Hunting Journal

Since we didn’t have a clue where we were going we decided to get up a little late an make our way into the woods in the daylight. Dad and I headed to a swamp that I had studied on an aerial photo over the summer. The swamp had a couple of pinch points in it and a river created a boundary between the public land and some private land with a lot of crop fields. There were ribbons and bright eye tacks plastered all through the woods. It was somewhat laughable since we come from big woods where we tie an occasional ribbon for a landmark or to help us walk around blowdowns without a trail. Dad saw a small 6-pointer while setting up his stand. I didn’t see anything while I was sitting. We wandered along the river after we got done sitting. I jumped a monster buck from his bed and saw a few does and fawns feeding. I found some huge scrapes around the place where I jumped the buck. On our way into the woods we saw a doe run across the trail in front of us. Within a seconds a shooter 8 crossed the road. He had a lot of junk growing out of the bases of his antlers. I stopped him with a quick blast on my grunt call. He started walking toward us, but decided he wanted to continue after the doe. In the evening we hunted a different swamp and river/bottom a few miles away. Dad saw a little 8-pointer right before dark. I didn’t see anything, but I was impressed with all of the sign. I still can’t believe all of the cars and trucks on the side of the road. Unlike Ohio none of them are non-residents. We are the only out of state vehicle I have seen, which I like. I’m hoping most of the people are just here for the weekend. Doug and Jeff haven’t seen much. They seem a little down and are referencing Ohio quite a bit. Hopefully things turn around throughout the week. I like the looks of this place.

The never-ending journey came to its conclusion around 3pm today. It took us forever to get to where we were going. Having never been here before we were surprised to see people camped all over the place. Since we decided to skip Ohio this year and try a new state it was definitely a surprise to see so many campers and tents as well as trucks parked on the side of the road. The only thing I can guess is that there are some good deer in the place, otherwise there wouldn’t be so many people. We ran into the woods quickly to find a spot to sit in the morning. We walked at a fast pace down a trail behind our tent. We saw some impressive runways and jumped a few deer, but overall it didn’t look all that impressive. It’s going to take a little getting used to. We found a lot of rubs.

I left for the Midwest today at 1pm. We left from my dad’s house and my friend Doug Vaughn was there to throw his gear in and join us for our annual hunting trip once again. We picked up my friend Jeff in Broadalbin and got on the road. We drove to north central Ohio and spent the night in Toledo. We made pretty good time. We didn’t see any deer alongside the road feeding or for that matter dead on the shoulder. I’m guessing that means the rut isn’t into full swing yet. I should know better in a few days.