Archive for October, 2013

Thursday October 17, 2013

Thursday, October 17th, 2013

The heat is hanging on like a child who doesn’t want to leave his mother. Tonight was the first night I felt like I was actually hunting. I brought my climber to the top of the mountain and found a nice place to sit. I watched the sun go down and within no time Lake George vanished below me. The woods were really quiet tonight. I expected to see something. The leaves are so dry it’s impossible to walk without making all sorts of racket. I knew I would hear a deer coming for a long ways if one decided to venture across the ridge in front of me. On the way out I glanced into the sky and saw the culprit. I’d imagine the moon isn’t helping matter since it appears to be full or just about full. I’ll be headed to the north country this weekend. I’m looking forward to it. Hopefully the bears left my cameras alone. If they did maybe I’ll be lucky enough to get a buck or two on film now that they’re roaming around a little more than they probably did in the summer. I actually can’t wait to spend the weekend in the woods. I like to be in wild country and that’s where I’ll be. I won’t be able to hear any cars, people, boats or anything of the sort. I’ll let you know how I make out. Good luck to everyone who heads out with the smoke pole this weekend.

Wednesday October 16, 2013

Thursday, October 17th, 2013

The weather just doesn’t want to break. This is probably the warmest overall October that I can remember. We haven’t had many days where the temperature has been below 70 degrees. It’s starting to wear on my nerves. I like cool, crisp mornings and chilly evenings. The smell of fall hasn’t come in full force yet. Hopefully it gets here within the next week. We need rain more than I can ever remember for this time of year. Hopefully it doesn’t come in droves once rifle season starts. Although I don’t mind hunting in the rain I also like it when it’s nice out. As long as it’s not raining cats and dogs I’ll be satisfied.

I sat in one of my old stomping grounds tonight. Since I had to walk over the mountain and down the other side I was sweating by the time I sat down. I nestled in behind a tree and waited for darkness. A large oak was dropping nuts out in front of me and I hoped a buck would come in for an evening meal. The evening passed quickly and nothing happened. I only saw one squirrel and a few blue jays. It didn’t appear there was much animal movement in the woods. We’ll see what tomorrow brings.

October 14, 2013

Monday, October 14th, 2013

Today is Columbus Day. It’s a holiday for a lot of people, but not for me. When I was in college I hunted on Columbus Day before I headed back to school. I grunted in a really nice 8-pointer. I was on the edge of a swamp and had climbed up a fallen tree and  stood where the tree was hung up on another one. It wasn’t one of the smartest things I’ve ever done, but it was a truly unique experience.

As soon as it got light I grunted on my grunt call. Instantly I could hear a deer coming down the runway along the edge of the swamp. Within seconds he was in front of me and closing ground.   I looked out in front of him to find a place where I might be able to get a shot and everything slowed down as he stopped. He became fidgety and started high-stepping around the bowl in front of me. Once I got to full draw I let the pin settle behind the shoulder and released the arrow. I saw it hit and the deer bounded up the hill. I was sure I killed him.

By afternoon I realized I wasn’t taking him home. Instead, I was driving back to college with a lot of unresolved feelings floating around in my head. I hated wounding the animal, but I had determined that I hit him right on the shoulder. A few weeks later when gun season opened the buck was killed on opening day and the broadhead was lodged in the shoulder bone. The person who killed the deer was excited and I was happy to know the deer wasn’t suffering.

When I got home tonight my father wanted to go hunting. He actually wanted to put a stand up, so I told him I would go along. I wanted to check a few cameras I put near feeding spots. Feeding spots usually get the most pictures for me and I almost always get bucks in these places. Since I haven’t gotten much on camera so far I didn’t expect too much. The first camera I got to didn’t have one picture on it, which surprised me. The second camera had a lot of pictures. As I flipped through them I spotted a nice buck, with a broken main beam. He’s nothing special, but he’s still a nice little ADK buck. The picture was taken yesterday morning and it came from the place I had planned on sitting if I could have crawled out of bed in the morning. I guess that’s what happens when you don’t get up and get going. In my younger years that buck would have had an arrow shot at it. I guess it was his lucky day yesterday and I was pretty happy to see him on my SD card when I pulled it.

Dad aimlessly wandered around the woods tonight. He put his tree stand down, so he could look for a place to put it. Since the leaf cover is so heavy he couldn’t locate it. He knows about where it left it, but the woods got dark and he decided to go back tomorrow. In the process of this I lost my phone. I didn’t realize it until I got home, so I had to drive back up and look for it. Fortunately I found it next to where I had parked the truck. I’m pretty lucky. It was like finding  a needle in a haystack.  Here are a few pictures of a doe visiting the mock scrape I made; a coyote urinating in the same scrape; a small buck cruising past the camera.

M2E1L0-14R350B300

M2E1L0-13R350B300

 

SUNP0122SUNP0126

Sunday 10/13, 2013

Sunday, October 13th, 2013

My alarm went off at 4:50 this morning. I reached over and hit the snooze button. Nine minutes later it went off again. I felt like crap, so I turned it off and stayed in bed. I really wanted to go, but my exhaustion won the battle. If I didn’t get good rest I knew I would pay for it the rest of the week.

It was cool this morning, but the temperature climbed quickly and by mid afternoon it was in the mid 60s. I ran up on the mountain to check two cameras. The camera on top where I made the mock scrape on Thursday night had a few pictures on it. Seven hours after I made the scrape a big doe came to it and and hour later a coyote was there. I’d assume the smell of the scent I laid down is what attracted them to it. I didn’t expect to see anything, but now that I have I think a buck might show up sometime in the next few weeks. I’ll probably go out tomorrow. For as much time as I’ve spent in the woods I really haven’t spent any time hunting. Once muzzleloader opens next weekend I expect to spend more time sitting. I haven’t found very much promising sign. We really need rain. The woods are too dry right now. Although I want it to rain I hope it doesn’t rain all fall now.

Saturday 10/12, 2013

Saturday, October 12th, 2013

The sky was lit up with stars this morning as I walked to my stand. After quickly climbing the tree and settling in I took a few seconds to thank whomever might have been listening for how lucky I feel to be able to hunt. There’s nothing like doing something you’re passionate about. The temperature was perfect this morning. The thermometer read 41 degrees when I headed out. It stayed cool for most of the morning, but when it warmed up it did so quickly. Before mid-afternoon it had reached 73 degrees. I didn’t see anything on my morning sit.

This afternoon I headed over to my friend Doug’s farm. My buddy Bobby and I went over for a tour. Bobby and Doug wanted to exchange ideas on how to improve the habitat for deer on the farm. I sat back and listened since farm hunting is somewhat different to me. My experience is very limited because I’ve spent the majority of my time in the big woods. On our tour we saw two coyotes. One coyote was wounded. He appeared to be in quite a bit of pain and his suffering was easy to identify. Doug went back to the farm and got a gun to put the animal out of its misery.  I know that coyotes are natural born predators, but I still felt sorry for the animal as I watched it from a distance.

I didn’t hunt this evening. My buddy TJ who is hunting a farm in a QDM co-op sent me a few texts and a short video. He had a lot of action. He saw a couple of young bucks chasing does and he saw another buck make a scrape a short distance from his stand. Besides those sighting he also caught a glimpse of a big-bodied 8-pointer. My buddy Doug had some action this morning, too. He saw 10 deer and 2 of them were bucks. No shots were offered. I haven’t concentrated much on sitting, but I’d like to put myself in a position to see some deer. I’ll have to see what happens in the morning. I’m probably headed to the mountain. Hopefully I can decide on a place to climb a tree before daylight. I looked at a few locations a couple of days ago. I’ll have to make an educated guess and go with my gut.

Friday October 11, 2013

Friday, October 11th, 2013

For some reason this date sticks in my head from seven years ago. I was hunting on a mountain close to my home. It was a beautiful fall day. The leaves were splashed with red, orange and yellow. It wasn’t too terribly warm, but it also wasn’t very chilly. Early muzzleloader season was open. It was the one of the last times I hunted that year with any amount of internal peace. My world was suddenly turned upside down a few weeks later and the next few years I experienced the gamut of highs and lows.

Looking back on that time it’s probably the best thing that could have happened to me. My life has turned into something I had always dreamed of and I’m doing things now that I never imagined. I’m  hoping it continues to get better as time moves forward.

I went out for an hour and a half tonight. I received a trail camera from Bushnell in the mail today, so I spent some time setting it up. I got it from the factory to test it out and report on it. I’m looking forward to see how it works. It has the capability of taking a picture and instantly start recording video. I really like this type of camera because it presents a little more information than a standard picture. Since I have a number of Cuddeback cameras that do this I’m interested to see how this camera compares to them.

I didn’t see any deer this evening, but I did set the camera up in a place where I expect to get a few pictures of the course of the weekend. I’ll probably hunt the same place in the morning as I did tonight. I’m worn out and extremely tired. I need some good sleep sometime soon. The trials and tribulations with this new insulin pump are driving me crazy. Unfortunately my numbers have gotten worse and not improved at all. After three months it has the doctors stumped. There are no patterns to follow and random numbers keep showing up for absolutely no reason. I’m very disappointed. We’ll see what tomorrow brings. I have a lot of things to do throughout the day, so hunting won’t be a priority even though I’ll hunt for a few hours in the morning.

Thursday October 10, 2013

Thursday, October 10th, 2013

When I got out of work I was bushed. I didn’t feel like doing a thing, but the smell in the air beckoned me to go to the woods. All day I thought about places I wanted to check out, so put my boots on and wore the leather off them. I went down the backside of the mountain to look at an area I haven’t been near in quite some time. I made a mock scrape under an old hemlock tree where two runways intersected. I’m not sure what to expect. Once again it wouldn’t surprise me to see absolutely nothing when I go back to check the camera. I just don’t know what to think about the mock scrapes since the whole process is new to me.

I found some more moose sign tonight. I’d really like to see this animal, especially since they’re not too common in these parts. I put a camera on the edge of a swamp that it appears the moose is frequenting. I’d love to capture an image of the beast. I don’t expect to ever see it, but I’m hoping I somehow get a chance to catch a glimpse of it. Before I knew it daylight faded out of the sky and I was headed toward my truck. Although I’ve been in the woods a fair amount I don’t think I can say I’ve actually hunted. Instead, I’ve wandered around the mountain in search of good sign and to this point I haven’t found anything that is calling to me. Hopefully the October lull breaks and sign starts popping up in the timber. The good time is right around the corner. I could really smell it in the air tonight.

Wednesday 10/9, 2013

Wednesday, October 9th, 2013

I rushed out of work to get on the mountain in time to walk around a little but before dark. My focus was centered on checking two trail cameras and moving at least one of them. I was disappointed to find very little movement around my cameras. I had a few does, squirrels and a raccoon or two. I created my first mock scrape ever tonight. I’m not sure if I’ll have any success with it, but I guess you never know if you don’t try. I would imagine it would be much easier to get bucks to visit a mock scrape in farm country where there are more deer. I used extra precaution by using rubber gloves and doing everything I could to make sure I didn’t leave any human scent behind. Something tells me I won’t have any pictures when I go back to it in a few weeks, but something else tells me I might just get a glimpse at the buck I’ve been trying to locate. For the amount of sign he had in the area last year it’s hard to believe that he hasn’t accidentally wandered past one of my cameras yet.

After I made the mock scrape I headed down the mountain toward some of my old stomping grounds. I forgot how steep it was until I had to get out of there before dark. At that point I realized I bit off more than I could chew. As I slowly meandered back and forth up the mountain I found a lot of really fresh moose sign. I took a few pictures of the scat I found as well as some striped maples that were stripped from the ground to about eight feet up the tree. The further I walked the more tree stripping I saw. It appears to me that the moose is a resident of the area. Since I don’t know much about moose I’m not sure if it will stay or wander away. I guess time will tell. I would love to see it while I am hunting at some point this fall.

The nights have finally started cooling down. I could actually see my breath tonight for the first time. When I turned the truck on to come home the thermometer read 44 degrees. I’m starting to feel it in the air more and more every day now. November is fast approaching…………….

Sunday 10/6, 2013

Tuesday, October 8th, 2013

Morning greeted me with a light rain. It was a nuisance with the capability of becoming a beast. I decided to try my luck and head out. Shortly after first light I had a doe and two fawns work their way past me. They munched on some apples as they went. To my surprise they didn’t stay long and they seemed much more cautious and alert than I figured they would be for this time of year. I couldn’t last long in the tree because the heavens let loose and began dumping buckets upon buckets of water on my head. After I felt it start dripping down my hat and run down my back I knew it was time to go home. If it was near the rut I gladly would have stuck it out. I don’t have the youthful exuberance that I once did.

In the evening I had an awesome experience. I saw what I thought was a coyote cruising through the brush in search of an easy meal. A few minutes later and it was under the apple tree about 50 yards in front of me. After getting a better look I realized that it was a gray fox. He sat right down and started eating apples. For some unknown reason it reminded me of my dog. I still feel the pain every day of losing my dog last January. He lived an awesome 18 years and added a tremendous amount of happiness to my life. There’s not a day that goes by that I don’t think about him. It’s the quiet times in the tree during this first week that I can see him, hear him and feel him just like he’s with me. He was my soulmate.

I won’t be hunting much this week. I have a lot of things going on and limited amount of time to get in the woods. Until next time……………..stay alert and shoot straight when an opportunity presents itself.

Saturday 10/5, 2013

Tuesday, October 8th, 2013

When I got home last night I parked the truck and left the lights on. I figured I could sight my bow back in with the lights on. This worked well and within a few minutes I was back on track. I was relieved to know I could sit in a tree in the morning. This morning I went out behind my dad’s house to try my luck at locating one of the many deer I have on camera. The morning was pretty uneventful. I didn’t see anything other than a few chickadees that were wildly chirping. It sounded as if they wanted to sing me a song and tell me to get out of the tree they wanted to rest in. I didn’t listen and I outlasted them.

This evening I hunted out behind my dad’s again. We’ve never killed a deer on our own property. I probably wouldn’t shoot one if I could because the deer in the area really never get a chance to mature. I wish people could allow the animals to mature. We could probably have a well balanced deer herd with quality animals if people didn’t have to break laws and turn it into a numbers game. It’s really discouraging to see what we could have if people could keep their fingers off the triggers two or three years. I saw a doe and a fawn tonight. It was good to see a deer.