Hunting Journal

When I headed out this morning, it was 10 degrees. I was well prepared for the cold and the wind. The steady wind probably made the wind chill temperature dip below zero, but I’ll never know because I didn’t see the weather report.

  Although it was cold, it wasn’t bone-chilling cold. In my adventures yesterday, I cut a big track and followed it for a ways. While following it, I had a hunch what the deer was doing and guessed he has been doing it regularly. It appeared he was cruising a shelf below a steep incline. When he got to the end of the shelf, he angled upward and into some heavy, thick saplings where he could bed and overlook the area below him. I’ve seen where a lot of bucks have done the same thing in this area in the past. I also noticed that a scrape that gets used every year hadn’t been freshened yet, and all of the other annual ones I visit had been visited.

  With that in mind, I decided I would head there this morning and see if I could intercept him if he decided to do the same thing again, which they sometimes do this time of year when they’re trying to find a hot doe. I also know he’s probably coming to that scrape sometime soon since it’s the only one that hasn’t been reopened.

  On my way in, I got off track on three separate occasions and wandered around aimlessly in the dark. Although I found my way back to familiar territory, it cut into my time for getting to where I wanted to be before daylight. 

  When I changed my clothes and nestled my back into the big yellow birch, the woods were gray. I could see well enough to shoot, and I was ready for the day to start. I rested my elbow on my knee to make sure I had a good rest if I needed it to fire my gun. The ground was frozen solid, so I was extremely glad that I packed two insulated seats to sit on.

 The first hour gave me a mixture of snow and wind. The snow came down in bursts for quite a while. I rolled my eyes and took it all in. It seems that the weather is always giving us its best shot up here.

  At 8:11, a doe made her way down the ridge past me. She didn’t stop to feed or anything. She must’ve had something on her mind or someplace to go. She was past me faster than I could blink. I was disappointed that a buck wasn’t following her.

  Shortly before 9, I opened my backpack and looked for some crackers. I didn’t eat any breakfast because my blood sugar was too high, so I was starving. Opening the crackly package, I questioned what I was doing because of the noise. 

  With the last of the six crackers in my mouth, I saw a buck coming, and I instantly determined it was a shooter. I pulled the gun to my shoulder and waited. When he stepped into and opening about 70 yards away, I pulled the trigger and listened to a deafening “click.” 

  Panic-stricken, I eased the safety into the third position and waited for him to get into another opening. When he walked into view in my crosshairs, I pulled the trigger again. 

  “BA-BOOM,” the gun sang.

  The deer turned hard left and bowled over all of the trees in front of it. Quickly ejecting the shell and racking another one in, I found him in my crosshairs as he was going straight away from me. Settling the crosshairs in the middle of his ass, I pulled the trigger again.

  All I heard was another loud, empty “click,” and the deer disappeared. Not knowing if I had hit him the first time, I sat for a few minutes and gathered my thoughts. Almost certain that I had made a killing shot, I got up and walked to the area where he had been standing when I fired the shot. 

  Looking around, I found his tracks in the snow and scanned the area in front of me. After a quick scan, I saw the buck lying lifeless in a small depression.

  I’ve killed a lot of deer in my life, and I’ve been fortunate enough to take a lot of “once in a lifetime” bucks for most people. However, when I slowly made my way to the deer, I felt a sense of accomplishment that I’m not sure has ever been rivaled in my hunting career. 

  I worked harder for this deer than many of the deer I’ve killed. I also watched my plan play out in front of me and come to a conclusion. It was like a added the last puzzle piece to complete the puzzle. 

  After getting to the deer, I enjoyed every moment of the experience. I spent over an hour trying to get a good picture. 

  When I went out in the morning, I packed my camera because I felt confident I was going to need it. Although I’m not sure I got any great pictures, I enjoyed the process. I felt like I was one with the deer. 

  After taking care of it and getting the pictures done, I set small goals to get out of the woods before dark. Since the deer was so big, I wanted to get it out whole so I could weigh it. 

  When I got halfway out, I was ahead of my goal by an hour and a half. Leaving the deer behind, I brought my gear a few hundred yards ahead to piggyback the process. 

  Suddenly, a rifle cracked right next to me. I was startled, scared and didn’t know what to do. Then, I saw Brian approaching the deer. In my head, I thought he had shot my buck and thought it was bedded. I didn’t expect to see him and was totally surprised. I was thankful when I did see him. 

  We finally hit the road at dark and called it a day. I have never been more thankful for a great friend than I was today. I’m glad I got a good buck. I just wish pictures could do the deer justice. It’s a bruiser. Although he was lacking many points, he was the bully on the block.

After getting things unpacked and reorganized after the long drive home, I headed north. Once again, I knew I had missed the best days to be in the woods in the Adirondacks according to the data I’ve collected over the last 40 years, especially the last 25 years when I started making it my goal to kill specific mature bucks in the big woods.

  When I started my truck, it was 30 degrees and a light dusting of snow covered the road. Although the forecast had called for heavy wind, the wind wasn’t too bad. 

  My body begged for mercy as I walked through the woods to get to where I wanted to start my day. My calves could feel every ounce of pressure on them while I climbed over logs, made my way through blow-downs, and meandered in and out of a wet bog. 

  When the day finally broke, there wasn’t a sign of any living creature and it stayed that way for the remainder of the day. I never saw a living creature during my time in the woods. 

  I did see where a few deer had made their way down a ridge and into a swamp, but I never spotted one. I also saw where a few different bucks opened scrapes within the last 24 hours, but none of them offered to give me a crack at filling my tag. 

  I covered a lot of ground today. I don’t usually feel exhausted, but I’m beyond tired tonight. I need to rest so I can be mentally ready for tomorrow. It’s supposed to be significantly colder than it has been, so I’m going to organize my backpack to make sure I have everything I need to sit for a long time. I’ll make the most out of the chilly day by finding a good place to sit and hopefully intercept a buck that is looking for love in the wrong place. I feel good about my chances because I found three different scrapes that had been opened in the last 24 hours. However, one that is almost always used wasn’t touched. I’m assuming that one will be opened within the next 24 hours since the others have already been cleaned out. I think it’s a pretty good guess, so I’m going to try to get to that one that hasn’t been cleaned out yet.

  Dad’s infusion went well today. Hopefully, he can avoid the majority of side effects. He says he feels good too. I’m hoping he’s able to get his strength back. 

Traditionally, this date has been good for us in the Midwest and in the Adirondacks. I’ve killed a lot of my good deer on November 14. With that in mind, Josh and Dad decided to give it one last try this morning. 

  Josh hunted an area we scouted a few years ago. Although we had never hunted it, we hung cameras there this year. We didn’t get anything big on them, but the woods look like a great place to hold big bucks. 

  It poured all night, so Josh didn’t want to get going too early. Brian and I cruised the roads after dropping him off shortly after daylight. However, within an hour, Josh was calling us to tell us he had punched his tag.  We turned around and went back to help him get the deer out of the woods. 

  The rest of the day Brian and I spent our time retrieving our 25 cameras and multiple stands. It was incredibly hard work, and we had to cover many miles to gather things up. Unfortunately, we didn’t get any pictures of Josh’s deer.

  Dad wanted to call it a season after his morning hunt, but I convinced him to go back to where I killed the deer yesterday. I told him I would carry all of his stuff in there and set the stand up, so that’s what I did. 

   Shortly after getting into the stand, he texted me to tell me he had passed up a 6-pointer. Before the night ended, he had seen three bucks and a few does but nothing he wanted to shoot. 

  As darkness came, he called me and told me he was getting down. I went back into the woods and pulled the stand and carried all of his gear and the stand back to the truck. 

I was disappointed that he didn’t fill his tag. I know he probably doesn’t care that much about it, but I feel as if I failed him. He never failed me when he always tried getting me a deer while I was growing up. He also always did everything he could for me up until this year, and this year would be no different if he had the ability to do it. I hope in some small way, he thinks I succeeded in trying to help him fill his tag. I gave it my best shot. I wanted it way more for him than I wanted it for myself. If anything, this experience has made me realize how incredibly easy it is to put the ones you love before yourself. Although we didn’t tag out on the same day like last year, we gave it our best shot.

Here’s a cool foundation I found one day while scouting a new area and a big rub Brian found in a new spot.

I brought Josh to the stand behind camp this morning. We got turned around on our way in and ended up in a place I couldn’t figure out how I got there.   I quickly rectified the problem and got him to the stand. 

  Checking the camera on the way out, I saw a big 8 on it that had a forked G-2 on the left side. He looked like a bruiser. 

  Brian brought Jeff to Doeville and got him set up. After doing that, we went for a ride to see where people were parked. We also tried to see if any deer were moving. We didn’t see many hunters out and about, but we did see a few bucks here and there but nothing big. 

  Around 9 a.m., we went to the landowner’s house who owned the land in the direction where the deer ran after Dad hit it last night. He allowed us to go onto the land to look for it. He was also suffering from kidney disease like Dad.

  After searching for the deer for a few hours, we never located it. It just stopped bleeding and left no sign. We called a deer tracker, but his dogs were not available for the day. He was booked solid.

  Josh ended up seeing a few does behind camp, and Jeff saw one doe where he hunted. This evening, Josh tried a new spot and saw a couple of bucks. We will see what happens tomorrow. It’s Dad’s last morning of hunting for this trip. We will begin the journey home on Sunday morning, hopefully allowing me enough time to get up north to hunt on Monday morning.      

Dad and I returned to where we sat yesterday afternoon. On my way in, there were deer running in every direction imaginable. Unfortunately, I also walked up on a few bedded ones. I quickly realized why this area holds a lot of deer: it’s almost impossible to hunt in the morning or the afternoon because they bed there at all times. 

  After climbing into the tree, I didn’t feel overly optimistic about my morning hunt. My feelings proved to be true, and Dad and I had an uneventful morning. I did see a small 8 chase a doe past me during the mid-morning. I spike made its way past me shortly after daybreak, and I saw a few button bucks without their mothers – three to be exact. I also spotted a small bobcat. It never had a clue that I was in the tree watching it. 

  Dad sat in the stand next to the road. He saw three does and no bucks in the morning. We both decided to get down around noon and move our stands. Dad moved about 20 yards down the hill, and I moved about 75 yards through the thicket and out into the open. Every deer I had seen up to that point traveled through the open area. When I got in the tree, I felt confident about getting a shot. I was now overlooking a well-used scrape where two pounded runways intersected. 

  After settling into the new spot, I saw a doe in the distance. She fed for quite a while before disappearing into some thick stuff. A short time later, I saw some movement to my left along the water and realized it was a nice buck. Since I haven’t seen much this trip and my hunting has been a little different than normal, I decided to take him. I drew the bow and waited for him to get done pissing on his hocks. I had to let down after being at full draw for a minute. He just wouldn’t give me a good shot. 

  Finally, I drew the bow again and settled the pin behind the shoulder. I slowly began my process and waited for the release to fire. Right as it fired, the deer took a step forward and the arrow struck it in the guts. It bolted to the right and ran past me, stopping about 20 yards from the stand. He searched for the source of his excitement and couldn’t find it. After calming down, he took a few steps forward. 

  Now, at the perfect angle every bow hunter wants, he began walking away from me. I squeezed off another shot, and the quartering away angle allowed me to send an arrow through his vitals. His dash lasted about 40 yards before he came up on his hind legs and tumbled backward. The NAP Hellrazor broadhead had done its job. 

  I quickly got on the radio and told Dad that I had shot a deer. He asked what I was going to do, and I told him I would sit and let him hunt. The deer were moving, and I wanted him to have every opportunity to punch his tag. 

  When I clicked the radio off, I glanced to my left and saw a larger deer than the one I had just killed coming at me. He made his way to within 10 yards of my tree and proceeded to walk all the way around the tree, never more than seven yards from the base of it. I took my video camera out and took some video while wishing I had waited a few more minutes before taking the other deer that I had just taken. 

  Eventually, the deer visited a nearby scrape and sauntered away onto some posted land. Although I was disappointed that I hadn’t waited to shoot that buck, I was still happy to have filled my tag after looking at all of the things that have transpired over the last nine months. It has taught me to never take a second, minute, day, week, month or year for granted. Everything can change within seconds, and the world we know can be swiped from our hands without notice.

  When the deer cleared out of my area, I heard a ruckus in the leaves behind me. Then, Dad came on the radio and said he had just knocked one over. He shot a nice buck, and when the bolt hit it, the deer went right down. It got to its feet and fell again within 30 yards, after which it stumbled onto the flat where I was sitting.  Here’s the bolt.

  I never saw the deer, but I could hear it. We looked for some blood and found it. The blood trail led to where my deer had fallen, but the deer never walked past me while I was waiting for Dad to get back to me on the radio. 

  Finally, we marked it and headed on our way. We decided to go back in the morning to look for it. 

  Brian shot a deer tonight in the place where I killed a big buck a few years ago. It’s a bedding area, and big bucks like to cruise it in the afternoon to look for does. 

  Dad walked through the area a few days ago and told me he wanted to set a stand in there. I told him to stay out of it to let things settled down in there. I figured the deer he shot at last week was probably hiding in there and just needed some time to return to his normal pattern. He was really disappointed when I told him not to go back in there, but he was excited when I told hi what I thought would happen if he gave it a rest.

  Although I told hi to give it a rest yesterday, Brian went and sat in the regular stand in the afternoon. I’m not sure why, as it’s one of the only places Dad can get too easily with his condition. 

  Well, today he went back into this area where I told Dad to stay out of and shot the deer on our very first sit in the place. I’m happy for Brian. He deserves a nice deer more than anyone for all of the work he has put in. However, I’m saddened for my dad. His luck just doesn’t seem to be working out this year with anything, including hunting. I wish he could get around better so he could have a better and more enjoyable hunt. 

  Maybe we will find the buck in the morning, but I’m not feeling overly optimistic about it. 

The weather finally broke this morning, and it was 56 degrees on our way to hunt. I had to laugh a little because it’s still warm, but it feels like Jack Frost dropped in for a visit. 

  Brian and I went back to hunt along the creek where we had an abundance of pictures of different bucks, including Frank the Tank. We figured we would give it another shot. The north wind wasn’t the best for the area in our opinion, but we took the shot anyway. 

  As we made our way to the places we wanted to sit, the woods lighted up with eyeballs in every direction. There were deer bedded all over the place. None of the deer spooked, and they let us walk past them.

  After climbing into the stand, I liked how things looked. The wind blew pretty well for most of the morning, and it blew out of the north. 

  Within the first hour of daylight, a 7-pointer chased a doe and fawn past me. I could’ve easily shot him. After they left, I saw a good one in the brush. He turned and headed back toward where he came from. I was disappointed because he was definitely a shooter. 

  The rest of the morning passed quickly. When the clock climbed toward 11, I realized I had seen six bucks and a couple of does. I saw a few good ones, but nothing that really stood out. Brian was only 150 yards from me and never saw a deer. Dad saw a few does in the spot where he wounded the buck, and Josh and Jeff didn’t see anything. 

  This afternoon, I went back into the area I hunted this morning. On the way in, I jumped a giant out of its bed. He got up and never ran. Instead, he sauntered down a runway as if to let me know he ruled the area and had no fears. I was stunned at his actions – and size. 

  Around 4 p.m., the woods blew up with deer. I ended up seeing two more shooters and five other bucks, all 8-pointers. Three bucks freshened different scrapes. It was quite a scene to see and something that many people could probably never imagine. I watched a shooter walk past a borderline shooter that was making a scrape. The buck continued to another scrape and thrashed it while the smaller buck pissed on his hocks in the scrape he was working. Neither buck paid attention to the other. I’ve seen many sights in my life and this one is surely one that I won’t forget anytime soon.  I brought Dad with me tonight and he saw a spike and two does. I think I found a great spot for him. He’s 103 yards from the road, and I firmly believe he can kill a big buck there.  The hill fades so he can see cars, but the cars can’t see him. It’s a perfect place for deer, and there are two great runways in front of him. I carried his stand in there. I ‘m hoping he gets a look at one of the good ones tomorrow. I’m just down the hill from where he is sitting. 

  I think someone will get a crack at one tomorrow. I hope it’s Brian because he is getting extremely testy. I’m not sure what’s going on, but he is pretty miserable right now. He tends to hold things inside, and I’m not sure what is going on. Maybe he will talk about it in a day or two. Hopefully, he gets a crack at one. I can’t handle the moodiness.

Here’s something I saw in the woods today that made me chuckle. The second picture is one of the small bucks I watched during the morning sit.

  The heat is holding on and doesn’t want to let up. It stayed in the high 70s all day. We all hunted the Wheelchair Stand today, but Dad took the morning off. Josh and Jeff ran into a guy from Florida who had a major attitude. We found out he’s the guy who mowed down half of the woods. He seems to have forgotten that it’s a healthy fine for every tree you saw down on National Forest Land. It amazes me how much of an attitude some people have, especially when they lay claim to public land that is open to all of us. Some people just don’t get it. 

  I didn’t see a deer today. I hunted there in the morning and across the road from camp in the evening. Brian saw the same deer this morning that he saw last night. Then, he saw another nice 8-pointer a short time later. Josh and Jeff didn’t see anything. 

  Dad and Brian went to the area where we set the stand up for Dad the other day. Brian said we have one good deer on camera. It doesn’t surprise me that much. 

  Originally, tomorrow was supposed to cool down, but now it’s saying the temperature is going to continue to be in the 70s. It’s not too much fun this year. I guess the heat and everything else going on takes a lot out of the enjoyment of the trip. However, I still feel very fortunate that I’ve been able to spend time with my father.

The heat has been tough to deal with and today wasn’t any different. It was 67 degrees when I headed into the woods this morning, and it topped out at 79 degrees. I went to the stand that we call the Shit Stand. We gave it that name because Dad had to go to the bathroom one day when he was sitting there, and he couldn’t hold it. He scurried down the tree and went to the bathroom right there. 

  We walked in a circle through some plantation pines on our way in and ended up exactly where we had started. Brian and I couldn’t believe what we did. 

  Although it added to the duration of our trip, we still made it into the stands well before daylight. About 20 minutes after it got light, I saw a nice 5-pointer make its way past me. It headed down the hill and into a briar patch. Around 9:30 a.m., I had a doe and fawn come in from behind me. They fed for a bit before heading into the thick stuff. I’m pretty sure there was a buck in the brush. 

  Brian sat on the hill above me in the stand where he killed the buck last year. He saw a small 8-pointer early. Then, he saw a shooter buck around 9:00. It was an 8-pointer with tall tines. 

  I spent the afternoon with Jeff scouting some new areas after we went into the area where I killed the buck last year. There was no sign at all in the area where I killed the buck last year and minimal sign in the spot we checked out. 

  Brian and Josh went into the Wheelchair Stand today. They saw a guy from Tennessee who had an attitude. Brian had two small bucks, a 6 and an 8, chasing a doe in front of his stand at dark.We are all going back in there tomorrow. 

On the way back to camp this morning, Brian grabbed a tree to balance himself on a steep hill. When he shrieked, I laughed. I didn’t know why he shrieked, but I quickly freaked out when I saw the reason. A very large snake was in the tree he had grabbed. If you take a look at the picture you can see where it is well-camouflaged in the branches. It was probably 5-feet long.

We also came across a turtle. When Brian’s foot barely missed the turtle, I saw it’s head quickly dart into its shell. It was cool to experience.

Brian and I decided to go to a new place today where Brian had put some cameras. I wanted him to put them there, so we could figure out if anything worthwhile inhabited the area.

  Going to a new place in the dark can be a challenge when you’ve never stepped foot in that piece of woods. I did the best I could when we separated and Brian pointed me in a direction. I climbed a tree and liked what I saw when it got light. 

  In the end, I saw three does and two fawns, and Brian saw a nice 8-pointer. Our cameras revealed that we were in a good spot, and we named one of the deer Frank the Tank. It’s just a corny name. He’s not that big, but he’s wide, and we will shoot him if we see him. 

  The rest of the day was uneventful. We didn’t see much. It was 80 degrees today.  We are pretty sure that it’s a good area to hunt because we found Busch beer cans in the woods. This type of thing always disappoints me and makes me wonder why people do what they do. I guess everyone fights battles that we don’t know about, but drinking alcohol while hunting doesn’t mix in my book.

Being the first day of the weekend, I figured the woods would be crawling with people. Well, I guess the high heat prevented that from happening. While there were people out and about, I didn’t see an abundance of vehicles along the road. 

  Josh and I hunted the Wheelchair Stand today. When we made our way there from camp, the thermometer said it was 48 degrees. 

  I aimlessly wandered through the darkness trying to find the tree I normally sit in. I got a little mixed up and decided to set up where I stood shortly before daylight. After getting up in the tree and watching the sun come up, I looked down to see a giant rub. I also saw where deer had been feeding on acorns. Although I wasn’t in the spot I wanted to be in, I felt confident with my current setup. 

  Around 8:00 a.m. I had a 3-pointer make his way across the ridge behind me. When he got a ways past me, he picked up my wind and galloped away in the direction from which he came. 

  When the sun came up, it didn’t take long to get incredibly hot. I wanted to check a few things out, so I made my way down the drainage to a place where we had seen some bucks in the past. It didn’t take me long to see something that got under my skin a little bit. Although it’s public land, I haven’t seen anyone set up in the place I set up in over the last three years. Well, about 25 yards from my normal tree was a climber attached to a tree, and the person did some serious logging. A lot of trees had been cut, and some of the trees were large. I’m not sure why, but I’m always disappointed when I see where people chop trees down in the woods for no reason other than to get clear shooting lanes. When I see cedar trees cut, it gets me too. I’m not sure why cedars have such a close place to my heart, but they do. It might be because big bucks love rubbing cedar trees. 

  When I saw where the stand was located, all I could do was shake my head. It was almost on top of a major runway and directly between two well-used runways. If a deer came up or down the runways, the person would basically have to shoot at it head-on. I’m not sure why he or she didn’t pick one side or the other to allow a broadside shot. There were a few trees dropping nuts in there too and the person could have more easily focused on those trees. I guess, I’m not an expert, so who am I to say I think the tree stand wasn’t in the most ideal place. 

  I was just disappointed that someone claimed the spot for himself, and I feel uncomfortable sitting in the area. It’s public land .I really shouldn’t feel awkward about it, but I do. I’m not sure why. I have just as much right to being there as the next guy. 

  After seeing that, the wind came out of my sails. I have limited time to hunt this year due to Dad’s illness, and that has been one of my favorite places to sit since I’ve started hunting out here. 

  As I trudged through the woods looking for sign, I found quite a bit of it in different areas. Eventually, I got to a place where Brian likes to sit and saw a giant buck in its bed. It didn’t take him long to get out of the area. I heard him get out of his bed from about 100 yards away. 

  I was the only person who saw anything this morning. Brian and I checked out a place today by a body of water. On the map, it looked like it would be awesome. It would have been awesome if there weren’t a gazillion horse trails all through it. It just didn’t allow much free space for anything other than horseback riding. We did find some buck sign, including a giant signpost tree. It was one of the largest signpost trees I’ve ever seen. I guess it’s a place I will have to store in my memory as a place to go to sit one day just to see what goes on.

  Brian and I set a stand up for Dad this afternoon. Although there was sign all over, it seems as if the woods were too wide open. There was a giant scrape there and the nuts were dropping consistently. He had some mushroom hunters kick four deer past him two different times. There were two other guys hunting in there too. It topped off at 78 degrees today, but it felt even hotter than that.