It seems like every day gets better. I never imagined anything quite like this when my dad took me bow hunting for long weekends in Oneonta, NY when I was 14. I can remember how excited I was to be able to skip a day of school just to go hunting. We would camp out in the back of his mustang. We brought sleeping bags and slept in the back of the car with the backseat down. We would stand on the side of the road and shoot at apples for practice with our practice arrows. Amazingly we did quite well when we shot at them considering neither one of us used any sights and did it instinctively. I spent a lot of time down there hunting until I graduated from college when I was 21. Since then I’ve only been back once. Many times I’ve thought of going back just to experience a weekend like we used to almost 30 years ago. How time flies………
I sat down near the tube again this morning. It was calm and I kicked a few deer out on my way in. I watched two coyotes chase a small rack buck past me shortly after daylight. After it calmed down a nice little 7-pointer came in from behind me. He had his nose on the ground and was looking for a little love. A spike made his way past me an hour after that. Then Mr. Big showed up at 11:45. He appeared behind me out of nowhere. As he stood about eight yards from the base of the tree I knew he was mature but he wasn’t a buck I wanted to take. He was a really good 7-pointer. I passed this same buck five times last year. It doesn’t look like he will ever be anything more than a 7-pointer.
Tonight I hunted the big timber on an inside corner where I had a lot of luck a couple of years ago. I don’t know why but it’s one of my favorite places. I had a shooter 9-pointer coming right to me about 4pm. He was all by himself. At ten yards he stopped and looked right up the tree at me. I still can’t figure out what possessed him to look up because I hadn’t moved a muscle. When he got fidgety he finally turned around and went back the way he came from. A little while later he returned as he followed four does through the field out in front of me. He marched around like he owned the place. He ran off a small 8-point and made sure it was known that the does were his. Dad saw four bucks this morning down below the Grunt Stand. Two looked to be like good ones, but no shots where offered. Tonight he hunted the north plot and saw a doe and a lot of cows. If the area wasn’t being used as pasture I’m sure it would be phenomenal. In case you don’t know you can click on any of the picture posted throughout my journal to enlarge them.
Another nice buck on trailcam.
A doe goes by the trailcam.
This buck was right behind the doe.
The Little Spikehorn I saw in the morning.
One of the small bucks I saw.
The good one I saw at 11:45am.
Anotther picture of the good one.