Hunting Journal

I didn’t go out yesterday. I couldn’t force myself to give in to the heat. The 82 degree reading on the thermometer told me all I needed to know: I would be staying home.

I forgot to mention that Brian and I covered a lot of miles on Saturday afternoon to check some cameras Brian put out back in the summer. The trip wasn’t what we expected. Someone found one of the cameras and deleted all of the pictures of the card. Then, to top it off, he walked away from the camera so we could only see his back. It’s hard to say why he deleted all of the pictures, but I would be willing to guess. The picture of him was taken on 9/26 at 10:30 a.m. I’m guessing he was bowhunting the day before the season opened, and he probably walked in front of the camera with his bow. So he chose to delete all of the pictures that appeared before he showed up on it. Then, he left the few with him walking away from the camera because he thought he could get past it before it started taking pictures again, or he was pretending he was just walking through the woods.

How may times do I have to say it… why do people feel the need to mess with other people’s stuff. I just don’t get it. People can’t help themselves. Whenever I see other cameras, I wave at them to let the person know he/she got me on camera, or I walk around them so my presence is unknown. I’ve never felt the urge to open someone’s camera. I’ve also never felt the urge to help myself to it. I hope the guy who messed with the camera doesn’t see Brian in the woods. I’m thinking it won’t be a good thing. I’ll tell people again because they just don’t seem to understand it. You can’t delete videos from the cards when you take them out. You can delete all of the photos, but the videos stay behind the scenes. I have some good videos of people. The videos can tell you a lot of things about people, especially the ones with sound.

So tonight I made my way around the back of a mountain I grew up on. I make the journey every year. It’s a place that has my heart and always will. I killed my first deer there, and I’ve spent many hours among the trees on that mountain. I learned about life, love and loss on that hill. I also learned how to become and adult, and I learned that my father and I were on our way to becoming best friends when I entered adulthood.

Gazing into the darkening sky, I saw myself following Dad down the same hill where I currently sat. I had on my little orange coat and my winter hat. My pack boots from Joy store were hunter brown with bright yellow laces. I would wear them for many years. Then, I saw the two does make their way up the hill as I whispered, “Dad, Dad, can I shoot one.”

“Yeah bud, you can shoot one.”

I leveled that single pump BB gun on the front shoulder of the lead doe and squeezed the trigger. The deer were basically unfazed as they made their way out of sight. And that was the beginning of my deer hunting journey that has brought be halfway across the country and back. I always come back to this place, though. It’s in my heart. It is my soul. This mountain is who I am.

We headed back into the same piece of woods that we hunted yesterday. There’s just too much sign in there to ignore it. I forgot to mention it yesterday, but I must add that the area where I found the big scrape is loaded with white oaks, and they were raining acorns. It’s only a matter of time before the deer make themselves known. They can’t resist white oaks for very long, and I could see where they had already rummaged through the leaves in search of the delicacy.

During my sit, I spotted a fisher in a small creek. It played for a short time before racing up the hill and out of sight. The rest of the morning passed without much activity. Kentucky didn’t see anything either.

When we got out of the stands to come home around 11, the temperature had already climbed to 70 degrees. It just doesn’t want to let up. If anyone has followed this journal for a number of years, you will know that I can’t stand hunting in high heat. It doesn’t usually add up to a successful recipe. On the news, I saw where it was the sixth hottest September on record, and where we stand right now for October, we are on course to break the all-time record. That’s just not conducive to good hunting.

It always makes it easier when you have a plan the night before you’re headed into the woods under the cover of darkness. Kentucky and I made a plan and decided to be on the road at 4:30 a.m. I would hunt an area he found a few days ago, and he would hunt over a scrape that has had a lot of activity recently.

In my experience, I was pretty sure one of us would get a look at one of the bucks he had on camera. There had been too much activity to think differently. Although the heat won’t let up, it was fairly cool for the morning sit. When we left the house, it was overcast and the temperature hung in the high 50s.

After getting in the tree, I sat back and waited for it to get light. Kentucky had sat in the same tree a few days earlier, so I knew I was in a good spot. When it got light, I felt confident about my chances. However, as the morning dragged on, my confidence waned with the leaves falling from the trees.

Neither one of us saw a deer, but I did get out of the stand and wandered around to see if I could find anything in the area that would warrant more attention. In my search, I found a giant scrape that had recently been opened, and the licking branch had also been torn apart. As soon as I saw the scrape, I knew it was a no-doubter. It was on the top of a finger where a few runways came together. The runways merged into one patch along the top edge of a bowl, and the deer would be forced to walk a thin line if they committed to the runway after being in the scrape. It would put them 10 yards from the base of a tree I glanced at while taking it all in. If I were a betting man, which I’m not, I would guess a decent buck will be in that scrape in the daylight next Monday or Tuesday when the summer-like weather finally breaks. It will be the first true cold front, and I’m almost certain that area will attract a few bucks. Time will tell. Here are a few pictures of our find. We found the fresher scrape on our way out. It was about 100 yards from the primary scrape.

Every year, it seems like the temperatures get hotter and hotter deeper into fall. It’s beginning to feel like we live down south somewhere in the beginning of every hunting season. Looking at the extended forecast, I don’t see the daytime temperatures getting under 70. While it’s not blazing hot, it’s probably a little sticky for a deer that’s wearing its winter coat. I can’t imagine they are moving too terribly much yet.

I made the trek to some big oaks for the evening. Something in my gut told me to do it… so I did. When I got to my stand and prepared to climb into it, I realized I had forgotten my arrows. In my rush to get into the woods, I must’ve not been paying attention when I got out of the truck. I had my bow that doesn’t have a quiver attached to it, and I had slid the arrows under the seat to keep them protected.

I found solace in the fact that my walk to the truck and back to my stand took a total of 16 minutes. It makes me laugh when people say there aren’t any big bucks next to the road. I found where this deer had been feeding in some oaks, and I think this one place gets overlooked because it’s crappy-looking land. It’s definitely not appealing to the eye.

Although the afternoon bled into the evening without anything happening around me, I was excited to see the buck had made his presence known earlier in the day. He tore up three scrapes within sight of my stand, and it appeared that I just took the wrong guess. I should’ve hunted in the morning instead of the afternoon. Something in my gut told me he was probably in there this morning, as the fog stayed thick for a while and the temperatures didn’t rise as fast as predicted.

It felt good to be in the woods today. It was the first time this year, I could feel it in my soul. I’m ready for the journey to begin. I’m not sure where it will take me this year or if I’ll find any success. I guess I just need a break or two along the way. I’m always excited to experience things I’ve never experienced in the past. I’ve never had a season in which something I’ve never seen before didn’t present itself before my eyes. I can’t wait to experience a new adventure this year.

As I’ve said in the past, your hunting partners will play a big part in your success, so choose them wisely. If you find a guy who is willing to help you at the expense of losing his own time in the field, and he is always there for you when you need something, he’s a guy to spend a lot of hunting time with. My buddy Kentucky helped one of his hunting partners get a deer out of the woods yesterday. The deer was a dandy suburban buck and still had velvet on the antlers. Here is Kentucky carrying the deer out of the woods.

Although I had no intentions of hunting today, I knew it would be a perfect opportunity to set a stand in the place I found yesterday. Although it’s about an hour and twenty-five minutes from they house, I knew I had to take advantage of the pouring rain and do it while I could not leave any scent behind, especially with the forecasted 70 degree temps over the next two weeks.

I started work early and go into the woods by 3:00 p.m. I made quick work of putting the stand up and felt confident about it. I have it in between three trees, offering great cover. On one side there is a double scrape, and it has been hit a little bit already this year. On the other side is a four-trunked oak tree. I’ve always had great luck around trees like this. I’m not sure if it’s because the trees produce more nuts, or maybe the nuts just taste better from those types of trees. It’s not often that you find them, but if you do, I’d recommend looking closely to see if there’s a lot of deer sign around them.

Here are the oaks and the scrapes. This is my sight to the left and the right of the stand. After getting it up, I was pretty happy with out it turned out. First picture is of the scrape.

Today, I headed to an area in the central Adirondacks where I put cameras. I’ve often thought of hunting this area but haven’t done it yet. Brian and I put cameras in this area last year and not one of them worked. All four cameras didn’t work at all. The cameras have been in there for a month, so I decided to go give them a look.

Amazingly, I was happy with the results. I found a good buck in the area to hunt and a few scrappers, too. While in the area, I researched a few of the topographical features and think I might have an opportunity to get a look at one of these critters, especially the larger one. I found and area where he’s feeding a lot and he has destroyed a lot of trees just outside of the feeding area. Unfortunately, this area gets pounded when gun season opens, so I only have about a week and half to get a look at this deer, as I will probably not return there after the orange army invades.

Today I hemmed and hawed about where I wanted to go. I just couldn’t make a decision, and when that happens, I know it’s not a good thing. I believe it’s important to know what you’re doing to do beforehand. Although I’ve changed on the fly many times and had good luck, I just don’t like the feeling of being unprepared and undecided.

In the end, I decided to wander. I didn’t accomplish much, and as I said yesterday, the sign is hard to see with random leaves falling. Dad saw a cool bear track today. I wish I had the picture to post. He found it in some mud and took a picture of it. The picture seemed to be alive. It’s one of the better pictures I’ve seen.

The wind really picked up as it got toward evening, and I didn’t feel comfortable sitting in a tree. Therefore, I crept through the woods in hopes of spotting a feeding deer. My efforts were fruitless. The leaves have a really good start on finding their way to the forest floor. I’m guessing they will be peak by the end of next week. Here’s a shot of what they look like.

I headed north today for the weekend. I wanted to cover some ground to see what I could find. I was somewhat disappointed when I learned that leaves had started falling and covered up most, if not all, recent sign.

Instead of getting discouraged, I decided to see if I might be able to learn anything. My buddy Kentucky went on one side of the road, and I went on the other. We had an uneventful day, but Kentucky did jump a deer on the way out, as he heard it crash through a briar patch.

Here’s a look at what I saw from the stand tonight. Something in my gut told me a buck might sneak through the opening, but nothing ever showed up. I didn’t even see a squirrel or a bird tonight. It was pretty warm