Headed out this afternoon. Opening day of gun season. Not much activity but it may get them moving with so many people in the woods on other properties.
Well I had to go out and get my stand off the public ground I hunt so I can use it this week on some private ground. It was wet and rainy and miserable. I got down to where my stand was and sat for about 2 hours and decided to pack it up and start my walk out. I get to the open field on top of the hill and decide to set my stand down and walk back in the way I walked out last week. Come to a fork with a ravine in the middle and take the right path cause I had never been that way. Walked about 30 yds and stopped to check my phone to see how close I was to the property lines. Heard a stomp and looked up and across the ravine, nice big 8-10 pointer with good mass and a huge body. He stood there another 2 seconds and bolted. I make my way over in the direction i seen him and find bedding areas, pellets, lots of cracked acorns, and a nice rub. Im thinking I found big daddy's bedroom. But of course there are no good trees to use my climber on. So gonna have to try and whack the big boy from the ground.
Welp tomorrow is opening day but I don't know if I'm gonna get out. Might be able to get outta work early enough to do a little ground hunt, but its supposed to be a high of 75 tomorrow ,rainy, and up to 20 mph ssw winds. No way I'm sittin up in a tree. Just put some NAP quickspin twister vanes on and I'm fully satisfied with my 17.99 purchase. These things are awesome and I don't know if ill ever use anything else.
I'm sitting here sneezing my rear off today and want to be in the stand, but when I can't go 2 minutes without a sneeze it would be a lost cause. Now get out there and Kill, Kill, Kill!!!!
Last winter really screwed everything up! I drew back on a doe at 10 yards tonight at 6:45 PM. Set the pin on her heart and I caught movement to the left. I peeked over and there was her fawn that wasn't even a third her size. I eased off and let her walk. OK, go ahead and chastise me, my decision so I can take the comments.
I respect that decision haha...works stacked right now so I don't think ill get out till Saturday. The guy who lives across from the shop had a huge doe hanging outside his garage when I got back, havnt had a chance to talk to him yet but I know where he hunts.
Well heading out in the morning. Hoping for a nice birthday present in the shape of big antlers attached to a big deer with a hole blown through it.
Iowa, I've done the same thing several times before. Heck, I usually don't shoot a doe until late season (Dec-Jan). Nothing wrong in letting her go.
Something interesting is happening. My folks own approximately 10 acres and most of 3 acres is where their house sits. The remaining +-7 acres is wooded. Growing up there from a young age I remember seeing deer sometimes and it was where I went on my first hunt alone at the age of 12. The property is pretty secluded with a few other houses around and a large chunk of public ground that is several thousand acres just a short distance away. Anyway, since I have a 7 year old who likes to tag along with me from time to time in the deer woods I thought it would be nice to have a spot close to his grandpa's house in case he got restless and grandpa could tag along with us from time to time. I planted a small foodplot approximately 1/8 - 1/4 acre and planted wheat, clover, and turnips. It's close enough to the house that I dragged waterhose up there to water during august and september. Probably 125 yards from the house. Anyway I hadn't been checking it too much but a couple of weeks ago I went up there and found a few small rubs so I moved a couple of cameras up there to see what was making them. One of the cams (wildgame innovations) wasn't working properly so I also hung a cheap wildview up there. Well here's the results. I'm impressed to say the least. i had no idea that there were deer of this caliber in the area. Needless to say, I may hang a stand and give it a strong effort to see if I can take one of these guys. Here they are. The time and date are wrong since I can't read the display on the camera to change them. I got several over a couple of nights but these are the best ones. The wildview is the color photo and the wildgame innovations are black and white.
Seen 3 deer and about 300 tree rats. Seen 2 does in the same place I seen them last week, right on the fence line, then I jumped a button buck walking out. If i go tomorrow I'm gonna head straight for the fence line and hope one of the does crosses.
I kinda know how you feel. I was down in St Louis South County (suburbs) working on some rental property last Friday and had two little does right in front of me in the middle of the afternoon at 25 yards eating bird seed and just staring at me like I was a lamp post. Then Monday morning I open the garage door at about 5:30 AM to head for work and there's a real nice size doe standing in the middle of my neighbors front yard at about 25 yards, again just acting like 'hey look at that schmuck going to work'. Two weeks ago when I went out to the country, all I got to see were squirrels, I mean COME ON! How's the sneezing IV? Last fall right after the opener and for almost three months I had an uncontrollable cough that I know ruined most of my hunts. Had to cough at least every 10 minutes. It SUCKED big time! Happy late birthday Wes! First doe I see is getting an arrow if at all possible although, button's are mighty tasty little critters too. Nice deer Ok, good luck Pal! I haven't been on here much lately guys and I've been pretty bummed out to say the least this fall. Hunting season has not turning out at all like I had imagined it all summer long. I cannot believe how busy I've been and not a fun busy either. However, I am going trout fishing here http://rockbridgemo.com/ this weekend and the entire trip is paid for, so I can't complain. Although, I'm still thinking I should be in a tree instead...I don't know, it just hasn't worked out for me yet. I might not even get to go bow hunting again until maybe the weekend before rifle season. Hopefully by then, things will settle down. Good luck fellas!
Well it is supposed to be warm again tomorrow and a good chance of rain starting at 9-10 am, so I'm gonna skip hunting tomorrow. I'm hitting some untouched private ground next week to scout a little before rut. Me and a buddy are taking our climbers and will set up and see what's out there.
I'm gonna buy a climber... Dads got the summit Titan sd, I'm not to much of a fan I like the gorilla greyback stealth, any thoughts
I have a Summit Goliath, its the only climber I have owned and had it for going on 9 years now. I have no complaints about it, works great for me.
Heading to SC today after class, going to hunt tonight and tomorrow morning. The bucks are well into the pre-rut, saw 2 bucks tailing does and two big bucks fighting for 5 minutes with my brights on them in a field while driving back from a hunt last week.The bucks are moving better for me with the falling temps, had one of my shooters within 40 yards last week but stayed in some thick stuff. Had another shooter I've never seen before walk out into a field of oats 75 yards from me but decided he didn't want to hang on a wall quite yet. Might try some calling this weekend and see what happens. Good luck to everyone going out, I'll keep y'all updated.
This Oklahoma wind is killing me. Right now we've had a cold front move in and the temps are perfect but the wind is blowing like crazy. It's blowing 20-30mph and isn't expected to slow much overnight. I guess I'll go hunt down in one of the draws on the property to try to get out of it. Maybe the deer are thinking the same thing.
