Funny how it works, last little bit of corn gets harvested and then deer start showing up on camera. Tonight the property owner seen a nice 10 headed down the trail to my stand at 5:30. I decided to try and do some auto repairs instead of sitting.
I'm down south a bit, but had some rut action this morning in front of my camera around 11 this morning. All 3 were young bucks, but they were all over harassing a doe. The colder temps seemed to snap a little daylight movement into them. All the bigger deer are still hiding under the cover of darkness though. That being said, I've sat 4 times and have not seen a deer yet. Sent from my LGLS992 using Tapatalk
So what you're saying is that we should wait for "peak rut" before going out? FWIW I've had two bucks I haven't seen in a month show up on my cell camera on a scrape the last two nights. Although it wasn't daylight it's definitely a good indicator that things are heating up and bucks are really starting to venture around and check things out.
Tickled the horns last night and brought in a giant fork. 2.5 yo 8 behind him beating on a shrub...been slow though
Friday night I tickled the horns and brought in a fork. Then about 10 minutes before shooting time 5 does and 2 nice bucks walked out into the beans about 150 yards away.
I went out Sunday morning. rattled just before 7am & had a small 6pt come in. rattled again at 8am & had a different 6 come in. rattled again just before 9am & had a spike come in. The scrapes started popping up on Thursday so we should see bigger bucks responding to rattling later this week.
I'm in whiteside county and seen some small bucks chasing last weekend. Will perhaps hit some public this week and back to the private land this weekend. From the looks of this thread I'll pry bring my antlers.
Movement has been pretty slow everywhere from Illinois, Ohio and even the Northeast. Mostly night-time pictures on all my cameras. Temperatures have started dipping yesterday, so hoping this will get them up on their feet during daylight.
I'm in west central Illinois and Saturday afternoon I saw 2 mature bucks and one young buck still hanging out together. To me that says we are still a few weeks out on any chasing Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk
Been out dozen times since opener and have seen deer but just young. Boys did dig up a 4 1/5 yr old tall top ten early so he is done but young 8's and smaller. There is a 12 and 10 on camera. Have video of a 3 yr old 10 leaving him for seed or son to take. It's early the big boys will rise here shortly nature of the beast. That's news from here ogle Winnebago county line
I'm basically right across the river from Galena, IL in Iowa and it seems that the only times I get any daytime movement on my cameras from mature bucks is when the low dips below 40 and that has been few and far between. We need colder weather! I think when that super cold front does hit, the woods is going to be insane.
Haven't been on here in a few days. But, last Friday morning I got in the stand about 45 min before legal light and right before legal shooting light I rattled and got into the horns pretty good. About 5 min later I hear some grunts coming from the bottom behind me. I grab the bins and took a look and it was a nice 10 pointer which was probably in the 150-160 range. I grunted at him a couple times and nothing happened so I sat tight and waited. He got about 50 yards away and started making a scrape. While he was making the scrape I reached for me bow and knocked my bios and antlers out of the tree somehow by the grace of God he didn't spook. He then went about 30 more yards and made a couple rubs and some more scrapes. I snort wheezed and that really caught his attention and brought him in at 35 yards. I took the shot and it looked like a good shot from the stand and how he ran off. I got my arrow back and was instantly heart broken... The arrow broke off on impact only 4 or 5 inches of penetration and not a drop of blood on the arrow. I backed out and did the right thing and came back several hours later. I had a good blood trail for a couple hundred yards and then we decided to back out and come back with a dog. We ended up kicking him up after about .5 mile of tracking 10 hours after the shot. The guy i was with got a good look at the injury and it was a shoulder shot and the way he ran off I believe he's going to live for now. It was an upsetting hunt but another lesson learned in the woods.
