I'm here! Studying for my last final for Grad school. I have been trying to finish all of my coursework up and my plan is to go check cameras today after my final. I got permission to hunt a new farm. It is 160 acres, a few pockets of woods and two large CRP fields. The adjoining property to the north has a wheat field which the land owner told me that it was the only real crop food source for a couple miles. I plan on hanging a stand and hunting it Friday or Saturday. Unless the 200 incher shows back up on the 9 acre property ive been hunting all year.
I'm still here, just honestly I have been going out quite a bit and haven't seen jack.. tons of stuff on the cams most nights but nothing during the day. I have seen 4 deer all season and all on the same day all an hour a part. The issue is that the area I'm hunting is a 23 acre parcel with 3 fields, though nothing has been done with the fields so they don't offer much to keep the deer there. I found a huge rub and scrape trail that I have sat on and have scent droppers that only operate during the day, but still only 1 picture during the day on them all season. Next year the land owner stated that I can take 1/2 a field and plant so I'll be doing that and cleaning up the land. My other spot, I need to learn more about the land as I wrote it off since there 3 other guys that hunt it and no one wants to communicate with each other to know when someone is there or not. Though none of them go into the deep thicket, I finally walked through there and trails everywhere, though I need another hangon as there's nothing that will support my climber. Then I talked with the next door guy who has an apple field right next to the thicket and he said I can hunt the edge there, but again I need another hang on which I don't have. Plus I relied on the people that hunt there and where their stands are, which I found are not in good spots. So that's my fault. Also, in CT they are down 1k deer overall for the season compared to last year and down 4K from the previous year.. 50k permits bought in CT and 8k deer taken. Haven't given up, just haven't seen crap..So nothing really to report. Sent from my iPhone using Bowhunting.com Forums
That's tough about not seeing any deer and discouraging after you spend hours on stand. Thought I would share a couple of trailcam photos of other good bucks that we had been getting pics of and had some close encounters with on our stand. The 1st couple of photos are of a great mainframe 12 with kickers on the g2 that I guessed he would go 170 - 180, larger than the 163 buck that I shot. The interesting thing is that the pics and sightings are at the same stand that I shot the 163 buck at. 2 great bucks at the same stand is unusual for our area. A friend and co-worker had this buck in front of him for 30 minutes before dark 2 weeks ago but he would not turn and give him a broadside shot. I give him a lot of credit for his restraint in not taking a bad shot and potentially wounding this trophy animal. Naturally since I had tagged out I told him that this buck needed at least one more year before he became a shooter. The next one is from another jobsite that we have. This pic was from Sept. but I know that he is still around because the job foreman said it just walked through the employee parking lot about a week ago so he is still kicking about. This guy has some serious width to him. Tell me what you think these would score.
Guys, Happy New Year to all our team members. It has been great to have been associated with you guys and sharing some hunting stories and experiences with you. Wish you all the best in the new year and great hunting success in the future. My season has come to a close and I am very grateful for the deer I have been blessed to harvest. For those that had successful seasons, congrats and for those that have hunted hard and have not been able to close the deal for whatever reason just know that persistence pays off and at some point in time you will be at the right place at the right time and it will happen.
Hey guys, sorry I haven't been posting much. It's been busy lately here and it's going to stay that way for at least another month. On top of the holidays I've been driving around a lot working on getting a new job and I got the offer for a full time position with a ambulance company in Madison, WI. I start at the beginning of February. I can't wait to get out of IL and get up there. The less fun part is closing stuff out with my current jobs and then moving all my $hit 3 hours north. I've moved so much the last 4 years with school. I wish I could be done lol but hope everyone is doing well. Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk
