors. I've shot and gutted does, and the rest of their group returned within a couple of hours to resume feeding.
They give zero fucks about gut piles and other dead animals in their feeding spots, and will stand over a rotting corpse to eat the green plants nearby it. This year, I threw some of pic related into the grass in my shooting lane, threw some granular 20/20/20, ag lime, and straw on top and mowed low just before a rainstorm in August (midwest USDA zone 5-6), and the deer are really hitting that shit. I've seen bucks so much larger than I thought were around here, but not during the daytime yet.
Also, I planted Hosta plants, as deer will munchfuck them bitches when it gets colder (got a 6-point last year that claimed my hostas as his territory). Also planted sunchokes this year, and watched a particular doe (the one in my freezer rn) checking both planting spots for it every day. Certainly recommend those. So, sunchokes in sunny spot, Hostas in shady spot, "wintergreens mix" between them, and all in shooting lane... Protips, those.. and aim for the spine, not the heart. A deer can easily run 100yards with a hole straight through its heart and out the other side. Deer are default keto-adapted, and can run longer than humans without oxygen.
