Archive for December, 2013

Monday December 2, 2013

Monday, December 30th, 2013

I hunted the mountain close to home. I really wanted to be up north today, but after the weekend I headed home. I’ll have the last four days up there to see if I can catch up to a nice buck. I covered a lot of ground today on the fresh snow. Although I saw tracks all over the place I never saw a deer the entire day. I did check one last camera I have on the mountain because I haven’t been to it in about a month. I was excited to see three bucks on it all in the same night. It appeared that there was a hot doe in the area shortly before they showed up. I also got some other pictures on the camera, too, so it was a pretty good day in the woods. I’ve been enjoying all time time I’ve spent in the mountains. There’s nothing like hunting in the big woods. I’ve been all over the country hunting and I’ve seen some giant bucks. I’m pretty sure nothing can compare to seeing a big buck in the Adirondacks.

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Sunday December 1, 2013

Monday, December 30th, 2013

December has always been a good month for us even though we only get to hunt a few days of the month. Today was no different. I saw eight deer before I got out of my stand to check a camera. One was a small buck that I passed. I have a few pictures of him. Unfortunately he got killed later that day by a guy who was hunting in the same area. It’s tough to see a buck in the Adirondacks let alone kill one, so I’m happy for anyone who gets a buck. It’s just one I chose not to shoot.  Josh killed a small buck today, too. He got him about a half hour before dark in a place I told him to check out. It was his first Adirondack buck. I wish we got some pictures of him, but we’ll have to settle for memories.

When I got out of my stand to check a camera I thought I heard a gunshot, but couldn’t be sure. A few minutes later my dad came on the radio and told me he killed a nice buck. I looked at my watch and it read 1:40. I knew we were in for a long night. We were a long way from the road and with his  heart condition and my diabetes we would have to do the best we could to get the deer out of there. Since there was snow on the ground we decided to drag it until dark. Once it got dark we would walk to the road.

When we got to the road Brian and Josh were waiting for us. I’ve never been so happy to see two  people. Since they’re both considerably younger than me I didn’t argue with them when they said they would drag it the rest of the way out of the woods. For the most part we had already dragged it through the roughest terrain and the remainder of the journey would be mostly downhill.

We didn’t get home until 11:30pm. Since I have tomorrow off 4:30 is going to come early. I’ll be tired by the time tomorrow ends. I’ll hunt the mountain close to home. I have a deer that is teasing me up there and I’d like to win the game.

IMG_1257IMG_1260The buck I passed that got shot.

Saturday November 30, 2013

Monday, December 30th, 2013

We headed north to hunt at our family camp with Brian and Josh. Next weekend we’ll have a full house when the annual end of the season hunt takes place. I got into my stand before daylight this morning. I checked the camera I have right in front of my stand before settling in for the morning. With the snow on the ground it was easy to see all of the tracks. As I filtered through a month of pictures I got to one that made my jaw drop open. I finally got a picture of an eye-popper. As soon as I saw it I knew I wouldn’t settle for anything less than this buck. Instantly it became my goal to kill him whether it’s this year, next year or the year after. It made me consider future plans for scheduling my hunting vacation.

Once I got in my stand the deer traffic started and continued all day. I saw a lot of deer, 27 total, although I’m sure some of them were repeats. I passed three small bucks and saw one really good one on a ridge that was well behind shooting range. All I saw was his silhouette, but there was no doubt in determining the body size of the deer. It was easily one of the largest bodied deer I’ve ever seen in the Adirondacks. Unfortunately I only saw him for about 10 seconds. I couldn’t have gotten a shot anyway, but I would have liked to get a better look at him. This was the most unforgettable day I’ve ever had while hunting in the Adirondacks as far as deer sightings go. I don’t think I saw 27 deer in a day while I was in the Midwest.

Dad saw 8 deer this morning. He saw six from his stand and a few more when he was still-hunting. Tomorrow will be a good day. I think we might connect with one if everything pans out.

 

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Thursday November 28, 2013: Thanksgiving

Monday, December 30th, 2013

This has always been one of my favorite days to hunt and we’ve had some great luck on this day over the years. It has been a long time since we’ve killed one on Thanksgiving, but that’s because we started passing a lot of deer. It was brutally cold and windy this morning. I sat on the ridge where I killed my first buck. It was neat to dash back in time for the few hours I sat there. Right from the start I felt like I wasn’t going to see anything. I pulled the cards from my camera on top of the hill above me. I left the camera on an active scrape. A few bucks had visited the scrape a while back, but none recently. Some does had wandered past the camera over the last few days, but no bucks followed them. On the way out we saw a doe cross the ridge above us. We were near The Rock when we spotted her. I was surprised there wasn’t a buck behind her.

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Tuesday November 26, 2013

Monday, December 30th, 2013

I hate losing time on the road, but I guess that’s part of hunting away from home. I got home about 3 a.m. We drove straight through. We thought about stopping, but with the bad weather forecasted we decided to keep rolling and it turned out okay. I slept for a few hours and headed into the woods a little north of here. My main concern was to check the trail cameras I left in the woods. I was slightly disappointed to see I didn’t have as many pictures as I anticipated. I did get a few small bucks on film, but nothing of any size. It appeared that one of my cameras had been turned off, but I can’t be totally sure of it. I do know it was working when I left and it took pictures for approximately five days after I was gone. It makes me wonder what happened to the camera since the batteries were still at 75%. When I pulled the card out of another camera within 50 yards of that one I saw a person on the film when I glanced through the pictures. The hunter didn’t know his picture had been taken either. I pulled both cameras. I cut a few fresh tracks in the snow, but didn’t see any deer. Back to work tomorrow for a day before going out on the annual Thanksgiving Day hunt.

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Sunday November 24

Wednesday, December 18th, 2013

Well, it has come to an end. Last night when we returned to the tent from the butcher’s place I had a bad feeling when we saw a big 8 laying next to the road while his doe fed in the field in front of him. There were deer all over, but we didn’t see any bucks with exception of him. I chose to go to the big timber for my final sit since it was so active yesterday. It was 15 degrees this morning with a south wind at about 10mph. I was relieved to see a relatively calm morning. I learned a valuable lesson. I can’t sit in my favorite tree with a south wind. I will have to climb a different tree if I choose to hunt there again with that wind. I already picked one out, so at least I’m prepared in case I ever come back here hunting. You never know what might happen in the future, so I feel fortunate to have hunted here the last 5 years. I’m hoping for more time in the woods here in the future. I did see 5-6 deer shortly after daylight. They were all running with their tails up. I don’t know why. I saw a doe a short time later with a nice young 8-pointer behind her. He winded me too, but it didn’t bother him too much. As I took video he walked in front of my trail camera. I got some awesome photos on that camera. When I hit the ground at 11:30 I looked down the ridge and saw some more deer with a buck in the back, but once again they winded me. Dad didn’t go out this morning. He’s too busy packing stuff up for our trip home. This evening I decided to end my hunt by sitting in a food plot just like I did last year. I figured the deer would be all over the turnips since it was so cold. I saw 10 does and some fawns. As they trotted out of the plot and into the timber I climbed down from the stand and called it a season. I saw some phenomenal bucks on this trip. It looks like things are going well for this piece of property for the future. Time will tell. I’d be interested to see what happens during gun season in the area…………..until next year…………..what an incredibly awesome trip. Now I can’t wait to get back to the Adirondacks where my skills are much more suited for that type of hunting. I don’t recall ever looking so forward to getting back as I do this year.

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Saturday November 23, 2013

Wednesday, December 18th, 2013

We’re just about done. After being on the road for a few weeks I’m ready to return to the Adirondacks. There’s something about being in the mountains that makes me want to be there no matter where I am, even if the hunting is good and the bucks are big and plentiful. It’s the challenge of taking a mountain buck that draws me in and makes me return every year. It’s where I know what I”m doing and feel like there’s a lot less luck involved when I track one down that I have my eye on and am lucky enough to put him on the ground.

I saw 11 does this morning and seven bucks. I saw a small 10, a couple nice 8s and an 8 with a forked right G-2. I thought about it, but only for a second. I saw the last buck at noon and he was hot on the trail of a doe. At that point I was too cold to sit any longer, so I had to get down. The temperature never got over 20 degrees and the wind made it feel much colder. Tonight I saw on the rock fence crossing again. I saw 13 does, but not one buck. I still can’t figure that out. At this point I need a miracle.

Friday November 22, 2013

Wednesday, December 18th, 2013

It was downright miserable today. The morning was extremely windy (what’s new) and absolutely frigid with temperatures in the single digits not figuring in the wind chill. Although my face felt raw I stayed relatively warm. I started in one place, but didn’t feel good about my choice so I moved to another place. I guess neither place was the right place. Overall the entire day was slow. I saw seven does and was skunked on buck sightings. We’ll see what tomorrow brings.

Thursday November 21, 2013

Wednesday, December 18th, 2013

The weather forecast was way off this morning. We woke up to some pretty nasty winds and freezing rain. It was plain ol’ miserable outside. I felt very comfortable in the tent, but I also know I’ve killed some really good bucks in the crappy weather over the years. Last night I showed dad some of the video I was able to take of the bucks I saw. It got him pretty pumped up, so he decided to sit out by me in hopes of seeing one of these good bucks.

At daylight he saw a nice buck cruising the field. Deer walked by him the entire time he was getting settled into his stand. At 8:30 he got a glance at a buck headed toward him. He could tell it was wide and had some good tines on one side. With all the images from my video in his mind he got pretty excited, settled the pin behind the shoulder when the buck stopped, and let him have it. The buck bounded away and stood there looking around. After a couple seconds he started teetering and suddenly fell over. Dad’s first Kansas buck was on the ground.

When I went over to help him with the tree I could see the utter dismay in his face and through his actions. He was angry with himself and very disappointed. He let the excitement get the best of him and lost his head. The buck was nowhere near what he thought it was. He had passed a handful of deer already that were larger than this buck. On top of that it had broken tines. It just wasn’t a good situation. He felt like he let everyone down and I felt his pain. I knew he was a little embarrassed because of how big he thought the deer was. In the end we got some incredible tasting venison out of the buck, so I was pretty excited about that because there’s nothing better than a few tasty steaks, burgers and snack sticks to much on throughout the year.

This evening I hunted in the plot where I killed my buck last year. The weather never let up. The freezing rain continued. After getting in the stand I realized I had a problem. The stand had turned to ice, which made moving treacherous. As I tried figuring out a way to get to the ground without getting injured I spotted a shooter buck chasing a doe across the pasture. There were also a doe and two fawns hanging around as well as two other bucks. When I tried to draw my bow the cams and cable guard were frozen solid. I could’t draw the bow at all. After the deer disappeared I tugged on it as hard as I could and the ice started crackling and popping as the cams set free. I’m pretty sure this could only happen to me. Hopefully I have a little better luck in the next few days.

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Wednesday November 20, 2013

Wednesday, December 18th, 2013

Time is winding down quickly now. I feel like I’m close, but the right opportunity hasn’t presented itself yet. We got a severe T-Storm last night and it lasted into the morning. It didn’t clear out until about an hour after daylight. It was downright scary walking across the field with a metal bow in my hand and lightning flashing all around me. It was pretty slow for the first two hours in the stand. I sat in the north bowl and was lucky enough to see a giant. I’m pretty sure it was the 13-pointer that had shown up on trail camera all summer. He followed a doe into the woods on the hill above me, but he never turned and came down the hill. I was disappointed. I saw another small buck around 9:30. When I couldn’t sit any longer I got out of the stand and checked out a little cedar tree my dad sat in a few years back that was a little ways from where I sat. The sign in front of it and around it was impressive. I decided I needed to sit there.

I returned there in the evening  and set on a rock fence crossing. The sign was too much to resist. A half hour after setting up my stand I saw a broken tined 10-pointer make his way across the cornfield. I grunted at him and he looked behind him. That’s when I saw a giant 10-pointer appear. Unfortunately I couldn’t coax the buck in, but it was definitely enough to get me excited. A half hour later I saw another shooter 10. Although he wasn’t as big as the big daddy he was still a shooter and looked to be about as big as the buck I shot last year. In disbelief I sat back and realized how fortunate I was to be able to hunt this piece of property.

As darkness approached I heard a stick snap. I scanned the woods and saw a big buck making his way toward me. I knew it was a shooter.It was an amazing sight. A few seconds later the wind swirled and he caught my wind. It didn’t take long for him to disappear as quickly as he appeared. As I climbed down from the tree I could hear another buck chasing a doe, but couldn’t see him.  Dad saw one nice 8-pointer today, a small buck and a doe. We’re running out of time.