Same here, I only made it an hour or so before I started getting motion sickness from the tree stand moving so much. Ground hunted the rest of the morning but didn’t see a damn thing. 16 mph wind with gusts to 40 - nothing’s moving. Isn’t supposed to let up until Monday morning - thinking this weekend is a lost cause. Pretty bummed - I was kind of expecting this to be the weekend where the rut really gets kicking.
Well that was short lived. Up in stand and at 230 here comes the neighbor lab chasing squirrels, after 1.5 hours of watching that I said heck with it. I got down, drove around to neighbor and told them to get their dog. I am home now, do not want to bust the woods out walking back in at 4pm, not like the dog did not do that already for me !!! So frustrating to say the least. Back in the saddle in the a.m. Dave
Well back to work. Never seen any of the bigger bucks on the property. I have a three day weekend coming up and make take Friday to make that a four day weekend. As usual I will keep at it as time permits. It seems the older I get the longer it takes for my body to recover from all day sits.......... Dave
Sounds like you guys are having some bad luck. Hopefully it changes quick. Your season can be dreadful and in a matter of seconds all can be forgotten and it can become your best season ever. Been there more times than not. Keep at it and good luck.
Agree Shawn, Do not get me wrong, I have shot after shot chance at many doe. I was trying to hold off to give my young hunter a chance at killing the first deer. Well he is not getting it done so all bets are off, I am going to give the first doe that walks by a serious case of arrow disease after this weekends over. As far as bucks goes, I have seen a few 100 class deer but they are young and I know bigger are around. I will hang with the buck only hunt for a few more days then I need to take some doe out..............I am over run at this property with doe. Dave
Fortunately for me it's been one of my better seasons. Did I kill my biggest buck ever, no. But it was a decent buck, my grandson got his first buck, my son shot his first buck in quite a few years, my daughter got a buck and I've put 2 doe down and had a hand in all of them. All in the first 6 weeks of the season. Got one last doe tag we are saving for late season that shouldn't be a problem filling. Can't ask for a much better season than that. Besides, if Mr 6 stays a 6 pointer, next year I believe he has a chance at being a record book 6, and since he broke off all the neighbors said they won't shoot him if they see him. Plus he was a frequent flyer on all 4 of my cameras and in daylight as well. I think if he survives my chances of killing him next year are very good. Along with several other nice big boys that I know are there right now at least.
I hope that’s the case, it actually started pretty strong, but the last month and a half it seems like everything is working against me. ****ty weather, loggers, wind, deer stand fire, and lately a couple dumb mistakes I’ve made due to impatience/frustration. I decided to do a little ground hunting yesterday afternoon because the 30 mph wind we had all weekend was keeping everything from moving. Figured that if the deer weren't going to move for me I would have to move for them instead. I went out around 1 and didn’t see or hear a thing for a while. Around 3:30 I was walking along a line of thick pines and cedar and I finally heard something take a step on the other side of the pines. At first I assumed it was just a squirrel but I stopped and listened for a minute anyways. Once I heard it move around a couple times I could tell from the sound of it walking around that it definitely wasn’t a squirrel. It was was only about 20 yds away but it was on the other side of the thick line of young cedar and pine, plus there are a lot of these vines in that thicket (not sure what they are) these vines are covered with the crunchiest sounding leaves on the planet and they had just dropped their leaves so there was no way I could sneak straight through it without making a ton of noise by stepping on twigs & leaves and snapping little cedar branches. There was an easy way to go around it but it would’ve put me directly upwind from that spot, so I decided to backtrack and take the hard way in. I spent the next 2 hours taking one or two steps, waiting, then taking another steps or 2, etc. It actually was one of the best and quietest sneak-in-on-a-deer walks I’ve ever made. Didn’t step on a single twig or let my jacket rub against a branch or anything that didn’t sound like wind rustling leaves. By the time I got kind of close it was getting kind of near sunset, but I could still hear him moving around in more or less the same spot and I was really close. He was just around the corner so I got my bow ready, hooked my release onto my d-loop, drew back, and stepped out from behind the cluster of 3 big pine tree that separated me and the “deer”. I was at full draw aimed right towards where he was standing and about 15 yds away..... but there was nothing there. I was kind of perplexed since I didn’t hear him run off but then I heard another sound right in front of me and right then I saw a flick of the tail. This wasn’t the white, black, and brown tail I was expecting though, it was a little slimy, pink, hairless tail and it was attached to an exceptionally large possum. That’s the moment I realized I had wasted 2 hours stalking a stinky ass, greasy, good for nothing possum. I was soo mad I threw my bow down, ran up, and tried to punt that greasy mother****er, but I even failed at that because this particular possum had ninja-like reflexes and the sorry little **** ducked my kick and scurried off into a tangle of briars, leaving me out there alone in the woods cussing up a storm and kicking trees and pine cones. The only bright side of the whole ordeal is that on the walk out I found an old pine stump that had turned into an enormous piece of fatwood. It’s really impressive - I burn a fire pretty much every day between October and March and this thing will last me for at least 5 seasons. I would’ve rather had a deer but at least I got something out of it.
Our thread has been pretty quiet lately. How many of you guys are still hitting it and after a buck, or a doe?
I am going out tomorrow and Sunday. Also, I went out Wednesday evening and got possumed again. Had a nice 8 pointer come in following 2 does around 4. All of them were inside of my shooting range, but the buck was facing straight on and I didn't have a shot. While I was waiting for him to turn I heard something off to my left that was a rummaging around in the leaves. Looked over and saw the same damn bigass possum that messed me up Sunday evening. He was just sitting there and digging through a leaf pile 20 yds away trying to find ticks or doing some other possum activity. When I looked back at the buck and does, all 3 of them were locked on and staring straight at the sound. They couldn't see the possum because there was a pile of old railroad ties in the way but they definitely heard him and didn't like it. A couple seconds later one of the does stomped twice then blew a couple times, then she turned and hauled ass outta there blowing the whole way. The other doe and the buck took off right behind her. I still had about an hour of light left though so I decided to wait it out until the possum left and see if anything else comes back. The possum eventually moved from that pile of leaves and found a another spot to dig around in about 5 feet from the tree I was in. He spent the next hour circling my tree stomping on leaves and sticks. I threw a bottle of doe piss down at him because thats all I had to throw and hit him square in the back, but he just hissed and looked up and gave me the evil eye and then went back about his business. I went back yesterday with a couple traps and some peaches to try and catch him. Going to check them tonight but if that doesn't work, I have a 7" AR-15 pistol with a folding brace that I am going to toss in my pack when I head to the stand this weekend so I can put a bullet hole in his greasy little face when he shows up again. I don't care what it takes, even if it means I have to empty a whole pmag and spook every damn deer in the woods, that f**ker is going to be dead by Monday. Hopefully I will also kill a buck and/or a doe this weekend but until he is dead that possum is going to be my #1 priority. Since I'll have a gun in my pack, if I happen to spot any land beavers then I might poke a couple fresh holes in one of those too.
I ended up shooting a buck and two does during the firearm season, so unless I get lucky in ND I won't have any points this year
Went out this morning, but only got to hunt for an hour and a half before rain rolled in. Didn't see any deer but my possum decided to show up. I went to pull my gun out of my pack but before I got it out a little Coyote came flying out of nowhere and tore that possum apart. Didn't get a shot off at the coyote, but I am fine with letting him live another day since he did me a favor dealing with that devil possum. I am heading back out for an hour or so until it gets dark. It's still raining fairly good but tractor parked in an open sided shed in the middle of a field. I raised the bucket up on my way out this morning so I can use it as an impromptu tower stand. Hoping I'll get lucky and a doe will show stop by. I won't be adding any points to our score this evening though; no way anything is going to come within bow range at that spot so I am taking my rifle instead. I'll be back at the bow tomorrow and the morning hunt looks kind of promising.
