I am sure he would have been if his special ops friend hadn't been called to retake moonbase 9. Cut him some slack Covey at least he posts his documented proof the day of..
No hunting yesterday. Conditions are awful. Worst weather patterns I have ever seen for early season in years. I did walk back behind the house and check my food plot camera. The mature bucks have still not shown up there. But the entire edge of the corn is littered with scrapes. Saw at least 20 fresh ones. Only thing of note on camera was a 3 year old that showed up. Last year he was a generic basket 8 point, maybe 90”. This year he has thrown split brows. Could be a cool deer in a couple years Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk
And Mr clean has shown back up on the west side of the farm. But isn’t doing so in daylight. I’ll move in on him if I start getting him close to daylight Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk
First time hunting the home farm this year. Rain has finally stopped and temperature has dropped big time. Stiff wnw wind. Im sitting my brassica plot I put in for Mr Clean. No daylight pics of him recently, but this weather has to have deer on their feet. Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk
Good luck tonight. I appreciate following your hunts especially when I can't get out there myself. Sent from my XT1710-02 using Bowhunting.com Forums mobile app
Last night I Saw 6 does, passed a 2 year old 8 point, and then at basically dark I had 2 mature bucks skirt behind me. I barely got my binos on them in time. One was Johnny Cash, the other I didn’t get a good look at but it was a mature bodied deer. Early this morning Johnny cash came through food plot and hit scrape tree Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk
Im back in the radish plot blind again. Checked a few cameras and mr Clean is still around, just not flirting with daylight since 9/30. Johnny Cash is definitely back, and just like last year, he is “everywhere” on every camera on the farm. Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk
Ended up seeing my #1 buck again last night. He walked 15 yards from one of my bale blinds, as I watched from a tree 190 yards away.
Everything is different today. Wind opposite direction, yesterday was sunny and clear. Today it’s snowing...yea...SNOWING. In Southern Iowa on October 14th. I am really not happy with the weather so far in October. Because of weather and wind direction im sitting in a blind 600 yards from where I want to be. Not expecting much tonight Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk
saw 32 does in the snow yesterday. Not a single buck. My guess is they were further North on the beans where I wanted to be sitting. Today The weather is clear so I'm taking off work early to go back to where my #1 was out in Daylight Friday and Saturday evening.
32 is crazy. Ill be lucky to see that many in a season. Good luck tonight getting after those bucks. Hoping to get out myself tonight. Sent from my XT1710-02 using Bowhunting.com Forums mobile app
It's a double edged sword. The deer density in my area is honestly too high. It's fun seeing deer, but there are always a lot of eyes to fool. The buck/doe ratio is getting out of hand on this farm too, but I am the only guy hunting 450 acres, so there's only so much I can do.
That's crazy to think you are the only one. In PA I'm lucky to find 30 acres I'm not sharing at some point in the season. Even my good spots have 2-3 guys on them. We obviously don't have near the deer density probably b/c of the pressure. I'm torn b/t wanting to see deer and chasing bruisers. They both have their positives and negatives. Keep up the good work, I enjoy your posts and keeping tabs on your season. Adds to my enjoyment. Thx Sent from my XT1710-02 using Bowhunting.com Forums mobile app
My most anticipated sit of the season so far! I’m in the rusty gate blind. Doesn’t look like much but I have seen more mature bucks out of this blind than any one place I’ve ever hunted. This is where I missed a 200” deer in 2016, shot my late muzzleloader deer in 2016, and have seen many other big bucks from this blind. My number 1 walked 15 yards from it Saturday evening. Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk
Last night's hunt was, in a word, INTENSE! 18 years of bow hunting and yesterday was maybe the very best sit I have ever had, and I never even picked up my bow. I broke one of my rules yesterday and hunted an off wind. West winds are extremely difficult to hunt on this farm because of the way it lays out. My rusty gate blind is set up for SW-S winds, but I have seen my #1 buck go past the blind twice, and both times he came from the South so I was pretty confident at least he would not wind me. Deer were already out in the field when I got there at 3:40. I looped wide around the side of a hill and then crept up to the blind, keeping it between me and the deer. I made it into the blind clean with deer 100 yds away. From then until dark, there was not a time when i did not have deer in front of me. The deer activity was nonstop from 4:00 on. In total I saw probably over 50 deer. Every deer in the woods was on its feet, and early. Here's where it gets crazy. at least 20-25 of the deer I saw were bucks. 5 were over 150". And 70% of all the deer came out in the field East of me, 100% downwind. I'm not gonna get preachy about scent control products, but in anticipation of hunting with an off wind, I went nuts with my scent control before going. I showered before work, crushed all my clothes and gear before leaving for work, then washed my face and hair at work before leaving, then crushed my clothes and boots again on the way to the farm, ran an ozone generator in the truck on the way, then sprayed down each layer as I dressed, and then I put ever calm on the downwind side of my blind. And I have to say, I must have been as scent free as a human being can possibly be. The entire night, from 4:00-7:30, I had deer downwind of me the entire time, anywhere from 3 yards to 200 yards, and not one single deer ever picked its head up or spooked at all. I had a group of 5 bucks come to within 15 yards and stay there for an hour, sparring and working a scrape. I was on pins and needles and could barely move they were so close, but none had a clue I was in the world. While this was happening, I heard some heavy horns crashing together. I peeked through a slit in the blind and saw 2 big bucks fighting in the field 200 yards away. One was the buck I called Jerry last year. No pics of him yet this year, but he is back. Giant body, giant mass, probably 155" 8 point. This farm always seems to inhale a bunch of bucks mid-October, and I think yesterday was that day! Jerry was squaring off with another 160" 10 point 3 year old I have a ton of pics of as well. Then another fight broke out 100 yards North of those two. I looked and saw another 150" 10 point and a mid 140s 8 point going at it, all this while I still have 5 bucks within 15 yards of me. Then I look to my south and I see him. My number one was on the hill, listening to the other bucks fight. The field he was in was full of does and yearling bucks; he was the only big one out there, but its exactly where I figured he would come from. He fed closer and closer, and got to 106 yards. I was sure he was going to work my way. Then he did what really big deer do...something unexpected. This joker bedded down in the alfalfa 100 yards from me 15 minutes before dark, right in front of my blind. all the does, and other bucks filed past my blind and fed off into the standing corn 1/4 mile to the north, but he stayed there until dark. I waited until pitch black and eased out the back of the blind. I crouched low and kept the blind between us and started sneaking out, walking down the rows of the standing beans. I got 150 yards away and then froze. On the horizon, in the moonlight, I could see a huge rack bounding towards me 50-60 yards away. I dropped into the beans and pulled up my binos. The buck stopped and was silhouetted against the sky at 30 yards. I instantly recognized him. I call him the back 40 buck. I have both sheds from when he was a 2 year old 120" 9 point. Last year he was a 155" 6x5 3 year old. He is another buck that disappears every summer but comes back in October. No pics of him yet this year, but he is back. Now as a 4 year old he is back to a 9 point but is 22" wide, probably 160-165", with 2 fewer points than last year. He stood there listening to two bucks fight 200 yards behind me, and then he took off trotting towards them, and right at me. I laid flat in the bean row, and he nearly stepped on me as he trotted by, but he had absolutely no clue I was there. I laid there a few minutes, and After he was gone I finally made it out and snuck back to the truck. That was the long version...the short version is...IM GOING BACK TONIGHT!
