Hunting Journal

This morning it was 30 degrees with a SSW wind where I was sitting. I felt pretty confident on my way in. I moved right along to get to where I was going. I stopped once for a breather. When I stopped I clicked my head-lamp off and stood still. Just as I clicked the light off a deer bounded down the hill. He was on the low side of an area where I killed a small buck on Thanksgiving many years ago. He ran a little way and it sounded like he stopped. I continued on my way.

I sat until a little after 10 o’clock. There were a few shots that echoed off the mountains in the distance. I saw only one living creature and that was a gray squirrel. I heard a few airplanes overhead which is (for some reason) a sound that I love to hear when I’m hunting. I didn’t wander around much after I got up. Since I was in an area where  a nice buck is working I didn’t want to tramp around and contaminate it.

A few weeks ago my buddy Doug was waiting for me at my truck when I came out of the woods from hunting. He was just out and about so he decided he would check in with me when I was done hunting. As we chit-chatted we covered a lot of topics. One of the topics came up was a few of the deer that I had passed up over the years in that area. I told him I couldn’t believe that I never saw them after I passed them up. It would seem that I should have run into them again at some point, but I never have to my knowledge…………until tonight.

Since the wind was blowing in every direction and with quite a bit speed I decided I would go check on my trail camera. I’ve had it out for a few weeks and I’ve left the area alone. I’m after a pretty good buck that was tearing the joint up last year. Two years ago I jumped what I thought was that same buck but I couldn’t get a shot at him before he was gone. That same night I sat down and passed up a basket-rack 8-pointer.

I got to my camera around 3:30pm, a solid 3 hours before dark. I slipped the cover off the bottom and plugged the remote into it. When the remote lit up it told me I had 67 images. I was quite surprised. Since I’m in what is considered big woods that number of images  seemed odd. As I stood there I figured I had quite a few squirrels and a lot of does. Does tend to feed there a lot which makes it good during the rut.

I took my camera out of my backpack and slipped the SD card from the trail-cam into it. As I started scanning the pictures I noticed I had a lot of empty pictures. They might not be empty, but I couldn’t see anything through the viewfinder on the camera.

Then I came across a few pictures of a doe and a fawn. When I was done scanning through the pictures I had identified 5 different bucks. The amazing thing was that every buck except one was there during prime hunting hours. They all showed up between 9:30-11am and 3:30-6:30pm. The only one that showed up at night was a buck that I have named “Tank.” I’m pretty sure that Tank is the same small 8 pointer that I passed on a few years ago. He seemed a little camera shy but I got two pictures of him. His rack is nothing special. I’m guessing he will score between 90-100. His tines are really short and he doesn’t have hardly anything for browtines. He’s very wide. The amazing part is that this deer looks like a friggin’ Tank. There’s no doubt that he’s a mature deer, but the spindly rack would have you thinking otherwise. He looks like he’s an offspring off the buck in my book called “The Grunter.” Actually he looks almost identicle to him. His body shares the same genes as a buck my buddy Jason killed in that area a few years ago.

I also had a buck on the camera that I will call “Special K.” Special K has a crotch on one side (I couldn’t tell if there was a browtine) and the other side has a spike that turns down and goes under his jaw. It’s definitely from an injury to his opposite leg. The deer looked healthy.

I had two small spikes. One of these had one antler and the other one was normal. The last buck was a nice little 8 pointer with a tight, narrow basket-rack. I’ll call him “Basket.”

The even more amazing part of all of the images is that the majority of them were captured in the last 3 days after the heavy rains stopped. Heck, when I got up to walk out this morning, but camera was taking pictures of deer in this place. I guess it’s all about timing.

I’ve attached a picture of the small buck I shot on Thanksgiving day many years ago. I jumped that deer this morning right in that area. I’ve also attached “The Grunter” so you can see what Tank’s headgear looks like. His body dwarfs the body of “The Grunter.”

It was 40 degrees this morning with a NNE wind where I was hunting. The forecast called for high winds and heavy rain. When I woke up the sky was clear and it was calm. It remained this way until my walk back to the truck. I decided I would walk today and check out a few areas for buck sign.

I found buck sign in the couple of places that I went looking for it. I belive I finally found a buck that I want to see if I can get a look at. I’ll be hunting in the area that that he has torn up in the morning. I found a lot of rubs in a small area. I’m guessing he uses the area in the morning and evening. He has rubs high on the fill facing north and a bunch more on the bottom of the hill facing south. He’s staying within a couple hundred yards on his entry and exit to the area. I have a few days off the week after next. If I’m going to get a look at him it will probably be one of those days if the weather is cooperative.

The weather has been horrendous. We’ve had more rain than we’ve had in a long time for this time of year. There’s standing water throughout the woods and the creeks are working overtime.

The wind is supposed to blow pretty hard again tomorrow. In the morning I’m going to sit on the sign I found today. I’ll probably  put some more miles on my boot leather after I sit for a couple of hours.

It feels great to be in the woods.

I guess today was the calm before the storm. The Nor’easter is supposed to roll into town tonight and stay for a few days. I figured the deer would be moving.

I got home and shot my muzzleloader a few times just to make sure everything was good to go for the weekend. The first shot was a little high left. I adjusted the scope and the second shot was right on.

I hunted behind the house tonight. I didn’t feel like lugging my stand around so I decided I would clear an area around a tree and use it as cover. I would be able to walk all the way around it to keep myself hidden if I had to.

I saw plenty of squirrels. Then, around 6pm I saw a deer coming. It was a small spike. I think it might have been one of the bucks that I saw the other day. He was about 20 yards from me when he stopped. He was definitely on a mission until something grabbed his attention. The wind was good and I was motionless. He gave me a quick look after he stopped and hauled ass out of there. I was surprised to see how spooky he was. Within a few minutes after he left the skylight faded into darkness and I headed home.

When I got home one of my buddies sent me a picture of a small buck that his brother shot on their farm. He shot it for a doe, but the ears were covering up his antlers. It turned out to be a 4 pointer. That’s one of the main reasons why I carry binoculars with me. When I saw the deer coming tonight I immediately looked at him with my binoculars.

There was an East wind tonight and the temperature was 53 degrees.

It was a nice and sunny day today. The temperature was around 60 degrees when I got out of work at 2:30. I decided I would go for a walk to check some things out.

I walked in a circle to look at a few different areas that I’m thinking about hunting with a muzzleloader next week. I saw some bear sign that included tracks and scat. It appears that it’s a good size bruin. I also saw some moose tracks. For a few minutes I thought I had been transported to Maine, but then I quickly realized that I was in the Adirondacks.

I found some decent sign in one of the places I wanted to check out. Last year I found some rubs there that looked like they came from a small buck. This year there are some rubs in the same place. A few small trees were torn apart and snapped in half. I’m guessing that the buck has decent head-gear. I also found a scrape a few hundred yards from the rubs. It’s one of those areas that I really like, but never seem to have any luck when I sit there. Maybe this year will be different.

I didn’t see any deer tonight. I was on more of a scouting mission so it would have been a plus if I saw some deer. I did sit for the last hour of daylight.

The weather is calling for monsoon-like rain over the next couple of days. Since it’s archery season I will probably stay home. There was an ESE wind tonight.

I was unable to hunt the last two days. My dog was really sick yesterday and I had to bring him to the vet’s for an emergency visit. He’s 15 years old. He has an infection in his mouth and he’s sick to his stomach.

Today I had to play in a softball game because I volunteered to play in a fall softball league. It was the last game of the season. Unfortunately the playoffs are on Saturday which is opening day of muzzleloader season here in northern NY. Since I committed to the softball league I can’t leave them short so I will not be able to hunt Saturday morning. Hindsight is 20/20 but I learned a valuable lesson for the future.

In case any of you are wondering my dad has not been hunting with me because he has been really sick with a chest cold like he gets every fall. It appears that he’s finally turning the corner. He should be back in action by next week. I’m not sure if I’ll hunt tomorrow because I have to shoot my muzzleloader before the weekend and work has been hectic.

I saw a small buck cross the road in front of me on the way to work yesterday. The deer are starting to move.

It was 30 degrees this morning with a North wind. It was finally calm which made for a good morning sit. I tried a new place that was a perfect funnel. I didn’t see any deer, but I’m pretty sure it would be a great place for the rut when the bucks are cruising.

I did see a weasel which was pretty cool. I tried to get some pictures of him but he wouldn’t stay still long enough to give me a good shot.

This evening I decided to go on a hike. It warmed up to 65 degrees. I found some really good sign in a few different places. The only downfall was that in both places I found treestands. I’m not sure how much they get used if at all. When the snow flies I’ll go back in there to see if there are any human tracks in the area.

One of my buddies killed a pretty good 10-pointer in Illinois yesterday morning. He lives in central Illinois and it was a good deer for his area. It scored right around 150.

This morning was 49 degrees with a North wind. It was sunny with a nice blue sky. The wind whipped around for most of the morning once it got light out. Around 8:30 I saw a fisher on the move. He was cruising right along and never gave me time to snap a picture or get some video. That was about the extent of my morning hunt. On my way out I found where a decent buck has just started tearing some trees apart.

This afternoon the wind blew like crazy. I figured it wouldn’t let up before dark. I was wrong as it calmed right down about an hour before dark. I could feel the crisp, cool air in my lungs. It was one of those nights that made me feel like the deer would be moving tomorrow morning.

I hunted close to home tonight. Right before dark I saw a doe and a fawn being chased my two small bucks. The first buck was a spike and the second one was a little basket-rack but I couldn’t tell how many points he had. The deer in the front had their tongues out. I’m not sure if the little bucks were feeling frisky or if they might have been running from something that spooked them.

I’ve been seeing a lot of deer so far this year. I’m not sure if that’s a good thing or a bad thing. My best years seem to be the years that I don’t see much of anything and then out of nowhere a few big bucks end up in front of me.

It was 36 degrees this morning and a clear blue sky. It was a fresh feeling when I settled my back against the tree for the morning sit. When the darkness faded I looked below me at a red squirrel that was busy eating. After a closer look I noticed that he was sitting in a small corn pile with apple shavings mixed in.

I laughed to myself and couldn’t believe what I was looking at. This small bowl I was sitting in was loaded with acorns and you could see where the deer had been hammering them. Anyone who thinks they need to put corn down to draw the deer into this area needs to become a little more educated about the deer in the area they are hunting.

The rest of the morning passed quickly and I didn’t see anything.

This afternoon was really warm and breezy. It was 70 degrees when I left the house and the wind was NNE. I found one heck of a funnel. I think it’s probably a great spot every year when the rut rolls around. I’m thinking of sitting there tomorrow morning, but I’m not sure yet.

I don’t feel well tonight so we’ll see what a good night’s rest does for me.

This week has been loaded with some horrendous weather. We were in a severe drought until 2 weeks ago and it hasn’t stopped raining. Creeks are overflowing with water and the woods are loaded with standing water. The last two days we’ve received pounding rains. I didn’t venture into the woods on either day.

Today the rain tapered off in the early afternoon so I decided to get back into the woods for an afternoon hunt. The wind was coming from all directions and blowing at a steady clip. It was 63 degrees.

Since it was late when I got out of work I decided to sneak into the woods and set-up close to the road. When I got to a tree that I’ve sat in before I latched the stand to the base of the tree. When I picked my head up I saw another hunter sitting under a tree about 25 yards from me. I packed my stand up and went over to say hello. We chatted for a few minutes and I moved to get out of his way.

On my way home I saw a few deer crossing the road, but that was about it. I’m off tomorrow, but the high water will make the hunting tough. I won’t be able to get to the area that I had planned on hunting so I’ll have to make some alternate plans.

I rushed around after work and got on the road around 3:30pm. After I strapped my pack onto the treestand I opened the door of the truck to grab my bow. Once again I forgot it at home. This is starting to become a daily nightmare.  I’ve never done this in my life until yesterday and now I’ve pulled it off two days in a row. By the time I got home I didn’t have time to head back out. It will be almost impossible to get out again this week. My bad.