Archive for April, 2016

Monday, November 9, 2015

Wednesday, April 27th, 2016

The time is winding down quickly. It doesn’t look like we’ll punch a tag this year in this location. The amount of hunting pressure can’t even be explained to someone. I never imagined to see this many people, especially no matter how far into the woods I walked. I haven’t been able to get away from hunters. It’s getting very discouraging.

I saw a buck chase a doe past me around 8 a.m., and I saw another 8-pointer cruising around 11:30 a.m. I feel really good about the spot. It’s the same place I saw the big buck last night. Something tells me we should share this stand through the rest of the week. It gives me good vibes.

This afternoon Brian and I went north to the place where we found the really big buck sign last week. We waited to come back for the perfect day. We walked for more than two miles to get to the place we wanted to hang stands. We marked the trees the other day, so we wouldn’t have to waste any time when we were ready to go back there.

Unfortunately, we found two stands that weren’t there a few days ago. I just can’t believe the number of hunters in this area. It’s surprising that we’re actually seeing deer with all of the pressure.

At this point, I’m unsure about what to do in the morning. I’ll have to decide when I wake up. Something tells me to go back to where we were tonight, but something else tells me to sit in the stand that I sat in this morning. I’m confused. The choice would be easy if I didn’t see the two new stands this evening. Since nobody was in either one of them, I’m pretty sure someone will be in one of them in the morning.

Dad saw a shooter this evening out of the stand I sat in this morning. One of us should sit there tomorrow. Doug and Jeff saw some deer today. Doug kicked one up and a guy shot it. Doug was going to a place I showed him on the map. Since he didn’t want to blast through the woods in the dark without knowing where he was going, he waited for it to get light, so he could more easily find the spot. Upon doing so, he kicked up a deer. A few minutes later, he could see a guy dressing it out. The hunter hit the buck right in the spine, killing it on the spot. It was a main-frame 10-pointer scoring in the 160s. At least Doug saw a good buck, even though it was dead.

Maybe one of us will get lucky in the morning. Deer seem to be moving a little better than they were a few days ago.

Here’s a picture of the buck I saw this morning, which was chasing a doe.

 

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Sunday, November 8, 2015

Wednesday, April 27th, 2016

We went back to where we hunted the first day. I sat in a tree that Brian picked since I had never been in this area before. Going up the tree in the dark, I had no idea what to expect when daylight arrived.

I was in a pretty good spot. A bunch of runways ran off ridges into the bottom where I was sitting. The way the ridges ran the bucks would have to go by me if they were cruising or chasing. Looking around, I felt good about my chances. It was a good morning to sit, too.

The hours passed too quickly and before I knew it, I was out of the stand and looking for a better place. After wandering around some thick stuff and going up and down a stream bed, I found an ideal place to set up. It looked really good. I hung a stand between a thicket and the bottom. It was in a perfect transition zone. It would funnel almost any deer in the area under the stand. A fence line and a few blowdowns create a perfect funnel.

When I was hanging the stand, I saw a doe in a big scrape that I had just hung a camera on. About 4 p.m. deer started filtering out of the thick cover. I saw a button buck and a really good buck. I’m pretty sure this was the same buck that Brian saw a few days ago. He got the buck on trail camera, too. Before I headed out of the woods, I ended up seeing three bucks, including the big one, and a few does. Here’s the buck I saw.

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Saturday, November 7, 2015

Wednesday, April 27th, 2016

It was 36 degrees this morning when we parked the truck. We went north again. It was a fantastic morning to sit. Unfortunately, Brian and I both had other hunters within seeing distance from us. I saw four or five bucks because there was a lot of chasing going on. The guy sitting next to me launched his entire quiver of arrows at the deer. After getting mad, he climbed out of his stand and tramped through the woods while retrieving his arrows. He didn’t appear to be too happy.

Brian saw a pretty good 8-pointer that tempted him, but he didn’t let an arrow loose. Dad hunted quite a ways south of us. He saw a dandy, but couldn’t get a shot at it. Just as it cleared the hill and went onto private property dad heard a deafening gun blast. It had only been light for about a half hour, so it was a little disheartening. When the gun roared another buck ran off the hill and passed by dad’s stand. It was a nice one, but it wasn’t the one he saw a few seconds earlier. He’s pretty sure someone’s gun season started a little early.

The heat came back as temperatures rose quickly in the afternoon. Brian and I unloaded the canoe and went across the river tonight. The current was stronger than we anticipated, but we made it to the other side without incident. A few minutes after stashing the boat in the bushes, we were almost run over by a really big buck. Something spooked it, and it ran directly at us until it spotted us at the last second.

After we covered a lot of ground, we decided to sit for the last few minutes of the evening. The place looked really good, but it was littered with stands. I can’t believe the amount of hunting pressure everywhere we’ve been. I’m not sure if we will get a good opportunity with people sitting all around us no matter where we choose to go. We’ll see what tomorrow brings. Maybe tomorrow will be the day.

Friday, November 6, 2016

Tuesday, April 26th, 2016

The heat finally broke. It was 35 degrees when we turned the truck off on the way into the woods this mornings. Unfortunately, my day didn’t go as planned. When I climbed into the stand an hour before daylight, I got settled in and felt good about it until I saw two headlamps coming toward me from the private land on the other side of the creek. I flashed my light at them a couple of times before one of them cut off to the left, but the other one continued right toward me.

Amazingly, he latched his stand on a tree about 20 yards from me and climbed in. Since it’s public land, I sat there and swore under my breath. If someone flashed a light at me, I’m pretty sure I wouldn’t set up in a tree right next to him.

Fifteen minutes before daylight the hunter started smashing antlers together, grunting and bleating. From daylight until 11 o’clock there was never a five-minute period when an exorbitant amount of noise was being made. As the minutes faded into hours, I began getting extremely frustrated. Finally, I coughed really loud. The hunter stopped for a few seconds but started right back at it a few minutes later. That put me over the top and I yelled, “Will you shut the hell up!”

With that, the hunter climbed out of the tree and sulked along the creek toward the place he came from earlier in the morning. Relieved, I leaned against the tree and took a deep breath.

About 25 minutes later, I began seeing deer. When it was all done, I saw eight bucks but none of them were shooters. I counted 12 different deer that I saw that the hunter scared away when he was making all the noise throughout the morning. He couldn’t see any of them from where he was located.  Here’s one of the bucks I saw. I’m  not feeling all that confident, but I know the worst season can become the best in the blink of an eye.

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Thursday, November 5, 2016

Tuesday, April 26th, 2016

The heat won’t let go. We sat for a while this morning before looking at some areas we might have overlooked the last few days. I found dad a fantastic spot. I think we will kill a big buck in this place. It feels good to give back. He has set me up in places for this entire life. Now, that he doesn’t get around quite as good as he used to, I do everything I can to find him good places. I’d love to see him kill a giant buck out of the tree I picked for him. That would be fitting for everything he’s done for me over the years.

We spent some time trying to figure out what the deer would do in the bowl where he was going to set up. When we felt confident about the set-up, I left dad there and climbed back into the tree I sat in this morning.

Although we saw some deer, it didn’t appear that much was moving today. The movement seemed less than the last few days. According to the weather reports, the heat is supposed to break tomorrow. It will be interesting to see if the deer movement picks up.

Doug and Jeff are on there way out here. They left after work today. Hopefully, they will roll in sometime tomorrow, so they can get in the woods before dark. It’s tough when you’re going someplace you’ve never been and have no idea where to go. If they get an hour our two tonight, they will be able to find a tree for Saturday morning.

We’ve seen a lot of people everywhere we’ve hunted. I’m pretty sure it’s almost impossible to get away from people in this area. It answers a lot of my questions as to why there are hardly any non-resident plates here. The residents claim this public land as their own. There are a number of stands in every good place. I don’t understand how you can leave a stand on public land for the season. Doesn’t that defeat the purpose of public land? Public land is for everyone to use, but these people think they own the spots because the put their stands in the places.

We’ll see what tomorrow brings. I’m not sure why, but I feel pretty good about it.

Wednesday 11/4/2015

Tuesday, April 26th, 2016

It’s still unbelievably hot. It was in the mid 70s the entire day. Brian and I headed north for the morning. It looked good, but we ran into a few people. The wind wasn’t blowing in a very good direction for me. When I tried climbing into the tree, I didn’t realize it was going to be too large to climb until I took a few hitches. As I battled with the stand, I saw some deer in the distance. Unfortunately, all of the commotion I was making scared them away. A pretty good buck began blowing at me as he angled up the hill and out of sight. He wasn’t a shooter, but he was nice to see. The rest of the morning dragged.

When the sun climbed into the sky, the bugs came out and sweat started trickling down my back. After meeting Brian, we discussed our plans. With it being so hot out, we decided to scout another new area. Brian saw two nice 8-pointers this morning, but passed both of them. He thinks one might have been a really good six without any brow tines.

The new area we scouted was rugged country. We scaled some tremendous cliffs to get to the top of a ridge that overlooked a stream. It took a while before we found any substantial sign. When we found it, we saw a small buck that fooled both of us. Upon seeing it, we thought it was much larger than it turned out being. Brian snort/wheezed it right to us. At 10 yards, it was a phenomenal sight to see the hair stand up on the buck’s back when he took a fighting posture. As the buck’s curiosity kept it in front of us, two smaller bucks came in behind him.

When we finished scouting, we didn’t have much time to waste. I saw a nice little 6-pointer this evening. I’m not sure what we will do tomorrow. The heat won’t let go. At this point, I wouldn’t mind if it dropped into the 60s. The 70 degree temperatures are making it hard to get motivated. I know anything can happen at any moment, so I’ll keep plowing forward and putting my time in. We’re bound to get lucky one of these days.  The picture below is the buck that Brian passed this morning.

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