We hunted the same area this morning that I hunted the first night I arrived. I went on a gut feeling and set up at the base of a huge hill in a nasty willow thicket. There were too many tracks to ignore and I didn’t feel like toting all of my stuff up the hill.
Shortly after daylight I regretted my decision and something told me I should be in the other spot. I did see a few bucks, but the wind wasn’t cooperating. In the beginning it blew back and forth before it eventually settled into blowing the completely wrong direction for my set-up. Since it was early I decided to pack up and move. It wasn’t exactly what I wanted to do since it’s the middle of the rut, but I felt it was necessary.
I trudged up the ravine I was sitting in and climbed the front side of a pretty steep ridge to get to the tree I had set up in a few days earlier. Within minutes of climbing the tree I could see a good buck coming. He was a beautiful 9-pointer, but he wasn’t a buck I wanted to take at this point of the trip. He came directly underneath me and zig-zagged through the brush in search of a hot doe.
After he made his way past me I was brought to attention by two does running full bore along the top of the ridge to my left. I knew something was following them so I got ready in case a shot presented itself. Within minutes I had four bucks go by me in pursuit of the does. None of the bucks were very big.
Although I was having all sorts of action my dad and Brian hadn’t seen much at all. They wanted to head out, but I wanted to stay. That’s what makes it difficult when you only have one vehicle and you’re hunting on the opposite side of a river from where you’re parked. We packed up around noon and headed out even though my best judgment told me to stay put.
Since the day I decided to come to this place to hunt I’ve wanted to check out one particular place and I made sure I was going to go there today. Upon arriving there I was happy to see that no other trucks were parked in the parking area.
On our way in we had to follow an old road along a narrow strip of timber between two fields. About five minutes into the walk I heard a deer get out of his bed. After scanning from left to right I laid eyes on a really big buck. The does he was with were already running by the time he reached his feet. He didn’t waste much time vacating the area. That was definitely a good sign. Shortly after jumping him I spooked another good buck and a handful of does. With each step I felt more and more confident about my choice.
As I made my way through some really thick slash I saw a trail camera and after further review I saw a ladder stand about 30 yards from the camera. A quick survey told me it was a really good place, especially for deer to feed. I assumed it was probably good for cruising bucks, too. Brian and I discussed our plans. Being tired I hemmed and hawed on whether or not I should just sit in the stand instead of going any farther.
I chose to continue exploring. I couldn’t figure anything out if I didn’t cover as much ground as possible. After we split up I made my way through a CRP field, which was dotted with some heavy rose briars. When I got near the back of the field I found exactly what I had been looking for. Three ridges came together on the very back of the field and a creek ran along the base of the ridges. A swamp butted up to the hardwoods, the field and the stream. I couldn’t have asked for a better funnel for a cruising buck. On top of all of that I found scrapes galore. I couldn’t walk more than five yards without seeing a scrape or rub. A few of the scrapes were the size of a kitchen table and they were all active. I’ve found a lot of good spots in my hunting career, but I instantly knew that this one was money. I marked a tree on my GPS so I could find it in the pitch black the next morning. I’d have no problem getting there, but I wanted to assure myself that I was in the right tree. I punched the characters into the GPS and named it “The Killing Tree.”
After shutting it off I tried to blend into a couple of trees on the edge of the rose thicket and decided I would stay there until dark. It wasn’t long before deer started wandering by me. I saw seven does and one small buck. I jumped another buck on my way out. I met Brian at dark and we decided we are going back in there in the morning. Brian found some really good rubs as you’ll see in the photos I post at the end of this. It was 61 degrees when we headed into the woods this afternoon. When we reached the truck after dark it was 30 degrees and single digits are forecasted for tomorrow along with 40 plus mph winds. It should be a good time. It is the rut and on your vacation you can’t control the weather, so I’ll make the most of what I’m given. The video is the nice buck that came past me as soon as I climbed in the tree this morning.
