Author: jarvisoutdoors

So the end has come. Yesterday with much distress we removed all of our hunting equipment from the farm. It was fairly easy about half a day and everything is gone. 20 plus years of hard work and management down the tubes, for someone else to benefit from for at least the next few years. As we all know if the hard work and management is not continued it will quickly return to a less than productive deer farm. That being said we have moved on and as I have hinted to in prior post we have acquired a new farm. We have entered into our first ever hunting lease. We have leased a 165 acre farm in Central Maryland. We were late to the game this year not getting on to the farm until almost the start of the season. This season has been a learning process, there are plenty of deer on the farm but it needs a lot of work to get it where it needs to be. Watch for our post and check out our YouTube channel as we will be posting lots of content over the next few months as we get the new farm ready for the 2020 deer season. With only just over a month left in the season we will try to get a few more sits in trying to catch a late season buck or do a little more doe management. Get out in the woods and hunt safe.

Chris

The firearms season wrapped up this weekend with a successful afternoon sit. Saturday started off with extremely soggy conditions, heavy rain continued throughout the morning and early afternoon. With the rain ending around 2 p.m. and a cold front pushing in the conditions for an evening sit were perfect. We got into the stands just as the rain was slacking off and it didn’t take long for the deer to get on their feet. We saw deer pretty much all evening and with the light beginning to fade we decided to do some doe management. Killing two birds with one stone we put meat in the freezer and did our part in doe management by harvesting two mature doe. The super soggy, muddy conditions made the recoveries very interesting. I’m pretty sure we were covered in mud from head to toe. Muzzle loader season comes in next week and we plan to hit some food sources, trying to catch a mature buck looking for food. Get out in the woods and hunt safe.

Chris

The 2019 gun season rolled in with a bang for the Jarvis Outdoors crew. Two old bucks were harvested by the crew a heavy old management 7 pointer was taken off our new hunting property ( wink wink ) and Kandice harvested a wide six pointer off the farm that we are loosing. This buck could end up being the last deer Jarvis Outdoors takes of this farm. Lots of shots were heard and several good bucks were taken into KS Kuts to be processed along with lots of doe. I spoke to our buddy Charley at Whitetail Specialties Taxidermy and hes got the shoulder mounts rolling in fast, turning into a super busy year for him. Sunday afternoon Kandice and I headed to South Central PA for a few days of rifle hunting during the first few days of PA’s buck season. We saw plenty of deer but no legal shooters came by. It was however two nice relaxing days in the woods. We will be hitting the Maryland woods this coming weekend with good weather in the forecast in should be a few nice sits. Good luck on your up coming hunts and hunt safe!

Chris

So if you read our last blog post you were probably able to gather that we were in the midst of loosing our beloved hunting spot. The farm in question is roughly 180 acres with an even mixture of ag fields and woods. It is boarded to the north by a 500 acre county park of which most is heavy wooded timber and boarded to the south by a huge orchard/farm. Its an absolute whitetail hunters dream spot. Well what I had suspected was coming, came at the end of last week. I received a phone call from the land owners son and was told that this would be our last season hunting on the farm. His reasoning was that the family wanted to start hunting again and that he wanted to start over with a clean slate of people. Now what didn’t make scene to me was that when we started hunting there many many years ago the family hunted there then. Over the years they had slowly stopped hunting but that was there choice. We have all hunted there together in the past why couldn’t we do that again, but who am I to argue. As bad as it stinks we will make the best of the next two months of hunting before taking down all our sets and pulling all our trail cameras for the last time. I am truly thankful for the the time we have had on this farm the experiences and memories that we have had and that will never be forgotten.

Chris

The more popular hunting becomes the harder it is to find places to go. Many times public lands are crowded or over hunted and game can be scarce. Private land permission is becoming harder and harder to obtain. It’s feast or famine, property owners let no one hunt or they let everyone hunt. Being lucky enough to find that honey hole where only a few people are hunting is few and far between. Twenty seven years ago we were lucky enough to fall into just one of those places. Over the years we have grown an outstanding deer heard. To have a small farm were we have taken multiple deer over 160″ in central Maryland is almost unheard of. This year trail camera pictures have shown some of the best deer we have ever seen on the farm. Well after all the years of hard work and all the young bucks passed our tenure at this farm may be coming to an unfortunate end. A threat has appeared on the farm. Three unnamed unknown hunters have begun to hunt the farm and capitalize on years of our hard work. You may ask how is it possible that they remain unknown and unnamed, well the land owner is in failing health and has handed over all rights to his son. The son is a less than pleasant individual and he is the one that has allowed these new hunters to access the farm. Now I understand that we our guest on this property and always have been, we have had 27 wonderful years of hunting here and I realize that we have no say in who can and can’t hunt the property. That being said I would hope that new hunters to a property would have the courtesy to not hunt our sets and to maybe work together with us to keep this farm a nice place. Well what I hoped for surely didn’t happen. Our stands have been hunted in, deer have been killed and trash has been left, we are being pushed out of such a good place, that we have come to love. There is no contact or communication with these new hunters we don’t know when and where they are hunting just as they don’t know when and where we are hunting. We are working against each other. It’s truly a sad situation that I am sure we aren’t the first to face. There is nothing we can do about it and it plain stinks. I truly believe this is our last season hunting this property and I am more than sadden by it. I knew that this time would someday come but I never imagined that it would happen like this and once its gone its gone forever. We have now had to start a new adventure to keep our passion alive in another way. Please continue to follow us in our new adventure. I will fill in the details in upcoming post. You can also follow along with our YouTube vlog by going to YouTube and searching Jarvis Outdoors. Until then get out in the woods and hunt safe.

Chris

The rut is defiantly coming to its end. With perfect conditions yesterday evening there was no buck movement seen by the three of us during our sits. A few doe were up on their feet hitting the standing beans. Needing to fill some freezer space and the grind wearing her down, Kandice let it fly on a mature doe just before dark. She made a perfect double lung shot and the doe was quickly recovered within 50 yards. The orange army will be hitting the woods next weekend. We would like to wish everyone a Happy Thanksgiving and remind everyone to stay safe as they head into the woods next weekend.

Chris

Here at the end of the best time of the year, the grind is wearing hunters down just as much as the rut has worn down the bucks. We have an afternoon sit planned for later today. There is a small weather front pushing through with the rain ending about 1 p.m. and temps dropping throughout the evening. The conditions should be right for the deer to get up and feed after the front passes. With work schedules over the last few week its made it tough for us to be in the woods as much as we would have liked. With time to get in the woods and the rain ending at the perfect time we are hoping for a great evening. Wish us luck.

Chris

Another weekend has come and gone. Deer movement was high as were our expectations. Once again the mature bucks alluded us. Several shooters were seen on the hoof during daylight, both Friday and Saturday but stayed just out of bow range on the neighbors property. The young bucks were absolutely wearing the doe out, several young up and comers were seen chasing the females all over. I believe the bigger mature bucks have gone into lock down at this point, not venturing far from their doe. As soon as we can we will be back in the stands putting in the time. With the next 7-10 days appearing to be cool and dry the weatherman is on our side. Good luck out their. Hunt safe.

Chris

The rut is defiantly on. Our weekend sits did not produce as we had hoped the big bucks weren’t moving as much as we anticipated. We did see a few shooters, and a ton of deer movement but didn’t have any shot opportunities on the big guys. As this week has progressed I have seen more and more bucks in the fields during daylight hours than last week. Can’t wait for the work week to be over so we can hit the woods this weekend. We should be approaching that lock down phase but hopes are still high. We will be putting the time in the woods to see if we can continue this successful year. The team already has two nice bucks on the ground for 2019. Check out our photos to see them in the gallery. Good luck in the woods, hunt safe.

Chris

Its November 8th and the rut is on. Deer movement is increasing day by day. The bucks are on their feet. Conditions were not ideal for us this morning but our afternoon sit should be good and our hopes are high. We have morning and afternoon sits planned for tomorrow with the conditions expected to be ideal. I will update over the next few days to let you know how we are doing and what activity we have seen. Wish us luck and happy safe hunting to all of you rut hunters that will be out there this weekend.

Chris